Thanks for the review and the heads up. One can mever hhave too much information on hand.
Cabledyne Virtuoso Speaker Cables
Here comes another mention that some will decry as an advert of sorts but for those who know better, read on...
During the Holidays I checked out all the sites to see what was being offered and happened across the Cabledyne site. I already have and enjoy their Silver Synergy SCs feeling they offer fantastic bang for the buck but lusted after their top offering, the Virtuoso SCs as they were out of my reach. Long story short, the early bird catches the worm, or cable.
At half off and still with the return policy, I jumped on the only SC offering (all the other Virtuoso line of cable had the same offer). $750 vs, $1500, I’d be silly not to. Glad I did.
First, they’re beautiful to look at and very well made. They employ 10GA silver conductors that are OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) 7 nines high purity silver that is cryo’d and terminated with Furutech Ethereal Bananas which are rhodium plated pure copper conductors housed in a non resonant resin body with rotating sleeves that lock the bananas securely in place. All of that is housed in a low key, shiny black jacket, constructed in a way as to float the conductors in an airy dielectric core. Or something like that.
Right off the bat, they sound great, something I’m not accustomed to. All of my prior experience told me to expect a few significant changes for the better but that’s not happening here. Yes, they are improving but it’s incrementally. To have it happen like this tells me that some kind of formula was successfully hit on. Time will tell.
The most outstanding feature is the overall smoothness of the presentation. Not lifeless or lilting but effortless. Impact and dynamics are great as is extension at both extremes but there’s an overall ease that lulls you into listening. The lack of any stridency or glare is noticeable in percussion like bells, chimes, high hats, cymbals and all the way down to piano. That glassiness is now absent but the notes aren’t diminished. The absence of that allows a deeper look into the music with details previously obscured to come forth (ex: violas playing counterpoint to lead violins are now clearly heard when before they just created a kind of bass like aspect that violins shouldn’t have, leading one to wrongly conclude that you were hearing the body of the violin).
Also gone is a slight glare that persisted in the upper mids that I didn’t know was there until it was gone. It manifested itself with female vocalists, horns and anything that projected strength or dynamic swings. To be honest, I always liked it but now see the overall balance benefits from losing that last, small bit of glare. I now find myself listening at a higher setting and having to turn it down a bit, but I kind of like it now.
As much as I thought their Silver Synergy SCs complimented my Kinki integrated, these Virtuoso go one or two steps further, solidifying the marriage. It could be simply that the overall benefit to the sound is appreciated from one side and corner of the sound stage to the other, as I find myself inadvertently turning my head to "see" what’s drawing my attention. Silly me.
The website is simple and easy to navigate so I think all the budget goes into making cables. One of their team is a former engineer from Beldin Wire & Cable and they rarely get any press in the big review sites and mags. That needs to change. Here is a link to their site:
http://www.cabledyne.com/virtuoso-designer-speaker-cables.html
All the best,
Nonoise
During the Holidays I checked out all the sites to see what was being offered and happened across the Cabledyne site. I already have and enjoy their Silver Synergy SCs feeling they offer fantastic bang for the buck but lusted after their top offering, the Virtuoso SCs as they were out of my reach. Long story short, the early bird catches the worm, or cable.
At half off and still with the return policy, I jumped on the only SC offering (all the other Virtuoso line of cable had the same offer). $750 vs, $1500, I’d be silly not to. Glad I did.
First, they’re beautiful to look at and very well made. They employ 10GA silver conductors that are OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) 7 nines high purity silver that is cryo’d and terminated with Furutech Ethereal Bananas which are rhodium plated pure copper conductors housed in a non resonant resin body with rotating sleeves that lock the bananas securely in place. All of that is housed in a low key, shiny black jacket, constructed in a way as to float the conductors in an airy dielectric core. Or something like that.
Right off the bat, they sound great, something I’m not accustomed to. All of my prior experience told me to expect a few significant changes for the better but that’s not happening here. Yes, they are improving but it’s incrementally. To have it happen like this tells me that some kind of formula was successfully hit on. Time will tell.
The most outstanding feature is the overall smoothness of the presentation. Not lifeless or lilting but effortless. Impact and dynamics are great as is extension at both extremes but there’s an overall ease that lulls you into listening. The lack of any stridency or glare is noticeable in percussion like bells, chimes, high hats, cymbals and all the way down to piano. That glassiness is now absent but the notes aren’t diminished. The absence of that allows a deeper look into the music with details previously obscured to come forth (ex: violas playing counterpoint to lead violins are now clearly heard when before they just created a kind of bass like aspect that violins shouldn’t have, leading one to wrongly conclude that you were hearing the body of the violin).
Also gone is a slight glare that persisted in the upper mids that I didn’t know was there until it was gone. It manifested itself with female vocalists, horns and anything that projected strength or dynamic swings. To be honest, I always liked it but now see the overall balance benefits from losing that last, small bit of glare. I now find myself listening at a higher setting and having to turn it down a bit, but I kind of like it now.
As much as I thought their Silver Synergy SCs complimented my Kinki integrated, these Virtuoso go one or two steps further, solidifying the marriage. It could be simply that the overall benefit to the sound is appreciated from one side and corner of the sound stage to the other, as I find myself inadvertently turning my head to "see" what’s drawing my attention. Silly me.
The website is simple and easy to navigate so I think all the budget goes into making cables. One of their team is a former engineer from Beldin Wire & Cable and they rarely get any press in the big review sites and mags. That needs to change. Here is a link to their site:
http://www.cabledyne.com/virtuoso-designer-speaker-cables.html
All the best,
Nonoise
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