Acoustic Zen Absolute Copper vs. Cardas Clear interconnects

@dbt hope you resolve the right ch popping issue. 
By the way I totally agree with your assessment on listenability of lesser quality recordings with AZ Absolute. Keep the thoughts coming. 

One other suggestion if I may…you can pickup a pair of 1m Absolute Copper used between $900-$950. If you don’t like it, sell. With the cable co it will be 5% charge from the retail cost. That’s going to add up quickly. And to be perfectly honest the new MSRP for these cables is ridiculous. Just something to think about. 
Also…let me know if you would like me to message you my dealer info. 

@dbt I didn’t compare them with Cardas Clear but the AZs couldn’t be beat by:

Audience AU24SX, Kimber KS1126, Analysis Plus Silver Apex, Nordost Tyr 1.

The cables that were a better fit for my system were Nordost Tyr 2. And this is an important point…better fit for my system.

The Absolute are resolving but warm sounding cables with great mids, delicate but extended highs and lots pf bass with very good texture top to bottom. There’s no harshness or sibilance with these cables and they don’t cause any fatigue.
But…it’s really system/room/listener dependent. I would probably not move on if it wasn’t for an amplifier upgrade that just resulted in a bit too much bottom end and required me to rebalance the sound.

One other note - I tried and found the Absolute speaker cables to be too dark sounding. But again that’s just my take on it in my system.
If you’re after sound with lots of meat on the bone without sacrificing resolution, the Absolute XLRs or RCAs will deliver.

I did replace them with Tyr 2 XLRs. 
I’ll add that I tried the Absolute speaker cables when I had Martin Logan Montis speakers, not with my Wilson Sabrina. But the XLRs were replaced when I already had the Sabrinas. Once again, I didn’t replace them because they were bad but only because of the synergy with the new amps. 
I would encourage you to try the speaker cables and the XLRs to see how they sound in your system. Overall fantastic cables and I highly recommend them. 

@dbt it wasn’t me who thought you were asking about the AES cable only…

👍

Message sent. 

@mclinnguy sorry…😂

but pretty sure the Hurricane will add body and weight. Keep us posted. 

@dbt yes absolutely kudos to you for keeping us updated! Take your time with the speaker cables. I would recommend auditioning Audience AU24SX and Purist Neptune speaker cables. You might hit that perfect balance top to bottom without impacting the awesome traits of the AZ Absolute Copper interconnects.

@mclinnguy ditto on Hurricane and PSM156. The results you get with the Hurricane are probably more system dependent than with a lot of other power cables. Adding more Hurricane power cords compounded the effects. Didn’t work for me. 

Built your playlist @dbt 

Some of these songs I’m familiar with. On Till you can hear the bassist breathing during the solo. It’s a nice cover!