Speltz anti-ic's vs Nordost QuattroFil

The Speltz, as Stehno testified, really is a "best buy" and shows that performance sometimes is not linked to price.

Sometimes? How about the Nuforce Ref 9 and especially the Nuforce SE amps? The SEs may well be without equal and at a fraction of the price of its closest competition. Along the same lines are the Foundation Research line conditioners.

The old adage, "One must spend a lot of money to realize one does not need to spend a lot of money." applies to this hobby perhaps as much or more than any other.

I think it would be more accurate to assume its the aethetics, sometimes build contstruction, and name recognition that is often times more directly proportionate to the amount of money spent than to think the added expenses are directly related to performance improvements.

-IMO

Stehno, an excellent post. I think the success of the Speltz cables probably says more about how over-priced some of the 'name' cables are. There are too many cables on the market that are $100 of technology (maybe), and $2000 of marketing. And I am a cable 'believer'. I've never tried the Speltz cables, but a few years back, a friend built a set of IC's with nothing but 2 polished silver wires fed through PE tubes. When compared to the Audioquest Diamonds and Lapis I had at the time, I was stunned by how much more open, uncolored, and dynamic they were.
That's when I started ignoring everything but the sound. The IC's I use now are pretty expensive, but at least they outperform $20 DIY cables.

The Speltz anti ic's are going through some serious changes as they break in. I have never heard the sonic changes in a cable like I am hearing now. They are very detailed out of the box. After 24 hours straight and 8 hours with a Purist Audio cd enhancer there is more depth, width and less detail. Warmer sound right now. If the detailed highs come back and they add a litle more weight on the bottom I would be extremely happy for the price I paid. Right now as they sit they beat a lot of other ic's. For $150 I had to give them a try as most should. Same thing goes for David Schulte's wire of the Upgrade Company, very detailed, open and not forward or colored. Excellent for high end systems that can handle the detail they deliver. Schulte's wire does not get in the way of your components. Again, you do not have to spend a fortune for really good cables. Upgrade Company speaker wire is better than anything I have tried period. Just the right tonality. It takes him a while to make but it is worth it and you don't have to pay for any ads. These two are definetly winners in my book for the people's choice award. If you want fancy names don't come round here!

The Speltz anti ic's are amazing. They are open,detailed and fast with a nice hint of warmth and not forward at all. Good solid bass extension. They seem to be more on the silver sounding side than copper because of the extended highs which are refined and sweet, not edgy. They will get your feet moving for sure. They are revealing and will let you know when you have made a change in your system for better or worse. People will shy away from these at this price point which is a big mistake. After they get some good run time, which I accelerated, they take on a new level.Farfetched claims are out the window. You don't need to trust the testimonials for a 1m pair with eichmann's for $150 bucks.They are going to rival some very good ic's out there.

I've lost my response twice, so I'll keep this short. I use Signal Cable Silver Resolutions for analog and Oritek X-2's for digital. I'm hoping that Jp1208 can answer the debate between silver and copper(Speltz)on analog vs. digital.