@twoleftears
I have looked into Moon Audio and have sent them information requests and they don't answer :(. Otherwise, I would have likely gone with them rather than SR.
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@jmfinney
Yeah, Peter would have called me if I had a problem. This new guy has kept his distance.
Yeah, it is a shame because SR products do give results. I bought quite a number of SR products:
Atmosphere Level 1 Mini-pin to RCA cable.
Foundation RCA pair
Foundation Speaker Cable
2 x Purple Fuses
Tranquility Basik with MiG 2.0
FEQX4
I was planning on getting an Atmosphere level power cable and sub-woofer cable. Looks like I will be giving that money to someone else since SR doesn't have the advertised integrity to stand by their product when they get it wrong. :(
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@soix
I ordered the cable :).
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@jwpstayman
I sent a pair of 3rd party headphone cables with connectors that could have been cut off and used, but they opted not to do so. They were supposed to call me and ask if I wanted that as an option. I would have selected it. There was no communication and when there was communication, it was treated as an annoyance.
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@soix
I will look into LavriCable; especially after I get my refund. I have a $500 headphone cable budget ;).
I am using the Audioquest Night Owls. The stock cable isn’t very good. However, Audioquest did release a better cable called the Night Bird. Sonic wise it’s leaps and bounds over the stock, however it is still copper. I wanted to try my hand at silver. The SR Foundation primarily uses a silver conductor encased in a hollow tube made of Polyethylene. What PE as a dielectric does is tame silver’s heightened high frequencies by absorbing those frequencies. So it really wouldn’t be that harsh. The Night Owl was reconfigured over the original Night Hawk to no longer roll off the high end. So, paired with the SR cable, it was incredible....when it worked. I was looking at Kimber Kable....but the price tag for a hybrid silver/copper cable is $2000 :(. I would rather get a new DAC, than a $2000 headphone cable ;).
I also have the original Audioquest Nighthawk. I swapped out its stock ear cushions for an all protein-leather version. Which helps accentuate the high frequencies it does allow. I also got the perfect cable for those cans. The Corpse Killer, Grave Digger cable. It’s a perfect match for the type of mellow, musical tone those headphones have. Cool name, but it’s just re-branded Cardas cable. Nothing to sneeze at, really :)
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@soix
I contacted Lavricable last night. They will be willing to make me a cable at their Grand rank. They suggested using the Aeco pure copper plug and they have a custom gold plated 2.5mm mono plugs that they use on the other Audioquest cables. So, I feel confident that I wont have the same problem SR had. :)
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@hilde45
Wow! Analysis Plus has some very interesting cable geometry. I had always wondered what square geometry would be like. I will keep them in mind for future projects, now that I am kicking SR to the curb.
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@artemus_5
I am sorry to hear that :(. Worker's Comp is people's lives at risk, so I would say that situation would most definitely take precedence over my complaints. O_O
With that said, Synergistic Research doesn't employ computerized customer service, at this time. I was thinking about something; they are based out of California. There is a 3000% markup on even the most basic things. So I wonder if SR believes that $500 is a pittance and thus won't waste any customer service charm for someone who buys in that product bracket? I am certain they wouldn't be so passe to a customer who bought any of their $20,000+ cables. :( Then again, I remember that every single time I have ever called Audioquest with a complaint or problem, they have been beyond courteous and helpful and willing to do whatever to maintain customer service; even when the highest amount spent was $50.00; they are also based out of California....
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@soix
Oh, I contacted them through their website Contact Form. :) They answered back this morning.
Yeah, 6n silver is not too dissimilar to what SR uses. I am considering paying for their burn in service. Why not, after all when I ordered SR's cable they burn it in for 5 days before shipping.
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@alexatpos
Wow, I had come very close to buying Nordost power cables. What's interesting is that I had a brief conversation with Ted of Synergistic Research on this forum not too long ago. At that time I found it odd that he was trying to talk me out of buying one of his $3000 power cables in favor for one of his $500 power cables because I wanted the $3000 power cable terminated in a C7 connector (figure 8). He felt that his "Foundation" power cable would best Kimber's Palladian power cable ($1500 cable) without ever having heard the Palladian. I immediately felt like I was being talked-down to, as if how-dare-I request one of his precious high-level cables for what he considered a low-end application. This planted the seed of mistrust against Synergistic Research because if Ted was truly a good cable maker, he should know that certain materials are extremely important in cable making. Such as the use of Teflon/FEP as a dielectric. Or properly calibrated filters placed on power cables. Something the Kimber Palladian uses both of that SR Foundation does NOT use either of. IN fact, the $3000 SR cable I wanted uses both of those features at twice the cost. The difference was that SR used silver conductors in combination with copper conductors as well as more advanced geometry. Which was why I was willing to pay the extra cost. The only caveat was that SR would have had to loop off the ground cable; big deal. It made me start to 2nd-guess Synergistic Research.
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@artemus_5
I understand. I didn't think you were downplaying my incident, but at the same time I wanted to ensure that I recognized the severity of the situation you were relaying. I am genuinely sorry about the state of Workerscomp as it reflects a certain amount of social divide and turmoil currently going on.
It is weird that poor customer service would be the norm considering how desperate a lot of businesses are after COVID shutdowns caused numerous industry issues. I was in the customer service industry for 20 years (technical support.) What I learned is, poor customer service tends to reflect the state of the business. If a business feels their product is so important that customers are almost forced to buy it, they will drop customer service as a priority because you'll buy their product anyway. Businesses who aren't that large have a tendency to focus on customer service as a way to get more business.
With that said, it would seem Synergistic Research believes their product is so important that they believe people will buy it regardless of customer service. They're wrong.
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@soix
I will indeed impart my thoughts when they arrive. :)
I did spring for the 150hr service. It's difficult for me to do burn in on a headphone cable. There will still be some burn in when I get it, but it will be very short (maybe an hour) as the dielectric bias field re-forms from the absence of the field that was created.
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@jmfinney
I bought the cable through The Cable Company. The old guy, Peter was good and always helped, but he changed positions. The new guy didn't try to advocate for me.
I tried to message Ted to help and he never responded, but he might not have checked his messages here.
It wasn't the first time I submitted questions and concerns through SR's email form and they have never answered back.
IF you need a third party to "advocate" for you because the customer has no sway....that's bad customer service.
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@curiousjim
If it helps, Soix's suggestion of Lavricable has been exceptional. They have excellent customer service thus far. :
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@slaw
I have this feeling that they will be wonderful cables. They just may take some time to get here. That's fine. :)
Yeah, I have seen him on here. Since the title of this thread doesn't have the words "Synergistic Research" I doubt he will stumble into this thread, unless directed. I won't lie though, he has the power to make this right, if he was interested.
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UPDATE:
OK, so I kept ruminating on my experience and I decided to talk to Dave @ SR and detailed the issue and he took the time to listen and will try to make it right. So...we'll see what happens.
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@rsf507
Unfortunately, I am invested fairly deep in SR products. There are too many components that I would have to replace with no guarantee that I would end up with the same sound quality, to risk kicking all the equipment to the curb. :( I just won't get any new or updated equipment.
HOWEVER, depending on how awesome the Lavricable cable is when I get it, I might very well replace some components.
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@slaw
WOW! Lavricables is FAST!!! I will be receiving the cable TOMORROW! Shipping from Latvia was only three days O_O.
I will post the results when I listen to them. :)
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@slaw
I already got the Lavricables O_O
Very interesting. I need to really spend more time with them, but from I can tell so far, they are HYPER revealing. There is a sense that there is reduced bass response, but I think it's because the bass has been tightened all the way up, so the bass isn't flabby.
What I didn't know is that the cables and connectors are cryo treated, and the silver groups are lamented in Teflon and they use Graphene as well.
Oh, and connectors fit and stay connected. :D
Thanks so much for the suggestion.
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@slaw
I paid for the 150hr burn in service. However, the dielectric bias field generated during that session would have decayed by the time of arrival. So, a good hour or two of listening would reestablish it.
So, I finally got a good, long, listening session in. Wow. If a sheet of music is turned over, you hear it. If a singer dares to take a breath between notes, you hear it. If they're wearing jewelry and are too close to the mic, you hear it.
The Audioquest Nightowls aren't particularly tuned to high frequency resolution detail, but they are better than the original Nighthawk release. However, with these cables, I think they'd give Senheiser 800s or mid-range Planar cans a run for their money. :) I am very impressed. They are definitely better than the SRs were for the money.
Now...I am wondering if I shouldn't ask them to make other custom cables for my reference system O_O.
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@soix
I have finally had a solid few hours plus listening to music and the Lavricables decimate the Synergistic Research cable by leaps and bounds. Not a subtle difference. The SR cable was clean and clear, which is great....but...the Lavricable pushed that same clarity out with MUCH more force. You could feel those snare drums in your head, and there was more decay/echo on kick drums. And if you're a fan of classic guitar or delicate piano...HOLY CR@P!!! Such incredible depth; my jaw dropped to the floor. As I have posited many times, you just don't know what you've been missing in music until you hear it for the first time. Even my reference system can't best it. So now I am seriously considering replacing some of my reference system cables with these Lavricables. O_O
So, in short, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!
In regards to high frequency fatigue, I didn't experience this, however, I can tell if you already experience it on your headphones, these will only accentuate it. Consider this, the Audioquest Carbon Nightowls were engineered to allow more high frequency information than the original Nighthawks, these cables did not allow the headphones to roll off any high frequency information. When I first heard a pair of Sennheiser 800s, I recalled the level of high frequency clarity. With these Lavricables, the Audioquest Nightowls sound very similar.
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@ortodox
I haven't, but if the performance is anything like what I have experienced, it should be stellar. However, I have zero experience in having a pure silver conductor power cable :( . The Shunyata Alpha does have one silver core and the other is copper. It's an incredible cable.
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@fsonicsmith
I completely understand. However, in the case of Synergistic Research, they advertise and make headphone cables. They specifically state that they make cables for the Audioquest Nighthawk/owl. I simply asked them to make what they advertise. It sadly turned out that their 2.5mm mono connectors just won't make proper contact inside the headphone. I honestly thought it was something they could easily fix since I sent them two working headphone cables to measure and test against. *shrug* If the tech working on it would have explained it the way the lead designer explained it to em when I finally called him, I would have at least understood. Plus an apology would have worked too. The long and short of the "official" reason I couldn't be helped is because they were worried about their reputation. They didn't want to put a connector that they hadn't qualified as being musically superior. Ok, sure, why not.
The Lavricable is 6N pure silver at 20awg. It's thin and light, but not so thin and light that casual bending will cause it to break. Also, this cable does run 4 cores; two to each mono connector. Just looking at your ZMF Verite Closed, the cable it comes with looks similar to the Lavricable. Same braid; except silver. I have to say, I hadn't heard music sound so "real" before, even cr@p 128 bit rate MP3s sounded incredible; and that's saying a lot!
I am certain that they could create a silver cable for your cans. They have custom molded and cryo'd connectors for just about every form of connection.
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@soix
Unfortunately I cannot give a good report on sound-stage and imaging because I am still using SR products. For example, the Powered Speakers are using the SR Purple Fuse, which creates a beautiful holographic sound-stage and imaging. I am also using the SR FEQX4 and Tranquility Basik.
I can say that the Lavricables aren’t just clean and clear. The bass has been extended to the point where beats I had just thought were mono-tone-like have tone and texture and depth. Also, if you can imagine, a clean analog wave that is smooth. That would be Lavricables, and SR would be the same wave but serrated and pixelated; if that makes sense.
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@soix @slaw
UPDATE
Ok, So I got excited with the unbelievable sound quality of the Lavricable for my headphones that I ordered a custom cable variation for my reference system. It uses the exact same Grand line cable but with solid silver RCA connectors. It replaces my Synergistic Research Atmosphere Excite Level 1 cable. For half the price of SR, the Lavricable DEMOLISHES the sound quality of that cable.
I will give you an audible reference that will help you understand the difference. On the Columbia Records release of The Dave Brubeck Quartet “Time Out” on track 2 “Strange Meadow Lark” the Synergistic Research cable was NOT able to properly reproduce the high energy “tink” of the C8 key at the end of piano riff. It would distort as if the recording had far surpassed 0 Db on the mic. With the Lavricable in its place, this C8 note was crisp, clean with zero distortion, not even a hint of distortion. In fact, many instances in songs where I thought there was a recording error, it was simply a situation where I wasn’t able to reproduce it with the cable setup I had. In many ways, this also supports the idea that better cables can and will produce better quality sound.
Now I want to replace *ALL* my Synergistic cables. O_O
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