I ordered a set of balanced ICs last week from Frank after chatting with him via phone. Nice guy, good product, same day shipping. BTW, I bought a new balanced IC he has that's not on his website. I just bought new amps and needed a set of ICs with no real money left over- my old amps were SE inputs only.
The sound? Great. I can't comment at this time on how they stack up to other balanced ICs because I just made some serious system mods (new amps, dedicated power circuit, running my pre-amp to amp ICs balanced). I have some other balanced ICs coming, and then I'll compare them.
Just for fun I compared the Signal cables to Transparent Music Link Supers, which were single ended, and there's an absolutely huge difference in detail resolution and background noise. I suspect that the majority of this is the difference between balanced and SE, however, but in terms of sound quality, ignoring the balanced characteristics, the $70 Signals were no letdown compared to the $300 retail Transparents- midrange accuracy was good, cymbals "sparkled" nicely-- overall tone was spot-on.
Overall, I'd say Signal's stuff is a great value-- look at the cost of building a set of balanced ICs, just price the parts, then compare to Frank's sale prices. I think you're half way to the retail cost just buying the Neutrik balanced connectors and the nifty "Transparent-style" cable sheathing.
The sound? Great. I can't comment at this time on how they stack up to other balanced ICs because I just made some serious system mods (new amps, dedicated power circuit, running my pre-amp to amp ICs balanced). I have some other balanced ICs coming, and then I'll compare them.
Just for fun I compared the Signal cables to Transparent Music Link Supers, which were single ended, and there's an absolutely huge difference in detail resolution and background noise. I suspect that the majority of this is the difference between balanced and SE, however, but in terms of sound quality, ignoring the balanced characteristics, the $70 Signals were no letdown compared to the $300 retail Transparents- midrange accuracy was good, cymbals "sparkled" nicely-- overall tone was spot-on.
Overall, I'd say Signal's stuff is a great value-- look at the cost of building a set of balanced ICs, just price the parts, then compare to Frank's sale prices. I think you're half way to the retail cost just buying the Neutrik balanced connectors and the nifty "Transparent-style" cable sheathing.