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Anticables Review

Category: Cables

I need to preface this by saying I don't have what y'all would probably consider an "Audiophile" amp: An Onkyo 805 receiver. But it drives my Vandersteen 2ce sigs wonderfully (and in Pure Audio mode has no video circuitry on. I use Pure Audio (no time processing, no sub) for this comparison.

Ok so I got two pairs of Anticables from Paul. He shotgunned them to bananas on the amp end and put vintage spades on the other (biwired to the Vandys). My other cable is a set of Canare 4S11 star quad: hard-wired on the amp end with BJC spades on the speaker. My conclusion: I can only hope that others in this forum are correct in saying that AntiCables need 400 hours to break in. Right now, they sound thin, tinny, and very lacking in bass and overall stage depth. Putting the Canare back on, Jacqueline Dupre's cello once again sounds like a Strad (instead of a high school instrument), and the bass section sounds full and present (instead of weak and distant).

This comparison duplicates results across genres. For example Alison Kraus' Live SACD, the guitar strum sounds precise with the anticables, but very thin. With the Canare you can hear the string depth through the pick.

My next step is to clip off the spades and hard wire the AntiCables, as some have suggested. Will post an update if anyone's interested :) But for now I just wanted to voice my dissatisfaction thus far, and hope that this magnet wire I paid $200 for might somehow 'burn in' to match my $30 Canare 4S11.
kontrabass

Showing 2 responses by audphile1

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,332 posts
 
Don't they offer a return policy? Return them if you can even if it will cost you shipping and restocking fee, consider it a lesson learned and move on. Get yourself a nice speaker cable.
Within the same budget I would tell you to get a set of Audience Conductor speaker cables. Or add a few bucks and get Acoustic Zen Satori. I would not expect miracles from this magnet wire. At the best it will sound like your $30 Canare.
It was hyped up at some point here because of its price and few people that were fooled into thinking they had a deal of a century, replacing their Nordost Valhalla with the $200 magnet wire.....I don't think so. You get what you pay for. There are no miracles, especially in this hobby. Trust your ears.
audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,332 posts
 
David99, do I think audiophiles are dummies? Certainly not. But what I do think is that audiophiles tend to get too excited too quick when judgement(I'm guilty of it as well at times) is impaired. This is when hype starts.

I didn't mean to offend anyone, you included, but if you read my post and understood it that way, then there is nothing I can do.

You're right, I never got caught up in this hype, never heard the Anti-Cables. But I did get caught up in similar hypes before I learned what this is all about. So there is no need for me to try this cable to know it is hype.
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