Hidiamond vs Hifidelity interconnects

Honest cable swapping between HFC and other brands is difficult - because the magnetic conduction charges the signal path through your components. So putting in brand X after HFC allows it to benefit from a charged signal path that can takes days to wear off.

Siddh
I have the CT-1E speaker cables, and have also had the normal CT-1 speaker cables along with a heap of other speaker cables such as Tellurium Q. I have not noticed much gain changes at all, so you may have a system/cable mismatch with your amplifier or speakers. You should post what gear you are currently running so people can note this.

What I called "wood" sound others call flesh, emotion, etc. I get that part. I also find it hard to evaluate some opinions since the system is not listed. I can understand some of the comments on how each cable sounds but with regards to bass, that is a tricky one. I have recently changed speakers and each speaker has a different sound and reproduces each frequency range differently. I have read some comments on bass reproduction and I would like to know what speakers you are using because I don't feel that each speaker can really reproduce certain lower mid bass and lower bass frequencies that well. So the comments to me are not that helpful overall in understanding those observations. It also seems that some use cables to correct a system failure such as clarity, depth, dimension, soundstage. In my experience most of that comes from the preamp. My partner and I build are own preamp and I would seriously doubt that what we build anyone else has really experienced. Not to say that your system or preamp isn't doing what you want it to do but in the design, I found it hard to choose the sound for the preamp because each part had an overall change to the sound, similar to how many are describing how each cable changes the sound to their liking. The preamp I build actually has a selector switch so that you can change the sound to one you prefer with your system. I found it hard to build something that was only for my system or my ears or based on the sound that I preferred, like most of the comments above. I have been out of the cable game for some time now as designing the preamp took close to three years and I am still making final adjustments. Getting back to the cable comparisons, I think I understand the differences between the cables, some feel that the HD cable is more emotionally involving, and that is what I felt the HF cable lacked when I heard the original beta test cable I heard. I spoke to Rick about this and he told me that he understood what I was referring to and that he was using a longer burn in on the cables that would eliminate this. I have not had the time to play around with cables but was interested in knowing what everyone was hearing. SO thanks for the comments and keeping the thread informative versus one person bashing the other cable.

Happy Listening.

PS anyone in the NYC area? I would love to hear the cables in your system.

Bigkidz, where in the NYC area are you from? I live not to far from Giants Stadium.

Let me give you some background of my system;

Speakers: B&W 802D

Amps: Veritas Mono Blocks by Merrill Audio

Source: exaSound e20 MK III .082 Clock with a Paul Hynes Power Supply and a dedicated Mac Mini Quad Core-16GB RAM-128GB SSD just for OS-Boot Camped ML and W8/Pure Music, A+ and J River-USB only to DAC-Thunderbolt to external HD for music files

Interconnect and Speaker Cables: High Fidelity Cables CT-1E and a CT-1 Jumper for Bi-Wire

Power Cables: Triode Wire Labs Ten Plus

Vibration Control: Stillpoints Ultra SS under the B&W 802D and Veritas amps, plus a Synergistic Research Tranquility Base with Stillpoints Ultra Mini under everything else resting on the Tranquility Base.

I DO NOT use equipment as tone controls. I strive to find what I call Extended PRAT (PRRAATTTED). Pace, Rhythm, Resolution, Attack, Air, Timing, Tone, Transparency, Extension, and Dynamics.

As I said in a post above, I do not find the HD Cables to be "emotionally involving". Nor did anyone who tried them in any of the Audio Clubs I belong to.

As to your above "What I called "wood" sound others call flesh, emotion, etc."
I have just upgraded my CT-1 to the CT-1E ( it has less then 24 hours of play) and I can already say it is worth the extra money. Right now I am "bopping" to the "Gene Harris Quartet" in DSD and I feel like they are live in my room. That is emotionally connected. And the CT-E is giving it to me in spades right out of the box. I can not wait to hear how much better it will sound as the burn-in proceeds.
Keep in mind I am benefiting from having the CT-1 in my system for so long before the CT-1E.

ditto re the gain, the HFC CT1E in fact has upped the volume by nearly a full db in my system. Compared to the HD8 it has definitely more air and resolution, no contras.

Any hints as to when a balanced cable might be available?