Main System 02 – November 2021

4 Comments

1. Curious where you had your Proceed CD player modded. I have one too…and still use. Thanks in advance.

   Reply

   1. I’ve done it myself with help from an engineer friend.

      Reply

2. It is remarkable that you use Belden power cables which is considered standard stuff. Don’t you believe in the usually very expensive high end power cables?!

   Reply

   1. Hi John, good question, it prompted me to add a section to my old Belden review:-) I’ve copied this section below. In short, it’s not a matter of not believing (in general, if I can hear it, I believe it) but one of preference and striving for the most neutral balance.

      Although I use Belden cables for nearly all my components, I am not claiming that this is the best cable there is. It is not! In fact, it’s really quite a mediocre cable. I just found that when using high-end power cables (let’s say around 1000 euros) and ultra-high-end power cables (several thousand euros), most of the time, these would provide a highly refined, smooth, and polished sound with higher apparent resolution and more air than the Belden but at the expense of transient sharpness, attack, dynamics, expression, or simply raw power. While this can still work well in certain systems, my system is inherently so refined and non-edgy, that it doesn’t need external polishing. I will say that the Belden can be upgraded significantly by using very good connectors. I have experimented with this at length (see for instance the Oyaide comparison) and found the Oyaide C-004 to provide a near-ideal balance of virtues. It’s very neutral, highly refined, and super-transparent, yet not too polished. That is unless you use the IEC as well as the Schuko on the same cable. In that case, I feel that the sound becomes a little too polite. Thus, I use the C-004 along with a Bals Schuko on the other end, to balance this out.

      It is my ideal to use the most neutral cables that do the least harm to the signal. This is what the Beldens do for me, they don’t editorialize the music by boosting the bass, warming the mids, or fluidifying the treble. Nor do they slow the rhythm, or unnaturally speed it up. They deviate from neutrality as little as I have found to be possible.

      When a cable sounds wonderful but also makes the music sound over-polite, for me, it moves away from real music and attains a more hi-fi aspect. Of course, YMMV and I will not discard the fact that many people use cables (power cables, too) to pull the sound of their system in a certain direction. Although I have also done this in the not too distant past, and I now feel this is not the right way to go, I still think it’s a valid avenue to explore. If an expensive power cable gives you precisely that which you are looking for and you are willing to spend on it, then by all means go for it.

      Although I am certain that there should be a cable that maintains the Belden’s core strengths, while improving on it in certain areas, I simply have not yet come across it.

      Reply