Rajeev J

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I'm using both interconnects & speaker cable by DH Labs; why? because...
1. when using different brands it is alright as long as the types are similar. such as flat-line, silver plated, pure copper, pure silver wire, and so on... however when using different brands, eventually different types come into play...
2. I have mixed & matched all sorts of cables/interconnects for over 15 years! starting with cheap copper runs to Nordost flat line, audio quest, van den hull, cardas, monster, audio note, chord, cobra and to a more expensive kimber select... guess what? nothing seemed to work right! the sound was always lacking the total picture, the total essence of "just sounds right" factor was missing.
anyway, in all my travels from the UK to USA to Australia, I stumbled across the Air matrix from DH Labs. never used it before, i wonder why? they don't seem to make a lot of noise about their products, no aggressive advertising unlike the others in those so called prestigious audio magazines, i guess that's the reason why i hadn't heard or used them in any of my numerous systems before.
i was so impressed with the air matrix interconnects, that i had to match it with DH labs speaker cable to see whether their would be a perfect mate, so therefore i settled with one of their good cables the Q-10, and what a great choice!
simply outstanding! both the air matrix and Q-10 let the music through as intended, and this is what so many so called high-end cables cannot do! most of those high-end cables i have used were in the price range of just under $500 per pair of interconnects and under $600 for speaker cable, and they never conveyed the level of detail or overall performance compared to what the DH Labs can produce. in addition to this i have extensively auditioned very high-end cables costing three times more than what i paid for the DH labs combination. these interconnects were the nordost top end stuff costing around a grand for a pair of interconnects and spm reference speaker cable which i had the privilage of taking home and using it for over a month. after that time spent with these high-end types the sound i must say was very impressive and so transparent i really wanted to keep these cables. however when i considered the price it was certainly questionable. if you are really going to spend over $2000 to $3000 on a pair of cables and interconnects, you must ask yourself the golden question "is this truly the best money can buy?" you would certainly think so since it is your hard earned money, and you want to make yourself feel better... until you visit a friend who has a relatively modest priced system that uses DH labs in the connections and sounds simply awesome and perhaps close to your mega buck cables! and the price paid was only a fraction of your mega buck stuff!
and now here is the part where you would call your dealer and ask him why? why? why? the hell did i buy that stuff and how much of a margin did he keep...
well, to sort out a long story short if you get my point in what i said above, mega bucks don't make good cable, it is good ideas and innovation together with simple designs that differentiate between good and outstanding!
this is what you will get when partnering the Q-10 with other DH labs cables or similar types/desings of interconnects within the same design principles:
1. a totally transparent reproduction.
2. more open soundstage and more air around the instruments (no congestion like the others) vocals and specially female voice are siimply breath taking. piano, percussion, vibes, drums, horns and bass are reproduced with perfect timbre and tonality.
3. reproduces every musical passage the way it was intended to be.
note: a word of caution: these are very revealing cables and will reveal those horrible recordings that were highlighted in the CD store claiming to be top notch stuff... yea right!
with the DH labs Q-10 and Air matrix interconnects, they can make you listen to your favorites for endless hours and at the same time end your quest for the perfect pair of cables/interconnects that you could possibly afford, and it won't break your bank! which seems to be the trend nowadays with this ridiculous global financial crisis we are experiencing. anyway who cares, as long as you have your favourite music and it sound just right!
associated system:
preamp: conrad johnsoon pv10AL (modified with DH labs rca connections)
power amp: conrad johnson mv60se (with russian svetlana 6550c output tubes)
CD player: Cayin A50T (vacuum tube design with bur brown dacs for HDCD decoding)
speaker system: Magneplanar MGIIIA (manufactured in 1987 and still glorious indeed!)
interconnects: DH Labs Air Matrix
speaker cable: DH Labs Q-10 (bi-wire)
audio rack: Apollo designs (made in UK)
IEC power cords: all Zion power cords used within the system together with a Eichman ac power strip.

*** special note for Magneplanar owners*** I have owned the newer maggies as well when i was back in my home country; owned the MG3.3/R and upgraded to the MG3.5/R, which was the last pair i sold. i have listened extensively to the MG3.6/R their newest one. however, overall in all of magnepan's 3 series models, it is the MG3A that really made a difference in overall performance when it was first introduced in the 80's. since then there have been only minor improvements to the planar ribbons and it's dispersion. infact the MG3A's ribbon element is longer than the newer models... however! there is only one magneplanar speaker that truly stands out as an awesome force of music playback systems the "MG20" now this is what i call an upgrade. this is one hell of a ribbon speaker to own or let alone listen to with the right electronics. apart from that my faithful old mg3A is a true classic in every sense of the word. good luck to all in finding that perfect speaker cable for your system; whiles you will be searching for more than 20 years, why not try the cables from DH labs?...
cheers and have a good one!
RJ

al2098

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $90.00 from Ebay

Summary:
The Q-10 is a great cable at any price, and a remarkable cable for the price. I tried several cables trying to get the sound I wanted from a second system in my home office using NAD electronics. A bi-wire set of Linn K-20 gave great detail and quick response, but the bass dropped off and it was just too bright for my tastes. I had some extra DH-Labs T-14 and it was okay, but seemed a bit distant. The Q-10 delivered an open, transparent sound. Cymbals, triangles had spakle, strings had a proper sheen, and all of this came without the harshness that comes from lesser cables. Bass was tight and tuneful. The Q-10 made the NAD electronics sound much more high end. All in all a very good investment.

Strengths:
Open quality, transparency, lack of "grit" in the treble, good transients, and tight, controlled bass

Weaknesses:
The Q-10 is a bit stiff to work with, but it's worth the extra effort.

Similar Products Used:
Linn K-20, DH Labs T-14, some bargain low end Audioquest, and years ago some Monster cable that was not good.

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Stevenk

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
With so many wire companies claiming they are better than the next. Who do you believe? Maybe an unbiased reviewer could write a clear perceptive to help someone else from getting riped. I hope this helps.

Had these cables (2 - 10ft runs internal bi-wire) for many year, very impress and loved them until I upgraded to better Rotel gear and sampled other products. Q10 is still a fair product but you need to know exactly what you are considering / buying.

Q10's articulates well, smooth, silky, crisp, clear, musical highlights/ outlines come through well, bass runs deep with a little hump in the mid bass, sparkly highs, acceptable details on vocals and instruments, soundstages well but a bit smeared on busy or heavily mixed tracks, transients mostly come through but gentle sounds tend to get darkened away. These transients I speak of are generally found produced by better higher-end gear, a bit like the lights or energy was turned down. Also, they are good at slightly hiding bright grainy problems for mid-fi systems. When I tried to single run of Q10 cable (10 awg) to highs/mids, the music seemed clearer, a bit more detailed and a little louder as if the volume was turned up but still delicate mids and highs were a tad rounded off. Suitable for external bi-wire to a sub-woofer or limited range speaker applications since the bass was good just not the deepest seen in the same price range. Its a great cable for $10us ft, at $14us its average/ below average. I plan on using mine for the rear HT speakers until they are sold.

Strengths:
Can be found in bulk and used for internal-biwire applications. Durable outer cover. It was a fair price step that did beat some products and suitable for my mid-fi gear at that time. Silver coated copper feature is more used for copper protection than improve details. Oxidized silver will sound like copper. Many features also list above.

Weaknesses:
I am more strict on this product perform now, that it is sold for $14us ft, a buck away from a much better product. eg. 9awg Kimber 8TC. Light transients a little rounded off, noticable throughout but more noticable through the mids and highs. Resulting in a silky sound and about a significant 30-40% drop in transparency. A little too short on information transmitted, liveliness, finess and a little darker sounding as a result. Most of these attributes are compared against the 8TC. Q10 is not suitable for higher-end components, once you go there, these speaker wires will be your weakest link. But for a buck more, you could get 9 gauge, higher purity teflon coated copper wire that almost completely gets out of the way of music. I am now more enjoying music until I need to step into $100+ ft wire, the area of diminshing returns.

Similar Products Used:
Monstrer 12awg, Kimber, Ultralink.

machani

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $180.00 from partsconnexion.com

Summary:
I cannot cease to be amazed by these cables. Like the previous reviewer, I too upgraded my speakers to Quad. I bought the Q10 cable in bulk form and self terminated with AudioQuest and Vampire spades using Cardas silver solder. These cables bring an easily noticeable and nice improvement over my previous Carol brand 12awg/4 biwire cable. These cables really opened up the sound in my system. There's a lot more clarity, much better micro detail, better soundstage depth and more three dimensional imagery. They are very neutral sounding and make voices and instruments, particularly piano, sound very real. I am using a single run of cable in biwire configuration (internal biwire) and find the single run adequate in my setup. (Yes, these Quad 22L's definitely do sound better biwired - as recommended by the manufacturer). The Q10 basically removed a veil that existed between me an the music. And, yes, I can't believe how crappy my previous speaker cables (which I had thought were pretty good) sound in comparison. It took about 40 to 50 hours of run in for the cables to really open up. (I was skeptical about the concept cable burn in until I had tried it myself. Despite what the self-proclaimed "experts" at AudioHolics say, cable burn does improve the sound).

Strengths:
Very low noise floor and transparent. Silky smooth, excellent bass definition and exceptional clarity.

Weaknesses:
Can't think of any. They leave my previous cables in the dust in all respects!

Similar Products Used:
RadioShack 12AWG zipcord, Carol brand 12/4 biwire cable.

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Michael Tran

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
2.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $160.00 from North Country Audio

Summary:
I have always been a skeptic regarding speaker cables. But recently, I’ve upgraded my system to Quad. I’ve audition Rega, Linn and Arcam and find the Quads massively transparent, wholesome and extremely enjoyable to listen. With the Quad CD player, you can bypass the preamp and straight to the 909 amp producing an extremely high audiophile quality sound unheard of in this price range. I used cheap Phoenix Gold Cables which is the same as your basic monster cable and was already satisfied. When I audition the Quads, the cable used where Kimber 4TC. Between the Kimber and my cheap Phoenix Gold, the differences were very very very minor and therefore I couldn’t justify myself paying $8.00 a ft for the Kimber. However, since I invested in the Quads, I owe it to myself to get the best sound quality out of my system. I did plenty of research and different cables, such as Nordost, Chord, Audioquest, Analysis Plus, Tributaries, Tara Labs and last but not least DH Labs. I read many reviews on the Q10 and they were all highly recommended. I contacted North Country Audio in Redwood, NY and spoke to Vladimir. Here is a person who really knows about hi-fi. He’s extremely knowledgeable, unbiased and will offer you the best advice. I found North Country Audio on Ebay, they were getting rid of all their Kimber cables at an extremely cheap price (8TC at $5.00 a ft). I’ve decided to ordered the Q10 and if I didn’t like, I can send it back (with Kimber, no returns). To my surprise, the Q10’s was astonishing, WOW!. I can actually hear the difference. These cables produce a very smooth sound and life-like. I listen to a lot of operas and jazz vocals such as Diana Krall and Jane Monheit. I am extremely impress with these cables as well as the great advice and service offered by Vladimir at North Country Audio. If you’re looking for cables, try these you won’t be disappointed. If you’re looking for some friendly advice and someone who really knows what he’s talking about, ask for Vladimir.

Strengths:
Smooth, Transparent, Stong Bass, Wholesome

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Kimber 4TC, Phonenix Gold, Monster Cable