muzz777

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
1.67 of 5, 12.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from spirit sound

Summary:
You are a lazy fool to settle for these cables. Go listen to Acoustic Zen, audioquest, Transparent, Nordost, Harmonic Tech or even ultralink. Bright, edgy, long break in, horrible sonic cohesion from top to bottom. I A/B these cables for 3 months with solid state gear. Do not waste your money. If you bought these you were lazy. Even replaced pairs and spoke to Mr. Wood of the company who offered free burn in. Well Burn in did not work, not even replacements, but yes acoustic zen,nordost, adioquest panther dbs,Harmonic tech magic did work fantastic. Each company above A/B!

Strengths:
highs

Weaknesses:
edgy, no midbass, no cohesion from top to bottom, poor micro and macro dynamic.

Similar Products Used:
Acoustic Zen , Harmonic Technologies, Nordost, audioquest, ultralink

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vanderkaaden

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.67 of 5, 3.00 votes

Price Paid:  $300.00 from Schnijders, Rotterda

Summary:
In this digital era, proper and fast information transfer is considered part of day-to-day life. That's why I was really amazed when I found out how much musical information got lost in an inactive audio component like an interconnect. It was really the enthousiasm of the dealer and the confidence I had in them, that pursuaded me to buy these Siltechs. For those who are as ignorant as I was and who want to upgrade their audio chain, please read the following. It is free of charge and it may help you! First priority is to get sources and speakers that convince you. No problem to try and to use them with standard copper interconnects. If you think they are good with copper and they deliver you a clear, open, musical sound with enough subtility and preciseness, you are ready for the next step: the interconnects. Why do I say this? Perfect interconnects let you benefit most of what you already have: a set of sources, amplifiers and speakers. That's all. There is no magic involved. They do not add something that wasn't there already. They need to be there, but actually they shouldn't. So the best you can do is to buy connections that are as neutral as possible. Copper cables are not, they filter out musical subtilities and dimensional information. Silver is a better material for that job. The impurities in the silver, the oxidation state, the structure of the silver and the isolation and backbone construction of the cable may reduce the ideal neutral behaviour. In this respect there is always a better and a more close to perfect option, but I think what matters most is the choice for silver. The Siltech ST18 fits perfectly well with my source and speakers components. The clarity and preciseness are really astonishing and the music sound very, very natural and obvious. So I invested 10% of the total value of the installation in interconnect cables and I got a 100% enjoyment in return. Really value for money! Can I make it even better with better (and more expensive) interconnects? I don't know. I am afraid the degree of improvement will disappoint me. My intuition says that I will have to upgrade my sources and main speakers first, before I can benefit from even better interconnects. That brings me to a final remark I want to make. If you think this cable is not good, there is a 100% chance that you are listening to imperfections in your source, amplifier or speaker system. The remedy is quite simple though: either update the weakest components or go back to copper interconnects and hide the imperfections again.

Strengths:
Good value for money. A must have.

Weaknesses:
I don't know.

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $295.00 from Spearit Sound

Summary:
Yes, I've only had it for a month but I was using the Siltech Paris for 6 months and I have to say these are much clearer and more detailed than the paris wires. I thing I did like in the Paris was the overall depth that I find missing in the St18. It seems that the Paris was a darker sound but the St18 brings so much more spaciousness and air to the sound. I have also tried Audioquest Diamondback, Coral, Viper and Anaconda. With the exception of the Anaconda, the Audioquest wires are not in the same league. The Coral is detailed but way to thin. The Anaconda has everything, details and lush sound but the cheapest I could get it down to was $660 which was a huge bargain from its $1200 price tag but still out of my league. ST18 is not perfect but for the money its a great value.

Strengths:
Detailed, Smooth

Weaknesses:
slightly bright, a bit thinner

Price Paid:  $1500.00

Summary:
I had used the flatline for about one year,but after i changed to siltech product just for a week,and now I change all my cables to siltech,now i used paris speaker cable,spx20 power cords and berlin ....GOOD PRODUCT

Strengths:
The sound is clear,nutural and dynamic

Weaknesses:
Wow.WILL YOU BELIVE IT.NONE AT ALL!!!!!

Similar Products Used:
FLATLINE,QED,MIT,AUDIOQUEST...

Price Paid:  $100.00 from studio 107

Summary:
The ST-18 delivers, in my opinion, the best price-quality performance ever known worldwide for an audio interconnect. However, i managed to make it even cheaper by soldering the cable and connectors myself. Managed to find a store in the Netherlands that sold the cable seperately and bought 1,2 meter of it (that's only $80,- !!!). Then i got on the internet to find a connector that wasn't as expensive as the standard connectors on the ST-18 (WBT's $13,- each and you'll need 4 of them... That's $52,- just for the connectors!). I found some very nice Oelbach connectors, gold-plated, big, strong and good looking for $5,- each and had them delivered at home within a week. Soldered it all together with Siltech silver-solder and tadaah: A home made, brand new Siltech ST-18 for just $100,- !!! NO other manufacturer can beat this interconnect normally and now i even have one for half the price! At that time i had a van den Hul "the second" interconnect and when it was replaced i felt ashame because the van den Hul interconnects are known worldwide; they are also from the Netherlands but perform terribly in comparision to the Siltech, which should have the fame and respect they deserve. There are some little things in life that can make someone really happy... This is absolutely one of them.

Strengths:
Very open, clean, liquid and extremely detailed sound. No grain, no lack of any frequency, reveals everything in a recording and any flaw in your equipment or loudspeakers.

Weaknesses:
Still a bit unknown in the USA and therefor a great loss for all audiophiles over there.

Similar Products Used:
Kimber cable, van den Hul, Oelbach, Qed, Monstercable, MIT, Nordost