Very quiet. Tremendous resolution.

Design of cable results in a cable that is rather fat, inflexible and clumsy through the better part of its length.

I second the review of this tonearm cable by John Fox. I have not auditioned a lot of tonearm cables, but I have done my fair share of using and auditioning interconnects and speaker cables of surpassing reputation and price. Swapping the Silver Breeze for my previous tonearm cable (Graham's best silver lead) produced as clearly obvious an improvement in the sound of my system as any cable swap I have ever heard.

Simply put, this tonearm cable is extremely quiet (one of its main design goals) and passes along a ton of information in a what to my ears is a very neutral and unassuming way. I have waited a while and listened a lot before writing this review in order to make sure that my initial reactions to the cable would not change. The cable has improved somewhat over many hours of listening, but my reaction and fundamental opinion of the Silver Breeze has not changed. It does an outstanding job of transmitting information, and as a result, it makes the whole presentation of my analog system dramatically more realistic.

It is not a cheap cable by any means, but in comparison to some of the more renowned interconnects on the market these days, the Silver Breeze was much more than a worthwhile acquisition for me, especially given the degree of improvement in my system that it produced. For me, it was a bargain.

The cable can indeed be a little awkward to use, but the proprietor of Silver Audio, Max Kreifeldt, is a willing and helpful person to deal with, and if you'll take the time to make careful note of the physical (logistical) requirements for your tonearm cable before ordering, Silver Audio will make you a cable that suits your situation. I goofed up, and gave Max incorrect information the first time out. He fixed the problem and altered the configuration of the cable to fit my needs at no charge. I mention this because potential buyers should know that although this not a great big company, it is good one, which in my experience has been responsive to its customers' needs and a pleasure to deal with.

There is always something we feel that will make little or no difference to the improvement to our audio system. For the longest time I thought audio cables were in this category until I heard what a huge difference the interconnect made between my line stage (ARC LS5 II) and amp (ARC VT130). I had hoped to hear a similar improvement between my phono stage (ARC PH2) and the LS5 II. But with all my efforts to try various interconnects here, the differences were minimal at best.
After I had great success with the Silver Audio Silver Bullet 6.0 interconnects, I contacted Max K. to find out if his new phono cable, the Silver Breeze, might be worthy of a trial. As I told him on the phone at the time, I really expected a minimal improvement but he was so enthusiastic about this product. I figured for a 2-week trial, what have I got to lose.

I have been using the ARC balanced tonearm cable since April 95. The rest of my system is a Linn LP12/Ittok/Grado Sonata and Maggie 3.3 speakers. Max also loaned me his new Apassionata interconnect cable for the PH2 and LS5 link (replacing the Silver Bullet 6.0) and his Silver Symphony 48 speaker cables. I use the Cardas Golden Cross between the LS5 and VT130.

Initially I thought that putting so many new and unfamiliar cables in the system at once was a bad idea, but I wanted to give the Silver Breeze a fair chance at showing its true colors. But I started with the ARC tonearm cable and got my ears adjusted to the many new system changes. There were clearly improvments brought on by the system from the Silver Symphony 48's and the Apassionata cables, but for so much money for these cables I expected more.

After an hour or so of listening, I replaced the ARC tonearm cable with the Silver Breeze. Only one other time have I been so blown away with a cable swap - when I tried an NBS Master in place of a Straightwire Virtuoso or Audioquest Diamond interconnect. For all you cable skeptics out there, there are cases where a cable swap can be as dramatic as anything else in a system. The Silver Breeze was one of those times.

With the Silver Breeze there was so much more resolution in the trebles. The decay of cymbol crashes, clarity of the brushes and the ability to hear so much detail in the percussion was like I had never heard before. It was so difficult to notice the other improvements brought on by this cable because I was hearing a wealth of information I had not been familiar with before. It was not at all a matter of brightness nor fatique, just simply resolution. The naturalness and musicality improvements are hard to describe here and yet this is what the cable's strength was all about.

I had to try some other less high-frequency intense material so I could center on any other qualities brought on by this cable. Piano and female vocal had a harmonic richness and bloom with the Silver Breeze that the ARC had been masking all that time. Tonality of the piano strike was so much different too. You could much better hear that two piano keys were struck rather than only one. I was simply unprepared for such an improvement - and all this for $400! Simply incredible.

This cable is simply the best value of any component currently in my audio system. For all of you phono followers out there, you are missing so much
with your stock cable, especially you Linnies. I had to put my LP12 on tiptoes
to use the Silver Breeze but that is a good idea anyway.

And remember my comment on the minimal improvements with the Silver Audio Apassionata and Symphony 48 cables? With the Silver Breeze in the system, these other cables were finally able to show their special magic as well compared to what I had been using. I will review these two remarkable Silver Audio products soon too.

I learned once again that until you get out all that wealth of information from the source, you can't expect the rest of the system, electronics, speakers or cables to make up for the loss.

Every phono based system will benefit greatly with the Silver Breeze. I suspect there are few if any others that can compare. And if they can, such as the NBS or Transparent (which I doubt), they will easily be 3 times or more the cost.

Well done Max. I am tempted to give this only 4 stars even though it deserves 10. From what I have seen with Silver Audio's progress the last 2 years, Max will most likely take the tonearm cable to another level so I would like to reserve the 5 stars for that, but then again, this is a statement product if there ever was one....and thus a 5 star rating.