Discovery cables....

Joe's cables are the first I owned in 1995. He must be doing something right.

I really like the sound of Discovery Cables especially the Plus Four and The Essence. The Plus Four tonearm cables is God send. (Yes there is Kondo LPZ tonearm which is wonderful but it cost $5300) I think Discovery Cables is excellent for its neutrality without sound clinical nor hifi-ish. The price is right and the sound is just natural.

Both my Triplanar VII and my Durand Talea tonearms are wired with Discovery. World-class tonearms with world-class wiring.

How are Discovery Cables compared to Transparent ?

I totally agree with Kennyb's comments. The Essence is just superb in everyway. I think what Reb1208 discovered for the first time is actually how his system really sounds.

I could not disagree more with Reb1208's comments. I heard none of what he describes in either my system, or in a friend's system (that is much more revealing than mine).

I do have other cables on hand that were shown to have a "unrefined quality in the lower treble-upper" only when compared to the Essence. The Essence does not suffer that particular flaw at all.

The transient response of the Essence is also superb as well. In fact, one of the things that first struck me when switching to the Essence its superb handling of the leading edge of transients.

Ken

I did not like the sound of Discovery plus 4, Essence or the Essential speaker cable. Puts a soft rounded bluntness to transients. Has a warm tonal coloration in the mids. Deep bass is soft. And worst of all was a slight but irritating brightness/unrefined quality in the lower treble-upper midrange. YMMV.

My entire experience with Discovery has been first class.
The comments above are accurate in their description of the "sound" characteristics of Discovery cables.

They seem to have a rightness to them. You may find more satisfaction elsewhere but it will come thru the considerable toil of time and money.

Joe DePhillips is one of the generous spirited guys in audio.

I became acquainted with Discovery thru the Audiogon purchase of their 1-2-3 speaker cable (used). When I tried to upgrade Joe told me to just listen to music for awhile. It's still installed.

For IC's, Joe took me thru a very nicely directed audition process. I chose the Plus 4's in all positions. Additionally an Essence run resides between the transport and DAC.

All the cables are beautifully finished, as well. They speak to the eye in the same artful way as to the ear.

This is a company whose focus is in the right place in all respects -- getting the customer closer to the music in a thoroughly enjoyable, straightforward, value-filled fashion.

Now with fifteen years of service exclusively in the cable business, Joe deserves to be considered in the same light as the other manufacturers of legend.

When I want to consider cable improvement I intend always to look to Discovery.

I have my entire system using the Discovery NOS, I guess it is the original wire that helped Joe get to where he is today. My system is pure class B. Not quite up to A yet.
I have tried Stealth, Kimber, Alpha Core. AudioQuest.etc.etc.etc. The NOS is $80 a meter. I LOVE it.
I will not waste my time on experimenting with other cables anymore. Only Discovery for me.

The Discovery Essence is an EXCELLENT cable. I recently replaced the cables I had been using from tonearm to phono stage (MIT Magnum phono) and from phono stage to preamp (MIT Oracle V2.1).

The $800 Essence was far superior to the $1995 MIT Magnum phono cable in all areas. Switching to use of the Essence as a phono cable resulted in a significant improvment in sound.

The difference I heard between the $3000 MIT Oracle V2.1 and the $800 Essence depended on where I used the cables. At the output of my phono stage, the Essence was slighly better. The MIT Oracle was slightly better at the output of my SACD player. In all honesty though, I struggled to hear much of a difference between the two cables. Both did a great job of getting out of the way of the music. And, both seemed to have very little sonic signature of their own.

The Essence is a GREAT cable and an AMAZING value. Anyone out there considering the purchase of cable should give Discovery's cables serious consideration.

Ken

"Smooth sound with decent detail and nice bottom end." You've described exactly how Discovery products sound. John's comments are also right on the mark. I use Essence and +4 balanced interconnects and Essential cable and couldn't be happier.

I bought a 1 meter pair of Discovery Essence a couple months ago. They replaced a pair of interconnects at more than twice the price, and flat out beat them. In every way. Smooth, good tonal balance, solid bass, great extension at both ends of the frequency spectrum. Very nice sounstaging also. A very good bargain, IMHO. I'm considering re-wiring my whole system with Discovery. Obviously, highly recommended.

Regards,
John