In December 2011,I wrote that High Fidelity cables led by cable designer Rick Schultz was putting together a new cable.The cable came to market as CT-1.The CT-1 has FINALLY made it into my system!I had obtained a version of the prototype that Rick had been working on.It blew my previous reference Genesis by Virtual Dynamics.I thought I had finally found my end with this cable.This prototype delivered to my ears "Nirvana".Could I be at the end of my quest for the ultimate sound? No. I received two pairs of CT-1 to replace my prototypes.They went into the system this past Friday.Unable to dedicate time until Sunday listening,I stole a few moments,ducking away from company with anticipation.My guest could tell even with the music set for"ambiance"something was intriguing and I was in for a treat! The experience: First off,CT-1 was very user friendly.Installation was simple;the cable is very nice and light.The female RCA fit beautifully unlike any I had found in other cable.It was secure and reliable.It seemed much thought was dedicated to developing a designer fit to an aesthetically stunning RCA connector.Install entailed a few wiggles to ensure what seemed like a compression fit on my RCA. It was 2-3 hrs. for the 1st step of break in to be complete.At that point I had something different!Today,although they only have 10-12 hrs. on them,I can`t put into words how much my system has transformed.Believe me,I loved my prototypes.However....there is simply no comparision. The clarity and sound is so natural. The soundstage is like nothing I ever heard.Resoulution is breathtaking and inner detail is simply hard to believe possible. The sound has transended and now it simply does not seem as thought I have speakers. My system is musicians playing music. I am told with time they will improve and I trust that as it was revealed with the prototypes.I wanted to share my thoughts with you that now. Unequivocally,a testament to High Fidelity,as the name declares. High Fidelity Cables for me,the last word on it,after 12 hours! Truly Amazing
@tbg I agree with you on the BLUES person. Just a Debbie downer in every way. Always putting people down. All the threads I look at. I just ignore it. I am glad that you review things and let us know about different products. I trust your reviews as being pretty spot on. The better the high fidelity stuff gets is up the Chain to the ultimate reference. It adds more body weight and even more naturalness. I got my Duke Pearson the "Right Touch" cd yesterday. He is a 50s and 60s jazz pianist. This cd was amazing yesterday through my parasound cd1. The high fidelity ultimate reference gave it liquidity but in a natural way. The speed of the cable on this kind of jazz allows it to excel on busy complex jazz passages. It also allow them to layer properly.
I have interest in the power cables, High-fidelity are fine cables, However, I still believe all cables are system dependant, I also enjoy reading Dave's cable journey, I bet his system is incredible!
Jmcgrogan2 , I have been unable to try CT1's between amp and pre as my power amp is balanced inputs only , however , I did find a big difference when using it on my cd player and phono stage , some have said that the best improvements are gained by using the cable ( at least initially ) early in the chain , while I have seen some other posts that state the biggest improvement was with the speaker cables . Like anything , it would be system dependent and also what cables are being substituted . I have one friend who tried CT1E and after initially being enthusiastic he eventually found the cable to introduce some long term listening fatigue and decided to stay with his Kondos , which aren't exactly a lower tier cable .
Judyazblues, I was already getting industry accommodation pricing before I agreed to reviewing. Is that the dirty side of audio and everything else? You are wrong, however, about accommodation pricing. Generally, it is 50% off but sometimes it is as low as 70% off or as high as 20% off.
I know of reviewers who get permanent "reference" pieces forever. I have no such pieces and would never have any. I should say, however, that sometimes it would be nice to have more than one pair of speakers, etc.
Mind you, that this thread is for enthusiasts of the HFCs, no one else need be following it if you lack interest. How about going a flying a kite?
Judyazblues....looking at your other posts on the various forums i see nothing but negative comments that put either someone or something down...what a sad life you must live.The reality is that your opinions,are, on this forum and the others you have posted on , totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand.
The interesting thing about Jmcgrogan's Tara Labs, The one Interconnect,His cable does not have the HFX grounding station Tara supplies with the version of the one they sale today,, he also does not have the jumper cables that ARE suppose to be used with the cable, when you use the jumper cable to connect to the pigtail wires that come out the cable to the grounding station, the sound is improved with much more body to the sound, and deeper bass that is defined and very taunt, vocals become extremly more realistic and natural as well too, that said, I know that the ct-1 cannot compaire to the Tara labs The one if used correctly, the jumpers are entirely part of the sound of the cable, I have personally done many, many, test over the years with The Tara grounding stations and the jumper cables from all sizes to useing none, before you ask, YES, I have listened to the ct-1 cable, cheers gentleman.
Interesting how this very long thread is really based on comments from about 5-6 people.
So, I will try to add some variance.
I just purchased a used CT-1U Digital cable.
First impression: It has a lean sound compared to the HiDiamond Reference cable. The HiDiamond cable is a Balanced XLR cable while the Hi Fidelity is RCA.
So, I am not sure how long it will take for this "used" cable to hit its stride, but I really hope it gets better.
@chris_launder. I think you should at least go up to the ultimate. The high fidelity ultimates sound good as well. They would probably make you weary happy. The high fidelity ultimate reference speaker cables and interconnects are astonishing in my system. I think you owe yourself the ear joy. @Ddraught. I just ordered a duke Pearson cd "Right Touch". I can't wait to get it. It's going to sound amazing with the veloce and high fidelity ultimate reference.
Chris_launder, while I agree with Ddraudt that every step in the HFC cabling has been a big improvement, I still vividly remember putting the first 1.5m CT-1 original and being in utter amazement at the top end and speed. Nothing had ever rivaled this.
My decision on which HFCs to bring here was bad as I only brought one pc, assuming that I would use it from the wall to the ac filter, but my ac filter uses a 20 amp pc! I am using the HFC on the amp.
On the matter of views, at 8750 feet, I am still below the tree line, but I have already seen three elk and a few deer. But my room is quite small. Were it not for the Zilplexes, I would really have a problem with being here, which would upset my wife.
Chris_launder, Yes, every step up the HF line is amazingly better than the next. The HF power products are equally as astounding. UR series cannot be imagined or described with overused words. Listening is the only way but if you listened, you may have to make a tough choice between HF and Wife. For good or bad- I have no wife, my cars is 10 years old and my kitchen is 30 years old- but I have all the HF goodies. ;-) Looks like you have a sweet sounding system, Great! Enjoy!! I have no name brand components to speak of as I'm into custom built. I will try the HF amp when it comes out. D
Ddraught , wow , all UR series , I haven't gone to that stage yet , just a mixture of CT1 & CT1E's , I would be divorced if I bought UR series before a new car and kitchen ........ In my system ( VPI TNT & VPI arm , Clearaudio cartridge , ARC Phono 6 / LS27 / REf 150 & Wilson Sasha series ones ) the CT1E interconnects were a big upgrade in themselves , I shudder to think what the UR's would do ........
@Tbg , if that combo works , then enjoy . I bet you have some great views from your listening room . Inexpensive speakers connected to some great stuff downstream can really sing , I've had the experience myself . During one of my ' lets simplify and downsize ' stages I was running the original Thiel SCS speakers in piano black hooked up to an ARC CA50 integrated and a VPI TNT , sometimes I wish I had stopped right there and spent the money on vinyl and seeing the world .
Chris_launder, I enjoyed you post, nice story- thanks! I've been selling all I can for years to get more and better HF Cables. I've got all UR series in my system now and have all levels of HF stuff to move out. Enjoy the music! D
Chris_launder, apocryphal or not, this is much like my experiences with the HFC gear. It is really something when one has a $1790 dac with $6900 ics and a $13,575 pc and loving it.
I am at my small home in the mountains of New Mexico with $2200 speakers, $1000 speaker stands, basically worthless H-Cat amp and preamp, two discontinued Stillpoints component stands with pipes to make a rack, 5 Exemplar Audio Portal pcs, and a 10 x 13 x 10 listening room along with 1 HFC URR pc, a pair of HFC UR speaker wires, and 2 pairs of HFC UR ics. My source is a new Empirical Audio Legacy music servers with about a T bite of cds, and DSD files from sacds all playing in double DSD. I would say this is a very mixed bag.
I have been following this thread almost since inception but don't believe I have chimed in as yet . I think my 1st venture into cables was some Tocord speaker cable in the late 70's , progressing through early Monster cable , Audio Research Litzwire etc etc etc for about thirty or so years . A couple of years ago I tried CT1's between my CD player ( a Unison Research Unico ) and my preamp ( ARC LS27 ) , swapping over from Harmonic Tech MagicLink 2's , which I consider an excellent cable . A relative was doing some domestic stuff in the kitchen and they stopped and said ' what's different with the system ' ? , I'm trying some different interconnects , I said . How much are they ? , 'Well , I replied , to re-cable the system I would have to sell my aging BMW ' . Do it ! , they replied . and I did .
Calvinj, love your descriptions of the HF UR stuff! I know exactly what you are talking about, I've tried tons of gear over the decades and NOTHING has EVER amazed me more!!! Yes, the sound floats effortlessly out of nowhere, with amazing naturalness, speed and power. I too know Nirvana!
I love batteries and have many in my system. I do a lot of damping, shielding and isolating my batteries as well as custom upgraded "bybee music rails" to reduce battery induced noise. After that…."SWEET"!!! D
@Ddraught. The veloce amp and pre amp stuff is dc battery powered so It does not have any dirty power going to it. Also, I guess with the high fidelity stuff along with it the backgrounds are dead quiet. The sound literally comes out of nowhere.
@Ddraudt. I have been running my system non stop over the weekend and I ran it all day today. I think high fidelity ultimate reference is improving with the burn in. I think the patience of letting them run pays off. I let my wife listen to my system today. She said it was the best I got it so far. Believe me I have tried a lot of stuff. Look at my threads and posts. This edition of the high fidelity ultimate reference has really got me hooked. The speaker cables made a huge difference. The power cord was great as well but the speaker cables had me where I could not sit still today. The pianos where right on point today. When the musicians were rolling the keys it was fast and precise. That is very hard for a cable to do. It did so in a very natural way that was musical. I have had 5 different loudspeakers. 5 different pre amps and about more than 20 different brands of cables and ic' s powercords etc. I have system chased for the last 6 years and today was really satisfying. I have spent countless amounts of green trying to get what I heard today. I understand now when fellow audiophiles feel like they are being jacked around on cables and equipment. However, today my room was filled with organic yet detailed natural musical sound. I'm very happy to have had this experience today. The high fidelity ultimate reference cables with the veloce amp and pre was a game changer for me.
@chris_launder. I understand how you feel but when you try as many cables as I have and you find something like this that knocks you off your feet. I spent so much money and time searching for something different and that can give the music in spades. I'm listening to the veloce pre amp and amps with high fidelity ultimate reference cabling and I just had the best listening session I've had in my life to this point. If they were not good I would just say so. They are on now with the brad mehldau trio and it's a lot of fast drum work piano and complex jazz rythyms and this system is delivering in spades. I'm excited about what's coming out the speakers. As audiophiles it's exciting to enjoy getting to the mythical audio nirvana. I believe I got there today. I know people may say that I am a cheerleader for these cables but they frickin get the job done. You should try them. I spent so much time and money in this hobby. I have never had something deliver this well. Transparency, detail, weight, speed, soundstage. All check marks. I understand how someone could say yeah right but I'm here and really about what I'm hearing. Thanks to the veloce amps and pre and the high fidelity cables ultimate reference series. @Ddraudt. I understand how you feel. I'm in a serious jam session as I write this post. This is amazing. The ultimate reference gave the music more weight than in the past without losing transparency or detail. @audiolabryinth. I had to use one balanced interconnect so I'm using tara labs the one and it is doing real well in my system. The demo system is veloce pre amp veloce amps. Speakers are vienna acoustics beethoven baby grand se. High fidelity ultimate reference speaker cables. 1 High fidelity ultimate reference interconnect. 1. Tara labs balanced the one interconnect. Parasound cd1 CD player. I'm in a happy place musically right now. There is a whole band in my living room right now!!!
Chris_launder, Hi and welcome. I agree with CalvinJ's statement last week that HF speaker cables work with any speaker. Also, each step up the High Fidelity line is surprisingly advanced over the next. These are not cables in the traditional sense and they produce music like I never imagined. Every level is a new world. each successive level has an order of magnitude strong magnets. part cost for each level is almost an order of magnitude more expensive too.The CT-1 has qualities better than most cable brands. the "E" is more refined, with better…. everything! at Ultimate, the is a huge jump in quality, unbelievably good, (really) and one would be hard pressed to fine any cable as satisfying and "real" (I've not heard better brands). the Ultimate Reference must be heard because words can't adequately explain what the experience is like. ( I've tried) Adding power cords and filters from High Fidelity create, yet again, an exponential increase in sound quality. Yes, I would exercise my "audition option" and try any HF you can afford. Warning... it is extremely painful to listen to the ones you can't afford and to have to give them back. Enjoy!! D
Congrats are in full order to you Ddraudt for the HF urr power cord, I also enjoy your enthusiasm, you remind me so much of myself with my journey with Tara labs cables, do not ever change, your post enlighten my day, thankyou.
@DDraught. I totally understand I finally put the high fidelity ultimate reference speaker cables in last night with the veloce amps and pre and with high fidelity ultimate reference power cord. It was mind blowing. I listened to music for about 4 hours straight today. It was special. I think these cables work with speakers at any level.
Has anybody run the High Fidelity Speaker cables with Wilson speakers ? I'm running my CT1's with Sasha series one and it sounds quite satisfactory , thinking about auditioning the CT1E's .
URR day 3 WOW WOW WOW!!! 30 hours of play time and I find myself just trying to relax and be as open as possible, as this miracle of sound washes over me. I can lean full into the triumph of tone and texture and too many additional attributes, like never before. The grit and grind and soul of the music is there, like never before. Wow! I have some friends over and collected utterances during the music. Maybe they will help with the understanding. "god" , "Yeah", "Wow", "incredible", "Amazing" were words repeated every few minutes. "I didn't even know those sounds were in there", " It's Unbelievable!!" "This is 10 times as good!!" "The speed is amazing!" "so solid, powerful". "The old was fuzzy and buzzy compared to this". "It is, at once, both the finest detail and the most solid image imaginable". "the artists work Shines!!" "Tone and texture unraveled and revealed." "Each tune a Musical Journey" "It's NOT like listening to an audio system" " It's a tipping point where the sum is so much more than the parts." "That instrument finally sounds right." Cymbals or so solid" "It handles complicated passages and dynamic shifts so well." "It's like being part of the performance!" There is a totality, a wholeness, an impossible realness to it" "The music floated me away!" "Air and space, OUTstanding!! "I can't describe it… they gotta just hear it!!"
I have been following this thread since it's inception, mostly due to my interest to upgrade from CT-1 to E or U cables; and after numerous unbridled laudations by Ddraudt, I must say the comments are losing credibility. Each incremental move in the cable chain has been proclaimed and celebrated as the ultimate in music reproduction. Can it get better? Not until the next upgrade. I appreciate Ddraudt's enthusiasm, but for me, this expression of reverence hints at excessive glorification...
"At 9 hours I put the old cord back in and UGH!!! pretty awful!"
Sorry, no intention to offend you Ddraudt or any other followers of HFC, but please take in account that over the last two years the extolling is threatening to become saccharine and insipid.
CalvinJ, I Agree that Ricks cables are different and superior to conventional cables and I like your descriptions of the sound. A glorious sound to be sure as the HF cables usher in a new era in music reproduction. But how do we describe this new era to ones who have not heard??? I'd say 600 hours was the break in time for the speaker cables if they are the first magnetic cables used as speaker cables. The UR spk cable sounded great very soon as I had had the Ultimate spk cable in for 6 months. It will be interesting to hear how the improvements present themselves over time in your system. Another interesting fact is how Ricks power cords make the same or even more miraculous an improvement as his signal cables. I sent in my first report on my URR power cord yesterday (6/27) but my posts often take several days to appear. Very Happy Listening to you. D
@tbg@Ddraught. I put the high fidelity ultimate reference full loom with one power cord. I'm using the veloce pre amp and amp and is flat out a glorious sound. @audiolabryinth. I had to to use one balance tara labs on the veloce amp lol. @tbg @Ddraught. What is the break in time on the speaker cables. The speaker cables just went in tonight and I am like wow. Rick really did it with this stuff. The speed and naturalness is off the chain. The drum work is flat out mind blowing. The response on multiple drum hits is unlike anything I have ever heard. The decay of cymbals is like floating mist. The soundstage is deep and wide. His cables are just different from the rest. Genius!!!!!!
HF URR PC report Thursday morning my High Fidelity Ultimate Reference Rhodium magnetic conduction power cord arrived. Hooray !! plugged it in to my filter (HF - UR- WGPC) at 9 am and let it warm up, break in , settle down for 4 hours play time. It was definitely a purer sound with improvements everywhere but still sounded a bit tight. At 6 hours it was sounding more relaxed and at 8 hours even more so. At 9 hours I put the old cord back in and UGH!!! pretty awful! So back to the URR… AAH!! Much Better! The URR handles complex passages better and more dynamics too. The tones are richer and fuller, the background quieter veils removed my friends,, veils removed! more natural sounding. I hear deeper into the music. intriguingly real…. Friday 15 hours of play time (plus amp on idle at night) Wow!! it has really changed rhelms today. Evaluations are hard because I’m moved to sing and dance about with the music.;-) It’s so good! Even music I didn’t care for sound good now as if the performers learned how to sing and play better!?? Shocking to discover just how much wonderful magic is lost in ordinary power cords. My integrated amp seems to work better now as increases in volume now sound more like an increase in detail and dynamics, rather then just louder. Tried my old power cord again, after warn up it sounded very good. BUT.. WOW... was going back to the URR is amazing! Truly AMAZING! I can tell the are the same songs but OMG how they’ve changed. It’s like an Ultra High Def compaired to standard braodcast. Much More than just better in every aspect, the URR is in a different Galaxy! The whole musical show is so much more present in the room. Gone from the blackest background to NO background at all. Moved from a very solid image to Too real an image to be called an image. Yes Friends, I’m having trouble giving an analogy because A.) I’ve never experianced anything like this before. and it’s a good bet no one has... B.) No mear words would let you know what I’m hearing. I mean, what does “ SO TOTALLY BETTER THAN ANYONE COULD DREAM POSSIBLE” do to describe the sound? Saying A is much better, and that B is way better, would keep it in the vasinity of normal worldly improvements. No matter how much better that better can be, it would fall far short of describing this total quantim shift in musical reproduction I have witnessed. Perhaps I’ve said everything and nothing but you would have to experiance the URR to know it. Dangerously good and worth every penny! Cheers D
Thanks Tbg, Makes sense to me to use it with my HF- UR- WGPC but i'll be trying it in different places and on different systems in time. what do you think the break in time is for the URR pc? D
Ddraudt, where are you going to first put it? In my first experience I put it on the HFC WGPC. It was shocking after an hour and a half. You will hear less noise and more detail, like the decay of notes. On individual components it will make them louder as the crap on your ac line is removed.
Shipping notice!! My HF URR power cord ships today! I'm very excited!! I've be anxiously awaiting this Jewel and am now more anxious. I've heard the URR is too good to believe and my system is already so un fathomably amazing that I am awed every time I play anything!! What new vistas await? How does inexplicably good get way better?? Stau tuned. D
Calvinj, I have no tube amps. I would expect, however, that they too would be improved. I do have an Exemplar XP-2 tube preamp as well as one of their tube output Oppo 105s and both were greatly improved with every step from the original CT-1s to the Enhanced to the Ultimates to the Ultimate Reference. My experience is more limited with the HFC pcs.
@everyone. I have listened to the High Fidelity best cables and they are in my opinion very special. Cutting edge because of how many different cables I have listened to. I will talk to anyone on the threads. I welcome all suggestions of cables that compare. I am so impressed with high fidelity ultimate reference. It is currently in my system on demo right now. I have to admire a cable company that is confident to know that if you put it in you are hooked and you won't want to take them out!!! They are that good. @ u know who. I might be blind but I will be happy as long as my hearing doesn't go. Lol. I want this audio bliss to continue. Lol. @audiolabryinth. I listen to post and I read and comment sometimes. I think you shouldn't care what people say. I think you should save your ears for the music. Try some of this High Fidelity ultimate reference and you will never be the same. I'm happy with my sound. I will talk to anyone and everyone on the thread. We get it. Tara labs does it for you. I wish you could try this High fidelity ultimate reference stuff. Just flat out naturally good. I have heard audio systems that retail at more than 200,000 bucks. I love this hobby and I love when a product does something special. This cable does that. I also understand that we have our preferences and we spend a lot of time in this hobby comparing things. Continue you to be who you are and talk to who you want where you want. Talk about what you want. @tbg and Ddraudt. The high fidelity power cords caused a big jump in performance on my amplifier. Has that been your experience?
TBG, I have listened to some HF cables before, It was not my idea to say anything about any cable, but when calvinj said what he said, I knew he has not ever listened to any Top Tara Labs cable models before, we talk on the phone alot to each other, and he directed his post to me, there is nothing wrong with responding to him, that is all I wanted to do, I am sorry for offending any one here, cheers.
Hi ALL, someday someone will compare the top of the two lines to give us at least one opinion the includes HEARING them. I check in on another threads where folks constantly talk about products they have no experience with. sometimes it's funny but mostly this mental masterbation is annoying. I think audio labyrinth is ok, I like him because he understands High end buying ext. but without hearing the HF cable put this friend out of the picture in these discussions. Keith, I hope you get to hear HF UR some time or at least a power cord so you have some idea of the technology difference that I call game changing. You most likely hope I hear what you love also. bottom line.. enjoy the music D
Audiolabyrinth, so what does someone who has never bothered to hear the HFCables contribute to a thread obviously focused on these cables. I must admit that I largely ignore your posts as not relevant or of interest. At this time only the Crystal Absolute Dream cables hold any interest for me despite not only being expensive but outrageously so. Would I bother to listen to them? You bet, as I once listed to a $350,000 amp and similarly I also spent a good deal of time in the Perfect 8 suite listening to $350,000 speakers.
Thanks calvinj, No calloway, calvinj, I made a reply to you when you called me out on this thread, that's all I was doing, I do not desire to elaborate about other cables on this thread, we have a thread for that, The peoples thread, where you can talk about anything, any cable brand, etc..., you are welcome to talk about the high-fidelity cables there as well, The thread is the Tara Labs cable thread, I am not the op here, so I respect that they do not want to know about any other cable but High-fidelity cables on this thread, Kinda strange to me, It's a pleasure to talk with you calvinj, you are one of my best audio buddys out there,cheers to you my friend.
@audiolabryinth. I welcome all views of other cables that compare. I'm glad you give us your opinion as well as comparisons to the high fidelity. I'm sold on the effect that it had on my system. I think high fidelity has some cutting edge technology and performance. However, you are welcome to tell us about other impressions of cables. You really should try the high fidelity and compare them with the tara labs.
calvinj, In the pusuit of Happyness of audio, If it works for you, That is the main purpose, To satiesfy yourself, after all, It is your money, and at the end of the day, It does not matter what anybody says, I am glad you found a product that is good for your system, after all that the both of us have been thru, you deserve it, cheers.
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