Cardas Golden Cross vs. Golden Hexlink 5C

I have to agree. I actually prefer the Cross to the Golden Cross in my system. Unless your system is on the "bright" side, go with the Hexlink.

Rusvit, not to hijack your thread, but I have a related question:

What about the difference between the Cardas Golden Reference and the Hexlink?

I am thinking about getting the Cardas Golden Reference as the link between my amp and preamp, as it is supposedly a very neutral cable, which is what I am looking for in that particular link in the sonic chain. (I figure I can always adjust upstream interconnects if I want to adjust the sound from my CD player or other source.)

Thanks!

i just replaced my golden cross with ridge street audio poiema!. alot better than cardas in everything. sounds like a whole new system. extremely transparent.

aloha keith

Kurt, your idea is good, but I'm not sure Golden Ref is the best choice. It is more neutral than Golden Cross for sure, but compared to just about anything else on the market it is a warm sounding cable. Cardas' own Neutral Ref is a more neutral cable, but lacks the nth degree of resolution. Why don't you try several good cables from the Cable Co. and decide for yourself? Kimber Select 1030/1130 are good choices as well as Nirvana SX and Synergistic Resolution Reference. Audience AU24 may also work. It has a slight treble roll-off but is quite neutral across the rest of the band.

A lot of this is going to depend on your speakers. Do you really want a neutral IC? If your speakers are a little hot on the high end you may want to take a little of the edge off. Golden Ref can make a system with a hot high-end and a lean bass sound more neutral, but the cable itself is NOT neutral. It does have pretty good resolution, however, so it can be a very useful compensatory type of cable.

Kurt,
I'm a pretty hardcore Cardas person...have just about every Cardas cable made. Like most of them but not all. I've been in the audio field for 31 years both professionally and as a hobbyist so am no newbie. The Cardas Golden Reference is simply an outstanding choice between preamp and amp. You'll probably love it but one good thing about that cable...if you don't like it you can quickly sell it on Audiogon. Don't pay more than about $450 for a 1m pair simply because you don't have to. I just posted the original thread to get some opinions; as you know,everybody's got one.