A couple of weeks ago Jerry reviewed the budget loudspeaker cable “Twist” from Black Rhodium. We gave the cable to Jake to see how it did in a completely different system.

The latest cable release from UK cable stalwart Black Rhodium has them competing in a far more pocket friendly category than previous products but designer Graham Nalty obviously believes that trickle down technology from more costly designs such as the highly commended Salsa and expensive Ninja speaker cables can help the Twist become the go to cable at the densely populated sub £5 per metre price point. Let’s put it to the test.

Rather unfairly the £3.50 per unterminated metre Twist is thrown into the lions den immediately and pitched against Atlas’ Hyper 2 cable that I use every day. Unsurprisingly the Black Rhodium rendition of Tunng’s ‘Hustle’ from the excellent ‘Live from the BBC’ LP was less balanced across the frequency range than with the award winning Atlas cable, with the sound seeming a little less fluid and treble reproduction not as open and somewhat smeared in comparison. Much as one would hope given that the sticker price on the Hyper 2 is some six times higher.

In a more acceptable examination the Twist acquits itself rather better. Repeated listening to Four Tet’s ‘There is love in you’ with the Black Rhodium and then QED’s more expensive Silver Anniversary XT brings better results for the review subject. Treble reproduction seems more reasoned and less shrill, with bass notes developing better and sounding beefier than the popular veteran. A quick toe to toe with Chords Carnival Silver Screen, another contender from the same weight division, is a fairer fight and hard to call.

I’d made these notes before reading Jerry’s review and read about his aversion to the Twist’s treble with interest. I can’t say I noticed the grain to quite the same degree and in fact preferred the Twist’s top end to the QED. System synergy? Maybe. It’s worth mentioning that Jerry’s system is a good few degrees more revealing than my valve based set up and this is probably a good time to admit that any irregularities I report here pale into insignificance when compared to differences noted between amplifiers or even interconnects to my ears. Many buyers are happy with a good set of budget cables and, in my system at least, The Black Rhodium Twist deserve to be described as just that.

Author – Jake

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