An one have any experiences with break-in they can share? |
I think all pieces of the audio puzzle need time to break in. That being said I'm a believer that if the cable or etc. is going to work within the system as a whole that it will be evident to the user in a few days or less. IMO with cables when new can sound bright or have some glare that will fade with time. But if its to the point of annoyance then its probably not going to transform with time. I do have silver ICs like your sky, (wild blue yonder), they have aged well but sounded fantastic initially. I do think that the preamp to amp ICs take longer to break in than source to preamp. If this is your scenario you could switch to a constant high level source signal (cdp) to speed up the process. |
I forgot it, but they perform well :-) |
This is one great piece of cable. |
Gentlemen, could you elaborate a little more on some (if any) of the changes I could expect as these break-in! |
Mred, honestly, normally it would be easy to write the usual "more
headroom, deeper soundstage, faster high frequencies, blacker blackness
between the notes..." but the Sky is in a way - or for me - a 'No-Wire' -->
a link without limitations or colorations;.
Let's say after a while you will "feel" that something happened,
maybe a kind of more silence. Simply a cleaner connection between the units
which are connected with it.
Maybe this has to do with the DBS System, who knows. I "tuned"
them up to 144V per Channel, but the biggest sonic jump is from 36V to 72V.
Hard to describe, you have to hear it, no grain..like Stringreen wrote...a great
piece of cable indeed. Maybe they made more right than other manufacturers. |
I agree that the Sky is an extremely transparent, neutral cable.
To characterize it a bit, to the degree you can assess the effect of a cable alone, I'd say: excellent frequency extension in both directions, fairly tight bass, a lot of detail/resolution. I consider it slightly on the analytical/bright/crisp side of neutral. It contributes to a reasonably good soundstage but I don't find this is the cable's strength; very solid, better than most, but not the best I've heard.
For a warm-ish to neutral system, I'd say it is probably perfect. For a system already on the more detailed or already side of things, it might be a little much (I can see it being a little harsh/fatiguing; in my system it's right on the border). |
Due to the AQ Sky having the DBS battery pack on them they are already "broken in". I have AQ Sky throughout my system and did not notice any significant "change" as they aged or settled into the system. I found them to be very neutral and enjoyably detailed yet musical in my system. Upon a telephonic conversation with Alasdair of Audioquest (Canada - head office) he advised that upgrading the DBS pack to 72v would be the "final" upgrade on this interconnect as it will provide a quieter background and provide a slight improvement to the Sky's existing splendid character. |
Joncourage,
I see from your system profile that you also use some HiDiamond interconnects.They have piqued my interest of late and am wondering if they are anything like AQ SKY? Any contrast you can offer? |
Mred, take a look at my posts to the other thread in this forum called HiDiamond Interconnects, I get into some detail there on what the differences have been in my system.
Bottom line, while the Sky are great cable and have been better in my system than everything I tried before it, the HD is in an entirely different league. I have not tried some of what are commonly known as the best as they're out of my price range (MIT ma-x, Indra/sakra), but have tried many others $2k and downwards.
I'm now waiting on a set of the HD xlr 3 to arrive this week. |
Joncourage, if I'm interpreting correctly..........most people seem to be finding that the main diff. between AQ Sky and HD seems to be in the area of sound-staging/imaging. You agree or is there a different thumbnail sketch you would draw? |
Mred, I would say the greatest change to expect with silver AQ cables will be the shift in tonal balance to slightly warmer than initially. What I mean is notes sound more distinct, a bass guitar sounds more believable, pianos come to life, and voices are organic. |
My expirience with silver IC (Kimber KCAG) is that need min. 200 hours of burning in, and final results becomes after 500 hours!!! |
Joncourage,
Now that a little time has passed is there something furthur you can offer as too how the Sky and HiDiamond interconnects compare? |
