I demoed Virtuoso speaker cable from the Cable Company, but I doubt they have Crescendo in stock for demo. You could call or e-mail them, though. I've compared Cardas Neutral Reference interconnect with MIT 330 Shotgun (with my tube headphone amp), and the MIT was better. It was also better with my CD player and Krell power amplifier. The Cardas had a good presentation of "transient attack", natural and unexagerrated. But it was VERY forward in the upper mids, and not as dynamic in any of the range. These aspects were the same whether with Sennheiser headphones, or with Maggies or Paragon speakers, in two different rooms.
Cable Upgrade from SW Virtuoso
I would like feedback from anyone who might have done a comparison or can comment on the Straight Wire Crescendo and the high-end Cardas interconnects/speaker cable. I current am running Sratight Wire Virtuoso interconnects as well as speaker cable. I wish to upgrade to either the Crescendo or Cardas. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Also are there any sites where you can get a demo of these wires ? My current system is Music Reference RM-9 MKII Amplifier with Audio Research SP9 MK III PreAmp and JM Lab Mezzo Utopia speakers..