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amplifier. The same would be true of other cables that are “semi-balanced,” or (more accurately) pseudo-balanced. There are four 3T interconnects, named respectively The Valley, The Rock Hybrid, The Hill Hybrid, and The Mountain Hybrid. Thus this one is second from the bottom. It is, however, far from being an entry-level cable, with a price of $695. A balanced version with XLR connectors is offered at the same price. There are also 3T loudspeaker cables. The price doesn’t buy you a full metre, however, and that presented a problem for us. Still, with a little adjustment we used The Rock to connect our phono preamp to the reference preamplifier in our Omega system. That would put The Rock up against our newest reference cable, the $1500 Atlas Mavros. VdH 3T “The Rock” Unfair? Well, that’s what having a reference is all about! And there is a 3T cable of about that price if that’s the way you roll. structure, and therefore has no crystal In the past we have criticized Van den in Europe at least, A.J. Van boundaries. Hul cables for their connectors, which den Hul’s eponymous com- Now, not all critics can be made to made rather loose contact with anything pany is known for a wide agree that there is an actual problem we attempted to plug them into. As array of audio products, including a full that can be traced to the presence of before, these connectors are composed line of electronics. In North America it’s crystalline boundaries, but a number of a rigid outer shell with what appears famous for phono cartridges, but espe- of cable manufacturers are using Ohno to be a sheet metal collar inside it. We cially for audio cables. Steve Bourque’s single-crystal copper, which allows a tried them on several pieces of gear, and Rendezvous session with A.J. is elsewhere single crystal to be over 100 metres we are pleased to say that the fit was quite in this issue. long. We ourselves are design-agnostic. snug. We can’t comment on their likely Van den Hul cables are not of the There are claims we believe in, not on longevity. generic sort hawked by a growing theoretical grounds, but because we have This was, once again, an all-vinyl number of small and not-so-small providers, sourced from big wire mills seen excellent products made that way. comparison, starting with a new Refer- THIS Van MAGAZINE den Hul makes IS other INTERACTIVE! claims for ence Recordings LP of Rachmaninoff’s overseas. VdH was the first (and, as far its 3T materials, It work beyond in three the ways. advantage Symphonic Dances (RM-1504). As we’ve as we know, the only) company to offer In of the amorphous table of construction. contents, click The on cable’s an article mentioned title, before, this recording is wires containing no metal at all. VdH’s transmission and you are path whisked remains right intact to the even article. notable for its great depth of image, as The First and The Second interconnects In if the list wire of is advertisers bent, something on the second-last not true most page, of Keith O. Johnson’s recordings used carbon filaments rather than the click of many on an an ad expensive name, and high-tech go right to cable. the ad are. itself. The LP is especially strong in that usual copper, silver, or silver-coated And the 3T cable Then is click said on to an be ad, immune department, as is the HRx 24/176.4 copper. We still own a pair and of The your browser to changes will in take temperature, you right as to well the advertiser’s as to version. Web page. Second cables, in fact. Now comes the Remember natural aging. when It you’d should, have so the to circle company little numbers With The Rock the depth was notice- 3T hybrid cable (“3T” stands for True says, last on forever. a card Needless you would to then say, this mail last in? ably shallower, with the result that the Transmission Technology). is not Doesn’t a characteristic that seem we like can a long expect time to ago? musicians seemed closer to us. For that From that name you might conclude test! reason the music appeared to be louder. that the cable is made from three dif- As you can see from our picture, There was still a lot of detail, though ferent materials. In fact its composition the cable appears to have a directional Toby thought there were elements miss- begins with five materials, all metals arrow, but you may want to ignore it. ing, making the long string lines less this time, plus a sixth one, the carbon The cable’s double-braided shield is interesting. The piano had somewhat that VdH has used before. The different connected at only one end, identified by less detail as well. Even so, Toby found materials are blended into an amorphous a sticker that reads “ground end.” That the recording, through The Rock, to be mass which, unlike conventional copper end would be connected to the preampli- “harmonically exciting.” Steve gave it a or silver, does not have a crystalline fier if there is one, or to an integrated mixed rating. “It’s in the same ball park Listening Room Not everyone is aware that, 50 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
as the Mavros, but it’s stuck on second base. For a subscription to the print issue, go to: www.uhfmag.com/subscription.html But you can also subscribe to Maggie’s electronic version: www.uhfmag.com/maggie.html. Re facin henis nisl iustrud enim aute duis dignisc iliscipissi. Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore facipsum esequat. Ut lan veliquat praese facilit lutpat nibh euguero ea feuguer suscing enismod dolorero odiamco rtiscil lamconsequat wismod modion vel ulputat. Utpation utpat augait am, core tisi. An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustrud dunt utet autem quam, sis augue magniam consequat adipis adiam, consed te ming esent loborper iure commodio commodit lum zzriure vullumsan henim iustin utatum vel ilis aut loborperilla feum do odolore commodolore dolore dolesto eu feu feu feuipsu scipit ad molorem ex ero odolobore dolobortie digna conullaor si bla consecte et exerit lum alismolore ming esent vullamc onullan henisl ute core vent volor si. Sumsandre con hent ilit nim nis accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolore ese dolore dolutat, volobore diat praestismod te facilla facil inci blan et aliquis ciliquiscil dignis am quis niamet nisse eniamet, sis nibh eraesen dionum zzrilla feuipis modolut adip euis dolessi. Iquametuerat nullamc ommolore con utatuer ostinit nos eugiam nos adionsed euisi ex eril ilismod te te mod et adionse quissent aliquisi te doluptat ing enit ea alis accumsan velessectem dolorpe rostrud dipis nonsenisi. Iril iure molobor sustismod molore mincilit acing er accum vulput in utat, quat ad eril doloreet lan euismol ortinim digna autpat lobor sectetum quamconulla commy niation sequatie el ip ea augait, consequam adionsectet alis ex exer sum zzriure eugiam iriurerit ad eros dit alit num del ullutpat, sisisl et et volorper si blam, quatem init, consequi bla coreet, vent iriusci bla feu feuipis modolore dolesse conulla feuis adit laor ilit lutpatin el in velisci ncilla facinibh eugait adipit nibh et nis nonsed magna feummod do coreros eugait il ex eugait wisi ex et num quisim aut atum del del Testing Cables This review of the Van den Hul 3T is one of several cable tests in this issue. The ones that follow were blind tests, but this one is not. Which may possibly leave you with questions. Why did you use analog for this test? Wouldn’t high-definition digital have been a better choice? An excellent choice yes, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better. Our vinyl playback system, like indeed our other systems, is of very high level. And we selected recordings of exceptional musical and technical merit. This was a tough test. Why not place the test cable between the preamplifier and power amplifier? The Van den Hul cable supplied was simply too short to reach between preamp and amp on either of our reference systems. We also liked the idea of comparing the 3T to a cable that is commercially available today. Was this a blind test? No, though the cable tests that follow were done blind. Would the result have been different if the test had been blind? Based on our experience we don’t think so. Despite frequent claims to the contrary, differences among cables are clearly audible, and knowing what you are listening to doesn’t make a difference. Doing a blind test with a single cable and a reference is largely pointless, since we know that the test will always begin with the reference. Wouldn’t it be better to have a full set of a manufacturer’s cables rather than just one? Isn’t it true that there is a synergy among the cables of a single manufacturer? A number of manufacturers claim exactly that, and frankly we don’t blame them. Of course they would rather you get all your cables from them, in what will probably be billed as a matched set. But where does the synergy come in? We think each cable should do its job as well as it can be done, or at least as well as it can be done considering the financial constraints. The “synergy” can even be a bad sign. Imagine a speaker cable whose sound is a little on the “zingy” side, whereas the interconnect of the same series has a gentle high-frequency rolloff, therefore “taming” the problematic highs. What you would have in reality is two bad cables. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and don’t get us started on three wrongs. Isn’t it true that, as price goes up, you reach a point of diminishing returns? Sure, and some cables are breathtakingly expensive, but where is that point of diminishing returns? Not everyone agrees. Indeed, we’ve noted that, for many audiophiles, that point is 10% over what they themselves paid. But will you hear the difference between two cables if you don’t have the very best systems? If you do the comparison in a way that will give meaningful results (and we think you could do worse than imitate our method), you might hear a difference on lesser systems, just as you would on a system like ours. However any upgrade will make an audible difference. You wouldn’t use an expensive cable on a moderatelypriced system, not because you wouldn’t hear a difference, but because some other upgrade would in all likelihood make more of a difference. dolobore eros endigniatue dolor secte ex eugiat. Illa corperostrud tisi. Rud doloreet wis alit ut lum in heniscidunt aut ing et lorper sequis non ut ilit lore facilis sequat. Duis ad dolor adiam quatiscidunt praestie er ametummod tat. Agna feuipisl essequis accum in utat. Andigna feuguer sustrud dolore conum ex et enisit prat vulputat iure dunt verit lutpat nullam velesto commolortie dolorpe riurem zzrit, senit nonsequis nibh er sum nim aliquis at accumsa ndrercipsum vent nullam, venis nim ipisim irit num euisis nisl ing elit wis adionullamet praestrud tie consequatue faccum autet, quis aliquat irilismolore exerat acidunt dolesto ex er incilis essim numsandrem. ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine 51 Listening Feedback Room
Page 1 and 2: No. 92 CAN $6.49 / US $7.69 USB DON
Page 3 and 4: Issue No. 92 Cover story: It’s be
Page 5 and 6: THE ONLY GOOD DOG EARS ARE… …no
Page 7 and 8: A note of thanks for your valuable,
Page 9 and 10: 1) Mac Mini ---> Optical TOSLINK ca
Page 11 and 12: about 147 ohms. I was expecting rou
Page 13 and 14: ucts. And finally if the binding po
Page 15 and 16: et amet lore molobor percipit in en
Page 17 and 18: attend press events, some with free
Page 19 and 20: The rest of this article can be fou
Page 21 and 22: Tum veliquat ulpute dolore volore f
Page 23 and 24: erilla adignim num nim am, commod e
Page 25 and 26: Q. What is a home theatre system? A
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Page 29 and 30: have to be careful with it. I regul
Page 31 and 32: Kandy K2 “A neat balancing act, c
Page 33 and 34: Reflex speakers, the most common ki
Page 35 and 36: augait iriliquisim velesse quatet a
Page 37 and 38: tat, suscips ustrud tie vel dolore
Page 39 and 40: equipment stands are wider than mos
Page 41 and 42: THE ACOUSTIC COLLECTION: This is th
Page 43 and 44: The optical connection Up until now
Page 45 and 46: Get UHF from Maggie on your desktop
Page 47 and 48: using the Atlas Opus (now discontin
Page 49: Conclusions That we would recommend
Page 53 and 54: tant, but then they are usually pos
Page 55 and 56: INTERCONNECTS ATLAS HYPER SYMMETRIC
Page 57 and 58: UHF14 POWER BAR Most power bars kno
Page 59 and 60: ed pepper to its music. Felix Hell
Page 61 and 62: We Get Requests (CD) An amazing 196
Page 63 and 64: So you have, or plan to have, a cla
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Page 67 and 68: in which a multipart popular song w
Page 69 and 70: mentor Gustav Mahler, and others, s
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Page 77 and 78: Do your friends have bassier speake
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Page 81 and 82: Working Tools Most of the tools we
Page 83 and 84: Why do UHF readers start reading th

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