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Subjective findings

We started first with the Qunex2. This is a cable we often recommend for connecting up fairly low quality sources such as Digital Satellite Boxes and VCRs. However, it is equally applicable to someone putting together a hi-fi on a low budget. Clearly this cable is heavily outclassed by the rest of the kit and you might expect it to suffer accordingly. But we were surprised at how competent the cable sounded. Whilst it did not thrill it did an excellent job of reproducing the music quite credibly. If you had not had experience of what a high quality system can deliver then you might not find it lacking.

The limitations of the Qunex2 only become apparent when it is replaced by the D102. A cynic might say "well it costs over twice the price so it jolly well should", so the key question which we asked ourselves at various points in this session was "Does this make a big enough difference to justify spending the extra?". The answer to this is a resounding yes. Whilst the Qunex2 reproduced the music with a good degree of accuracy, it lacked excitement and the illusion of reality. With the D102 the instruments started to sound like they were being played by real people, it started to become possible to follow what the musician was doing easily and to detect the particular characteristics of individual instruments. If you were a drummer then with the Qunex2 you would have struggled to detect what was really happening with the high hat and cymbals. When the D102 was used it was as if a couple of additional mikes had been placed on the drum kit to pick these up. The bass was also much more apparent and I don't mean that it simply became louder, it acquired pace and rhythm and the way the musician's was hitting the strings became apparent. More than anything else though the music became more dynamic and "in your face ".

So in answer to the question "Would another £40 be well spent" then provided you have a system of reasonable quality costing saying £1,000 then the answer is a very clear Yes.