xcans further improovement

[thebigx3]

Hi
Fellow xcans lovers. I have done all the xcans upgrades and i must say the amp is now sounding superb,I have tried many exotic interconnects to see if they would make any further difference to the sound on it to find what was the best sounding one, and i found out a superb interconnect that gives the same upgrade to all the upgrades i have made i thought it could not get any better but when i fitted a van den hul first ultimate priced at £110 second hand on ebay the music doubled up on performance it is just more refined just it gained that extra air around voices. These interconnects are very special in that they are made of carbon instead of metal, van den hul say they are the most natural sounding material available. I know they are not cheap but i beg of anyone to at least try them. I know rick calls them snake oil, i did too for a long time till i discovered these babies. Whats next on my upgrade path i think grado rs1 cans will do nicely.

[xerxes]

I actually have a pair of VDH first ultimates and I have to say I was not bowled over by them. In my system at least, I prefered others.

Of the interconnects I've tried, I'd rate them in this order:

1. Townshend ISOLDA DCT 100 ~ £300/m
2. Cyrus Interconnect ~ £90/m
3. VDH First Ultimate ~ £230/m
4. Kimber PBJ ~ £85/m

My two favourites, the Townshend and the Cyrus cables, are both solid core copper designs. To my ears the Cyrus cables come very close to the Townshend, the sound stage is perhaps slightly deeper with the Townshend and the top end is perhaps ever so slightly smoother. At less than a third the price of the Townshend cables, even less if you buy used, I reckon the Cyrus cables are pretty good value for money if you consider that a set of Eichman bullet plugs, as used on the Cyrus cables, cost around £30.00 without any cabe.

[sometrolls2]

One area for improvement is the PSU to XCans cable. I've used single core copper and silver plated QED speaker cable, both had their appeal over a bog standard multi strand power cable.