D.H.LABS CABLE


WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH D.H. LABS Q-10 SPEAKER CABLE?
THE PRICE SEEMS RIGHT.
IS IT A VALUE OR DO YOU LOSE SOMETHING?
johnny7

Showing 3 responses by valueaudio

I'm quite certain Smholl meant he purchased them from us at Value Audio. There is a Jeff's Sound Values which we are sometimes confused with, but I checked with them and they do not carry DH Labs. The custom assembly mentioned above describes us as well. You can see the add at Audiogon by clicking on our index, then onto DH Labs Q-10. Our index can be gotten to from the Audiogon home page through this procedure:
Home Page > Browse (top right link on Home Page
Scroll down on Browse page to Featured Dealers. We are at or near the bottom as Value Audio. Click there and it takes you to an index of our ads. Be sure to check our feedback as well.

Thank you,
Jeff Delman
Value Audio
Johnny, the Q-10 is a terrific cable, especially considering the price. The characteristics of the sound can be bright at first, which some people complain of, but it goes through quite a change when well burned in...they'll suddenly open up big time and the sense of excesses brightness disappears, with great extension at both ends, and very linear, balanced sound. Highs should sound crystal clear and very airy. Bass should go very deep, yet sound very tuneful and tight; not sloppy. There are some cables with more midrange transparency and detail, but tend to cost about 3x more. These are quite smooth in the midrange though.

Capacitance and inductance is very low, making them an easy match with most systems. One of the biggest compatibility issues I've come across in regards to "brightness" issues has had to do with source equipment: mainly CD players and their DACs. Many of them are just simply very bright and harsh, and the DH Labs cables will reveal that. A high quality player, or the addition of a good DAC, even MSB's basic Link DAC III at $359 can make the digital front end far smoother, and then the cables match up very well in most systems.

I don't feel that finding cables less extended and more rolled off in the highs is really the answer if your source equipment is the where much of one's system harshness is originating from. You'ld be missing out on alot of beauty, air, and clarity that's available up there in the higher frequencies if you go with rolled off cables, even if they make harsher digital sources more tolerable.
New Soundstage! review on the Q-10 & Air Matrix available at:
http://soundstage.com/revequip/dhlabs_airmatrix_q10.htm