Review: Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition GEN. II Interconnect
Category: Cables
Associated Music:
Patricia Barber Companion Count Basie 88 Basie Street Tracy Chapman New Beginning Golden String Audio Repertory Top 12 In Gold Norah Jones Come Away With Me Luther Kent Luther Kent & Trick Bag Live Diana Krall Live In Paris Hugh Masekela Hope Buddy Rich Keep the Customer Satisfied Sonny Rollins This Is What I Do Santana Supernatural Keb Mo The Phip Collins Big Band "A Hot Night In Paris"
Many of you might remember that in May of 2003 I wrote a review on the Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition Interconnect. Since that time, Robert C. Schult, proprietor/designer, has developed a Midnight Silver Edition Generation II Interconnect.
Since I was thoroughly impressed with the original interconnect and speaker cable, I could not imagine what improvements could have been made. Therefore, out of curiosity, I had to hear the Midnight Silver Edition Generation II.
I recommend you read the original review first (http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rcabl&1052269499&openusid&zzLak&4&5#Lak) to better understand this current review of the Midnight Silver Edition Generation II Interconnect.
The Midnight Silver Edition Generation II interconnects continue to be extremely smooth, fast, neutral and transparent. They don’t favor one frequency over another and continue to be very coherent, allowing one to hear deep within a recording. The Midnight Silver Edition Generation II Interconnects continue to convey the force, speed and robustness of a live music performance (if the rest of your system is capable of handling it).
The improvements I heard, original Midnight Silver Edition vs. the Generation II, are as follows:
1) I hesitate to use the cliche, but the music sounded as if a veil had been lifted. In a very positive respect, the music sounded more forward (but relaxed), as if I had changed my seating at a live concert and moved several rows closer to the stage.
2) The mids and highs were crisper, while the entire spectrum of music was even more dynamic in the area of micro details and resolution.
3) There was more bass slam.
I did notice that while the original Midnight Silver Edition sounded good as soon as I installed them, they continued to improve with two hours of use. The Generation IIs sounded good as soon as they were installed; however, they matured and sounded even better after four hours of use.
When I received the Generation II interconnects, the literature which was included inside of the package stated they were the Generation II. When I compared my original Midnight Silver Edition to the Generation II, they looked identical (although the generation II was an improvement in sound as stated above). I assume in the future there will be some type of permanent marking designating them as Generation II.
Construction of the Midnight Silver Edition interconnects continues to be excellent.
I continue to highly recommend you give the Midnight Silver Edition Original or Generation II a try if you are in the market for interconnects.
Associated gear Parasound C/BD-2000 Belt Drive Transport Dodson Audio DA-217 mkII DA converter / Upgrade to 218 software First Sound Presence Tube preamp / with upgreded power supply Cary Audio Design CAD-2a3 SE Tube amp Bel Canto Evo 200.2 Digital Amp Cain & Cain Abby Speaker with Fostex FE 199 E driver Fostex T90A Horn Super Tweeter Velodyne F-1200x Subwoofer Ridge Street Audio Designs Midnight Silver Edition Interconnects and Speaker Cables i2Digital Interconnect Bass Euphoria Speaker cable Purist Audio Proteus Rev.B Power cord (20 amp IEC) BMI Whale Elite MK II Power cord BMI Shark Power cord Absolute Power Cords Cryogenically Treated #4 VH Audio Flavor Cryo’d power cable 220 Amp Isolation Transformer feeding dedicated sub-panel Equi=Tech 2Q AC Balanced-filter Clear Image T-4 power line isolator DeZorel G2 power line isolator Sistrum Platform SP-6 Rack Star Sound Audio Points/Coupling Disc's Tweak Star Sound SP 004 Sistrum Platforms Tweak Bybee Quantum Force Filters (IC’s) Tweak Bybee Quantum Speaker Filters Tweak Virtual Dynamic Cryo'd # 10 Copper Wire & Breaker Tweak Hubbell’s 5362 Tweak Wattgate 381 Outlet Tweak Furutech Outlet Tweak Acme Silver Cryo’d Outlet Tweak Polycrystal Cable Towers Tweak
Similar products Cardas Golden Reference IC’s and SC. Maple Shade Clearview IC’s Silver Audio Appassionata IC's and Silver Symphony 48 SC. Bear Lab Silver Lighting IC and SC. Granite Audio # 470 IC Audience Au24 IC and SC HMS Topline IC and SC (not the brand new ones they came out with recently). Pure Note Epsilon Reference IC’s and S/C Ridge Street Audio Midnight Silver Edition
Hi Frank. Lak is right...but of course I would say that! I have emailed a few users of the Balanced Gen.IIs. Hopefully, they will post here to help you out. In the mean time, I can direct you to our REVIEWS PAGE. There are comments from a gentleman by the name of Bob Heinatz there that may be helpful however, he has the original Midnight Silver Edition and not the Gen.IIs. The Gen.IIs are better.
Hi, I'm currently using the Gen.II XLR. I don't want to reiterate what Lak has already mentioned, but my findings are very similar. On my system the cables really came into being after three days or so. The mids and highs are smooth, and the bass is firm and articulate. These cables are nuetral and transparent, so much so, that I think I've finally heard what my components really sound like for the first time. Another factor that continues to impress me and worth noting is the clean soundstage. It seems like all the haze and fog around the instruments and performers have disappeared, leaving only the music between the speakers and the listener.
This is my first review on these boards. I purchased these cables in xlr after listening to them almost 1 month. They are as good as reviewed. I was using Synergistic Research Kal phase 2 xlr before. I hear things clearly that I wasn't aware of before. If I switch back cables I can pick up these things, but not clearly. Voices sound clearer and there is less grain. I tried Nordost Quattro Fil and SPM. I found them to be bright in my system. The SPM had about the same resolution as my SR cables. The Quattro Fil had higher resolution but I could't live with the brightness. I tried Audioquest Anaconda and thought they were about the same as the SR cables. I tried the Nirvana SX Ltd and I liked them for there natural sound and resolution but I like the MSE better. I had a request from Robert to try them without the shields. Here is your answer. I like it a lot. The music seems warmer or fuller or just a little more involving. It is just a little leaner with the shielding on. This is the oposite of what I heard with Synergistic Research cable with there active shielding on. I dont understand, but I dont need to I just listen.
System Wadia 830 with JPS digital power cord Ridge Street Audio MSE GEN II interconnect Audio Research VT 100 mk III with Virtual Dynamics Nites power cord Nordost Blue Heaven speaker cables Dunlavy SC III speakers Velodyne FSR 12 sub run off Wadia rca output-main speaker run full bandwith
Now that I've used the Gen II's I can say that they're everything that's been previously said. Although more extension, musicality and added information is there, what I like most is the better defined outlines of the instruments and the blackness that separates them. Along with excellent noise control measures, they provide a sense of depth that's within the L to R soundfield and well to the rear. Definitely different from a bloated, undefined and 'in your face' artificial soundstage.
Robert has done a really good job with these creatures...
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