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REVIEW: Ridge Street Audio Designs Midnight Silver Edition Interconnect Cable

Model:	Midnight Silver Edition Interconnect
Category:	Cable
Suggested Retail Price:	550.00
Description:	Mono Planer Design Pure Silver Interconnecting Cable
Manufacturer URL:	Ridge Street Audio Designs
Model Picture:	View

Review by Hin H. (A) on November 15, 2003 at 20:43:24 IP Address: 205.186.67.176

Add Your Review for the Midnight Silver Edition Interconnect

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Ridge Street - Mid Night Silver Edition (MSE) Generation II Interconnect

Performance Review

By H. Chiu

Nov 15, 2003

Ridge Street Audio, a new kid on the block so to speak in the crowed high-end audio cable industry. Can this new kid match up with the well-established big guys in the market? As an end-user, the author offers a review for one pair of one meter Midnight Silver Edition Gen. II interconnects with XLR termination. The opinions provided herein are subjective and are not intended as guidelines for equipment purchase. However, the readers may find this review useful because the author is not under the influence of commercial consideration. Like other cabling sold by Ridge Street Audio Designs, this pair of cables had gone through 48 hrs of burn-in time at the manufacturer before delivery. A further 20 hrs of burn-in was carried out by the owner prior to testing. Matured performance of the cable was evidenced after 100 hrs of usage of the cable.

The components of the audio systems are listed below for reference. The listening room’s measurements are 14 ft wide x 23 ft long x 8 ft ceiling, with carpet covering the floor. Whereas the right side of the room is open to the living area one level down, sound absorbing panels are used to reduce sound reflection from the sidewall on the left. The rear of the room is a large built-in bookshelf. The reverberation in this room is moderate.

Comments of Music Reproduction:

My goal is to reproduce high fidelity music by using audio equipment. The equipment chosen and subsequent set up and tweaking are nothing but the means to achieve this goal. An outstanding musical play back depends on four basic factors, i.e. (1) fundamentally speaking, the test song to be chosen for playback must be a master piece and fit for purpose, (2) the musician(s) who performed during the recording must provide an outstanding performance which not only reflects the spirit of the composer’s work through his/her skills, but most importantly to bring life to the music. There is a crucial difference between life (or organic so to speak) and lifeless (or robotic) sound in the music and hence the reproduction in this nature should always deserve our attention, (3) how well the recording or re-mastering of the CD can make a day and night difference in the quality of the play back. No matter how good the audio components used are, they cannot compensate for an intrinsically poor quality recording or re-mastering. In general, the more sensitive the equipment you have, the more capable it can be in revealing the fine details as well as the errors in the signals. Hence, choosing a bad CD for equipment review may render the evaluation meaningless, and (4) the physical environment (the listening room), the capability of the play back system, as well as how well the components are set up and matched up would be the last, but not the least, important factors for an outstanding play back. Room acoustic is an integral part of the audio system and must be dealt with if one wants to minimize the effect of room resonance. Bearing this in mind, the music playback would reflect the synergy of the components in the system, rather than just the performance of the interconnect cable itself under evaluation. However, one might concur with me that if a different cable is used, the sonic characteristics of the playback may also change. Ideally, the audio system for testing should be sensitive enough to reveal the characteristics of each component, including the cable. The use of a pair of MSE Gen-II cable has contributed to the music reproduction as described below.

During the tests, a sound level meter was used to measure the sound intensity. The volume setting of the sound level was such that it produced a peak intensity of 80 db for the tests #1 to #8, and 90 db for test #9.

Test Sequence and Results:

1. Hayden Trumpet Concerto in D, track 11, by W. Marsallis, Sony Classical SK 60804.

Test objectives: Tonal accuracy, imaging, and sound stage.

Comments: This is an outstanding performance with crystal clear imaging and huge sound stage that hits the roof at the end when the musician tilted the trumpet upwards to create that sensational effect. The play back was very enjoyable with a hint of sweetness in the mid range. High pitch trumpet sound was smooth, full body and not lean.

2. Mozart, Queen of the Night in Magic Flute, by Sumi Jo, Erato 450-97239-2.

Test objectives: Tonal accuracy, fidelity of timbre, and theatrical effect of the soprano performance.

Comments: This is a very difficult song to sing, but if sang brilliantly it can capture the listener’s full attention all the way until the end. It is a demo of how articulate a human voice can achieve and how exciting the music of Mozart it can be. The play back is very musical and enjoyable with pinpoint imaging. The musical playback was presented in a slightly forward manner such that the immediacy of the voice can be felt as if the listener is sitting at the front row of a concert hall.

3. Verdi, Rigoletto Act.1, by Sumi Jo, Erato 450-97239-2.

Test objectives: Extremely high frequency of soprano voice, fidelity of timbre, tonal accuracy, gracefulness and life of the music.

Comments: I believe that this is by far the highest frequency song a human can sing. The song is so beautiful and graceful that the listener may want to repeat it for enjoyment. The musical passage demonstrated superb coherence and control with the extended high to impress. The timbre is of organic textured and filled with life. The cables in the systems behaved as if they do not exist so as to allow the signals passed through the hardware and emerged from the speakers. Among the several ICs in my possession, I found that only the Pure Note Epsilon Reference can match the MSE Gen II cable for this song.

4. Inca Son, Vol.1, track 10, El Condor Pasa, VMMT21, DID017042, 1993.

Test objectives: Multiple instruments in concert, separation of instruments, 3-D sound stage, life and emotion of the music.

Comments: This popular South American song was performed by street musicians from Peru. It is an exceptional performance with four pieces of instruments, namely, a panpipe, a flute, a guitar, and an Indian drum. Using the Condor as the metaphor, the musicians expressed their deep feeling toward freedom (like the flight of the Condor) and their home land. Especially in the second part of the song, the flute brings out the emotion of the music with plenty of air. The drum beat was punchy and with a rhythm that exhibited the music full of energy. Special sound effects were added to provide background sound of a coyote, a rattlesnake, the rain, and the wind to mimic the wilderness, and the huge sound stage that filled up the entire room. The guitar sound in the third part of the music was slightly muddy. This is probably due to the cheap instrument used by the street musician. However, for a performance like this, we cannot ask for more.

5. Chopin, Prelude No. 20 for Piano, Reference Gold / Inter Sound RDW 3622.

Test objectives: Low frequency piano keystrokes with rich harmonics generated from the resonant chamber, the decay of sound.

Comments: The stunning effect of this masterpiece was demonstrated in the play back. The harmonics from the resonant chamber of the piano were clearly reproduced with superb inner details, transparency, and richness. As an analogy, its sensation is equivalent to sipping a cup of very rich Brazilian coffee.

6. Respighi, Pine of Rome, track 4, by Pittsburg Symphony, Sony SK 66843.

Test objectives: Images, sound of woodwind and brass instruments in the front, and deep percussion sound in the ambience.

Comments: This song mimics the sunrise over the hills of Rome. As the sun rises at the horizon, the intensity of the sound increase progressively until it reaches the climax with full strength of the orchestra. The most demanding part in the play back would be the ambient sound which must be deep in the back ground and well defined but not dominating. My impression of this play back was very good, but it still has room for improvement.

7. Paganini, Caprice No.24 for violin, by J. Ehnes, Telarc 80398.

Test objectives: Images, transparency, lyrics, timbre of the violin, and superb solo performance skill.

Comments: Paganini’s music has been regarded as the most challenging for violinists. This song demands the presentation of both lyrics and skill. The play back was vivid and provided crystal clear imaging, with superb demonstration of transient characteristic. The timbre is so accurate that it is like witnessing a real performance.

8. Rachmaninov, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, by H. Shelley, Chandos 9192.

Test objectives: Transient dynamics, lyrical melody and harmonics.

Comments: Inspired by the theme of Paganini (refer to song in test 7), the composer created this rhapsody with great sensation. This is one of the greatest piano concertos composed in the 20th century and also one that demand performance skill. The music begins with a definitive note that echoes the theme of Paganini, and then goes on with 17 variations until it reaches the climax with a beautiful lyric of piano solo, then closing the rhapsody with a short but thunderous dynamic orchestral movement. Overall, it is a very sensational presentation.

9. St. Saens, Symphony No.3 “Organ”, track 4, Boston Symphony, RCA Victor, 09026-61500-2.

Test objectives: Extreme low bass sound generated by the organ, sound stage, ambient music, and the grandeur of a symphony orchestra.

Comments: This test is by far the most difficult to reproduce. The ground shaking effect is due to the low frequency sound generated by the organ. The symphonic performance was brilliant when recorded in analog form. The slightly muddy situation in the ambient sound was likely due to imperfection of the re-mastering process. Fortunately, there is a new edition of the CD created from the same original sound track in high definition CD format. Hopefully, the new CD may have a better sound quality than the older version. Overall, the playback is very musical and full of dynamics. I was impressed by the bass performance of this system. This means that the MSE cable has done a good job in low frequency response.

Conclusion:

Based on the tests implemented, it can be concluded that the MSE-II interconnects has the following characteristics: it is slightly forward from neutral (i.e. a kind of “yang” character as compared to the laid back “ying” character). When I played the songs (Tests #1 & 3) with laid-back characteristics, this cable brought them to neutral. For the play back inherences with forward characteristics (Test #2), this cable brought out the immediacy of the performance. The cable provides excellent performance in the full bandwidth of the sound spectrum, with a full body extended high, smooth and rich mid range, and deep bass at the bottom. In terms of technical measures, such as imaging, tonal accuracy, sound stage, and dynamic passage, this cable is outstanding. In other words, its presence was quite transparent between the preamp and the amplifier in signal transmission. Its ability to reveal the inner details of music is exceptional. The end result of playing this audio system was a very natural and musical experience characterized by an exquisite taste of the fidelity of timbre. The life and emotion of the musician can easily be felt by the listeners when using this cable. In my opinion, it is a well-balanced design that can match with any high-end cables in the market regardless of price. The designer, Robert Schult, deserves the credit and honor of creating this high performance cable.

One may ask whether I have found the “holy grail” of interconnect cables in the quest of better music play back. Frankly speaking, I do not have the answer. Only time can tell. For the time being, I would spend more time to enjoy the music, until one day a contender is available for a match up.

Audio equipment used in the tests:

Toshiba SD9200 DVD/CD player as transport

Wire World Super Nova III+ Toslink glass cable

Meridian 568 processor (24/96)

Ridge Street Mid Night Silver Edition Gen II XLR cable

Krell FPB 200 amp

LAT International SD1000 bi-wire speaker cables

Legacy Focus Speakers

Chang LS 1000 line conditioner for the front-end components

DIY CVH power cables for the front-end components

Vibration absorbing feet for the front-end components

Alternative components for substituting the Meridian 568 processor:

(The result was found equally impressive but it also demonstrated the BAT gear and associated electron tubes’ characteristics.)

Bel Canto DAC2 processor (24/192)

Kimber 1030 cable with BAT RCA to XLR adaptor used between the DAC2 and the VK5i

BAT VK 5i preamp with Amperex JAN 7308 and Tung Sol 5881 tubes.

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Product Weakness:	None
Product Strengths:	High performance music reproduction for the bandwith of sound spectrum

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Krell FPB 200
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Meridian 568
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Toshiba SD 9200 as Transport
Speakers:	Legacy Focus
Cables/Interconnects:	Ridge Street MSE Gen-II
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	See list above
Room Size (LxWxH):	23' x 14' x 8'
Room Comments/Treatments:	See above description
Time Period/Length of Audition:	One month
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Chang LS 1000
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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