great soundstage, great bass, great everything!

none unless your comparing them to $500.00+ interconnects

I will admit i bought these because of a head to head i read between these and the AQ Quartz. believing the results like i did, i ordered a pair from hififarm.com (great guys) and then i set out on a mission to see what was better and found nothing out there for less than $400.00 that was better. one by one the other cables fell before the BL-1s, i mean i went damn near everywhere. the two cables that i found that were better were the AQ Diamond ($1000.00) and the Cardas nuetral reference ($500.00), after doing head to head comparisons i realized the BL-1s met their match, the other cables were in my opinion 2-3 times better (if you can even guage that), with that being said the Cardas and the AQs should be about $300.00 each!!, the bottom line is this: there are many cable companies who claim their product is the best, but why so many different cables?, DH Labs currently makes 2 interconnects the BL-1 and the Air Matrix (i will post my review on these in about a week) while the other "BIG" companies have anywhere from 5-12!!, who needs this many?,the difference from one to the other is marginal at best, i personally would rather spend my money on quality rather than quantity. so there you have it.

my system consists of:
Arcam Alpha AV50(home cinema amp)
Arcam Alpha 8P (power amp)
Arcam Alpha 8SE (CD player)
Paradigm Monitor 9s (front)
Paradigm CC-350 (center)
Paradigm ADP-170s (rear)
Panasonic A320 (DVD player)

not as good as some, but it still kicks ass!!!

Similar Products Used:

Audioquest jade-quartz, monster 200-zr2,straightwire up to rhapsody, kimber pbj, nordost blue heaven, tributaries...etc.

Tight bass, sweet highs, great sound!

None!

Oh! What a beautiful sound. A friend brought these over from the states, and I am glad he did! I found an increased bass response and oh so sweet highs from my Musical Fidelity and Epos system. Whilst my system is great in the midrange, these IC's also brought out the best of the highs and lows. Can you get any better? I think not; certainly at their price. Thank you Thomas for these IC's.

Similar Products Used:

Numerous others.

Very detailed, smooth, natural transparency, very suitable for mid-fi Rotel gear.

RCA's not super tight, not hyper detailed, very slight signal loss and sound stage would be slightly compressed on high-end gear. eg. Krell, Pass, Mark Lev... etc

I wired DH Labs interconnects between most of my Rotel gear. ie RC-991 CD, RC-995 pre-amp, turntable and tape deck. Once this wire gets a GOOD 3-4 days break-in, harsh edgy characteristics dissappear and they become smooth, detailed, musically natural with lots of transparency. This stuff does have good synergy with Rotel components and I could not find roll-off anywhere. Bass became tighter, treble smoother and extended, midrange just excellent.

To be fair, this wire may have a little signal and sound stage loss comparing it to $300+US wire but I consider these connects a winner in the entry-level audiphile category. At $89USD 1 meter, I rate DH Labs 1st pace.

Similar Products Used:

Monster cable, stock RCA and other s**t.

Cables reviews are highly subjective. I believe cables to be very system dependent, equipment dependent and length dependent. Also all cables require solid terminations to ultimatly deliver their potential. I have two pairs (1.5feet & 15foot lengths) of DH Labs interconnects, both terminated with WBT Midline RCA's utilizing directional draining.(Cardas,AQuest,Kimber are the best sounding RCA's)
I have two systems: (Highly tweaked and/or modified)
System A (High-End(Classe,Linn etc)) (Digital & Analog)
System B (Mid-Fi(NAD,ROTEL etc)) (Digital & Video)
System A has depth, width, soundstage, harmonic intergration etc, while B lacks A's resolution but is very musical.
These cables were tried in both systems.
In system A: OK and polite sounding with slightly depressed dynamics and a slight grain/haze over the frequency band. Highs were not bright (this system is not bright) and actually sounded quite nice. However overall this cable was not as musical, and ultimatly lacked the resolution that other cables delivered within system A. (cables: Kimber Silver,AudioTruth,Cardas, all considerable more $$$)
In system B: - System needs long(min 12 feet)interconnects from PreAmp to Amps(Bridged Rotels) while running very short speaker cables. The 15foot run replaced a set of 12foot Monster Cables. No Contest, this cable is fantastic and fully synergizes within this system. Of all the long budget cables I have tried nothing compares. However the 1.5foot cable faired no better then PBJ or WireWorld Atlantis, all sounding different with subjective strengths and weaknesses. Systems B's best short interconnect is 1.5'AudioTruth Opal which sound fantastic between CD and PreAmp. However in system B the DH Labs cable sounded as good as the Kimber Silver (not in system A, the kimber was way better).

Conclusion: Try before you buy, if you can. I have 12 different interconnects, bugdet & expensive, short & long. I have used all in trying to determine which works best in a each system between all the different components. I have found that a great cable between CD and PreAmp may not be as good between PreAmp and Amp. Go Figure.

So to me these forums (a great tool) are only a guide that allows one to study a myriad of opinions in order to determine if a cable is worth reviewing.

Component quality & system synergy determine overall sound, therefore cables should not filter or alter sound. A great cable in a bright system may only make the system sound brighter. Right back to my opening statements about subjectiveness and dependencies.

To finish, the DH Lab cables are solid contenders in the budget cable wars, a very good cable (for the $) worth trying with good budget equipment, but although it may not offend in a high end system it can easily be bettered (for much more $) and should not be considered a giant killer.
Keep up the Good Work DH Labs!

i bought this cable from Donald, at wenterprises, as well. i now feel i'm getting all the sound my system is capable of reproducing. It replaced a Cardas crosslink 1, which i had to tame down a way bright sony amp, with the purchase of a new amc amp, brightness was not a problam anymore.

At last the search is over. After months of putting together my system(is there any other way?!) I've obtained the last piece of the puzzle - the interconnects. Not bright, not soft, not revealing and not compensating for any flaws,the DHLabs BL-1 SERIES II interconnects are just - THERE, giving way for the music to reach the amplifier from the CD player. I in no way want to diminish any of the other brands and types of cable, but can only ascertain to the fact that the difference between these and the Monster Cable I was using prior to purchasing the DHLabs BL-1 SERIES II is plain to my years. And it it's hand-down in favor of the DHLabs.

sound, cost

Cables connect CD player to receiver. Sound great. Relatively inexpensive. Purchased with Ah! Tjoeb 4000 from Upscale Audio. Hard for me to believe that marginal increase in sound quality of much more expensive cables justifies their price (relative to these). Very very pleased with purchase.

Source: Ah! Tjoeb 4000 with Siemens 7308 tubes
Receiver: Yamaha RX-V800
Speakers: Paradigm Studio 80s
Sp Cable: DH Labs Q-10 internally biwired
IC Cable: DH Labs BL-1 II

Similar Products Used:

monster

Smooth, uncolored and extended sound. Price for what you get.

None!

I recently have been upgrading my system. First, about 8 months ago I bought new speakers - Paradigm Mini Monitors and at the same time upgraded my speaker cable to the 'new' Monster cable - both were a major improvement over what I had. I then replaced my aging CD player with a new DVD player and decided that would be a good time to upgrade my interconnects to the Monster 300 cables and was very pleased with my system until I got the Dolby Digital upgrade fever. So I purchased a Pioneer Elite THX Ultra receiver and now I was very happy. So a couple of months went by, getting use to the new, better sound of my components and cables, and then I began to think am I getting the most possible sound from my system? So I started reading magazines and online articles about how to upgrade your system with better cables. I then searched for reviews and advice on better cables. Since my equipment was mid-high, I did not want to spend a fortune but wanted a good quality and sounding cable. This led me to DH Labs. Every review I read compared it to cables costing many times more and they produced a smooth uncolored sound from top to bottom and they were within my budget. So I thought, let's give them a try. So I purchase the BL-1 first. I wanted to do a test to see if they would make a difference over my current interconnects before I ordered the T-14 speaker cables. So I replaced the Monster's with the BL-1 last week and man what a difference. I didn't need to burn them in to notice the increased soundstage, tighter bass response and extended and clearer high end. The difference was simply amazing. Believe me, good interconnects do make a difference. Well worth the small investment to get a more balanced and extended sound. I just got my T-14's today and will post a review on them later.

Similar Products Used:

Monster and the crap that comes from the manufacturer.

Detail, Bass, ambience, soundstage

Musicality, rhythm & timing, overall coherence, lack of substance.

I have learned a great deal about cables through my experiences with the BL-1. I say experiences in the plural because I recently had my second experience of the Bl-1 interconnect. And as this is a long review let me say up front that my opinion of the BL-1 is rather less favorable than most here. So if you want a balanced perspective, then read on…

The first time I tried the BL-1 was about a year ago, when in the process of evaluating different CD players, some less and some considerably more expensive than my current Arcam Alpha 8SE. I have also tried the BL-1 with amplifiers better than my current Audiolab 8000A. My speakers are Mission 752F’s).

Let me assure you that have no biases against DH-Labs - I was using their T-14 speaker cable in single-wire mode when I originally had the BL-1 and in MY system T-14 works very well. And since my original evaluation I have upgraded to a bi-wire set of T-14 (a worthwhile upgrade). I have also moved to a different and more sonically cooperative listening room.

Recently in the mood for a modest upgrade I decided to see if I could find a cable to milk the last drops of performance out of my current system. The BL-1 did many things right when I originally tried it, and since back then I found it hard to articulate what I didn’t quite like about it, I decided to give the benefit of the doubt and try it again (thanks to the “no risk trial” policy and excellent pricing from the great folks at ACI).

However after a very thorough burn my opinion of the BL-1 ended up being pretty much the same as a year ago, and I ended up sending it back. The only difference is that my ears are now a year more experienced, and so now I feel able to articulate the reasons why I never quite fell in love with the BL-1…

Before describing my experiences, a few brief words on the cable I was looking to replace: my existing cable (for about 2.5 years) is made by a company with great success in the UK, but little outside (e.g. no current North American distribution). I’m originally from England, hence my familiarity with this brand. The company is “Cable Talk”, and the model I have is their “Studio 2” interconnect [sits just below middle of their range and retails for about 65 Pounds in the UK. Construction is three twisted cores of solid core 6N copper]. I have been fairly happy with this cable… no major complaints, just sometimes wished for a bit more detail, bite, drive, ambience and bass tightness.

When first replacing the Studio 2 with the BL-1 first impressions were of an even bigger soundstage (the Studio 2 is no slouch), more treble extension, more bite, more detail, more air around instruments, and a very good bass. “Ahhh! I thought… “I’m going” to like this!
First lesson in Hi-Fi = Beware of first impressions! Gradually, as I stopped listening to the more “Hi-Fi” artifacts of the BL-1’s presentation, I started to realize that something was missing. So I started doing A/B comparisons with the Studio 2. I began to realize that although very crisp the BL-1, even after smoothing out through burn in, still sounded almost artificially crisp at the top end. Moreover, there was an even more troublesome lack of body through the midrange. This was most noticeable on horns which certainly had bite, but not the substance to underpin it. Vocals could also sound a little recessed. But even beyond these more obvious characteristics, something more important was missing… The word “musicality” is over-used in the Hi-Fi press, but frankly it’s the only word which I can find to capture the missing ingredient.

I really tried hard to love the BL-1. That big soundstage, and the impressive bass were things I want in my system. But most of all I want to enjoy the music. Putting back the Studio 2 after the BL-1 sounded more shut-in. But our ears acclimatize to changes in sonic balance, and although I initially missed some aspects of the Bl-1’s performance I quickly found myself enjoying the music again, and tapping my foot! I found that despite it’s failings, the Studio 2 is a more musical and rhythmic cable with better timing, dynamic realism and sense of body and substance – things generally less immediately apparent than those superficially more Hi-Fi attributes which it is all to easy to be “wowed” by at first (… remember my warning about first impressions).

Funnily, the limitations of my Cable Talk Studio 2 interconnect now seem much more palatable against the more insightful but less musical presentation of the BL-1. I now appreciate the Studio 2 more than ever.

CONCLUSIONS?… The BL-1 has many strengths, and is easy to love from a purely “Hi-Fi” perspective. For many people it will be a genuine upgrade, and will “Wow” them with it’s detail, ambience and so on. Just don’t expect as much musicality and midrange involvement as you can find elsewhere for a similar price.

Finally, please remember that synergy is God in Hi-FI, and so you may feel differently in your system. Obviously many people here love the BL-1 so there must be something about it. But if you use it and your ears smile but your soul doesn’t, then you may have reached the same conclusion as me!

3.5 stars for sound (taking price into account).

Great clarity

Slight roll off in bottom end

These are some great speaker cables. I won't go into too much detail on what has already been said. Try bi-wiring these with some Monster Z2 or better for the bottom end. Wow! I am very pleased. I wish DH Labs would make some solid silver cable to compete with Kimber and the big guys.

Similar Products Used:

Kimber 8TC, Monster M series, Monster Z2, Z3