Detail, richness of sound, voices are beautiful

Too bright, a bit restrained,

This a good cable but it must be put in the right system. In mine, it sounds to bright and a bit restrained. The sound is warm and very detailed but not as natural as it should be. I am sure there is better cables at this price on the market. In fact, I tried a Kimber PBJ and I like it more, it gives me a more natural sound, more real than the D102III, less rich but more real. My system: Rotel RCD-971 Rotel RA-971 MKII Speakers Mission 780 Kimber PBJ interconnect Kimber 8VS speaker cables

Similar Products Used:

Kimber PBJ

Rich detail, and smooth high frequencies. Bass reproduction, depth soundstage. compatibility Price

None

I first bought this interconnect about a year ago and I was using it with an Arcam cd72 and Nad C370 setup, I thought once the cable had burnt-in it sounded excellent, much better then chord, qed, ecosse cables around the price range. I noticed that if the ground end is connected to an amp rather than the source, music looses weight, depth and bass, and gains in detail and clarity. Maybe it`s me. After having the cable for 6 or so months I upgraded my CD player to an Arcam CD92 and bought a Sugden A21a pure class A integrated amp. When I set the system up I noticed a loss of sound coming from my left speaker. Checking all connections I found that it was the VDH interconnect. I unscrewed all the RCA plugs and 1 of the pins fell off. I thought this may be due to me having to move the cables to connect new kit, but VDH (Tannoy) said that this would not be possible and it was either not soldered propery in the first place or I had pulled it off. Having recieved a new pair of VDH D102`s from VDH, I checked the RCA plugs before I connected them and to my amazement 1 pin fell of again. And it was definatly a manufacturing fault. Tannoy have replaced the cables again and the pair I am using now are fine and sound excellent with the CD92/Sugden combo. Owners should check their cables because the cable still works even if the pins are not soldered properly. I will check mine after a few months to make sure their still ok.

Similar Products Used:

Chord chameleon, Ecosse diva, QED silver spiral

Openess, great soundstage, very precise, and very dynamic!

Price if any....

Well I my book this is the best buy if you need a interconnect between your pre-amp and your CD-player... I have used this for almost 7 Years now, and is still overly pleased with these... System: Holfi Integra 8 A.E. amplifier Holfi XaraNFB CD-player JBL LX-55 loudspeakers Nordost Flatline Gold Mk. II Loudspeaker Cable

Similar Products Used:

Audio Note, other Van den Hul, Tera Prism

I am currently using this cable between my Musical Fidelity X-Act and X-Pre. Before i was using a Cambridge Audio Pacific. The Pacific was excellent for the money (£30) but was not the most natural sounding cable in thw world. I tried a Sonic Link Silver Pink for a while, which was more natural but a bit reserved for my liking. I decided to buy the VDH on the basis of 'What Hifi?' giving it the award for best value cable of 1998. My dealer also thought very highly of it. I can say now that it is worth every penny. It is easily more natural sounding and refined than the Sonic Link but also transmits all of the life of the music. It made me stop listening to the equipment and start listening to the music.

A cable with everything: good bass, treble, imaging and naturalness.

Mr. Van den Hul has been instrumental in investigating conductors apart from the usual copper and silver. The whole subject of conductor material is still wide open to debate, but van den Hul felt that there was a common and undesirable signature to all metal-conductor cables, so set about constructing cables with carbon-fibre conductors instead.

D102mkIII is one of these; although it is, in fact, a hybrid, mixing carbon fibre with more conventional silver-plated copper. Construction is pseudo-balanced, with Teflon insulation, and collet-clamp phono plugs that are fitted with a rubber sleeve under the collet, to ensure secure cable clamping. Capacitance, dielectric loss and microphony are all low.

This was, by a small but decisive margin, the best cable in the test - a result all the more creditable given this wire's relatively modest cost. Whether due to the carbon fibre or not, its sound was solid, clear and effortless at all times, with basically nothing to criticise. Bass was extended as far as any and fully resonant, but at the same time under control. Midrange was uncoloured and natural, helping voices sound live and unprocessed, while treble was sweet and detailed, conveying alike the delicate tinkle of small percussion instruments and the rasp of muted trumpet. In fact, this is pretty much as good as cable gets, and is therefore a Best Buy.

RB

Similar Products Used:

Kimber/Monster Ixos

Pretty neutral, with good detail.

Poor long term reliability. I've had at least 5 pairs since 1990, and EVERY ONE
of them developed bad connections (all factory terminated)

These were my "yeoman" cables in my system for many years. They could always be counted on to sound pretty neutral no matter what component I used them with. Only with my turntable did I use Cards Quadlink, for its fuller bass.
But as noted above EVERY ONE of them
have developed intermittent or plain bad connections. They were all factory terminated. They simply are not very robust, long term use. Their construction technique now seems dated.
Would recommend DH Labs interconnects over these. Gonna give 'em 2 stars for value, as a friggin pair of WIRES shouldn't break with careful handling over a lifetime, and a 3 for sound.

Similar Products Used:

AudioQuest, Cardas, Nordost, Monster,
DH Labs.

Preserves the musical integrity of compact disc (like few other cables)

Not 100% transparent (also a strength)

Psssst. I have a secret to tell. I goofed big time with my original evaluation of the Van den Hul D102 mkIII interconnect. I discovered that there was a very simple explanation for my original assessment of the cables as presenting "dwarf orchestras" and diminished scale. I had connected the cable the wrong way round!

There are no clear direction markings for this "directional" cable. One end is labelled "ground" and the other is not. There are no arrows indicating signal direction. I originally connected the Van den Hul with the "ground" side connected to the CD player. Musically, this was like looking into the wrong end of a telescope. Musical images were "miniaturized" and placed much further back in space. The body of stringed instruments diminished greatly.

The Van den Hul D102 mkIII should actually be connected with the "ground" end connected to the amp, not the other way around. As soon as I did this, the body of stringed instruments immediately filled out. It was like adding flesh back onto the bone. Moreover, the sonic skills (and weaknesses)of the Van den Hul D102 mkIII remained the same.

The Van den Hul preserves the natural decay of high frequency instruments which helps to create a more effective sense of ambience and combats acoustic "dryness" or deadness. Using this cable, I can still detect a reduction in upper bass impact that is most noticeable with jazz and orchestral percussion. I do not consider this musically destructive. The Van den Hul sounds noticeably refined, and un-rough, but achieves this without smothering the music. Although the cable does not sound 100% transparent, it is transparent enough that music does not sound "veiled" or straight-jacketed, and spatial cues (imaging), natural harmonics, and ambience remain fresh in the audio signal.

The Van den Hul D102 mkIII interconnect (fundamentally) preserves the musical integrity of compact disc, something that much hi-fi cannot accomplish. It is for this reason that I judge the Van den Hul a sonic success!

Fidelity *****

Build Quality *****

Similar Products Used:

Various

detail, voices, lively drums

not that I know off..

For years I did not want to believe the influence of good interlinks. ( Copper is copper I thought). Maybe also Marantz headquarters in Holland made believe that. They stated: our standard CD cables are of good quality, better cables are not necessary, one of their technical consultants stated! So I believed for years, and slept well.
For cristmass 2000 I decided to buy a pair of good interlinks which were in the sale for only Euro 65. (Then I knew a had something I really wanted as a cristmass present).
Fortunately I read this page for the right connection, (white label at CD player. The the guys in the shop all gave the wrong advice!.
Fo results.....? Amazing! Worth every euro I paid for it.
Everyone who has a standard cable and who also thinks that an interlink has no influence ????? Forget, go to your dealer and buy a good cable.
I'am not going to tell here that the vdH 102 III is the best in the world and there is nothing better. I dont have the experience for that. But they are noticeably better for the whole range bass .... treble than standard cables.
I recommend them.

Similar Products Used:

standard Marantz CD cable

clean,detail sound

not much

best buy for under $300 interconnect cable,with my musical fidelity a2 class a amp, vocal is sweet ,Guitar and piano sounds better.generally speaking,the sound is warmer and the soundstage is greater,much better than my audioquest coral.

Similar Products Used:

ixos,monster,audioquest

Very detail, clear, sweet highs, good bass and deep sound stage

none

I have been using the VDH D102 III now for 2 weeks. It is a great interconnect. It is certainly better than the QED Qunex 2 (which is also very good for the price). I found that greatest benefit of the cable is that the sound is extremely clear and detailed, picking up all sorts of background noise that I could not hear on the QED - it really makes bad recordings sound bad and good recordings sound very good with all the detail and separation of instruments being also very good as well. Other benefits include deeper bass, a deeper soundstage and sweet highs/mids which is ideal for listening to jazz vocals. In addition, I found that the resonance of acoustic guitar and piano sounds were incredibly life like. A great cable and highly recommended - nb the ground end should be plugged into the source equipment for best results.

Similar Products Used:

QED Qunex 2