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
Hi Folks, I have been following this thread with great interest and bought 2 MC-0.5 & ordered a Reveal balanced interconnect at the LA audio show. I am so much impressed with the MC-0.5 that I ordered couple more. The IC and 0.5's are supposed to arrive next week. I am wondering what is the preferred location of putting the ICs - Dac to Preamp or Preamp to Amp ?
jmcgrogan2 You are right you did not ask. But felt it need to be said before any body jumped to a conclusion. Celebrity not wanted or needed. Just what worked for me. enjoy Pete
@debjit_g, of course, the answer you didn't want is the suggestion of trial and error because all systems can be different. With that said based on my HFC experience, I'd say Dac to preamp. Remember the interconnects need to stay in place for several days and many hours of use for the full break-in to take place. If you change the location it will be necessary to once again break-in on the different equipment. Also, there is usually a lingering effect of the magnetic conduction (a day or two) when you remove the interconnect etc.
@lak, thanks. yes, since these cables doesn't seem to be very easy to A/B for their settling time and lingering effect (on removal), I just wanted to get an idea which is the one folks are mainly benefiting from...
Does anyone know how much differences is the Ct-1 compared to the Reveal line for balanced ICs ?
@debjit_g, you might find the answer you are looking for by reading the following Audiogon forum: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/high-fidelity-reveal-interconnects (if you have not done so). I don't remember if someone tried both and wrote a comparison, and I don't care to reread all those pages. I truly believe you would get an honest answer if you were phone HFC with that question. Please post if you should get an answer to your question, I know many others would like to know the answer.
@jmcgrogan2, :-) yeah, one can figure that out from their website but as you know I wasn't asking about the price diff.
@lak, thanks, great thread...I will possibly call them next week and ask.
Between, I am finding that the 0.5's have a greater effect when connected to the wall outlet directly. I only have two of them and both are on the outlet splitter (from lowes) into the spare duplex where my SR 10UEF powercell is connected. The HF guys told me at the show the the 0.5 also works well on the SR conditioner. I will try it when I get more next week.
My UR pc has about 35 hours on it now, and the biggest improvement is in the base. At times the sound stage seems to be taller. With voices floating at the top. Between the speakers and some times dead center. the bottom of the sound stage at times is wider out side of the speakers. It really seems to change with what music i play.
I've been enjoying my mc-0.5's in my system and shared a few with a friend and he noticed quite an improvement in his setup as well. He asked me what difference is there between these and the Nordost qv2's. Anybody have a chance to compare the mc-0.5 to a Nordost qv2? I know Nordost doesn't use magnets but from little reading they seem to be trying to accomplish the same thing. Just wondering if anyone has compared the differences in sound and performance.
@t_ramey, you asked a good question regarding the MC-0.5's vs the Nordost qv2's. I'd be interested in hearing from someone that had tried both. Wow! a product that costs more than HFC...(LOL)!
I was told that one qv2 equals about 5 or 6 of the mc0.5's so they could be cheaper when you look at it that way. But after reading this dagago review I'm not sure I would like the qv2 as I don't want to add any warmth to my system.
I owned several of the Nordost QV2's unfortunately not at the same time as the HF MC-05's. The Nordost QV2's did something but I eventually sold them all. The HF MC-.05's in my opinion, improve things much more and I don't intend to sell them. (unless something better comes a long). ozzy
Hey fellas, long time no post. I pulled out my ct1 ultimate interconnect. I had been using clarity cable natural interconnect and its sounds great. However, when I put the ct1 ultimate interconnect back in. The quiet background and the transparency of the ct1 ultimate reminded me of why I got it. Truly a great sounding cable. You Hear through the music all the wAy to where the players are playing. Hope all is well just had a flashback and put it back in and whammo! Thanks Rick you are truly a genius!
calvinj - my condolences. I lost an audiophile friend of 30 years last year. Went to a lot of CES's with him and he was always bringing new music by. Glad you found your way back.
Anyone know whether the burn-in on the MC-0.5 requires music to be running? I assume that since the magnetism is traveling through the power lines that there doesn't need to be an audio signal for them to "settle down" - just hours in the line (?) Just added 2 more and it's sounding pretty rough over the last 3 hours. Probably didn't help that the electric company changed poles/lines at the end of our subdivision and power was off for 5 hours today.
tgun5 Yes they need music playing or something drawing current at where they are plugged into. Power being off did not help. Mine where good right at the start but got better with about 20 hours of use time on them. Some users claim they need 50 plus hours before they sounded good. How are you using them in your system? enjoy Pete
I have two dedicated circuits feeding two duplex outlets. One outlet has a pair of amps plugged direct, and the other a Shunyata V-Ray feeding the pre/CD on one side and a strip of (6) 0.5's on the other.
tgun5 I liked and felt the ones i put on my 20 amp dedicated line feeding my amp gave me the biggest increase in performance. the MC o5s i put on a separate line feeding my pre amp disc player flat screen and sat. box where nice also. I tried some with my PS audio P10 was good, but it was better when i took the P10 out of the loop. Lets us know how they work out for you Enjoy Pete
Can any body compare the High Fidelity UR power cord with the UR Helix power cord? At $3,000.00 different in price, how big of a difference is it? Thanks
@68pete, there is a difference in the music and prefer the UR Helix power cord over the UR power cord, one obtains more of the High Fidelity sound (just like going up the line of any High Fidelity product). Only you will know if it's worth the extra expense...diminishing returns is a word that comes to mind. If possible find a good price on the used market.
Thanks lak for the info, I did jump in and order on a UR Helix PC should be here by the end of next week. i will be able to compare them side by side. For me they are not cheap if there is not big enough difference i will return at the end of 30 days. Enjoy Pete
Well i have about 6 hours on the new UR Helix power cord and its been mixed bag of sound. The positive so far the sound stage got bigger, much wider. The highs seam to be very clear at times a little thin. The negative at times the sound in the mid range is a little bright or thin. The base has a little more punch but it to is a little thin. The first 6 hours little disappointed. My MC6 Hemisphere was the same way and went from ok to poor to good to great. It had a long long break in and finally replaced my PSaudio P10. So i will give the UR Helix PC more time and report back at about the 50 hour mark. I did move my UR power cord that was on my disc player to the pre amp, so i am not sure how this is affecting the sound. I will do a direct comparison later after the UR Helix gets to what i feel is its best. enjoy Pete
@68Pete, Thanks for the update. Once your UR Helix power cord is fully burned in, I'm sure you are going to really like it. Which component did you put the UR Helix power cord on? (CDP?) and what power cord was on your preamp?
Hi lak The UR pc was on the disk player moved to the Pre amp. Which had a Shunyata Alapa Digital pc. The UR HELIX is now on the disc player. All three power cord where purchased new. On my Amp i have a older Transparent 20 amp pc purchased used from a local dealer going out of business. The Transparent pc is much thicker than any Transparent pc they sell today it has 3 large net work boxes on it. Was used in the dealers show room. Enjoy Pete
My UR Helix power cord now has about 65 plus hours on it. The sound is really good. Every few hours now it seams to get better in small ways. Just enough that you seem to hear something a little better sound. The base has more punch the mids and highs are very clean with no hard edges. I thought they where pretty good before adding the UR Helix pc, but they have improved. When comparing the UR pc to the UR Helix pc there is much more of a difference than I original thought there to be.If you like the High Fidelity sound the UR Helix pc will only increase that sound to a higher level. Smoother across the board and not laid back at all with much blacker blacks no hard edges but detailed.
Hey guys, got a question about the mc-0.5's. I'm wondering how long are the lingering effects of the mc-0.5 when taken out of the circuit? I sent a question to HF but was curious to see if any of you have had any experience with this. Does it take several days for the ac line to go back to what it was before the mc-0.5 was installed? I know I've read some comments on how its hard to evaluate changes when plugging and unplugging HF products because of the lingering effects of the magnets. Just curious to know if anybody has a good handle on how long those effects last.
Hello t_ramey Comming at your question from a little different angle. I have lots of MC O5s in my system. I have not removed them from the wall plug that they are plugged into. But when i was on vacation for about a week i did unplug all my gear from the wall plugs. So no power connect any where to my gear. When returning and plugging everything back in there was a noticeable difference in sound (not for the better). It took about 6-8 hours of playing before the sound started to get better. 24 hours of play time to get it where it was before my vacation.
calvinj I can not speak to your Sonny5400 es Sacd player. But any part of my system that i add the High Fidelity stuff to made a improvement. From Esoteric gear to Oppo, Mark Levinson, Aragon , Onkyo. Samsung tv, Dish sat. box. I would recommend a High Fidelity power cord to go with your disc player or try and get 3 MC O5s on the same plug as your disc player. High Fidelity has a 30 day money back return policy. If it does not improve the sound to your likeing send it back. Enjoy Pete
@limniscate; When you purchase HFC they usually come with a small container of a putty like substance (think Silly Putty) that you imerse the RCA into and then pull it out. It acts as a cleaner because the magnects pick up debree that can cause what you are describing.
This was brought to
our attention and although we typically do not post or comment on forums I
thought we can shed some light that will help you and others not only now but
in the future.
The "best place" to pose a question like this about product issue's
is direct to the manufacture itself, part of the support the offer is product
service where daily people can and do ask questions about products that are
answered by the people who make the product.
The contact information including e-mail and phone number is typically on the
website's contact page.
In this case the service dept. will lead you to a video that covers this topic
and can also arrange to have the cable brought back in for a free check and fix
any issue if you do not find a quick "do it yourself" fix.
I would like to clarify that we like most manufactures do not use social media
or forums as a way to communicate to sales or service personnel.
In fact typically we do not watch them at all and would generally never be able
to know you even had a issue. We love to help and hear from people so we're
truly sad if they do not contact us.
We do not typically look at forum posts or even know they exist, that is for
the public so we also do not reply to comments here if we start it may become
an expectation as we have seen a little on Facebook. So if you or "anyone
else" has a comment or question regarding this comment or anything HFC
related to service or sales please contact us directly. Happy
listening!
HFC Customer service
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