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Recommendations for good budget interconnects

beammeup said:
Surprised no-one mentioned Mark Grant
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Certainly his cables look to be extremely well-made no nonsense cables and they seem to be much cheaper than those from the usual hi-fi cable manufacturers.

The problem for me was accessing reviews of them. There just don't seem to be that many useful reviews compared to reviews of say Atlas cables. This means that you are basically buying blind. However I believe he does offer a 30 day money back trial period. I did consider it but in the end I plumped for Atlas because the reviews convinced me that they would sound to my liking - and they do.

Same with cables from Flashback. Potentially great bargains, but no reviews to give any indication of how they sound. So no real reason to buy them other than that they are relatively inexpensive.

Pete
 
Del monaco said:
I wouldn’t rely on reviews. Try them and make up your own mind.
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I always do. I don't 'rely' on reviews but they are useful in guiding you in the right direction, eliminating products that seem as though they won't be to your taste and pointing you at products that seem hopeful. Some initial 'screening' this way saves a lot of hassle. I'm afraid I haven't got the time or inclination to go out and listen to everything myself, or to blindly order products without any indication of how they might sound. So to me reviews do serve a useful purpose, but of course the final judgement is my own ears.

Pete
 
When I was younger I would look at reviews in the various mags and sometimes purchase based on an accumulation of these.I was invariably disappointed. When I learned that those that paid for advertising often received greater mag coverage and more positive reviews I became concerned. I still am. I really like Guttenberg because he has the individual sincerity to call even a £120 receiver great. And I think he is right. I read an article very recently from a very well known budget orientated mag where it hailed an amplifier’s improvement over its predecessor then gave it a lower score. There must be a reason for this and I suggest it is to allow their faves to hold top spot which are invariably products like Cyrus etc. Once I stopped looking at these or taking them seriously every listen I had was a surprise and often a very nice one. I do not want to be as selective as they are and there is so much more out there to look at and listen to. I bought a reduced Justboom amp Dac recently and at £38 I was really taken aback by its performance. Coupled with free streaming software and a pair of £9 vintage speakers I now beIieve it to be one of the smartest best value hifi purchases I have ever made. Such an enjoyable sound for so little. And screening is relying on reviews to collate your shortlist. Not even tried the headphone out yet.
 
Del monaco said:
When I was younger I would look at reviews in the various mags and sometimes purchase based on an accumulation of these.I was invariably disappointed. When I learned that those that paid for advertising often received greater mag coverage and more positive reviews I became concerned. I still am. I really like Guttenberg because he has the individual sincerity to call even a £120 receiver great. And I think he is right. I read an article very recently from a very well known budget orientated mag where it hailed an amplifier’s improvement over its predecessor then gave it a lower score. There must be a reason for this and I suggest it is to allow their faves to hold top spot which are invariably products like Cyrus etc. Once I stopped looking at these or taking them seriously every listen I had was a surprise and often a very nice one. I do not want to be as selective as they are and there is so much more out there to look at and listen to. I bought a reduced Justboom amp Dac recently and at £38 I was really taken aback by its performance. Coupled with free streaming software and a pair of £9 vintage speakers I now beIieve it to be one of the smartest best value hifi purchases I have ever made. Such an enjoyable sound for so little. And screening is relying on reviews to collate your shortlist. Not even tried the headphone out yet.
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I share your concern about the true nature of the magazine reviews regarding independence etc. In my early years I lapped up what the magazines and reviewers said without question. A couple of things happened to make me revise my opinion. A very well-regarded reviewer at the time gave a rave review to the Mission 70MkII speakers. These were less than £100 and he said that they were without doubt one of the top 5 speakers available regardless of price. I was in my early 20's at the time and very naïve. I rushed out to my local dealer and bought a pair immediately. They didn't inspire confidence on unpacking - frankly they looked very cheap and nasty. But if they were really so good, who cares?! I fired them up to be greeted with the worst sound I had ever experienced from my set-up. Thin harsh, bright and shouty. It didn't improve after running in. These were without doubt the most horrible sounding speakers I had ever owned. I sold them and bought a lovely pair of real wood veneer Castle bookshelf speakers for just over £100. They were lovely and stayed for a couple of years or so.

The other time was when I bought a Grace F9E cartridge on the strength of a gushing review that said it equalled or bettered most reasonably priced moving coils. It sounded very ordinary to me, and nowhere near as good as my Linn K9.

So yes I do take all reviews nowadays with a very large pinch of salt, especially the ones that rave about products. I remember a certain comic, er sorry, magazine, raving about the Hugo DAC when it came out. It could do no wrong. Then when the Hugo 2 came out suddenly the Hugo had all these faults apparent which of course the Hugo 2 addressed perfectly!

Pete
 
Del monaco said:
When I was younger I would look at reviews in the various mags and sometimes purchase based on an accumulation of these.I was invariably disappointed.
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I'm sure that's the same for a lot us, me included.

If I want to see opinions on a product now I go to Google and type "Flashback (or whatever you want to search for) forum" to see what people think. It's still not guaranteed to give you the best sound for your money, but it's better than reviews IMO (unless you know a reviewer you can trust).

I also use Chord Chrysalis but you can only buy them second hand now. I started using Chrysalis because it's what Naim used to recommend when using non-Naim equipment (RCA) with Naims Din plugs. I tried cables higher up the Chord range but thought they just added affects or changed the tone. To my ears they sounded worse (less honest). I then tried Flashback and thought they were similar to Chrysalis, so I'm happy to use either now.
 
[ I sold them and bought a lovely pair of real wood veneer Castle bookshelf speakers for just over £100. They were lovely and stayed for a couple of years or so.

Pete[/QUOTE]
I had a pair of Castle Severns in Rosewood some years ago.Beautifully built and a refined sound. Remember them fondly.
 
Fatmarley said:
I'm sure that's the same for a lot us, me included.

If I want to see opinions on a product now I go to Google and type "Flashback (or whatever you want to search for) forum" to see what people think. It's still not guaranteed to give you the best sound for your money, but it's better than reviews IMO (unless you know a reviewer you can trust).

I also use Chord Chrysalis but you can only buy them second hand now. I started using Chrysalis because it's what Naim used to recommend when using non-Naim equipment (RCA) with Naims Din plugs. I tried cables higher up the Chord range but thought they just added affects or changed the tone. To my ears they sounded worse (less honest). I then tried Flashback and thought they were similar to Chrysalis, so I'm happy to use either now.
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I sometimes watch Guttenberg who is simple in his appraisals. It’s usually ‘Wow’ or ‘kinda disappointing’. He appears very real and doesn’t overanalyse or score stuff. In my experience there is no perfect hifi but if it makes you tap your feet and listen to your music frequently then it’s there IMO regardless of price.
 
Pete L said:
Then when the Hugo 2 came out suddenly the Hugo had all these faults apparent which of course the Hugo 2 addressed perfectly!

Pete
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Remember Daz, Persil, whiter than white? Never understood how the new one was better than the last when the last one got your whites so, well, white..... Been dubious ever since.
 
Pete L said:
The problem for me was accessing reviews of them.

...

Same with cables from Flashback. Potentially great bargains, but no reviews to give any indication of how they sound. So no real reason to buy them other than that they are relatively inexpensive.

Pete
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There are some reviews on this very site:

Flashback Sales Premiere Cable
Replace black SNAIC from NAC to NAP?

Lots more, here is the search I did. There are reviews (Magazine, audio web site etc) and reviews (forums, users, etc) all are biases, all are more or less believable depending on who you are and who they are. Personally I would take a recommendation from a fish I "know" listens on similar kit and has similar tastes hifi and music, over the vast majority of magazine reviews ;)
 
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