KIMBER KABLE Silver Streak
Interconnects
No matter what is the balance of your bank account, Ray Kimber will have something for you. Kimber's interconnects are for those who need a bit more of light in their audio systems and thus they share similar sonic philosophy with Crystal Cable, Nordost, Homegrown Audio or Krautwire. It does not mean that they are built around the same principles.
Function and form
The Silver Streak uses what Kimber calls braided VariStrand geometry, with one positive lead and two negative (earthed) leads. All conductors are polished as it is supposed that a signal tends to travel on the conductive surface. The positive lead of the Silver Streak is silver, the negative ones are copper. The conductors are isloated by Teflon.
Bass management
Like any other Kimber Kable the Silver Streak is quite sensitive to proper burn- in. No-burn in, no music. Ray Kimber claims that most of the burning-in, that is the settling of a cable, happens in first 48 hours. However, he recommends not to judge his cables until there is minimum of 120-150 hours of playing. That was what we did before any serious auditioning.
Clarity & delicacy
I liked that the Kimber could play both loud and soft. When I played soft the cable was able to keep its tonal resolution down to the quietest sounds - a resonating cymbal never mutated into white noise, rather it was metallic and shiny from its initial transizent to the final decay. This type of resolution was great for any acoustic music where the natural tonality and dynamics are needed if the listening experience should be realistic.
Tonal accuracy
The higher we climb on the qualitative ladder of Ray Kimber's cables, the higher bass quality we get. It does not necessarily mean that the bass gets deeper - it just gets more articulated and more weighty. Thus the bass was more palpable with the Silver Streak than it was with its cheaper siblings, the Kimber Kable PBJ and Hero. With good recordings the bass became truly three-dimensional, with a good fundament and round and tight body. The presentation of the Silver Streak was not just about the good bass - the sound was complex and organic, with plenty of inner detail.
Spatial resolution
Like the PBJ (and other cheaper KImbers) the Silver Streak exhibited a slight accentuation on top. It will depend on the overall tonality of your audio system if this accentuation will help or harm. This is to say it is by no means a neutral cable, but its signature may bring an extra spark to darker or veiled systems.
Associated components
- Sources: C.E.C. TL-51XR, Linn Unidisk
- Amplifiers: Mark Levinson No. 432, passive attenuator, Spectral DMA-250
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Kimber Kable KCAG, Hero and PBJ, Kubala-Sosna Emotion
- Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima Studio2, Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy 8
Gallery
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