@snoopy72
They are absolutely fantastic highly recommended. If you want a cheaper alternative, the Viborg connectors are very good, but not at the level of the Furutech. |
Also, it seems from your post that Rhodium sounds more neutral than the other platings. Ironic, since Rhodium is a comparably poor conductor of electricity compared to gold or silver. |
Hi guys, thanks for your input! The Wattgate plugs, as you guys have said do sound harsh and unnatural.
I am leaning towards getting the FI-46(Gold) or 48 (Rhodium or Silver), due to the NCF treatment. Which one would be the most neutral?? I know the previous poster said that the Furutech gold treatment significantly warms up the sound.
I am still contemplating getting the Neotech plugs, because of the price difference.
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@auxinput...I forgot to ask one thing in the last post. Do you have any experience with the Neotech rhodium plugs? |
@auxinput...would you say that the Neotech gold is also colored towards the warm side of neutral? |
Would you say the Neotech gold plugs are on the warm side of neutral?
Thanks for all your help! |
I have the unplated copper plugs. |
Neutral to me means things sound like the real thing. Voices sound like the person and instruments sound like how they sound if you were sitting next to them. unnecessarily warm comes across to me as muted highs and the feeling like you have cotton in your eyes while listening to the music. Could also means everything is recessed. Bright to me, means harsh highs and very forward upper midrange, usually combined with excess sibilance.
If the Neotech gold have a bit more attack than the Furutech, that is probably a good thing. Now it is just a choice between the Neotech gold or rhodium... |
Thanks for the advice. I was seeing the IeGo plugs as well. Are these any good or are these cheap chinese knockoffs? |
Yes, you're probably right, auxinput. I saw how cheap they were compared to the Neotech and Furutech and was thinking of giving it a go based on price, but then I thought about the usual Chinese quality.
I saw that it uses the Wattgate terminals, which is a blessing and a curse; it is much easier to terminate, but you have to be careful because they do not grip as tightly as the screw type terminals that most other brands use.
I wasn't considering Cardas or Oyaide because they don't use conductors with high electrical conductivity. Phosphor Bronze and Beryllium Copper are not that great. |
Yes, I was actually originally looking at the FI-15, but you said to stay away from the clam shell design, since it is easy to break.
The Sonarquest plugs replaced Wattgate, and I can safely say the Wattgate is GARBAGE.
One of the things that attracted me to the IeGo was the Wattgate-type clamp. It is both a blessing and curse. It makes it very easy to terminate the plug, but it also can be hard to know if the plug is tight, which can lead to it loosening. That being said, I like not having to maneuver the wire around the screw in the screw-type connectors.
The IeGo connectors are 55/pair for the unplated copper. That's hard to beat. Shipping is $20, from Taiwan though, so I am debating buying those and seeing how they are.
The Neotech seems like it may be my first choice, as for the money they are hard to beat. To get the high end Furutech seems outrageously expensive, to me at least. |
Funny you mentioned the Xhadow XLR. I actually bought them after buying the cheap plugs from AliExpress. The cheap plugs were EIZZ. There is also another legitimate company that makes screw type XLR Plugs- ETI. The Xhadow XLR are really amazing! I was worried about the silver plating, because it has a tendency to sound bright and strident, but much to my amazement, they did not sound that way.
One of the reasons I got the Sonarquest plugs, was that it was unplated, and therefore removed that variable from the equation. As I said before, they sound amazing. I am also surprised that a power plug can make that much of a difference, and I am even more surprised hearing people say that the PLATING on a power plug makes a difference! However, I do believe it, because I have heard it myself, after being very skeptical. The Sonarquest plugs were an experiment to see if I heard a difference between power plugs, and at $11/each, if I didn't hear a difference, it's not like I threw away a ton of money. |
That is good to know! I didn't know the Furutech used a design similar to Wattgate. I really like the ease of use of the Wattgate, but the design is very fragile.
You are right about "you get what you pay for." I just got burned buying screw-type XLR plugs from China. They were complete garbage. The screws were either stripped or stuck in the holes. They must have been tapped incorrectly. 3-8 plugs were completely useless and it cost so much to ship back.
I will likely go for either the Neotech or the Furutech. It makes me twitch spending almost $1500 for plugs from Furutech haha. I need 6 plugs. The Neotech sounds like the better deal, overall. Whatever brand I go with I will likely go with Rhodium as apparently it sounds more neutral.
You felt the Rhodium was the more neutral performer? |
So.. I ended up splurging and getting the FI-46 and boy was it expensive, but boy does it ever sound good! I was not expecting much.
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Yes, the sound has softened up considerably. I have had the equipment on 24/7 since Friday. It started off kind of bright and thin. |
