Not sure but maybe you are referring to my comment about my RAL cable falling apart. It did indeed fall apart and not thru any mishandling. Compared to my WW PS 7 the build quality sucked. If the WW build quality is a 9, the RAL was a 2. Just over 5 weeks later I finally got a replacement which was clearly better made. Now it’s an 8. Not sure which of the two RAL cables I have experience with is representative.
Tbh, the RAL does sound a little bit better than the WW.
Is the increase in SQ worth the hassle and inferior build quality to me? Probably not.
I’m still in a quandary about next moves, but am leaning towards giving this little drama two full months (early August) to play out before bringing the curtain down. Based on everyone’s comments, that seems strangely reasonable (but only in Brad’s Bizzarro world) . I’m cognizant of the possibility that if he gets rushed to avoid a pending dispute, that I’ll receive a “build quality 2” instead of something more robust.
I placed my order before ppl on this forum got all excited by RAL which no doubt increased Brad’s workload, I also never contacted him until it didn’t ship after 4 weeks but never threatened filing a dispute, yet I still got a build quality 2.
Been in contact with Brad since May and received my RAL hdmi cable about a week ago.
Correspondence with Brad can be patchy at times but ultimately I was happy that the cable came through.
The cable is for my HT system and I’ve raised a thread for the RAL hdmi cable in my HT system in the Cables section.
Well, time to bump this thread again and take a few more whacks at the deceased equine carcass
I decided to go with the cumulative wisdom of this community and exercise a bit more patience. That plus a polite, but terse, interchange with RAL about the possibility of a dispute resulted in a constructive dialog and the delivery of the long-awaited Holy Grail of HDMI cables.
Brad is, indeed, a one-man operation, so one has to be willing to cut him some slack as well as to allow for some idiosyncrasies, I guess.
That said … yes, the RAL cable bested the WW Plat Starlight 7 in my setup. Like most improvements at this level of performance, I would not classify the differences as “jaw-dropping” or “night and day,” but they were clearly audible. I could easily live with either cable, but better is better and the costs are roughly equivalent.
I would describe the “sound” as being similar to what you hear when noise levels in other bits of your system are reduced. More detail is apparent farther back in the recesses of the soundstage, and separation and definition in general are improved, albeit at the expense of a bit more “analytical” (but not annoying) quality to the overall sound. The WW sounded “warmer” to my ears but slightly less detailed. But note that this was after only 100 hours of pink noise conditioning of the RAL, so some further change in character would not be a surprise.
No issues with the quality of the terminations. They seemed to be solid and have adequate “grip” when plugged into the Matrix and DSD, but are not the equal of the jewelry at the ends of the WW Platinum.
So - long story short - happy ending, but be prepared to potentially wait up to 8-10 weeks for things to come together depending on what’s in inventory.
I just waited and mine eventually showed up. No threats or raised disputes. Others got cables ordered after me even. He has his own agenda but makes a great HDMI cable.
I don’t have the WW Platinum to go back to see if the RAL KoolAid still tastes good,
but I liked the change. There might be something in those air tube dielectrics. I heard
that WW is working on a next level HDMI but that could be mith. Never thought HDMI
would reach the crazy zone of other interconnects but here we are.
Yeah - unfortunately, at least in the i2s application, wires seem to matter every bit as much as in analog applications. Though of course coaxes and AES-EBUs have always sounded different as well. Man, when I think of the difference in early cheap AES’s vs. better-constucted ones (not necessarily fatter/heavier)…and that was a long time ago, and way before they showed up in a lot of stereo gear.
I still have platinum. It gives a wider sound stage. Just not the imaging and stand out in room live vocals and instruments of the RAL. The platinum soundstage space created gives it more of a veil. I use platinum on apple TV or my bluray for concert bluray. Can’t beat the picture or the sound there but RAL still rules on Matrix. The RAL you cannot move to sources without long breakins due to air tubes. But both are top notch. I should just buy a couple of RALs and wait for spring to see them
