Listening Notes
Audio/HiFi, Cameras/Photography, Music... From Vienna, Austria
Friday, June 14, 2019
Duelund CAST PIO Hybrid Copper-Silver (Cu/Ag) Capacitor Review
I currently own two pre-amps. K&K Audio's Mir Line Stage Pre-amplifier, which is a recent addition and I intend to write about it in the near future. And Audio Note Kits (now ANK Audito Kits) L3-Pre. with Audio Note UK HiB C-core output transformers. I have been using the L3 for almost 9 years and I have made many upgrades. Almost all electrolytic capacitors are Blackgates, resistors are AN-UK and Tantalum resistors, stepped shunt attenuator etc. As to the coupling film capacitors, I have tried, Audio Note UK Silver Foil, VH Audio CuFT then Duelund CAST PIO Copper (Cu). The most recent upgrade was to change this coupling film capacitors to Duelund CAST PIO Hybrid Copper-Silver (Cu/Ag).
I presume most of you found this page would already know but this so call hybrid capacitor is internally constructed with two capacitors: a main copper foil capacitor that is bypassed by a small silver capacitor potted together. As my impression of Cu/Ag would build upon my impression of Cu, let me first quote what I wrote about it in my website a few years ago (full text here).
" Immediately after the installation, those capacitors sounded a bit-off but never too harsh or too bright. It had a strange tonal balance as if one has gone creative using an equalizer. After a few days of breaking in, the sound truly blossomed. What struck me first was the sound texture of music instruments. I was listening to drum solo in the Tommy Flanagan’s “Overseas” CD and the tum tums sounded incredibly real. I was able to clearly hear the resonating sound of the body of the string instruments, especially cellos and acoustic guitars. Saxophones and trumpets sounded warm and brassy. Human voices are very real with warmth and sounded holographic for those CD that are exceptionally well recorded. Classical and many genre of Jazz recordings sounded closer to the way I am used to hearing them in live performances than I have ever heard from my system. Highs are smooth and extended and lows are weighty, deep and tuneful."
What I notice improvements with Cu/Ag over PIO Cu in my system was the increase in the level of details retrieved from recordings. In addition, it improved PRaT (Pace, Rhythm and Timing) factor. As a result, I felt the overall reproduced illusion of presence and reality of singers and musical instrument have improved. I also noticed, slight improvement in high frequency extension which added to the sense of space. The overall tendencies and characteristics of the sound of Cu/Ag are on the same direction with the Cu adding incremental but notable improvements.
If you are considering using Duelund capacitors and do have the budget and space in your equipment to install, I would whole wholeheartedly recommend to consider Duelund CAST PIO Hybrid Copper-Silver.
Well reputed review of capacitors : http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.
Duelund Website : http://duelundaudio.com/cast/
Friday, December 23, 2016
VH Audio V-Quad™ Cu 24 Review
(Source: https://www.vhaudio.com/) |
Hello, thank you for finding my brand new Blogger page. While I regularly post to my Japanese (my native Language) blogger site, I decided to add an English Blog page, hoping to reach wider audience. The blog will mainly focus on my hobbies: Audio/HiFi, Music an Cameras/Photography.
My first post will be on about a pair of cables made with V-Quad Cu24 bulk cables from VH Audio Inc. (https://www.vhaudio.com/) that I have been using for the past year and a half.
Introduction
I have been an avid fan of DIY wires/cables from Chris VenHaus' VH Audio. (Read more about on my home page here: https://www.higas.net/audio-hifi/audio-reviews/vh-audio-diy-cables/ About a couple of years ago, Chris introduced two new bulk cables, V-Twist™ Cu24 and V-Quad™ Cu 24. I was intrigued by the latter since at the time I was looking for a good cable to use between my turntable and step-up transformer. I knew that the star quad geometry is effective in rejecting noises (RFI/EMI) because it concentrates the electric field towards the center of the conductor bundle. I had yet to find a pair of 'fully shielded' cables that I like the sound of. I used VH Audio's Pulsar Cu inter connect cables in the past only to be replaced with DIY cable using the VH Audio's Spectrum Cu (a predecessor of the V-Twist™ Cu24) for the sound that I much preferred. So, I decided to try. The cables were made with Eichmann Silver Bullet plugs.
I first used the V-Quad™ Cu 24 between my DAC and the pre-amp , then later place it between my turntable and the MC-Step-up transformer.
Sonic Impressions
Comparing with DIY Fine Silver IC (Chris VenHaus recipe, VH Audio OCC silver/cotton 28 AWG wires and WBT 0152 AG plugs, between DAC and pre-amp) : Here, I must say that I preferred the DIY Fine Silver better. Both have similar sonic signatures that I like (which I believe is VH Audio’s) but the DIY Fine Silver IC brings out more details, openness/air, wider soundstage, with more natural reproduction of vocals and acoustic instrument while remaining neutral and very musical at the same time with no harshness/brightness at all. At lease a certain part of the difference may be attributed to the difference of the RCA plugs. For more information, please refer to my website here: https://www.higas.net/audio-hifi/audio-reviews/vh-fine-silver-ic/
Comparing with VPI JMW Phono cables (between turntable and MC step-up transformer): For me V-Quad™ brought clearly noticeable improvements. Some words that come to my mind are: open (bit more “air”) , clear but not harsh nor bright, natural sounding but on a warmer side of sonic spectrum, a bit more detail (though not by a huge margin), notable improvements in the lower-mid to lower freq. range (fuller and detailed). Noise rejection sounded as good but VPI may be slightly better due its shield construction.
Until I changed to the V-Quad™ cables, there was something about my analogue playback that was bothering me which I was not able to quite put a figure on. Something that was not quite but almost felt slightly bright/harsh or may be peaky in high-mids to high freq, range but was not clearly discernible as what it may be. Now they are gone. So I am very happy here.
I think V-Quad™ are very musical at the same time are detailed enough to satisfy both of my music lover side as well as my audiophile side but more for the enjoyment of music.
Until I changed to the V-Quad™ cables, there were something about the playback through my analogue set-up that was bothering me which I was not able to quite put a figure on. Something that was not quite but almost felt slightly bright/harsh or may be peaky in high-mids to high freq, range but was not clearly discernible as what I may be. Now they are gone. So I am very happy.
More to come…
I have subsequently upgraded the MC Step-Up to Premium MC Phono Step-Up Kit from K&K audio and RCA plugs to WBT - 0102Cu plugs. Stay tuned!
Note: VH Audio V-Quad and VH Audio V-Twist are registered trade mark of the VH Audio, Inc.
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