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DH Labs Silversonic

When I started my journey as an audiophile off as a music lover, I never believed that I would ever get to a point where I felt that cables and tweaks like isolation feet could make the biggest difference in the sound of my equipment. It took a little while to get to a place where my components were even good enough to allow cabling and tweaks to make a profound impact on the sound signature. Moving away years ago from a high-end surround receiver to discrete integrateds, separate stages, and quality DACs, I got to a point where the cabling could make as profound an impact or even greater an impact than the components themselves. This is where DH Labs comes in.

Initially, I started with AudioQuest Evergreen and went up the chain to their King Cobras. The sound was full, but missing the midrange and detail in the highs that I was seeking. I tried a few others, like Nordost and Kimber, but my search started its stop after my brother recommended me to try DH Labs. I started with some homemade BL-1 interconnects. The first thing I noticed was the bass neutralizing and a more forward midrange. I do have to say that while the sound was flat and maybe somewhat lifeless, it was also due to me having some mid-fi components and basic canare star-quad speaker cabling. However, I loved the transformation, and after after upgrading to hifi components and reading about the Air Matrix, I stepped up and I haven’t looked back. They have amazing bass response and are open all the way through, and they just enable my music to sound the way they were meant to sound.

I love the Air Matrix cables so much that I decided to also use DH Labs Silversonic Q-10 speaker wire. Also a huge step up in terms of low and high frequency resolution in comparison to the Canare star quad cables. I’ve even tried their female RCA jacks to upgrade the connection in my Thorens TD-165 after I had already upgraded the tonearm and wire to SME3009 and silver wire, and the jacks let the detail shine past the cheap ones I had put there before.

Then, most recently, I did purchase a set of DH Labs Silversonic Revelations. They didn’t quite have the bass response of the Air Matrix, but the resolution cannot be beat, especially in the high frequency detail. I wish there was a blend of both the Air Matrix and Revelation, but it might just not be possible. I did inquire with DH Labs on this, who was surprised to hear of my opinion. Even though I have had the Revelations for over a year, Greg from DH Labs suggested I mail back the cables so he could test, and he offered me some trade-in options to ensure my satisfaction. I have to say, that this was the best customer service I’ve had especially after such a long ownership of the product already.

Anyways, I just wanted to share my experiences with DH Labs. Anyone have similar experiences with them, especially between the Air Matrix and Revelations?
blisshifi

Showing 2 responses by blisshifi

blisshifi's avatar
blisshifi OP
1,233 posts
 
Great. Glad someone found some use to it! What cables and interconnects are you using now? Are your Tannoys high efficiency? 

If anything, I've found that synergy between components makes more of a difference than the quality of a single component. My setup is below:

Integrated: Luxman SQ-N10
Speakers: Tekton Design Lore
DAC: Cary Audio DAC-100T
Digital Streamer: Bluesound Vault
Phono Pre: Fosgate Signature Phono
Turntable: VPI Classic w/ Dynavector Karat 17D3
Step Up Transformer: Luxman AD8000 w/8020
Power Cables: PS Audio AC-5 on all amp and source
Power Conditioner / Distributer: Furman PST-10D
Interconnects/speaker wire: all DH Labs Air Matrix, Revelation and Q10
Outlet: Hubbel Cryo’d 5362
Room treatments: 1" thick acoustic panels to soften the highs
blisshifi's avatar
blisshifi OP
1,233 posts
 
What made you sell the Tannoys? Tekton Design is my first move into a full-range high efficiency speaker, and I do have to say they are amazing, especially for the price.

One of my friends have the 1Ci's them and they're nice as well. In terms of replacing VH interconnects with Air Matrix or Revelations, it will depend on how you like your music. The Air Matrix shines across the entire frequency on top of having great bass response. Most interconnects I've come across have some sort of scoop in the midbass, where it might give good bass response but roll off in the mids and highs. The Air Matrix just seems to let everything shine. With the Revelations, it feels like the bass response drops just a little bit, but I think it might just be that it's even tighter than the Air Matrix already is. And to top it off, the highs on the Revelations just can't be beat. The micro details just come out right without sounding bright or harsh. If you're in the NY area, I'm happy to come by and hook them up in your system so you can check em out.

Finally, the Bluesound Vault and Node are great. The vault has 2TB drive built in, and my lossless collection with hundreds of albums only takes up about 400GB. Lots of room to grow. It's been interesting to see the product continue to develop, as there has been a lot of development to the app and interface over the last year. The built in DAC is also fantastic, and if I didn't already have the Cary tube DAC I probably would be just fine using the DAC in the Bluesound. I've got the vault hooked up to my hifi, with a node in the bedroom, and two pulses around the rest of the place. There's no lag between the streaming across all four devices/rooms - it's solid.
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