Well, in my 40, i’m not on the same high-end levels as you gentelmans to hear the difference between two good RCA connectors, i’ve never done such tests. When i first checked that review, many years ago, i decided to buy both (Eichman and Xshadow) to make some cables for myself, the Eichman was new brand to my ears (and cheaper), but the Xhadow was already on my Stereovox Colibri interconnect cable that i’ve been using for years and the only cable that is better is the Stereolab Master Refference Phono RCA from the same designer. Actually they are both very well shielded and dead quite, so both can be used as phono RCA to RCA. The branding of Chris Sommovigo’s products is a bit confusing, first it was Stereovox and Xhadow, then it was Stereolab and Black Cat. The construction of the Black Cat cables is very interesting and can be
viewed here The philosophy behind the Chros Sommovigo’s brand is
here. I’m a big fan of his cables, each time i brought them to a friends it was a huge improvement in sound quality.
Back to connectors:
Practically the old Eichman is not on the same level at all, maybe for those "masters of soldering" they are ok, but practically plastic that holds the pins can be overheated and damaged if something goes wrong (that’s why i said not good for re-soldering). While the Xhadow are bulletproof reference connectors, same about WBT nextgen.
I got old Eichman copper bullets on one of my interconnects, also new KLE on one of my phono cable, so i know this connectors very well. The feeling of use WBT Nextgen is totally different. And Xhasow is something else.
P.S. I thought you’re soldering everything direct to the component as Raul did.
BTW Frank of the Signal Cable company simply use Neutrik professional connectors for his cables now instead of Eichman Bullet or KLE for some reason. Why?
