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Awards
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Super AV Award 2009
 Outstanding popularity HDMI Cable :
van den Hul The HDMI FLat 180
Hi-Fi Choice magazine 2008
 Best Buy, Five Star Award:
van den Hul The WAVE
Verdict:
Admirable neutrality and detail: a hint of upper-bass richness seems to do no harm and images are a little further back than other cables here.
The magazine's comments:
With one of vdH’s less bizarre names, but a truly distinctive colour to its jacket, The Wave is a new model from the company’s confusingly vast range. It uses silver-plated copper conductors (the more upmarket ones use carbon strands), polythene insulation, coaxial construction and a ‘Hulliflex’ jacket.
Apparently the green colour signifies the 25th anniversary of vdH’s green mission to make cables that do not harm the environment. The central conductor is a generous 0.9mm diameter and the internal dimensions are such that the cable is also suited to video duty and indeed digital audio interconnection. It’s a little thicker and less flexible than the other cables in this Round-up, but still perfectly practical and it is fitted with very nice collet-clamp phono plugs which, in principle, give better termination to coaxial wire than the usual types.
Despite the differences in construction, we found this cable fairly similar to the Kimber, with a full-bodied and clearly defined sound across the registers. It has a very slightly fuller upper bass, which may tickle some tastes, but this does not seem to have any adverse effect on rhythm, which is lively and precise.
Treble is cleanly extended and once again there is a lovely natural quality to the way delicate high-frequency sounds decay into ambience (given good recordings!).
Imaging is very good, with perhaps a slightly longer perspective in the depth direction. That’s something we’ve noticed once or twice before with vdH cables and we regard it more as a matter of taste than absolute right or wrong. Another highly capable and compatible interconnect.
What Hi-Fi magazine 2008
 Best HDMI cable Award:
van den Hul The VDH HDMI Flat
Verdict:
For: Crystal clear picture; excellent detail levels; smooth with motion; refined, natural sound.
Against: Nothing at all
The magazine's comments:
As you’d expect from a cable named the Flat, this HDMI offering from Van den Hul is slimline. Its flexible form means that you can manipulate it into all kinds of positions.
This versatility is ideal for the cramped areas you tend to find around the back of an AV rack, where space is at a premium and cables jostle for position.
The Flat meets HDMI v1.3 standards, so is fully compatible with all HD Audio formats, as well as Deep Colour and xvYCC. It’s enshrouded in a Hulliflex jacket and is fitted with gold-plated contacts.
Clear, free-flowing images:
And it’s soon apparent that this cable is special. Images boast amazing clarity and there’s hardly any trace of noise. The cable has a firm grip on motion and allows for a fantastic smooth and free-flowing image during the opening chase of Casino Royale.
The Flat also produces a punchy picture that’s lively, vivid and a real feast for your eyes.
Sonically, the Flat is anything but. It’s pleasingly dynamic, entertaining and one of the most musical HDMI cables that weve come across.
Explosions are taut and well-defined, gunfire and dialogue sounds natural and in general, the cable digs up plenty of detail from movie soundtracks. Overall, then, the Flat is a superb cable and a real contender for one of this year’s Awards.
AV Magazin.de & HiFi.nl 2007/2008
 SAVA Life Achievement Award for
A.J. van den Hul
The award's comments:
The first winner of the Life Achievement Award is the Dutch cable and cartridge manufacturer Aalt Jouk van den Hul: A man who is internationally acclaimed as one of the great analog audio guru’s and manufacturer of handmade cartridges as The Frog, The Grasshopper and the Colibri. A.J. van den Hul was also the first ever to make a completely metal free interconnect: appropriately called The First.
Enjoy the Music.com 2007
 Best of 2007 Blue Note Award:
van den Hul The FROG ®
Hi-Fi Choice magazine 2006
 Best Audio Interconnect under £100 per pair, Gold Award:
van den Hul The WELL HYBRID
Image HiFi magazine 2006
 Image HiFi Award of the year:
van den Hul The CONDOR XCM
Hi-Fi+ magazine 2005
 Product of the Year Award:
van den Hul The CONDOR
The magazine's comments:
Normally when you choose a cartridge you are selecting one man's vision, his (or her!) choice of balance and attributes. You can do the same with the Condor, buying an off-the-shelf sample. Or, you can have it tailor-made! The good Doctor can, by selecting from a range of components and materials, trimming and tuning the various elements, match the physical characteristics of the cartridge to your chosen tonearm and phono-stage. Even more remarkable, he can match the sonic character to your tastes too. The sample he built for me is amongst the most enjoyable and musically impressive cartridges I've ever used, which at between a half and a quarter of the price of the other contenders makes it a bargain - even if it is the wrong side of £2K. It also makes it a bespoke product in a world of cookie-cutter conformity, which brings its own special satisfaction to ownership. Roy Gregory
Hi-Fi Choice magazine 2005
 Best Interconnect under £100 per pair, Gold Award:
van den Hul The WELL HYBRID
 Best Interconnect over £100 per pair, Silver Award:
van den Hul The INTEGRATION HYBRID
 Best Interconnect under £100 per pair, Bronze Award:
van den Hul The BAY C5 HYBRID
Hi-Fi Review magazine 2004
 Best Buy of the Year Award:
van den Hul The JUBILEE HYBRID
Hi-Fi Choice magazine 2004
 Best Interconnect over £100 per pair - Gold Award:
van den Hul The INTEGRATION HYBRID
The magazine's comments:
This category's winner includes van den Hul's 'fusion technology' - it uses zinc as well as copper and silver, and each conductor is surrounded by Linear Structured Carbon. The proposed idea is to preserve low-level detail by reducing the alleged detrimental effects of crystal boundaries - the proof is in the listening, and whatever the reason, there's no denying this interconnect's outstanding sound quality. There's a rare, natural ease to the sound, with a splendid tonal balance from top to bottom. Imaging, also, is truly first rate.
 Best Interconnect under £100 per pair - Gold Award:
van den Hul The WELL HYBRID
The magazine's comments:
Not for the first time, van den Hul has made a low-cost cable perform way out of its class. This modestly-priced interconnect features the company's trademark mixture of silver-plated copper and 'linear structured carbon', double screen and all. In practice, The Well communicates the music with graceful ease - imaging is solid, believable and deep, while detail is plentiful and gracefully presented. Solo voices retain their full individual character, and subtle dynamics are handled with great confidence.
What Hi-Fi magazine 2004
 Best Stereo Interconnect under £50 Award (in the class of cables & interconnects):
van den Hul The NAME
Verdict:
Van den Hul might raise a few eyebrows with The Name, but there's absolutely no question mark over its performance - it easily sounds like the best in its class.
The magazine's comments:
Don't let The Name confuse you (if it hasn't done already) - this is the interconnect to have at this price. A relatively modest investment of your hard-earned will return an enlightened and hugely entertaining sound. You're treated to a beautiful sonic balance. Instruments and vocals sound natural and are relayed in all their original glory with an even-handed approach across the whole of the frequency range.
Its timing ability maintains an accurate and precise rendition of the Black Eyed Peas' Shut Up: the track stops and starts in all the right places with no loss of direction. The Name also allows for a rich and full-bodied presentation without losing any vital resolution along the way. Every ounce of detail is fashioned exceptionally for your enjoyment.
It's easy to get confused due to van den Hul's too-clever naming ploy, but we're convinced The Name's sonic character will shine through. It's a cracking choice.
Best Mains Lead over £100 Award (in the class of cables & interconnects):
van den Hul The MAINSSTREAM HYBRID
Verdict:
Possibly the greatest upgrade option currently available on the open market - after its recent £200 price slash, this comes heartily recommended for its absolute all-round excellence.
The magazine's comments:
Products do drop stars from time to time - mainly due to advances in the competition. However, there aren't too many products that pick stars up over time. The Mainsstream is the exception.
Not only that, but it's managed to cement best in class status. The van den Hul lead produces an improvement in sound quality that's usually reserved for more expensive mains blocks and conditioners.
The Mainsstream is no ordinary cable, using high-purity, silver-coated, oxygen-free copper conductors with extensive shielding.
The net result is a more refined and mature delivery across the board. Subtler sounds are made clearer, and there's a greater impression of space around instruments and vocals.
Before its recent price drop, the Mainsserver was a super-premium product that only high-end system users could justify buying. However, now it's within reach of far more of us - go and buy one.
Hi-Fi Choice magazine 2003/2004
 Product of the Year Award:
van den Hul The WELL HYBRID
Hi-Fi Choice magazine 2002/2003
 Product of the Year Award:
van den Hul The BAY C5 HYBRID
The magazine's comments:
The entry level interconnect market is a hard-fought arena with a lot of very good models to choose from, but choose you must and our favourite is this lovely red vdH. From top to bottom of the range it's an impressive performer with good detail, giving insight into familiar recordings and making listening compulsive. Stereo imaging is excellent with great depth information and a cohesive all-round sound through the full dynamic range. It serves all types of music equally well and should be compatible with all manner of kit. The BAY is excellent value for money.
 Product of the Year Award:
van den Hul D - 102 III HYBRID
The magazine's comments:
This year's best mid-price model is an old favourite at Hi-Fi Choice. The van den Hul D - 102, now in its Mk III form, is a seemingly unbeatable analogue design that's suitable for anything from a phono stage to a SACD player and all points in between. We found it hard to criticise this cable - detail is very good and tonality is neutral across the board. Treble extension is exemplary which might explain how it manages to create such impressive image depth and width. All things considered, this is a first-rate performer and a bargain to boot.
 Product of the Year Award:
van den Hul MC - ONE Special
The magazine's comments:
Less an accessory, more a necessity, a good cartridge makes vinyl the format of choice, and this year's best. The MC - ONE Special is indeed very special. A hand-made moving coil design, it has a sound that could turn anyone into a vinyl junkie - rich, vibrant and above all dynamic, it gets straight to the heart of the music. If you think you know your LP collection think again, there's colour, space and energy in there that few needles will reveal. It may seem expensive but when you realise what it can do for your record collection its value becomes extraordinary.
Hi-Fi Review magazine 2002
 Best Buy of the Year Award:
van den Hul The DIGI-COUPLER 75 Ohm
Super AV magazine 2002
 Best Buy Interconnect Award:
van den Hul MC - SILVER IT Mk II Coaxial
Super AV magazine 2001
 Outstanding Power Cord Award:
van den Hul The MAINSSTREAM HYBRID
What Hi-Fi magazine 2001
 Product of the Year Award (in the class of interconnects):
van den Hul D - 102 III HYBRID
 Best Buy Award (in the class of optical cables):
van den Hul OPTOCOUPLER
British Federation of Audio and Hi-fi News magazine 2001
 Best interconnect cable over £100:
van den Hul The FIRST ®
Best interconnect cable up to £100:
van den Hul D - 102 III HYBRID
German High End magazine "Audio" 2000
 Goldenes Ohr 2000 (Golden Ear) Award:
van den Hul The REVOLUTION HYBRID
Ranking first place in the class High End loudspeaker cables amongst those tested in Audio, issue 9, 2000.
The magazine's comments:
Already the name "The Revolution" creates high expectations. When listening these are also fulfilled, since this High End creation of Van den Hul plays vividly, dynamically and precise without having unnatural effects.
Tested in Audio, issue 9/00, +10 Points
What Hi-fi magazine 2000
Best Buy Award:
van den Hul OPTOCOUPLER
The magazine's comments:
Van den Hul is one of the most enduring names to appear in our winning cable categories each year and 2000 is no exception.
First up is The OPTOCOUPLER, an optical lead that blew us away with its wide open, hugely dynamic and detailed sound. Tonality is spot-on, instruments and vocals sounding natural, while the presentation has none of the low-level haze and mild compression of dynamics that the use of lesser optical leads can result in.
The cable is well made, too, vdH having taken great care over shaping the ends of the fibres to maximise information flow. The result is one worthy wire winner.
Best Buy Award:
van den Hul D - 102 III HYBRID
The magazine's comments:
Best buy interconnects in the 1998 awards and last year's cable Product op the year, van den Hul's D - 102 III HYBRID continues its reign as a cable class leader thanks to an unrivalled mix of transparency and sweetness. Silver-coated strands of oxygen-free copper give a sound that's open, detailed and satisfyingly weighty, while vocal and instrumental timbres thrill. A cable for all musical styles and one which works best in a mid-price set-up, this mustard-coloured marvel will amaze.
Best Buy Award:
van den Hul CS - 122 HYBRID
The magazine's comments:
Yet another stalwart of the winning speaker cable category, van den Hul's CS - 122 HYBRID holds onto its crown for the third year running, trouncing the competition with a triumphant mix of delicacy and dynamics, topped with a healthy helping of detail. Featuring an unusual combination of oxygen-free copper and carbon conductors, it's not only with the subtle stuff that this cable proves king - bass is tremendously powerful, transients have bags of snap, while instrumental timbres are a real treat. This is a cable impossible to ignore when hooking up a mid-priced to high-end set-up.
Home Entertainment magazine 1999/2000
 Highly Commended (in the category of cable):
van den Hul The PATCHBAY B5
What Hi-fi magazine 1999
 Product of the Year Award:
van den Hul D - 102 III HYBRID
The magazine's comments:
Our Best Buy interconnect in the 1998 Awards, van den Hul's cable king continues its reign as class leader thanks to a winning combination of transparency and sweetness. Beneath the mustard-coloured jacket lie two centre conductors made of 40 pure silver-coated strands of oxygen-free copper, the result being a sound that's open, detailed and satisfyingly weighty and which thrills when it comes to vocals and timbre. A cable to suit all musical styles and which works best in a mid-price set-up, the D - 102 III HYBRID still sets the standards at the price.
Best Buy Award:
van den Hul CS - 122 HYBRID
The magazine's comments:
With no less than three gongs in this year's Awards van den Hul is on a roll, the CS - 122 HYBRID making an appearance for the second year running. Using an unusual mix of silver-coated oxygen-free copper and carbon conductors, the CS - 122 HYBRID pays off when it comes to detail, delicacy and dynamics. Vocals and instruments sound supremely natural, treble is open and intricate, while bass sounds both powerful and well controlled. All in all this is a tremendously well judged cable that really pays dividends in high-end rigs.
Best Buy Award:
van den Hul D - 300 III HYBRID
The magazine's comments:
Another regular in our annual Awards, van den Hul builds upon last year's Best Buy success with an interconnect offering many of the qualities found in the D - 102 III HYBRID, but at less than half the price. Constructed around a single silver-layered high grade copper conductor, The D - 300 III HYBRID blew us away with its sheer transparency when we tested it back in August. Used with separates around the £200 mark, the gains in speed and detail make this wire worth every penny.
The Absolute Sound magazine 1998
 Golden Ear Award:
van den Hul The GRASSHOPPER IV GLA
The magazine's comments:
First, reflecting its position in the audio chain, is the van den Hul Grasshopper IV GLA phono cartridge (review, Issue 115 ). The most impressive thing about A.J. van den Hul's top-of-the-line cartridge is that it is so splendidly balanced. It provides a broader and deeper overall performance envelope than any cartridge (and almost any other component of any kind) in my acquaintance. Nothing downstream will ever have an excuse for less-than-optimal performance if a properly set-up Grasshopper IV GLA is interpreting the source material. Tonal balance is as neutral as the best tube electronics and the cartridge is utterly devoid of grain. The one aspect of its performance that calls itself to your attention is a stunning portrayal of dynamics, both micro and macro. No overworked audio cliché does not apply. The Grasshopper never becomes confused, regardless of the force of the crescendo, and remains able to sketch the most minute of details in a strikingly lifelike way.
The Grasshopper is also able, when paired with sufficiently excellent amplification and speakers, to suggest not only that the physical space of the recording environment is present, but to delineate the size and the shape of that space. If, as HP has noted, space is the next audio frontier, the vdH goes where no others (that I have heard) have gone before. Paul Bolin
What Hi-fi magazine 1998
 Best Buy Interconnect Award:
van den Hul D - 102 III HYBRID
Highly Recommended Award:
van den Hul CS - 122 HYBRID
Hong Kong Hi-Fi Review magazine 1996
 Amongst the Products of the Year 1996 Awards:
van den Hul The THIRD ®
Audio & Video Totaal magazine 1996
 Milieu (Green) Award:
van den Hul Carbon Cables
The jury's comment:
Due to the absence of heavy metals and halogens in the revolutionary design, where the unhindered transmission of audio signals is the main issue, the editors of The Netherlands biggest magazine for image and sound: Audio & Video Totaal have awarded the prestigeous GREEN AWARD 1996 to van den Hul CARBON CABLES.
The Academy for the Advancement of High End Audio 1996
 Nomination for the Golden Note Award (in the category of Analog Source Design):
van den Hul The GRASSHOPPER IV
German Stereoplay magazine 1996
 High End Award - second prize:
van den Hul MC - ONE
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