Best interconnect between pre-amp and CD player??


The question should actually read. "How to choose the best sounding interconnect between pre-amp and CD player" Without getting on the IC of the month club merry-go-round where you could/may spend thousand of dollars looking for the smoothest, most accurate, and most musical, how can the selection process be made easier.?? I already have 6 IC's in the drawer, and I am a sloucher compared to other members who have stockpiled 4 to 6 times that amount waiting to be sold.

In these tough econmic times, dealers are reluctant to loan out $250 plus IC's for evaluation. Would like some input and comments on finding the right IC for a quality CD player..... Thanks, Jimbo
sunnyjim
"How to choose the best sounding interconnect between pre-amp and CD player" Without getting on the IC of the month club merry-go-round where you could/may spend thousand of dollars looking for the smoothest, most accurate, and most musical, how can the selection process be made easier.??

Unfortunately, I don't see anyway to get around personal listening. You'll probably get plenty of reco's, but no one can tell you what will work best for your tastes with your equipment. Especially since you don't even seem to know what you are looking for. From my experiences, musicality and accuracy are mutually exclusive, meaning that as you gain more of one you lose more of the other. Are you looking for more warmth and musicality OR more speed and resolution? You can try to balance them the best you can, but you lose one as you get closer to the other end of the tonality spectrum.

If you are like most others, you are looking for a cable that balances accuracy with musicality with your equipment and your ears. You can try any recommendation that you get, but you still won't know if it's the "best sounding interconnect" unless you try them all. Call The Cable Company, they might be able to help get you started in a general direction.
Here is part of SunnyJim's issues. He's got a nice system to me and I feel for the guy. Seems like he's been fighting the good fight for some time and making little headway.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1342820257&openflup&6&4#6
Sunnyjim,

Here's my 2 cents worth. Try a pair of Mapleshade Excalibur ICs.
http://shop.mapleshadestore.com/Clearview-Excalibur-Analog-Ribbon-Interconnects/productinfo/EAIC%2DST/.

I found an old pair in a box of cables I had and just for the heck of it, tried them.
It was like throwing open the window. Night and day, difference, etc. My system has gone through a couple of permutations and I hadn't used them since I began this hobby years ago.

I should have never taken them out.

You can read the testimonials on their site and check out what some say here as well. There is a 30 return policy if you don't like them. Just don't use anything to quicken the burn in process. The ones I have use different terminations than the ones they use now. Progress I guess. They look hand made but people don't seem to mind.

Hope this helps you hasten your journey so you can sit back and enjoy.

All the best,
Nonoise
That's what I want, interconnects in their very own plastic bag. I think you should try Chord interconnects. That's who makes Naim's cables. It's smooth, detailed, open and rich.
That plastic bag is like having practically no dielectric at all. Nothing to mess with the signal. If you could hear them in my system you wouldn't knock them and I guess that's the basis for such a remark: you've never heard them.

You like Chord ICs because they make them for Naim? How about a former Martin Logan employee who swears by the Mapleshades? You can content yourself to naim dropping as can I but the proof is in the hearing. Does Chord allow a 30 day return policy?

This reminds me of when I first posted about the Mapleshade Helix speaker wires all those years ago and the heckling that followed. Then, a few years later others come out with the same formula to rave reviews.

Go figure.

All the best,
Nonoise