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Review: Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition GEN. II Interconnect

Category: Cables

Associated Music:

Patricia Barber Companion
Count Basie 88 Basie Street
Tracy Chapman New Beginning
Golden String Audio Repertory Top 12 In Gold
Norah Jones Come Away With Me
Luther Kent Luther Kent & Trick Bag Live
Diana Krall Live In Paris
Hugh Masekela Hope
Buddy Rich Keep the Customer Satisfied
Sonny Rollins This Is What I Do
Santana Supernatural
Keb Mo
The Phip Collins Big Band "A Hot Night In Paris"

Many of you might remember that in May of 2003 I wrote a review on the Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition Interconnect. Since that time, Robert C. Schult, proprietor/designer, has developed a Midnight Silver Edition Generation II Interconnect.

Since I was thoroughly impressed with the original interconnect and speaker cable, I could not imagine what improvements could have been made. Therefore, out of curiosity, I had to hear the Midnight Silver Edition Generation II.

I recommend you read the original review first (http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rcabl&1052269499&openusid&zzLak&4&5#Lak) to better understand this current review of the Midnight Silver Edition Generation II Interconnect.

The Midnight Silver Edition Generation II interconnects continue to be extremely smooth, fast, neutral and transparent. They don’t favor one frequency over another and continue to be very coherent, allowing one to hear deep within a recording. The Midnight Silver Edition Generation II Interconnects continue to convey the force, speed and robustness of a live music performance (if the rest of your system is capable of handling it).

The improvements I heard, original Midnight Silver Edition vs. the Generation II, are as follows:

1) I hesitate to use the cliche, but the music sounded as if a veil had been lifted. In a very positive respect, the music sounded more forward (but relaxed), as if I had changed my seating at a live concert and moved several rows closer to the stage.

2) The mids and highs were crisper, while the entire spectrum of music was even more dynamic in the area of micro details and resolution.

3) There was more bass slam.

I did notice that while the original Midnight Silver Edition sounded good as soon as I installed them, they continued to improve with two hours of use. The Generation IIs sounded good as soon as they were installed; however, they matured and sounded even better after four hours of use.

When I received the Generation II interconnects, the literature which was included inside of the package stated they were the Generation II. When I compared my original Midnight Silver Edition to the Generation II, they looked identical (although the generation II was an improvement in sound as stated above). I assume in the future there will be some type of permanent marking designating them as Generation II.

Construction of the Midnight Silver Edition interconnects continues to be excellent.

I continue to highly recommend you give the Midnight Silver Edition Original or Generation II a try if you are in the market for interconnects.



Associated gear
Parasound C/BD-2000 Belt Drive Transport
Dodson Audio DA-217 mkII DA converter / Upgrade to 218 software
First Sound Presence Tube preamp / with upgreded power supply
Cary Audio Design CAD-2a3 SE Tube amp
Bel Canto Evo 200.2 Digital Amp
Cain & Cain Abby Speaker with Fostex FE 199 E driver
Fostex T90A Horn Super Tweeter
Velodyne F-1200x Subwoofer
Ridge Street Audio Designs Midnight Silver Edition Interconnects and Speaker Cables
i2Digital Interconnect
Bass Euphoria Speaker cable
Purist Audio Proteus Rev.B Power cord (20 amp IEC)
BMI Whale Elite MK II Power cord
BMI Shark Power cord
Absolute Power Cords Cryogenically Treated
#4 VH Audio Flavor Cryo’d power cable
220 Amp Isolation Transformer feeding dedicated sub-panel
Equi=Tech 2Q AC Balanced-filter
Clear Image T-4 power line isolator
DeZorel G2 power line isolator
Sistrum Platform SP-6 Rack
Star Sound Audio Points/Coupling Disc's Tweak
Star Sound SP 004 Sistrum Platforms Tweak
Bybee Quantum Force Filters (IC’s) Tweak
Bybee Quantum Speaker Filters Tweak
Virtual Dynamic Cryo'd # 10 Copper Wire & Breaker Tweak
Hubbell’s 5362 Tweak
Wattgate 381 Outlet Tweak
Furutech Outlet Tweak
Acme Silver Cryo’d Outlet Tweak
Polycrystal Cable Towers Tweak


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Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xlak
lak's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
lak OP
4,701 posts
 
Aloha,
The Pure Note Epsilon Reference IC’s and speaker cables were my reference interconnects before I tried and then purchased the Ridge Street Midnight Silver Edition.
I don’t want to offend anyone here; however, in my system (tube and SS) the Midnight Silver Edition Interconnects and Speaker Cable outperformed my Pure Note Epsilon Reference in every way that I can think of.
The Midnight Silver Edition Generation II are better!
There has been some discussion on Audiogon and Audio Asylum about a new distributor of silver wire that Pure Note is now purchasing wire from, hence a better product. That could be. I haven’t heard it. All I can say is...somebody send me two pair of the new Pure Note Epsilon Reference Interconnects 1/M RCA, and after break-in and extended listening, I’ll post a review!
I’m an open-minded type of guy, and in the past I’ve admitted it when a product was better than whatever it was that I was using.
Regards,
sonic_genius
528 posts
 
Great review LAK. I did a search on your posts and it seems that your comparison to the Pure Note Reference is based on their original cable (version 1 or 2) and not their latest version 4 product. Like you, I owned version 1/2 and there is no comparison to the version 4. I think it behooves you to mention that you have the older Pure Note cables, which now have no bearing in your reviews.
lak's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
lak OP
4,701 posts
 
Sonic genius,
You are probably correct. I purchased mine about the same time you began (and I followed) writing reviews and recommending the Pure Note Epsilon Reference IC’s and Speaker Cables.
That’s why I’d love to get my hands on two, 1/M pair of RCA interconnects for review purpose! (I’ll return them or purchase them if they are better than the Midnight Silver Edition Gen. II.)
Tom, if your reading this please contact me if your interested!
psychicanimal
1,738 posts
 
Why don't Sonic Genius send you the Pure Note and Lak & I get a chance to hear them? You get my drift, don't you? Two sets. That's it--two sets.
miker
16 posts
 
I ordered a pair of RSA Midnight silver S/C and I/C after reading some of the original reviews. Actually, I was only really interested in new speaker cables. I was quite pleased with my current cables, but they were only 4 footers, and after moving, I needed something longer. At the last minute, I ordered a set of I/Cs as well. My order went through just as Robert was switching to the GenII so I agreed to wait the extra couple weeks for the GenII's. Well the wait was worth it. At first, I wasn't impressed. The cables had been cooked, but apparently these new cables require a different treatment then the originals. There was more detail in the music, but for lack of a better description, there was no emotion there. After about 40-50 hours things had changed dramatically. I was amazed, I kept playing one disc after another. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The sound had improved in just about every way. More detail, extended highs, tighter/deeper bass, larger soundstage with more precise imaging. What amazed me the most was that 'despite' all those improvements, the sound was still musical. I havn't heard many different cables for comparison, but my impression has been that more detail from better cables can come at the expense of a more sterile sound that prevents me from making that connection to the music. Analytically, I can convince myself that yes, these are better, but emotionally I am left cold. Not so the RSA cables. What comes out the end of these cables is music.
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