Homegrown or Mapleshade

Mapleshade by far, but some idiosyncracies (see website) concerning siting cables...but this is a nobrainer unless money is a consideration. One is a Rolls Royce and the other a Tercel.

I would have to concur with Minniefats, Mapleshade makes the better of the two cables. In addition, the material that Mapleshade uses for their IC's is better than any cable company out there. And the best part about their clearview cable line is that, not only are they cheaper then most high end cable companies, but they are actually better made cables.

Try the Homegrown silver lace. Free 30 day trial. Haven't compared, but the silver lace sound great.

I was pretty hooked on Homegrown until I heard the Clearview. There is a obvious, pronounced increase in clarity with the Clearview. In addition, dynamics and pace are increased. However, you may not like the crystal clear view that the Mapleshade gives you. Do not underestimate the transformation that can take place with Mapleshade. But I am a bit cautious to be giving a recommendation for the Mapleshade since they have an apparently fragile (I am not going to test the jacket, you know what I mean if you have ever seen them) and the fact that the HomeGrown still works better in some areas of my system. Cables have long been referred to as Passive Tone Controls and all of us have our tastes but what really blew me away as to they made major improvements in a lower end second system of mine. I am currently breaking in some Silver Lace. So far the Mapleshade wins in speed, clarity, removes a good bit of the somewhat bloated bass from my B&W 801 s3 and great 3D space (really great and that is compared to some of the best in this area including Magnan Vi and Nirvana SL) but the Silver Lace has more bottom end. The Mapleshade's extended high end can be a bit much at high volumes but I think what is happening is that flaws in the recording is coming through. But I will reserve final opinions after a 100 hr breakend. Both companies produce some of, if not the most, high value in audio cables.

Nanderson: Which model of Clearview are you using, the Ultrathin or the Double Helix? I am using the Double Helix digital IC in combination with Homegrown Super Silver analog IC's right now (sounds good) and am considering going to all Mapleshade eventually. First I will need to shorten my speaker cable runs. I will be ordering one of the Mapleshade PC's to try out on my DAC in the meantime.

Hello:i just replaced my older intc's and power cords with mapleshade double helix at $240 and power cord at $150,both
are the best value/performance i've ever had in my system,actually they replaced synergistic research designers reference intc's and black mambas power cords,i needed 5 p/cords and there was no way i was going to pay thousands of $$ on them,so i gave mapleshade a try and was stunned at the quality(very,very neutral),sold my mambas and bought the mapleshades,my decission was not only based on the value side but in quality aswell,they're that good,i personally like what i have now much better than what i had before,my humble opinion is that you really don't need to spend more $$,hope this helps,Al.

Hi Dekay, I am using Clearview Ultrathin. I initially got them (used) just for a lower end system upstairs. I was shocked at the increase in clarity. I run two identical tuners through this system so I was able to a/b them with a click of the source switch. I was not about to take a sub-$100 seriously. But I thought I got rid of my Kimber KCAG for the Super Silvers so why not. I hooked up the Ultrathin on my DAC and was quite shocked at the clarity. I plan on trying the double helix soon. The area I am concerned with the Ultrathins is the apparent shift toward mids and highs, bass is tight and faster but leaner. The Homegrown silvers both Super Silvers and Silver Lace have a less pronounced affect on a particular part of the freq range. I am little scared of getting of going Mapleshade all around for fear of too zippy a high end. But for others that have not hear the Mapleshades rest assured you will likely hear far more detail with these than most any other cables. DeKay what is the rest of your system the majority of system includes B&W 801 series 3 (AP Silver Ovals), Threshold SA4E (PS Audio Lab Cable Power Cord), Audio Research LS3B, Monarchy Dip 24/96, Monolithic Sound Outboard Power Supply for a Link DAC II (Synergistic Research AC Master Coupler to Power Supply), KEF 200c Center Channel (HT Pro 11+ cabling) power by Myryad T60 Power Amp (Silver Lace Interconnect and HT Pro AC PC, Lineaum rears powered by Rotel RB981 with generic 12 guage flat cable (big room 28 feet long, have not decided on what to do with cabling for so long a distance for the rear channels), Audio Reseach SPD1 Surround Processor connected to Threshold with Magnan Vi Balanced ICs and Audiolab 8000t, Aragon 2T4, Roksan Caspian, Pioneer Elite F-93, and Rotel RHT-10 tuners and Toshiba 32" TV hooked up to MSB Upsamling Analog to Digital Converter (again with Monolithic Sound Outboard Power Supply) passed to 24/26 DIP, Pioneer Elite PD-65 used as Transport with coaxial digital first passed to 24/96 DIP (there is more but getting tired of writing).

Hi Nanderson: My current setup in the living room is: Monster HTS2000 conditioner/HT Pro 11 PC/CAL Icon MKII/Mapleshade Double Helix digital IC/Bel Canto DAC 1 -w- HT Pro 11 PC/Homegrown Super Silver analog IC's/Audion Silver Night 300b stereo amp -w- stock cord from the Bel Canto/Kimber 4VS cable in 17' runs (yuck!)/Reynaud Twin II speakers. I also use various inexpensive isolation devices on everything in a swirling evolution at this point. LOL. Your comments back up what I have experienced in regard to detail (not being lost at all) when I added the Mapleshade IC. Other gear that I have also switched out in this setup is: Castle Isis speakers/Musical Fidelity X-A1 integrated amp and HT Truthlink analog IC's. All combos have worked well with the Maplshade digital IC. I have not experimented with many other digital IC's and therefore do not have a lot of comparisons under my belt. I have tried a Canare Pink/Purple IC and a very expensive custom made silver IC (both digital) and neither sounded as good as the Mapleshade in my setup. It was very clear as to which was better. The borrowed silver IC did/does sound better than the Mapleshade though in my friends system, so synergy is at work, as always. I loaned a pair of the Homegrown Super Silver IC's to Carl at this site for evaluation and hope that he will soon post his results. It is impossible to judge what is neutral, but I consider the Homegrown Super Silver IC's to be one of the most "balanced" analog IC's that I have yet tried and I realize that this does not say much either. I am just saying that I do not hear/think about my system's overall balance when they are installed in the chain, which is a good thing, IMO. I am also glad to see Alfred's take on the Mapleshade PC's as this will be my next purchase. So far I have only read one comment in regard to these PC's. I am going to try it on the DAC mainly because I would like to try an extremely "light weight" cord due to the fact that the DAC itself has very little weight. It has been difficult to properly isolate the DAC when heavier PC's are used (the HT PC weighs almost as much as the DAC). Going back to the sonic character of the Mapleshade IC I do see your reservation in going with all Mapleshade cables. I would like to try their speaker cable but it is not feasible to do so with my long cable runs and curiously enough am considering the tiny little brother of your AP cable (the model 12) which is "said" to compliment my Reynaud Twin's by its users. All said and done it is my opinion that both brands (the models that I am using anyway) are clear winners considering their price points. Homegrown analog IC's have bettered much more expensive Kimber and HT IC's in my system. I would love to try the Silver Lace but have very little money right now and need to work on the weak links such as my speaker cable and PC's. I just replaced all of my wall sockets yesterday, but used inexpensive Levitron Pro models (which use copper contacts and screws) instead of the more expensive types that have been mentioned in the past. I will give them a couple of weeks to settle in before I further mess around with cable as I pulled more wire from the wall and clipped 5" off the ends to start fresh. Right now it sounds a little funky. My old sockets had been damaged by a water leak which is why I acted so quickly to change them.

Anyone have mapleshades website address?

Ears: mapleshaderecords.com.