Cable Asylum: REVIEW: HMS Il Primo 75 ohm Digital Cable and Grand Finale Top Match Interconnect

Model:	Il Primo 75 ohm Digital Cable and Grand Finale Top Match Interconnect - RCA
Category:	Cable
Suggested Retail Price:	$Digital Cable 490 Interconnects 1090 1m
Description:	Please see the web site
Manufacturer URL:	HMS
Manufacturer URL:	HMS

Review by GG ( A ) on April 14, 2002 at 09:12:12
IP Address: 24.71.223.142

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for the Il Primo 75 ohm Digital Cable and Grand Finale Top Match Interconnect - RCA

This is my first effort at any sort of review of a product. I am very cautious about doing this because I really have no special qualifications to do this other than a love of music. The only reason I am offering my thoughts about a product is because of the considerable help I have received from other inmates. I felt it time to offer something in return to those out there who might be interested in this equipment. I am not doing this because I have any other interest such as financial, I am a lowly doctor and am unlikely or incapable of earning a living selling anything.
As a preamble I do not have a huge repertoire of equipment experience. I bought my first system, Magneplanar SMG's, Quad 33/303 and a Rega planar table. This system lasted 21 years though when kids came the Maggies went in the basement, to be replaced by Linn Toukans and the Rega replaced by a modest Sony cd player. A few years ago I realized that while I loved music dearly I did not love the sound I heard at home and found the car stereo to be more pleasing. When we redid the family room I decided to treat myself. The system I put together needed to be musical most of all, and have an extremely high wife acceptance factor. After reviewing everything locally and on the net I put together a system I am very fond of.
The digital source is an Audiomeca Mephisto II transport with separate power supply connected to an Audiomeca Ekianthus DAC by an Ensemble Gigaflux digital cable. The turntable is an Audiomeca Romance with Romance arm and a Benz micro ruby 2. These feed a Musical Fidelity M3 integrated amp and the speakers are Piega P8ltds. All wiring prior to this review was Audiotekne interconnects, speaker cables, and power cables with a Cardas Neutral Reference phono cable and an Audiotekne power supply. The stand is custom made of heavy MDF with sand filled plinths on carbon blocks. I realize many will think this an expensive indulgence, I included, and others may consider it less than ideal but it has met all my objectives. It is an acoustical delight to my ear (and that of my family) and the looks are greatly appreciated by my wife. I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to set this up.
This review would not have taken place had one fact not been very noticeable. My turntable was markedly superior to the CD player. Though I hadn't listened to vinyl in years, its ability to reproduce music that, to my ear, closely approximated the essence of live performance amazed me. While the Mephisto was much better than others I had heard (Linn Ikemi, Wadia, Classe and Musical Fidelity) it was no match for the turntable. In an effort to improve this sound I experimented with various isolation devices. The CD player now sits on inverted symposium rollerblocks with tungsten upgrades that in turn rest on a symposium svelte shelf. While the addition of the symposiums improved the system a magnitude I did not think possible, I wanted more.
I wondered what new cabling would offer and had a budget of about 1500 dollars. While I would have loved to try out Siltechs or Valhalla's, these are not readily available in my area and I must confess I can't see myself spending more on cabling then my source. I began to see information on the Asylum and Audiogon about the HMS cables and when the digital cable came up for auction I bought it as well as the Grand Finale interconnects.
As an aside, but an important one, I know that Tekunda has come under considerable criticism by some inmates and I am certainly not about to get into any argument over this. I do not have the knowledge to determine if his actions on the site were acceptable but I can tell you that my dealings with him have been highly satisfactory. He has been honest, reliable, pleasant and prompt and clearly has a great love of this hobby and music. I have met a large number of people selling audio in my life and very few have approached his level.
I received the cables shortly after ordering and in excellent packaging. I put them into my system and sat back, only to be quite disappointed. While they did have some excellent qualities in terms of accuracy and transparency, they were very technical and not very musical. I had been warned that the digital cable had not been burned in but was still surprised by the outcome. I played the system a fair amount over the next few weeks and then had a friend came over and we listened. The sound was better (I know an imprecise term but adequate for this part of the review) but still very analytical and not as musical as the Ensemble/Audiotekne by a long shot. My friend suggested I leave the system run nonstop for 3 days and then go from there. After this I noticed substantial improvements in the overall musicality of the system and decided to set up a small test.
At the outset I am no audio reviewer and I recognize there are a multitude of shortcomings with any such assessment. I have not tried a lot of different cables in my system and my system, as all, has significant faults. Principal among these is my listening room that is 18 X 45 feet with cathedral ceilings. The floors are hardwood with rugs but décor dictates I cannot really apply much in the way of room treatments aside from art and furniture. A baby grand piano limits just where I can position the speakers. With these in mind I invited over 3 friends to see which, if either, of the two cables gave us more musical enjoyment. I listen to mostly classical, jazz and vocalists. I have been exposed to a fair amount of live music, though little in the way of rock. My other friends have similar musical tastes but with markedly different systems. One has horns and tubes and has been involved with high-end audio for many years, while another is on more of a budget and a big tweaker. The third has a nice British system and is very classical music oriented.
For the test we started with the HMS cables and went through four discs. We listened to each disc and compared comments (I guess if we were more scientific we would have written down notes and compared them at the end - but we aren't that scientific, this is still a hobby). The first was the Manger test disc which I believe an amazing recording. We listened to two tracks - Livingston Taylor - Isn't She Lovely and the Yuri Honing Trio - Walking on the Moon. The opening to Livingston Taylor is a whistling solo and the clarity and musicality was remarkable. While imaging was excellent, the soundstage seemed a bit compressed. With the second the same attributes were seen only this time the soundstage was superb, even given the relatively narrow spacing of the speakers. One person, the biggest vinyl addict amongst us, noted just how vinyl like this sounded. The next disc was Edgar Meyers Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites, a disc I am not too familiar with. Meyers plays cello pieces on a double base with amazing agility. We listened to track 9 - Ste no. 1 in G. The transparency and clarity was remarkable, one could hear almost every breath Meyer's took, as if you were in the front row, but not so much as to be intrusive or unnatural, it just let you feel the great emotion and energy he put into the piece. The reproduction of midbase notes and reverberation was particularly good. The next song was 'I am a Town' from Mary Chapin Carpenter - Come on, Come on. Chapin's voice was, in everyone's mind, beautifully reproduced, with each word clear and distinct but very natural. The final tract was also my choice - there have to be some benefits to being host - 'I Can See Clearly Now' from the Holy Cole Trio Treasure album. This is my litmus test. The bass I find as real sounding as any I recording I have come across. But the real test is her second refrain of 'nothing but blue skies' when she holds the note for what seems forever. I am fortunate to have heard her trio on a number of occasions and for whatever reasons this note strikes the depth of my musical soul (forgive the poetic waxing). Even though I have heard this tract hundreds of time I was amazed at the shiver that went down my spine. At this point we changed back to the ensemble/audiotekne cables and listened in reverse order.
The difference was apparent immediately. In fact within about a minute my friend with the remote stopped the disc. We had no trouble in agreeing there was a significant difference and in determining what the difference was. A huge amount of vitality was gone. With Holly Cole both the opening bass and the voice just didn't hit you in the chest the way the way the HMS cables did (I should mention we tried to maintain similar volumes though we did not use a meter - again too complicated for a bunch of friends). The sound was still very lyrical and smooth but lacked the visceral impact. I thought about saying a loss of dynamics but this just doesn't do the difference justice. Review of the other tracks confirmed this though to varying degrees. The difference was less noticeable with Mary Chapin Carpenter, the beauty was still there, well captured, though the transparency in the way she enunciated words (and the emotion this conveys) was much less. In the cello suite again the music was beautiful but as one friend put it, it was almost like something had come between the music and us, like a blanket or saran wrap. We only listened to part of Livingston Taylor and on this superb recording the difference was perhaps a bit less noticeable but readily apparent. I should add that I have now spent over a month with the cables and every feeling I have about them remains.
In the end, this is difficult for me to write. I do not wish to throw any cloud over the Audiotekne. The dealer who sold them to me has a superb ear, has been very helpful in all my dealings and a great guy. The cables are superb and have brought me a huge amount of pleasure. Had I not been looking to improve the digital sound reproduction I would likely have looked no further. Until I had heard the HMS I thought the Audiotekne were the best interconnects I had come across - very musical and yet accurate. They still are, but in my opinion there is no contest with the HMS. Indeed I would find it extremely hard to go back to listening to my system without the HMS. The only drawback I can see is that they may be too revealing for some systems, though I have no reason to assume this. It has been said that audiophiles tend to crave difference and that this may be the reason for our conclusions and love of the latest flavor out there, but I really don't think this the case. These cables, in my system, permit me to get that much closer to the music and get that much more enjoyment from the system. Any system represents a synergy and as such it is impossible to say what is good in one will sound good in another. Be that as it may these cables are so good that I would highly recommend an audition. That you have a 30-day return policy is extremely important, and the dealer seems very flexible about this.
I realize this review is probably too long and not very good but I hope it will be of some help to those of you out there considering new cables.

Product Weakness: The cables take a considerable time to settle into the system and need a lot of burn in time. They may be too accurate or forward for a bright system. Cables are very system dependent and should be carefully researched and listened to in any system before big outlays. Not inexpensive.
Product Strengths: Extremely accurate, transparent and dynamic with great musicality. Great value for the money as best I can tell.

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Musical Fidelity M3 integrated amp
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	None
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Audiomeca Mephisto II transport with separate power supply connected to an Audiomeca Ekianthus DAC by an Ensemble Gigaflux digital cable, turntable is an Audiomeca Romance with Romance arm and a Benz micro ruby 2
Speakers:	Piega P8ltd
Cables/Interconnects:	Audiotekne interconnects, speaker cables, and power cables with a Cardas Neutral Reference phono cable, Ensemble Gigaflux Digital Cable
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	see review
Room Size (LxWxH):	45 x 18 x 25
Room Comments/Treatments:	see review, a tough room with limited flexibility at present for room treatments
Time Period/Length of Audition:	approximately 35 days
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Audiotekne Power Transformer, CD player now sits on inverted symposium rollerblocks with tungsten upgrades that in turn rest on a symposium svelte shelf
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	The cables take a considerable time to settle into the system and need a lot of burn in time. They may be too accurate or forward for a bright system. Cables are very system dependent and should be carefully researched and listened to in any system before big outlays. Not inexpensive.
Product Strengths:	Extremely accurate, transparent and dynamic with great musicality. Great value for the money as best I can tell.

REVIEW: HMS Il Primo 75 ohm Digital Cable and Grand Finale Top Match Interconnect - RCA Cable