Van den Hul interconnects

Alanbeeb gave me the opportunity to try the Van den Hul "the First" interconnect, and I confess that it sounded 'rounder' than the AS Blue Sliver I was using. "organic" was the phrase used and, well yes, it was.

would be interested to hear others' views on the Van den Hul range. I tracked down some audioview coments that may or may not be prompt to comment:

http://www.audioreview.com/Cables/Van den Hul,The,First/PRD_116685_1584crx.aspx#reviews

 

I have found that D102 mkIII is a good all round cable, a fine neutral blend of flat and round earth properties, able to hold its own against more expensive cables too

And I got mine second hand for less than half price :banana:

 

I have also the VDH 102mkIII;I bought it off the reel,where it was about 18€uros per metre so it was cheap,it's a good enough cable,personally I found it a bit thin and harsh top end,I preferd the Audioquest Viper.

 

Obviously system dependent then. It doesn't sound harsh or thin here. Might be a reflection of your CD player The Alpha 9 isn't harsh or thin. It's a question of synergy.

 

I also have a vdH D102, had it for 6 years and it doesnt sound thin/harsh at the top end at all to me.

 

Yeah iv had the d102 mkIII wiv bullets for some time now, very good all round cables, can be fast and exciting as well as smooth and subtle, to be honest i dont think it leaves a signature on the sound.

Ultra

 

Yes, I'd agree with all of that.

 

thanks. any experience of First and First Ultimate?

 

Hi Ditton - as you know I have used van den Hul first and second for several years. Since discovering them I've not really bothered with any other cables as they all sound metallic to me.
I did once try the first ultimate but found it had less detail than the first so returned it.

The second is very similar to the first, slightly more solid sounding and slightly more detail. It is grounded, wheras the first is not which can lead to hum problems with some components. I could lend you some for a few days to try if you like.

cheers,
Alan

 

you're right there was a slight hum on the First - even though I quite liked it, and as you can see I was impressed!

would welcome the chance to try the Second some time.

 

my vdh d102mk3 is very susceptible to what direction the signals going- theres arrows running down the cable and iirc the signal goes from source to amp

something to play around with

hths

 

C5 the Bay and Integration do the business for me!

 

I use an ultimate the first between my CD and pre. I found it provided much tighter and cleaner bass, a nice full midrange and a smooth top end. This is in comparison with my linn analogue. I am using the second balanced between pre and power. Compared with the previous make (which I forget, but cost £80) there is not that much difference. I also use VDH revelation speaker cable. This had a similar improvement accros the board as the ultimate. The comparitive cables were nac5, silver anniversary and linn lk20.

Rod

 

C5 for me, and it was a great improvement over the QED Qunex2 I used before, giving a far less harsh sound. I may give the D102 MkIII a go sometime as well, given that is supposed to be ever so slightly less harsh than the C5 and also with slightly deeper bass extension.

I am considering some VDH Teatrack speaker cable to replace my FFRC (or at least, this cable is one of the contenders ). I figure this well help tame the harshness of my system more than just changing the interconnect will, then again it it will cost loads more if I have to buy 2x 5m lengths of it (I may wait until I go to uni and then I can have my equipment spaced so I don't need a stupidly long length of cables).

 

Well, I got me recently a pair of vdh d102 mk3 to tame things down a bit - s/h, to try 'em out

Funny thing is...when I swap back 'n forth with my cheapo 10quid i/c I honestly can't tell the difference

But when I put the vdh back in on a permanent basis, the kit just seems to sound much warmer :MILD: which makes me feel a whole lot better.

The "real" power of cables

 

I use VDH D102MkIII balanced cables between DAC and pre and between pre and power and I've no complaints. Without resorting to microphone cable and the like it was the cheapest "proper" cable I could find that was available in a balanced version.

Michael.

 

useful contributions. As seen from si. I have to connect from dac/pre to the power. At present I use the SilverBlue from AudioSynthesis. I'm going to be trying the First Ultimate and the Second. Will give report back. Clearly I should also look at the D102MkIII.

I have read that the First is somethings used as a digital interconnect, ie from transport to dac.