CARDAS Fans: Golden vs. Neutral vs. Presence?


I know the Reference series is considered to have less of the traditional house Cardas sound. However, I've read many differing opinions that leave me in the dark as to what they sound like.

Also, one 6moons reviewer liked the Golden Ref IC more than the Golden Ref speaker cable. He found the speaker cable somewhat lean, though detailed and transparent. The most worrisome trait, though, was that he found there to be a loss of "body sound" to vocals and strings, with an emphasis on what he called the "head sound." And the bass a bit overblowsn. This was compared to Nirvana S-L.

Then there is both the Neutral Ref and the Golden Presence. I know what Cardas says about them on their website, so I don't need their descriptions of how they hear them.

Many people find the Neutral Reference too lean with brightness on less than ideal recordings. And the bass seems to be good, but not as deep and tight as it could be.

Then there is the Golden Presence. Few have written about it, but there are a couple of people who like it best of all the Reference series.

Can I get some informed opinions on both the interconnects and the speakers cables of all three models?
zear

Showing 2 responses by mitch2

I have used all but the GP, and my opinion would be in most sytems the GR IC's and the GC speaker cables hit the sweet spot. They sound good, but I currently use all Purist wire if that tells you anything.
I have owned Neutral, Cross, Golden Cross and Golden Reference. Like some others here, I did not care for NR at all. It seemed to have the weaknesses of the other lines, and none of the strengths. I think maybe it was envisioned as a home theatre type cable. The Cross is sweet sounding and I can see why some actually like that cable best. In general, I think the speaker cables are better than the IC's, and my favorite Cardas SC is the Golden Cross. For IC's, I would pick the GR in the Cardas line, but I went with Purist cables over the Cardas. I also owned the Magic Link II mentioned here and thought it was good across the board, but not special enough to keep. I actually like my DIY IC's using the VH Audio receipe with 24awg solid silver cotton wrapped wire, caulk backer, and Furutech FP-108R terminations. I tend to like solid core wire better than stranded, and I do think there is something to the Cardas litz configuration using solid core enameled wire with air tubes. I wonder if their cables would sound different if they used PCOCC wire?