Very nice speaker cable for an affordable price that also suits tube amps.
Judging by
the multitude of posts on audiophile forums, Home Grown Audio (HGA) is gaining
a large following online.
With their
broad repertoire of speaker cables, interconnects, and digital and video cables,
HGA has opened themselves up to the wave of audio enthusiasts online. When I
got deeper into those postings, everything started to remind me of the time
when Kimber Kable made their appearance to the scene. HGA, having a similar
palette of products that touches on the DIY (do it yourself) scene as well, is
reminiscent of Kimber.
From my experience, audiophiles are very
critical when it comes to highly praising a product. There is a big marketing
scheme behind praising many products, so audiophiles, like myself, tend to play
it cool by keeping a sharp ear. But, it is hard to stay skeptical when there is
quite a buzz around some company all over the net, particularly on audiophile
sites and in print magazines.
HGA’s X16
is promising professionally and uniquely even upon first glance. The decorative
box is made out of hard wood with HGA’s specially burned logo and signature. I
always like their quality packaging and even the inside of the box is nicely
done. The packaging is decorated with soft foam to protect the cable and
interconnects from damage and the interconnects are also covered with a
protective plastic net.
Even a
slight look at the cables shows a nicely thought out design. On each end of the
speaker cable there is a special wooden bubble with the burned logo holding the
cables tightly where they separate on the plus and minus connectors. Every pair
of X 16 speaker cables are combined from 31 individual wires isolated with
Teflon. The Home Grown Audio X16 proudly holds many attributes of its bigger
brother, the X32. However, while the HGA X32 is made out of pure silver, the X16
is composed of a combination of OFC copper and silver.
I tested
the new cables and let them burn in for at least 20 hours. For listening, I
used a variety of music from reference live acoustical recordings, to more
commercial songs and exceptional 2 mic recordings from Slovenian audiophile and
jazz enthusiast Iztok Zupan.
I also
wanted to test the X16 in both the solid state and tube listening system. I
have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. To find proper cables for tube
amps can be quite a challenge both mentally and financially. You can always go
DIY, but it’s hard to properly construct cable that would match a professional
one. X16 was more than solid in recreating the flow of music without any serious
limitation in any specter. The base was controlled, fast, with body and quite
an attack. Darko Rundek’s song "Ruke" pleasantly pumped the room with
the sound of double base. "Desafinado's"
over equalized bass was easily driven with speakers. The X16 has nothing to be
ashamed about even in the treble specter. Listening to John Scofield's
"That’s What I Say" and Electric blues doctor's "Stompy Monday
Blues," brought a feeling of accomplishment; that sense that usually
accompanies good sounding equipment when you listen to music.
When it
comes to the higher spectrum, cables can make unmatched systems sound harsh on
the ears, but that was not the case with the HGA X16. The HGA X16 is a very
well priced speaker cable with all of the right attributes. There are things
that are left for its bigger brother, the X32, to accomplish, but don't think
twice if you are in a search of a quality and well priced cable.
mi@sgn.net
Matej Isak
