Audioquest Diamond Sound

I have two quattro fil cables on their way. I have tried the SPM, but did not like it with the ML, too lean in midbass. I am also buying one AQ diamond to try. I am currently listening to Kimber digital to ML. Tara Decade to SFL-2. SFL-2 KCAG to Power 3. Power 3 to SPM. This may all change when the new cables come in. buy the way I am going to sell the Harmonic Technolog Pro-Silway II.

I thought the diamond x3 was EXTREMELY detailed and transparent. I preferred the nordost spm and quattro fil to it. They have equivalent detail but are smoother. The diamond still has a tiny tiny hint of 'silver harshness'. Less than any silver cable I have used, but still there. This is played a/b against a special edition quattro fil cable. I'm an empirically actualized nordost bigot.

I have a/b compared the diamond to the prosilway II. I think the prosilway is almost as transparent, but a little more listenable. It depends on your reaction to silver cables. The harmonic tech truth link is a wonderful copper cable too. A little veiled, but smooth and easy to listen to.

If I were you I would go buy a set of red dawn or spm's. I had great performance with them and my old sfm-160s and all red dawn. I would try red dawn and see if that floats your boat. The SFL2 is euphonic enough that it will probably cover the slight harshness of red dawn.

I pretty much agree with all the posters. I had diamond2x for years. There are much better cables out there/ no matter how one person feels; to each our own,I guess. When the 2x came out (about 8/9 years ago)it was amongst the best. I don't think the competing cables stood still,all that time.

Negative's for merely mentioning his name. Now I really hope it helps.

Amonst impossiblie to reply to your question. Diamonds sound better than the Emeralds or Lapis in my system- You'd have to try them in your system to detemine if you like them. Much too subjective to get a realistic answer without hearing them in your system with yor music. Buy them used and sell them if you find they're not for you.

I tried Diamond X2 and also own Lapis X3. I prefer the Lapis X3 to the Diamond X2. I also own one pair of Diamond X3, and can only tell a very slight difference between it and the Lapis X3. The diamond X3 is just a bit more refined. Due to cable lengths I have not compared Diamond X2 to X3 directly--but hopefull this indirect comparison helps. I agree with the above posts that the Diamond X2 is a bit on the bright side, but as other's have stated it is system dependent. At this level, the cables are very good--and most likely in very high end systems where the details and matching make a big difference.

I too tried diamond#2(rca) and didn't like it. I found it to be thin and bright in my system. I went back to Lapis3(silver) and original lapis(copper) combo.Much more natural to my ears. Good Luck!

I concur that this is a rather "live" IC, at least with my system. Lots of detail. My experience is only with the original Diamond. I'm running it from my DAC (Resolution Quantum) to my pre-amp (Mod3a). I much prefer Emerald and Lapis (original copper version) to Diamond in the rest of my system. I'll also add that other silver IC's don't float my system's boat either (other than b/t dac & pre). This kind of thing is *very* system dependent as there are others here that swear by silver IC's.

I have a pair of Diamonds and also the x2.My opinion is that these interconnects are a bit on the bright side,which is fine with me,i use a C.J. Premier pre and C.J. MOSFET power.I would not know how it would sound in balanced as I have it in RCA.But they are very good interconnects.Cheers.

Look up the thread "carl hears through diamond" it may help.