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HiDiamond Digital IC

Seems to be a popular theme these days.

I received the aes/ebu version of the HD Digital Carbon cable today in the mail. I was enticed by the glowing remarks posted elsewhere and have been bored while awaiting a Varidig Sextet to show up. With a few hundred bucks burning a hole in my pocket I figured I'd take the plunge.

First let me dispell concerns posted elsewhere regarding dealing with the north American distributor, Robert of worldwide wholesales. From my first communication with him he's been responsive, pleasant, professional. My standards for these qualities is unusually exacting and my tolerance for any bs below nil. Our interaction resulted in an order, which he made easy, and the cables were shipped virtually instantaneously and arrived quickly.

On to the soundy bits....

Straight from my mailbox cold into my system went the cable. Fit and finish, fine, no issues.

Some comparisons to my Marigo Apparition 5.8, a cable that has bested all comers to date and served me well for years.....

Realism and presence. Edge to the HD. Small margin.
Air around instruments. Edge to HD. Medium margin.
Instrument placement. Edge to HD. Small margin.
Resolution. Edge to HD. Medium margin.
Soundstage depth. Edge to HD. Small margin.
Soundstage width. Even.
PRAT. Edge to HD. Small margin.
Frequency extension - highs. Even.
Frequency extension - lows. Even.
Bass control. Edge to HD. Very small margin.
Black background. Even.

Overall these cables are more similar than different. But there are noticeable improvements with the HD. This is cold, no break-in, both on the cables and on the aes/ebu connections on transport and dac.

Also, keep in mind the Marigo is an $1100 cable, the HD is half that.

The $100,000 question: which is more musical, which will I keep?

I'm going to reserve judgement and see how this breaks in a bit, get more listening time under its belt. Go back and forth some.

Initial impression though is extremely favorable. If they keep trending in the direction shown, I'll try the interconnects sooner than later.

(for the cynics: I am in now way related in business or otherwise to HD or Worldwide wholesales. I live in Florida and work as a technology executive.)
joncourage
sabai
2,027 posts
 
Joncourage,
You hit the nail on the head. When Gloria and Audiofeil arrive you know what to expect. They should buy a Gestetner and hand out copies.
bacardi's avatar
bacardi
663 posts
 
Joncourage; In my opinion following these threads and listening to the negative comments probably from the people who don't even own Hidiamond towards the people who actually own Hidiamond I class them as "P.O.W". Pieces Of Work!!!!!

Glory; Grow the heck up and let us people have the moment. You had your moments with JPS- Telling me how the power cords/interconnects maybe even speaker wire were better(your words were far more detailed and direct) than Synergistic Research. I never made slang comments on forums towards you. Why do you do it to others? Lighten-up man....And if you don't have Hidiamond or aren't interested, or can't make positive comments in general, or leave the smack talk to a debatable situation, then stay off the Hidiamond threads!!!!!!!!THX
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
Sabai, to celebrate my country's birthday, I wore my Nike shoelaces in a SERIES, 1 red, 1 white and 1 blue. I had to play around the different combinations of material in each one to dampen the shock on my joints ... solid core, twisted pair, cotton, nylon ... OMG!!!!! I shaved several minutes off my 5 mile run plus I was the coolest audiophile in the gym.
glory's avatar
glory
1,614 posts
 
musicallyinclined
62 posts
 
I tend to side with Audiofeil on this topic. Let's face it, the market tends to have a lot of these "flavor of the month" type of products and eventually they die off never to be heard from again. This brand has that "feel" IMHO.
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