bass, clarity v open & natural

if there are any uuuuuuuuummmmmm eeeeeeeerrrrrrrr none

used with : denon 3801,
rotel 976mkII pwr amp briged to 3ch
arcam cd72
b&w 602,601,cc6,mission 77dsx2
rel strata III sub hooked up with kimber speakon cable
nordost flatline gold bi-wire
kimber power cords & extentions all round & russ andrews silencer
vdh d102 mkIII x 4 .....cd to amp to pwr amp

okay @ first this classy cable sounded a bit closed in, it had it's ups & downs during the burn in (which took roughly 4 weeks with the tuner on so it's barely audable
after that though the beauty of this cable really shows
fantastic sound stage & very deep bass, this cable is highly recomended for people with a similar system to mine
but remember give it & long time to burn in & settle before you pass judgement & also remember if you leave your system on 24-7 you will get much more from it, buy some.............eeeerrrr today!!

deep bass, sweet treble, great imaging and naturalness of a midrange.

NONE

Midrange uncoloured and natural. Deep and extended bass and fully resonant. Treble sweet and detailed!

I liked QED very much, but this cable is even better, at least two times!

Arcam Alfa 7 SE
NAD C370
Mission 782

Similar Products Used:

QED Qunex 2

Just bought this interconnect after trying several others like the CableTalk Studio 2, various Audioquests and MIT's. This is a hybrid carbon-fibre, silver plated copper cable and in my system it provides great bass definition, extended and airy highs and a good dose of transparency. If anything I find the mids just slightly forward in my system but overall a very good cable that I didn't have to pay an enormous amount of money for.

If you are looking for a cable which can give you the 'life' of music. This is it! The search is over. I had tried many different cables and none of them can give the truth of music. They are either too bright, too dull or only fits for certain type of music. But this VDH cable can really make you fully involved in music and forget everything else.
There are so many cables on the market; Pick VDH first so that you won't waste too much time of your life seraching for the best cable.

I noticed the same constricted soundstage as the others below. All the instruments are on top of each other including vocals. If you are not the type to sit in front of your speakers they are great otherwise. The sound to clear as a bell from highs to lows !!
Sound alone 5 speakers, for the price 4 speakers.

This cable is very neutral from high to low, but lacks transparency and soundstage depth. When I changed to a Wireworld Atlantis and Equinox III, I felt as though I had finally been "let into the performance". The Equinox III is better than the Atlantis, but the Atlantis is pretty good, and an improvement over the VdH, at least in my system, which is: Bryston B60R, PSB Stratus Silver, Systemdek IIX with Grado Reference Platinum, Arcam Alpha 1 to Audio Alcheny DTI plus via MSB digital connect to MSB Link via Cardas Hispeed digital. Given the markedly better performance of the Atlantis at a comparable price, the VdH only gets a 3/5. Maybe I'm feeling stingy tonight!

I will give this a sub-optimal rating because they are up to series V now. Also for the money I think Kimber Hero would be more neutral. Depends on the gear. These are great for components under $1000 such as CD players or aggressive amplifiers. I found the timbre satisfying at first but eventually got sick of the rolled off treble, especially as my system and knowledge grew. I upgraded to XLO Type 1 which blew them away but (no surprise) at a higher price. Maybe the 102 mark III or IV would get 4/5.

Deep, resonant bass, natural midrange, sweet treble

Not the widest soundstage

I'm using this cable presently from my CD player to my pre-amp, in XLR termination. This cable, which was suggested by the manufacturer of my CD player, dis deeply resonant and full in the bass range, and presents a splendid midrange. I've extensively compared this cable to two other very well thought of cables- Harmonic Technology ProSilway II and AQ Lapis x3. The HT cable has the widest soundstage, but lacks the depth of the D102III. The Lapis is an excellent cable, and is perhaps the equal of the D102 in many repsects, but note that the D102 is far less costly than the other cables I've mentioned. You really can't go wrong with this cable. No, it's not the very best around, but it will get you 90% of what the best offers at at less that 50% of what the other cables I've mentioned would cost. Diminishing marginal returns? Sure- so, the suggestion is this- by the D102 and enjoy it. It's not spectacular in a hifi sort of way, but it's easy to own. And if you have a super system, play around with other cables as well.

System:CD- Yamaha CDX 890
Amp- Yamaha AX 590
Speakers- Dali 505
Speaker Cable- IXOS 6005

This is really a great cable, although in my system the bass is a little bit uncontrolled and the soundstage is something narrow. But it is perhaps the second best cable under $ 150.

Van Den Hul D-102 mkIII Interconnect
This multi-award winning interconnect has not worked out in my system, but may be ideal in other set-ups. My system consists of revealing, studio monitor type speakers, the B&W P4s, a neutral, transparent CDP, the Musical Fidelity E624, and an exceptionally transparent (but powerful) tube hybrid amp, the Jolida JD-1501. This combination of transparent components dramatically revealed the character of the Van den Hul D102 mk III as soon as it was added to the system.

I was looking for an interconnect that would help preserve note decays and combat the "dryness' that afflicts the sound of the B&W P4s, especially in the mid-range. I was looking to create a "wetter," more resonant, less-dead sound. The cheap interconnect that I had been using did nothing to combat this acoustic "dryness."

The Van den Hul D-102 mk III does. The sound was noticeably more resonant. The Van den Hul (in my system) extended the note decay of high-frequency instruments. Cymbals shimmered twice as long as they seemed to do before. Plucked guitar strings seemed to resonate longer and more completely. Piano chords sustained much more high frequency resonance, illuminating the acoustic of the recording venue. I heard a more fully illuminated sense of acoustic with all high frequency instruments. The Van den Hul preserves the ambient resonances of instruments playing in a defined space.

Unfortunately, the Van den Hul D-102 mk III had some other characteristics that were not so welcome in my system. I was disturbed by a dramatic reduction in the body and fullness of stringed instruments. Violins suffered noticeably, as did cello and string bass. The violins ended up sounding unnaturally small and reedy. Cellos, robbed of body and rich resonance, sounded like violins, and string bass sounded unnaturally small and anemic. Orchestral music featuring alot of string content sounded squashed and constrained. Overall, there was a dramatic reduction in image scale, leading to a "dwarf-sized orchestra" effect. Conversely, there was a much more delicate sense of image layering in space, as if the soundstage extended much further back. I was able to hear much more of the "back of the hall" acoustic. The rear wall of my listening room seemed to vanish, and I could hear parts of the orchestra that were playing a great distance away from the front of the soundstage. This would be ideal, were it not for the fact that the entire orchestra was now shrunken, with greatly diminished size and musical impact.

The Van den Hul D-102 mkIII presents much more subtle, delicate, and finely layered musical images than the cheap interconnect that I had been using. I can see this might work with systems requiring these qualities of subtlty and intimacy, like alot of systems featuring big, powerful American-syle speakers. Yet, my B&W P4s present sonic images on a much smaller scale anyway. Any further miniaturization (as with the Van den Hul) results in the "dwarf orchestra" effect.

Ironically, modern rock and jazz music were not affected in this way (in my system) by the Van den Hul and seemed to greatly benefit from the Van den Hul's ability to preserve high frequency resonance and the Van den Hul's skill at illuminating acoustic. Rock and jazz images were presented in proper scale and instrumental textures sounded even more fully fleshed and authentic. Deep bass, like that found on many modern recordings, was unaffected by the Van den Hul's tendency to miniaturize upper bass. Rock music in particular sounded intensely "live," exciting, and slamming. It was as if the Van den Hul only "miniaturized" with music where most of the musical content occurred in the mid-band, like classical music.

I appreciated the Van den Hul D-102 mk III's many sonic skills, but I cannot live with anemic, thin, tiny sounding strings. So, the Van den Hul is not the right interconnect for my system, even though it may be for yours. It certainly has a delicate and subtle way of placing musical images within a very deep soundstage, which might be just the thing in systems which sound too big or overblown, or in systems lacking in musical insight. The Van den Hul D-102 mk III certainly has that "intimacy" factor down pat.

Fidelity ****(system dependant)

Build Quality *****