# Cardas quadlink Interconnects, overpriced copper?



## taoster

I am contemplating purchasing some Cardas quadlink interconnects for my source and amp. i can get them cheaper now but are they overpriced and overrated? Anyone with any experience with the Cardas quadlink interconnect I would love to hear from you and how they compare with other cables/price.

 am i better off going with silver cables of similar price or is it a matter of taste? i understand silver cable can sound sharp and the Cardas are well known for their warm tubey sound.. any other cable company to try in australia?

 arghh! wrong section.. help!


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## Magic77

taoster,

 I've never tried the Cardas Quadlink, but I recently purchased the Cardas 300B Microtwin to use between my CD player and Headphone Amp. They are definitely made very well with very good connectors. But, I've always been a skeptic when it comes to interconnects. The reason why I bought the Cardas is because I was impressed by the information at their website.

 So, I've been using the Cardas 300B for about 3 weeks,but I do not actually hear any audible difference in sound compared to much less expensive interconnects that I have. So, I decided to return them.

 I'm not saying they are not good cables; they are just in my opinion way overpriced for my application.


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## Tomcat

I use a Cardas 300B-Microtwin interconnect and like it a lot. I compared it to a handful of other designs, van den Hul, Monster, several silver designs, and to me, the Cardas turned out to be the most musical, homogenous, fluid and enjoyable one. I tried a Cardas Quadlink 5C as well and wasn't as impressed. I clearly preferred the 300B. I guess it has something of a warm and tubey character, just as you say, taoster. Some even seem to feel that the 300B is the most musical design in the entire Cardas line. I have never heard the Cardas heavyweight contenders like Golden Cross or Neutral Reference, though, and cannot confirm this. 

 The silver cables I tried (the names of which I have forgotten, sorry), have indeed been rather bright, but very smooth at the same time. This treble quality wasn't unpleasant and at times enjoyable, but it seemed that all silver designs screwed up the signal's timing to a considerable degree, having treble information speeding ahead and bass limping behind. This was clearly audible with the entries in symphonic orchestras for example. They just weren't in time, and the sense of rhythm suffered because of it. However, I wouldn't want to generalize my findings. There might be silver cable designs out there that don't have this timing problem.

 Anyway: I can wholeheartedly recommend the 300B, and I didn't like the Quadlink 5C.


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## taoster

very interesting.. thanks for the info..

 Tomcat, what didn't you like about the quadlink? how does it sound, is it more a matter of cost vs performance or does the 300B really out performs the quadlink in your opinion.


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## Tomcat

The 300B was the absolute best cable of the dozen I tried, musically and sonically, regardless of price. I just couldn't connect as well to the Quadlink's sound. Sonically, the Quadlink seemed to offer nothing special to me. The 300B is very lively, coherent, homogenous and non-fatiguing (you got to love its name too). No other cable I tried offered the same sense of natural musical flow and ease.

 Only after I had bought the 300B, I had a look at George Cardas' website and found out about his design philosophies that focus on avoiding electro-mechanical resonance. Cardas believes that mechanical stress will reduce sound quality and that any cable needs to relax after having been moved, in order to regain its full potential. I have never tried testsing this theory, but there is a possibility that the Quadlink, that is a more complex design, needs more relaxation than the 300B and thus sounded worse. I don't know. I strongly feel, that the 300B rocks, though.


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## taoster

Cardas website was very interesting i like what he had to say about cables and the golden number. I am a big believer on that ratio, it has stood the age of time, a natural phenomenon. I believe he said the better the cable the longer time it requires for it to burn-in.

 anyway, Ive placed an order for it already.. they didn't have any 300B RCA 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 Quadlink it is!


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## chych

Speaking of Cardas, it should be noted that I am selling a 300B (in the for sale forum)


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