Pani, There is no BEST component but just personal preferences. Every component has a sonic signature and I agree components should not be chosen as a substitute for a sound. If you want a tube sound, get a tube component. Good luck in your adventure. |
Pani, I agree with your description of the Livelines. I find it funny that none of the professional reviews mentioned the tonality of the cable. |
Macdude,
The tonality of the liveline was singled out as one of it`s greater strengths by the Stereo Times reviewer and all 4 of the reviwers for 6 moons over a 2 year period.I find the tone and timbre of the liveline simply superb, as apparently many other users of this cable feel the same based on the numerous posts on this thread(vast majority). It just did`nt fit for you and pani, nothing pleases everyone.It`s the best I`ve ever had and I hope you find a cable that meets your needs. |
While I will not debate on the tonality of the Livelines, I will just say that it MUST be auditioned before buying to see if it falls into your camp of signature sound. It definitely has polarized impression. Not for everyone. |
03-04-11: Pani
While I will not debate on the tonality of the Livelines, I will just say that it MUST be auditioned before buying to see if it falls into your camp of signature sound. It definitely has polarized impression. Not for everyone.
Pani (Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread) Name me one component where an auditioned is NOT encouraged before a purchase and is FOR everyone? Don't take this negatively, like any revealing component, it will highlight any flaws in ones system. |
Knghifi,
That`s my conclusion also, I just think the liveline is exceptionally true to the source and has great resolution ability.With my system the cables come off as pure and organic. Last night I listened to Dexter Gordon "Tower of Power" and also the Chet Baker`s "The Itallian Sessions". Good grief! unbelievable 3D palpable you are with them presence. Quite remarkable and a whole lot of fun. YMMV. |
Knghifi, all I am trying to say is Livelines have an extreme sound so it becomes EVEN MORE important to audition them before buying. Just like a Cardas Golden Cross which tends to have extremities on the warmer side.
Yes, "ideally" every component in audio should be bought after home audition but practically speaking the fact that we have so many threads here on Audiogon where people keep asking for suggestions means that there is a lot of blind buy as well. My suggestion was not to do that with Livelines as much as possible. Its characteristics are not moderate IMO. |
Pani, It seems you are changing cables every few months, have you consider the problem is not cable but something else?
At one time my system sounded great but just didn't click. I changed amps, cables, tubes, DAC and finally replacing the SF Line3SE+ with a VAC preamp, everything clicked and it was MAGIC!! I kick myself for selling my beloved Krell amp ... boy if only I change preamp 1st would save me lots of $$ and headaches. Now I'm a true believer the preamp is the heart of a system. Good luck! |
as apparently many other users of this cable feel the same based on the numerous posts on this thread(vast majority). It just did`nt fit for you and pani, nothing pleases everyone. It is a common observation and also common sense that most people dont write or even visit threads about products that they dont care much about. Hence you normally see most of these "boutique product" threads filled with praises and appreciation of the products concerned...since it is mostly visited by people who found something special about the product and something worth mentioning. People who thought the product is passable mostly do not spend time on such threads, I mean it is understandable right ? Personally I have bought numerous products based on such appreciation threads and most of them turned out to be dud in my evaluation. So the "vast majority" you are talking about is nothing special to this product or this thread IMO. I dont want to undermine your assessment or anything, just wanted to highlight human behavior. |
Pani,
In all honesty Knghifi may be on to something. In numerous threads you`ve expressed a desire for a cable that`s warm,lush toward the romantic. Could it be possible you are seeking some degree of correction/compensation for some aspect in your system? And perhaps the liveline exposed it due to it`s high resolution, just a thought. I do hope you find what you`re after.
Best Regards, |
Gotta agree with Pani on this one. Out of all the interconnects I've tried, the Livelines effect on my system was the strongest. It's not subtle at all. Definitely a must audition unless you are buying it used and can afford to resell it. |
Knghifi and Charles1dad, If you look at all my cable related threads, I have never asked a question about speaker cables, never ever....do you know why ? Simply because I found a cable which doesnt leave its signature on the overall sound, even if it does it is extremely faint and inaudible. Thats it, I have never touched it since then.
Unfortunately, with interconnects it has not happened that way till recently. Same with power cables. Almost everything that I have tried in IC and PC had its signature loud enough for me to be pissed off within sometime. So, at some point in time I started believing that there is no point trying to find such a "no-nonsense" cable, rather I am better off selecting a cable which has a signature that I can live with and hence I started my quest to get a warm sounding cable. That is how I got to try Fusion Audio, kCi Silkworm, Yamamura etc. Anyway, fortunately someone recommended a Crimson RM Musiclink and the way he described the sound struck a chord with me and I ordered one. You know what, you may not see another interconnect related thread from me for a long time :). It is exactly what I was looking for, no-nonsense clean cable which does everything in an audiophile book well.
BTW, I also realized the importance of having a top quality tube source in the chain after listening to an Einstein Audio CD player, so I sold my Reimyo DAC and now looking out for a high quality tube CDP/DAC, again something that doesnt have a strong signature. So, it is not that I am not looking at my system and just blaming the cables, if I do that I am only foolong myself. Moreover, whenever I get a new cable, I take it around to couple of my audiophile friend's place as well to hear it in different systems and every time (100% i.e) my findings in my own system resembles the findings in their system even though they use totally different equipments. |
Pani,
Glad to hear you have found an IC that fits your system. If you`re as please with it as I`m with the liveline, then for sure the quest is finished.
Happy and long term listening pani.
Best Regards, |
Pani, hope the Crimson IC works out for you.
I agree with your assesement on Einstein ... great stuff! When I was in the market for a preamp, the Tube MKII was on my short list.
I also agree with you about PCs ... been playing around with differnt PCs (foil, hybrid ...). It's amazing how one PC can totally alter the sound of my system. I know my system is sensitive but ... I don't understand it and always felt as long as a PC is not current limiting, it should be fine but NOT true. Crazy! :-) |
Thanks Charles1dad, same to you as well. |
Yes, PCs are total game changers which is very dicey to handle. I am planning to try out the Lessloss power cords soon as I have been "reading" that they dont alter the signature sound. |
Pani, how does the Crimson compare to the Silkworms and Yamamura? |
Well Silkworms sounded somewhat too lush and golden to my ears and clearly lacked bass definition. It was colored, simply put.
Yamamura is nice, especially the Millenium 6000. The digital cable is extrmely good. The analog cables sounded a bit rounded and slow to my ears. Tones were very good, soundstage was superb, airy and open but it has that tendency to round off edges and makes for a relaxed listening for any kind of music.
Crimson has none of these issues. It just sounds right. |
Pani, while we're at it... and since the thread is duly hijacked anyway...
Have you heard the offerings from Q-audio or from Tellurium Q? The latter were awarded Product of the Year (2010) by HiFi+. Both lines are quite affordable.
Also, do you know much about the construction and design of the Crimson stuff? No info on Austin Hifi's website... |
If Pani has an Einstein Preamp their sound is very foward, clean and detailed. I could see why he may not like the ASI. One is blaming the cable when they maybe should be blaming the source. |
03-10-11: Jwm
If Pani has an Einstein Preamp their sound is very foward, clean and detailed. I could see why he may not like the ASI. One is blaming the cable when they maybe should be blaming the source.
Jwm (Threads | Answers | This Thread) Pani auditioned an Einstein CD player and don't own an Einstein preamp. I think Liveline works well with Einstein. A local audiophile replaced his all Stealth Indra/Dream with Livelines in his Einstein MK60 OTL amp, Acapella LaCampanella and I think Shindo preamp early last year and have no desire to change. |
Knghifi is right. I dont own an Einstein preamp. In fact I have only heard it once in a showroom. I own a tube preamp from a boutique brand called Acoustic Portrait. It is not at all forward, it sounds very close to a Shindo Auriges preamp. We did an A-B in my previous setup and it was really difficult to tell them apart. |
The preamp in Pani's system uses metal film resistors & metallized polypropylene capacitors plus an Alps volume control. I have never heard on but based on my experience so far, the metal film resistors are used for speed and clarity with an ALPS volume control. Comparing this to Charles1dads Coincident DHT preamp, they are completely different sounding. Transformer coupled DHT already has a clarity and tone that most capacitor preamps cannot offer and the Coincident also uses a TVC volume control that offers resolution that the ALPS cannot even approach. BTW Charles, you should consider using Shinkoh resistors in the preamp. I have found them to offer the most emotion of all of the resistors that I have tried. In the preamp that I designed, you can switch between 6 different resistors so that you can tune the sound to your preamp without having to choose a cable to taylor your system sound.
Happy Listening. |
Bigkidz,
Agree with your description of the Coincident linestage.One clarification, it has no resistor in the signal path.
Regards, |
Pani, I agree with you about the Crimson Musiclink. I did replace my Musiclink between the DAC and preamp with the Teo Liquid Cable STD Mark 11. It is much better and at 8 times the price it should be. It's the best IC I've heard and definitely better than the Liveline. I still have the crimson between the preamp and the amp. For the price, it has no right to be this good. If you can try a Teo you should. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's expensive but I was lucky enough to find a used pair for $1,000. What a bargain that was. |
With the ASI, music is on 24 X 7...
HiFi Rig: ASI Liveline power cable + Cambridge Audio Cxn +
ASI Liveline Reference IC + Quad 405 MK2 + Cat5 + Piega Classic 3.0
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