reviewer: Marko Pecotic, October 2012
model: HiDiamond "Diamond 8" audio interconnect
manufacturer: HiDiamond S.R.L., Italy [www.hidiamond.eu]
price: 1.150 EUR (2x1m RCA)
readers' feedback: send all your comments by mail
review originally published at: this link
Until recently, Italian HiDiamond was just a brand I had never heard of before. And then earlier this spring, I reviewed their Diamond 7 speaker cable. That cable, with both its' look and sound, slapped me in the face like no other cable before. The question is: was the phenomenal sound of that speaker cable just a mere coincidence? Do other models from their catalog sound that good as well?
To get the answer to that question, I've got for a review their "Diamond 8" interconnect. It belongs to the upper range of their catalog, and they got interconnects from 60,00 to 4.000,000 EUR. Something for everyone.
Unlike many manufacturers in the world today, Hi-Diamond cables are manufactured in Italy on very expensive machines. This information is useful to know, especially today when more and more fake cables are present on the market. It is safer if a complete manufacturing process is placed under your supervision in your own country. If the manufacturing process is placed somewhere in the Far East, the chances are greater that the Far Eastern manufacturer will manufacture the same cables behind your back or will perhaps sell the product specifications to a third party.
Just like Diamond 7 speaker cable, Diamond 8 interconnect comes packed in a hard black box whose interior is dressed in silk. The interconnect itself looks very fancy, though not as fancy and impressive as Diamond 7 speaker cable - the diameter of this interconnect is "only" 8mm, which is half the size of Diamond 7 speaker cable.
Tech. info
Conductor is an alloy of copper and graphite which was made through a patented "4VRC © technology" which, as they say in HiDiamond, reduces values of inductance, resistance and capacitance which improves signal linearity. The copper is "cooked" four times at different temperatures (most other manufacturers cook their conductors only two times, as the folks at HiDiamond told me) until it reaches the almost 100% purity. At the end of this process, copper is mixed with graphite into an alloy. Each cable has two conductors, the declared resistance is 28 ohms/km, and the maximum capacity is 99 nF/km. Dielectric is XLPE, which is, as the folks at HiDiamond told me, has much better properties than Teflon. RCA connectors are locking type and made of Rhodium.
Sound
The cable needs some 200 hours to fully burn-in. I have listened to it on various audio gear so I could get the real picture of its' sound. Most of the time I have listened to it paired with Diamond 7 speaker cable which is its' natural partner.
When a product is this good, then there's no need to spend lots of words, so I'll be very brief in describing the sound. So, the sound of this cable is neutral throughout the whole frequency spectrum, without highlighting or muting any part of spectrum. All the very fine details and textures are there, but you will no way get a listening fatigue. Stage is huge and dynamics are corking without traces of compression. Bass is deep, fast and voluminous (it's neither short nor highlighted). The sound in general is fresh with lots of air (when and if air exists on the recording, don't expect this cable to add something that's not on the recording).
In short: all the other interconnects that I have reviewed before would add or take something to the sound. You get something on one side, you lose something on the other. That's not the case with this Italian. He behaves like he's not there, like he's not connected inside the Hi-Fi system.
Conclusion
If you're looking for a cable that will correct the sound of your Hi-Fi system and behave as an equalizer, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a cable that will emphasize bass or maybe turn down the treble, look elsewhere. But, if your Hi-Fi system is well balanced with good synergy between audio components, if you're contented with the sound of your Hi-Fi system - pay attention to this cable. This Italian is neither warm nor bright, it just sounds right and has no bad sides, it sounds like someone's removed the veil from the system and let all the information flow. In the end, how would I rate it? I'd give it 9/10 (just because I can only wonder how the hell do their more expensive interconnects sound like?!).