Is this only sold in England ?
Sorry where are you based?
They do have distribution in various countries, even down here in South America. They have a few vendors in US/Canada too -by the looks of their site Frisco, Dallas, even Toronto. What I liked about these is, besides the quality and neutrality, it kept things musical and engaging for me while costing a fraction of some other cables.
Gonna be trying some WWās and a Purist Audio in the next few weeks, will then post my impressions.
I am located in the U.S.
Thanks for the two suggestions !
Is The Chord Company the same company that makes the Chord Mojo?
No I believe it is not.
I have had excellent results with a QED Reference HMDI cable. It has a built in low pass filter (apparently) built into it to screen out very high frequencies and is stated as having very low jitter. Iāve seen pictures of the eye pattern that it produces so the manufacturer has investigated these things and has made an attempt to quantify them which is a positive. In my setup the QED Reference HMDI sounded smooth and detailed with lots of dynamics. Iāve tried about 4 other HMDI cables with mixed results and none of them sounded as listenable or ārightā.
Anyone tried the new 8K HDMI cables? I have just bought one to test PWT with DS Sr.
How did it go and do you have other cables to compare it to?
It would be interesting to try to come up with some other impressions of what can contribute to better sound in HMDI cables when using to carry I2S signals.
My much loved QED HMDI cable fell apart at the ends (connectors). The QED Reference HMDI design has since been updated to have a 1-piece connector which I guess is a response to the issues they were having with the model that I had.
I have been using a Lindy Kronos HMDI in the absence of my QED reference and it sounds quite good. Perhaps not as smooth overall or as powerful in the bass region though. Itās also 2 metres long which goes in the face of conventional wisdom with most people advising that LVDS HMDI cables should only be 1 metre in length. Anyway, Iām going to buy one of the new QED Reference HMDIās soon.
Just to add to the discussion (assuming anyone cares for my opinion), I did have a Van Der Hul Flat HDMI 180 that sounded āflatā in comparison to the Lindy and the QED. A sort of pinched sound that stripped away some dynamics.
For me Qed Performance Graphite hdmi 0.6m is all i need,for now. Excellent sound from Matrix to dsd dac. Seems to do everything right,very good tone,soundstage is accurate and very resolving and yet smoooth. Much better sound vs.newer,faster 4k cables which are clearly better for picture but lack of refinement in sound. Yet this is 4k cable too,but what a surprice when i hooked it up for a listen.
I also have WW Platinum Starlight 7 HDMI, itās great. I wanted to buy a length of 30 cm, but it was gone and I bought the last cable length of 50 cm with a cable price of 30 cm.
Offered in the spirit of sharing.
I did a comparison of 4 different cables on my own system. I had bought a Matrix X-SPDIF 2 to go between my Roon Nucleus and the DSD. I wanted to replace the USB connection I was using with I2S. Iāve always loved the sound of the DMP/DSD over I2S and wanted to use the other I2S input to directly connect the Nucleus.
To get first impressions I installed the Matrix using a generic HDMI cable that I got a long time ago with an inexpensive DVD player. The only high quality HDMI cable I had was the PS Audio that came with the DMP (it is mostly unmarked so I donāt know if it has a designation. Kind of a plain, stiff 1m cable with chrome connectors that just say PS Audio I2S.). I liked the sound of the Matrix and generic cable well enough while I sought a better cable.
I decided to try the WW Silver Starlight 7. Itās a long story but after struggling to get a 1m length I unexpectedly ended up with both the Silver and the Platinum (I got the platinum for the same price as the silver as compensation from someone who kept my money for a long time but couldnāt deliver a 1m silver).
In the end I had the generic, a PS Audio, a WW Silver Starlight 7 and a WW Platinum Starlight 7. All were 1m long. Since I had the most experience with the PS Audio it was my reference. All the evaluation was done using the DMP and DSD. The only input in use during the evaluation was I2S from the DMP, everything else on the DSD was disconnected. I listened to each cable individually through a series of tracks that I had selected to try to hear specific attributes. The bottom line is the WW cables won.
Some observations.
- The generic cable holds its own. I can understand why people swear by low cost cables. It took close critical listening but in the end it has a harsh unpleasantness that you can hear. I found it fatiguing in a way the others werenāt.
- The PS Audio cable is really good. It is also, by far, the most broken in. It was very close to the WW cables. Just a shade less detail and musicality across the board. Maybe attributed to a bit higher noise floor? I donāt know.
- The two WW cables sound very, very good. To my ears they also sound nearly identical. Maybe the bass is a bit faster, and the detail a bit sharper with the platinum? But honestly, maybe not. I paid the same for each of them so Iāll keep both. Personally though, I wouldnāt recommend spending the extra $650 based on my experience. The Silver is brilliant.
- Finally, I am not a cable zealot. I actually find the fact that a digital cable makes a difference a bit perplexing and intellectually difficult to reconcile. There was a difference though, I switched back and forth to confirm. I assume it may be interference or noise that makes its way to the analog output??? Certainly something I donāt understand.
Those were my results and observations. Sorry this ended up so long. I hope it is helpful.
G9taylor what did you think of the difference between the nucleus on usb straight to the DSD vs the matrix to DSD via I2S?
Iām using the WW Silver Starlight 7 also - did a similar test with Matrix. The WW was the best cable upgrade Iāve ever experienced in my system Itās a great cable.
Very interesting test, thanks.
I have two PS Audio hdmi cables. I donāt know if it was inconsistent quality or if mine was somehow defective, but the first one I got with my DSD sounded horrible, flat and dull. At the recommendation of my dealer, I replaced it with an inexpensive AQ āCarbonā which sounded vastly better. I threw the āhorribleā one away.
But the second PS Audio cable sounded fine and very similar to the AQ.
Thatās my next test. I wanted to sort out which HDMI cable to use first. Iāve connected the DMP via the Platinum and the Nucleus/Matrix via the Silver. I intend to do a similar test between Matrix/I2S vs direct USB. Probably this weekend, if I get the taxes done first.