Grover Huffman GH RCA ZX+ cables vs...

Denon1,

I like the Shuntaya Zitron series and their Alpha series, as well. You can pick up some bargains on Audiogon. They are the best buy in high end audio cables for my system. Except for some DIY cables (see below). I see Shunyata are bringing out a new line. But the prices are "reference prices". Just reading about all this gives me cable fatigue. Elrods do well on some components in my system where Shunyatas do not work as well. But they are very pricey. I run most of my cables in series using my own modded DIY Furutechs. And I do other mods in my system to optimize cable performance.

For my system, the best DIY bargain is silver wire for speaker cables. They beat every contender I have ever used -- by a wide margin -- including Elrod, Synergistic Research and Huffman, among others. As Ozzy has observed, there is so much BS in the cable business around the latest and greatest speaker wire offerings. BS baffles brains, as we used to say.

In my experience, it is only the conductor that matters -- despite all the talk from makers about various metals, dialectrics, cryogenic treatment, quantum tunneling, ribbon configuration, magnets, patents and patents pending, geometry, active shielding, special coatings, proprietary formulas and other nonsense. All these makers have their chest out ready to put their wonderful cables up against any and all contenders. They all produce amazing cables that "punch way above their price points" -- many of which are genuine "game-changers".

There is no end to all the improvements -- from MKI to MKII to MKIII, from SX to SX+ to ZX to ZX+, from Super to Ultra to Reference to Super Reference to Ultra Reference. If only prospective buyers who don't know any better would fall for the marketing -- of mostly ho-hum products offered up in attractive packaging -- and hyped to the hilt -- with A/V shows and reviewers auspiciously quoted and YouTubes to drive home the point.

Talking about cable fatigue, I hazard a guess that cable makers who bring out one line after the other with one improvement after the other have never done A/B comparisons of their cables with those of other makers. I have written elsewhere on the Forum that I can guarantee the follow. If some of the well-known cable makers were brought into a room and a blind test was done with their cables most of them would not be able to identify their own -- despite the ebullience of makers regarding their latest offerings and all the superlatives in gushing text. There is so much BS in the cable business. Caveat emptor.

I will be posting about the previous digression regarding Huffman cables when I have the time to do all the documentation. I am snowed under with work launching a new product and I do not have the time at the moment.

Denon1,

I have posted a reply but it has not shown up yet on the thread.

I couldn't disagree more with Sabai's statement that Huffman cables "lack of harmonics", to me this is their most endearing quality, they present natural harmonic richness and texture better than any other cable I've tried (I've tired many), they could have a slightly deeper soundstage and a tad more top end extension but midrange harmonics is where the music is and these have it, the raunch of a sax and pluck detail of a bass. Overall they are very well balanced, great highs, deep tight realistic bass and excellent mids!

I consider myself to be an 'experienced listener' and have owned a fairly long list of hifi cables (HiDiamond, Kimber Select, Kubala Sosna, Synergistic Research, Audioquest and several more...) many of the top dollar cables were a disappointment, currently my system is comprised of HiDiamond and Huffman ZX, Huffman's have actually pushed out some of the higher priced cables. Excellent cables at a great price.

Dvdgreco,

I didn't read through the entire thread so i don't know what you ended up with, but I can share my impression of a brief encounter with the excellent GH interconnects. What I heard sounded Incredibly good. Dimensionality and flow come to mind... they had a sweetness without sounding slow or colored and a sort of effortless harmonic flow that was very captivating. The only other cable that was on hand for comparison was the Reference Zentara @ $900. per meter pair...which was slightly more tonally neutral in my opinion with greater resolution, retrieval of fine detail with a bit more weight, focus and dynamic accuracy. The GH is worth more in my opinion and many very expensive cables will not let the music flow in such a special way.

This is system dependent. HiDiamond and Huffman may sound good for a while -- but only until you find out that there are much better cables out there. It just depends how far you want to go with this. It depends on how much time, effort and money you are willing to spend.

If you stop at a certain point and you are satisfied with the sound of your cables in your system then you're fine. But you can never find out about better cables once you stop. Which begs the question, is there no end to it? At some point you have to call it quits. Unfortunately, those with really good systems may be calling it quits prematurely with HiDiamond and Huffman cables, because they do not live up to the potential of the components in many high end systems, in my experience.

If you do continue to search for better cables, your earlier laudatory comments -- like my comments on many cable companies -- may eventually be quietly archived to the Used Cables Comments Vault. It's like finding a new DAC or amplifier that outclasses the one you already own. No different. You move on. I have been through countless cable companies in the past 9 years. Hi Diamond and Huffman ZX do not even even close to the cables I now have in my system.

Of course, one expects bravado from cables makers. What cable maker would not declare that he would put his cables up against the best cables out there, cables that are even far more expensive than his? We see these kinds of bold declarations time and again in Cableland. But this is simply marketing bravado. The obvious fact is that this does not mean their cables come close in SQ to the cables of other makers. It just means they are trying to put on a brave face.

The fact is that most cables makers would find their own cables put to shame if they had the courage to quietly install premium cables from competing cable makers in their own system. I have never heard a cable maker admit that a competitor makes better cables than he does. At the least, most cable makers declare that their cables are the best at their price point and that they punch "way above" it, whatever that means, with a deeper sound stage, blacker background, more detail and transparency, blah, blah, blah. As Ozzy has accurately pointed out, there is just so much BS out there from cable makers.

Caveat emptor.