All good, bass, mid, highs, sound stage etc if you refit the cable on the RCAs as described.

Mid range and up sounds harsh and too vivid however it can be fixed with a cable rewire.

The cable has a very flat response, very well defined bass, and a natural three dimensional sound stage. As the frequency increases however from mid range and up the sound becomes harsh and too vivid. There is a warmness to the mid range that is also missing.

All the problems can be fixed by altering the cable connections. The cable has a definite direction and should be connected with the writing "van den Hul D-102 III" going from the amplifier back to the music source (CD phono preamp etc). I connected the yellow wire to signal and the white wire to ground. The shield should also NOT be connected on either end if an RCA connector (none XLR) is to be used. The shield will float to a potential signal midway between the two inner conductors and you have a perfectly balance audio cable with no signal in the shield.

The shield can effect the the music signal if it is connected at one end (given you are using RCA unbalanced connectors). The reason why is the mid and high frequency music signals travel mostly in the cable insulation dielectric material between the conductors (transmission line). Since the ground is connected to two wires, shield and inner wire, the signal will travel through using both conductors.

The difference in the sound from the cable is amazing. The mid range is now very natural and warm. The highs have lost their edginess and harshness. The sound stage really opens up and the speakers disappear. The cable now shows its true colours.

Customer Service

DIY is better

Similar Products Used:

25 year old QED original black interconnect cable (much better than the new QED cables)

All good, bass, mid, highs, sound stage etc if you refit the cable on the RCAs as described.

Mid range and up the sound harsh and too vivid, fixed with a cable rewire.

The cable has a very flat response, very well defined bass, and a natural three dimensional sound stage. As the frequency increases however from mid range and up the sound becomes harsh and too vivid. There is a warmness to the mid range that is also missing.

All the problems can be fixed by altering the cable connections. The cable has a definite direction and should be connected with the writing "van den Hul D-102 III" going from the amplifier back to the music source (CD phono preamp etc). I connected the yellow wire to signal and the white wire to ground. The shield should also NOT be connected on either end if an RCA connector (none XLR) is to be used. The shield will float to a potential signal midway between the two inner conductors and you have a perfectly balance audio cable with no signal in the shield.

The shield can effect the the music signal if it is connected at one end (given you are using RCA unbalanced connectors). The reason why is the mid and high frequency music signals travel mostly in the cable insulation dielectric material between the conductors (transmission line). Since the ground is connected to two wires, shield and inner wire, the signal will travel through using both conductors.

The difference in the sound from the cable is amazing. The mid range is now very natural and warm. The highs have lost their edginess and harshness. The sound stage really opens up and the speakers disappear. The cable now shows its true colours.

Customer Service

DIY is better

Similar Products Used:

25 year old QED original black interconnect cable (much better than the new QED cables)

Musicality. **Realistic** bass and treble extension.

None at this price. But perhaps slightly warm in nature.

Equipment used: Myryad Z110 CD Player Musical Fidelity A3.2 Integrated Amplifier QED Silver Anniversary Biwire Image 414 (NZ made cabs/Morel drivers) I had been using Monster ICs until I purchased the VDHs. After burn in I immediately noticed a sense of 'rightness' about the sound. Much like when I replaced my NAD C372 with the Musical Fidelity amp, it was hard to put a finger on exactly what was different.... it just seemed more 'real' and natrually musical. I sugges that some of the people who say the ICs are too bright should have a good look at their other components as this cable is a perfect match for my system.

Similar Products Used:

Monster 550i & 850i, Slinkylinks.

Price, sound, construction quality

Probably not best suited for agressive dance music, gives almost a valve amp sound to CD's

Read the reviews and tried it. I had some reasonable cables (Ixos) before and broke one of the connectors so thought it was time. Really wasn't expecting to see much but wow. The cables give music a bit of a warm sound (use with a excitable Marantz CD player) but the sound can be 'in your face when required'. I have found that with the new cables I want to listen to my music all over again as you can hear subtle sounds that just were'nt there before. There is no doubting the build quality and with bright yellow shrouding and gold connectors you can easily trace the cable. Some help would be appreciated with the labelling. Buy with confidence to realise your music again

excellent sound, affordable price

This is a 3mx2 XLR cable that connects threshold FET-10e and meridian 557. I found D102mkIII is very clean sound and well balanced. It isn't a magic cable that would change your sound dramatically. Just simply everything is getting better. Detail, soundstage, smoothness, and bass control are top quality. My system sounds more real than before.

Similar Products Used:

tara labs, siltech, qed, canare

strong build quality.

Sound is "unmusical".

This interconnect does not sound well between fitted between my Musical Fidelity A3 and Quad 99. It was so "unmusical" I had to remove it. I have tried letting it run to "burn it in", but it there is no improvement. If you are interested in this product then "Try before you buy". Mines for sale if any one wants it!

Similar Products Used:

Atlas Equator (excellent) something cheap from Richer Sounds (very good) and Nordost (excellent)

Musical

Works with some setups, not so well in others

OK Here is an update. I have two 10yo+ sets of (white) D102's which have been faithful old favs of mine. I bought a new set of (yellow) D102 MKIII about 2 years ago, and after trialling them for a while, swapped them out for some wireworld atlantis cables which seemed cleaner. Now arrives new CD deck, old philips CD850 MKII finally gave in after 10 years of faithful service, replaced by an NAD C541i deck, running through a Pioneer reference C41 pre and a class a/b Plinius 8200P power amp into Mordaunt Short MS 3.5's. While I was mucking around I pulled out the D102 MKIII's from their box and tried them, what a revelation. Playing Mark Knofler (sailing to philadelphia) an HDCD disk, the music comes out of its space, and sounds more musical than with the wireworld cables. I am glad I hung onto them, and will be giving them some time to burn in. The guy that sold me the NAD wants me to try some nordost solar wind cables, I think not (although I might). Van Den Hul's have been good for me

Similar Products Used:

Nordost, Wireworld

Dynamic, transparant,beautiful midrange and not expensive for this quality.

Do not use this cable in an already bright system. The highs could be too bright I guess.

So far this is the best interlink I could find for this prize. I compared this interlink with Oehlbach, Tara Labs 3300i, VdH the bay C5 and VdH The Source. The D 102III has the most dynamic, transparant sound, which I prefer, of these interlinks. The soundstage is perfect and the midrange is brilliant. Voices are really beautiful. The highs are a tiny too bright, but it doesn't bothers me. It sounds good.

Transparency, Treble extension, Good bass quality.

None

I found this cable to have fantastic transparency. Detail is very good at this price point. The bass became less boomy and the treble more liquid and smooth. The treble has excellent extension. I use D102MkIII cables throughout my system which consists of Musical Fidelity components and works very well. Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

Kimber Hero, Kimber Silver Streak, Chord Chorus, Audioquest Ruby.

Clean, bright and crisp treble. GREAT midrange soundstage. Tight bass responce.

None as of yet.

After reading all the reviews here I can only relate to my own opinion. In summary, it seems that the D102III, as well as all interconnects detail audio signals differently between the components that they are connected to. e.g. Krell, Conrad Johnson, are whatever! Just make sure you have the ground end connected to the source component with any system. Anyway, I'm very pleased with my D102III's. The treble is crisp and clean..No harshness even in digital (CD's) The mid's are OUTSTANDING! Middle freq. comes across as lifelike and fill my sound room with an ambience that I've searched for years. The bass changed the least, but I do hear a little more tightness and punch and it's a little less boomy. As I said before, The Equipment you use makes all the differance, so if you have the option, test out these cables on your system first before purchasing. Although they made a world of differance on mine, which consist of. * Amp: Adcom GFA 555II * Pre Amp: Adcom GFP 555 * Tuner: Adcom GFT 555II * CD player: Adcom GCD 575 * Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK2 with Grado ZF3-E, Shure V-15 and Signet MR me cartridges. * Monster Cable speaker cables. * All van den Hul D102III interconnects. * Madisound Phoenix speakers.