Doug Schneider has posted a review of the Siltech Classic Anniversary 330i interconnects ($1000/pair) and 330L speaker cables ($1800/pair). His conclusions:
The major qualities I attribute to the Siltech Classic Anniversary 330i and 330L — clarity, smoothness, high resolution — are, in the grand scheme of things, small things, and their liquidity and hint of warmth are smaller yet. Swap out a new pair of speakers or even source components, and you’ll hear bigger differences. But they are differences, and in the context of a high-resolution audiophile system they’re relevant, especially to me — my goal in reviewing hi-fi gear is to pursue the highest fidelity to the source signal. I want all the resolution I can get. With first-rate gear such as I now have in-house, the subtle increase in detail that the 330s provide, along with the undeniable cleanness and smoothness of their sound, helps move me another step or two closer to that goal.
All told, the 330s are reference-grade cables that have edged out all others I have on hand, even if they represent only the middle of Siltech’s line. Siltech may have better, more expensive cables, and I’d be interested to hear them, but I question if most people need more than the 330s provide. These speaker cables and interconnects are shockingly good.
But despite my praise for them, far be it from me to casually recommend $1000 interconnects and $1800 speaker cables as if those costs were pocket change. Yes, I admire the Siltechs, but you should probably get the rest of your system up to snuff before you make such an investment in cables. These cables didn’t make mediocre components sound like components costing two or three times as much; instead, they complemented the already outstanding components I had on hand.
That’s the bottom line: The 330s provided a noticeable, incremental improvement over my reference cables in key areas, and in that context, they can be considered good deals, compared to what many companies charge these days for reference-caliber high-end audio cables. If there are better cables out there, I’m all ears. For now, I’m impressed enough with the performance of Siltech’s Classic Anniversary 330s that I’ve put them at the very top of my short list of references and given them a new nickname: The knockouts from the Netherlands.
You can read the full review here.
