cardas hexlink golden 5c speaker cable

i just want to say that the stated cable is not warm

i owned golden hex 5 c and golden cross. i found neither warm. i sold them because they were not very full sounding in the upper mids. i have heard from others that there is a glare in the midrange produced by these cables, but without listening myself, i can't confirm such opinions.

i am not a fan of cardas cables and would not use them again.

most cable manufacturesrs do not deliberately design their cables to sound "warm", as "warm" is a coloration.

the goal of most designers is minimizing errors in frequency response, and providing as much resolution as possible, at a price point.

if you are looking for "warm" cables, i would listen to older purist audio cables, like the colossus, or the original nbs cables.

art so you prefer golden reference to hexlink golden 5c
as the latter is more neutral // less dark??
norman

I find that in many systems, Cardas is not the first choice when I wear my audiophile analytical cap. Other cables are sometimes a little faster, more detailed on top, etc.

HOWEVER, when I want to enjoy the music, Cardas usually stomps the others. It seems to have a naturalness that conveys the emotion of a piece more beautifully than other cables.

I think that George Cardas optimizes his designs for overall beauty of reproduction rather than speed and detail.

My preference is usually for Cardas Golden Reference over Cardas Golden Cross, unless I'm dealing with an unusually dry sounding system.

A cable I'm experimenting with lately and find fantastic - unfortunately out of production - are the Empirical Audio (Steve Nugent's stuff). This is not Empirical Design, which I've not heard. The EA are a little more detailed and lean than Cardas but still convey the emotion of the music - wonderful.

Another cable that I think offers a good compromise between detail and musicality are the top of the line Discovery, although the bass is not as deep as Cardas Golden Reference.

I have definitely heard some brands of cable which have all the speed and transparency that you could ever ask for but sound dry as a bone and completely un-involving.

System matching with cable is so important!

Art

Jmlab926, I agree with you that the Cardas is warm, slow and less revealing than the Nordost cables. However, i much prefer the Red Dawn V2 to the Blue Heaven.
In my system the Blue Heaven was way too bright and cold... The RedDawn v2 is much more revealing than the Blue Heaven and is far warmer.

In my experience Cardas is too colored, slow and unbalanced; not enough resolution; it distorts badly everything that passes through it. Connectors are okay though.

There was no worse cable in MY system than Cardas...I tried all of them.

i switch the ics and the power cords
it seems that the music is now a bit warmer and relaxed

i sold the golden cross ic as it was too warm in my system
may be system dependent and a matter of taste
2 friends of mine prefer hexlink golden 5c to golden
reference as the latter is too colored?????

Yes, my memory is that Hexlink is much warmer and less transparent than either the Golden Cross series or the Golden Reference series. Again, I'm basing this on memory and different equipment, but it was quite a strong impression at the time.

Putting it another way, I owned Golden Cross a long time and was very happy with it. Have owned others along the way (e.g. Audience AU24 regular and E). Currently using Golden Reference for the 2nd or 3rd time and like it a lot.

Byt I was never able to get Hexlink to have sufficient detail for my taste even back when it was a current model.

It MAY be that a lot of other people have had different experiences. This is just my own experience. It is a strong memory though.

i sold my nordost blue heaven
the cardas would be warm slow and less revealing as compared to the nordost cable

I used to own Hex Golden 5C speaker cables in a bi-wire run. They are, as Artmaltman remembers.. very warm and frankly not very revealing of finer detail.
I sold them for Highwire's, which were far more revealing and were overall a lot more involving. I still own a pair of Hex Golden 5c IC's. which are much better IMHO than the speaker cables. The Ic's are very good in the bass dept. But ,still a little slow and dark compared with today's better cables.
Today I think that there are many cables that are better than the Hex Golden 5C speaker cables, one that I particularly like are the Nordost's.

it is not warm as compared to other cardas cables???

My memory - going back two decades - is that it was an extremely warm sounding cable, and would be appropriate for a system that has a harsh sound that you wish to tame. I have not heard this cable in a long time and certainly not on modern equipment.