This is a review and detailed measurements of the Kimber Kable KS1036 "Silver" RCA Cable. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $4,520 for a pair (1 meter).
While I did not care for the cheap plastic box it came in, the cable itself has a bit of style with that loose wooden piece with their logo and model number. The wire itself is flexible and lightweight which I appreciated. What I did not care for was the WBT connector:
It is locking which is nice. But if you look carefully, there is only one metal tab that makes connection with the female RCA connection. The other two are rather flimsy plastic tabs that get pressed into the connector for the "locking" function. Without turning the outer shell to lock it, it is super loose. Even after locking, wiggling the Kimber cable caused momentary noise and glitches. In contrast, the cheap Amazon Basics cable had nice, tight connectors that didn't have any of this fussiness and produced a much more secure connection.
The only thing I could find under "technical details" was this:
"Six 25AWG Black Pearl solid silver conductors drawn in diamond coated dies and insulated with virgin FEP dielectric under the most exacting tolerances which offer the purest transfers of the most demanding highest resolution signals. These interconnects produce silent backdrops for vivid tonal color and flawless creation of space, time and ultimately the soul of the performance."
Well, that doesn't tell us anything so let's measure.
Kimber Kable KS 1036 Silver Cable Measurements
My "reference" and comparison cable is 6 foot Amazon Basics RCA. I have had a good few years and it has held up to a ton of abuse. It is flexible and as noted, has tight but not overly so RCA connections.I think it cost about $12. Edit: it costs $6.99. I connected the Kimber to Channel 1 of my Audio Precision analyzer and the Amazon to Channel 2. Here is the comparison:
As we see, there is no difference whatsoever. There is a bit more mains pick up on Kimber but that could just be the analyzer or the environment. I placed an AC transformer next to both cables and both managed to pick up negligible amount of interference (not shown).
Next, I tested wideband frequency response and phase:
I know, I know, "what about time domain." Here is the rise time of a 20 kHz square wave, hugely magnified to show its rising edge:
Couldn't be more identical if we tried.
Then I decided to go crazy and used both interconnects for S/PDIF digital! Yes, I fed both square wave signals and ran the jitter signal through them. Both produced essentially the same response as no cable (internal AP loopback):
There was a tiny bit more spikes on Amazon but it is double the length and in tests like this, slightest difference creates such variability.
Conclusions
The Kimber KS 1036 has identical electrical performance as my ultra cheap (but well built) Amazon cables. Testing was performed way outside of audible range and still no difference was found. In the lengths used, use of silver does nothing for signal transmission with such high impedances.
I did not care at all for the WBT connectors on the Kimber. Their locking is not very secure and the plastic tabs could break. I forgot to mention that the shell that rotates to tighten or loosen, can completely fall off, rending the cable useless! I thought WBT made good products but this one isn't one of them.
KS 1036 is quite expensive even by high-end prices. Just going up to 2 meters to match my Amazon cable doubles the cost to tear inducing $8,000!!! Yes, there are cables north of $20,000 but still, this is pretty high. Company needs to upgrade the plastic box it comes in as I have bought $50 IEMs with better feeling of luxury than this thing.
I guess if there is any "good" news is that the KS 1036 doesn't make anything worse as some of its competitors do.
I can't recommend the Kimber KS1036 cable. You knew this I am sure but you have some data to back it up!
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
While I did not care for the cheap plastic box it came in, the cable itself has a bit of style with that loose wooden piece with their logo and model number. The wire itself is flexible and lightweight which I appreciated. What I did not care for was the WBT connector:
It is locking which is nice. But if you look carefully, there is only one metal tab that makes connection with the female RCA connection. The other two are rather flimsy plastic tabs that get pressed into the connector for the "locking" function. Without turning the outer shell to lock it, it is super loose. Even after locking, wiggling the Kimber cable caused momentary noise and glitches. In contrast, the cheap Amazon Basics cable had nice, tight connectors that didn't have any of this fussiness and produced a much more secure connection.
The only thing I could find under "technical details" was this:
"Six 25AWG Black Pearl solid silver conductors drawn in diamond coated dies and insulated with virgin FEP dielectric under the most exacting tolerances which offer the purest transfers of the most demanding highest resolution signals. These interconnects produce silent backdrops for vivid tonal color and flawless creation of space, time and ultimately the soul of the performance."
Well, that doesn't tell us anything so let's measure.
Kimber Kable KS 1036 Silver Cable Measurements
My "reference" and comparison cable is 6 foot Amazon Basics RCA. I have had a good few years and it has held up to a ton of abuse. It is flexible and as noted, has tight but not overly so RCA connections.
As we see, there is no difference whatsoever. There is a bit more mains pick up on Kimber but that could just be the analyzer or the environment. I placed an AC transformer next to both cables and both managed to pick up negligible amount of interference (not shown).
Next, I tested wideband frequency response and phase:
I know, I know, "what about time domain." Here is the rise time of a 20 kHz square wave, hugely magnified to show its rising edge:
Couldn't be more identical if we tried.
Then I decided to go crazy and used both interconnects for S/PDIF digital! Yes, I fed both square wave signals and ran the jitter signal through them. Both produced essentially the same response as no cable (internal AP loopback):
There was a tiny bit more spikes on Amazon but it is double the length and in tests like this, slightest difference creates such variability.
Conclusions
The Kimber KS 1036 has identical electrical performance as my ultra cheap (but well built) Amazon cables. Testing was performed way outside of audible range and still no difference was found. In the lengths used, use of silver does nothing for signal transmission with such high impedances.
I did not care at all for the WBT connectors on the Kimber. Their locking is not very secure and the plastic tabs could break. I forgot to mention that the shell that rotates to tighten or loosen, can completely fall off, rending the cable useless! I thought WBT made good products but this one isn't one of them.
KS 1036 is quite expensive even by high-end prices. Just going up to 2 meters to match my Amazon cable doubles the cost to tear inducing $8,000!!! Yes, there are cables north of $20,000 but still, this is pretty high. Company needs to upgrade the plastic box it comes in as I have bought $50 IEMs with better feeling of luxury than this thing.
I guess if there is any "good" news is that the KS 1036 doesn't make anything worse as some of its competitors do.
I can't recommend the Kimber KS1036 cable. You knew this I am sure but you have some data to back it up!
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Last edited:
!
