Any takers on ST cable rave AR HT 130

I've never heard this cable - and have no plans to - but I was struck by something about ST's article and the way it was promoted: As I recall, there was a teaser blurb on the issue cover implying there was a positive review inside of a great bargain cable, but Sam's actual words amounted to nothing more than a brief mention, with no actual description of his impressions of the cable's sound included. Most of his three or so paragraphs were devoted, I believe, to chatter about his sources on this 'find', how cheap it was (BTW, quite of few of the cable makers offer some kind of very-low-priced model or models, all of which seem never to be reviewed in the mags), how the manufacturer says it's constructed, blah blah blah...not a word to the best of my knowledge about how it in fact *sounded*, other than to state something to the effect of how it was of course not going to compete with the best of the best. Now, I'm sure Sam has nothing to do with what gets put on the cover, but really, what a pathetic excuse for both a 'review' and especially for a cover teaser. Yet another unfortunate indicator of the direction things have taken at Sterophile, and it could have easily been otherwise - normally, I would applaud any attempts to legitimately review bottom-of-the-line gear every once in a while (and frankly, when it comes to bottom-budget IC's, the primary comparision should be to the giveaway wire that's included with mass-market and mid-fi CDP's).

Congrats JMF - you just did what Stereophile did not: actually review these cables.

BTW, since you like the vdH product, you may be interested in trying if you get the chance their unique all-carbon The First Ultimate. It's single-ended only and suitable just for shorter, line-level cable runs and cannot be used into most tubed amps, but it has the best-preserved attack of any IC I've tried, as well as the most open HF response and least sense of added reverb (a quality that's missing from most discussions of wire sound - kudos for recognizing the phenomenon). The coaxial design contributes no warmth though, for better or worse (I like the uneditorialized response).

For moderately longer runs, balanced runs, using into tubed amps, or low-level runs (or anywhere environmental RFI/EMI is of high concern), you can get almost the same sound with vdH's carbon-conductored, metal-shielded The Second, a twisted-pair design. Both are now being sold quite reasonably (though not in the range of the AR's or of course D102) by European dealers via Audiogon. I recommend The First Ultimate in under-2m runs between unbalanced line-level sources and preamps, and The Second from preamps to amps or between true-balanced sources and preamps (both these cables also make superior digital interconnects, a topic about which more can be read on vdH's website).