PAD, MIT, Wywires
Favorite cable brand.
Interested to hear opinions regarding brand favorites. My personal favorites, at the moment, are Kimber and Goertz. Two very different sounds yet both quite enjoyable. What are your favorites?
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Moon Black Dragon digital coax and speaker cables. Cardas USB and XLR. Audience power cables. This all copper combination is smooth. No unpleasant edginess. Six of the Audience Forte 3 power cords provide a subtle emphasis on the lower midrange and bass in my system. There is a slight reduction in clarity, but I find the tone to be beautiful sounding and the smoothness to be a benefit was well. I quit using Pangea and Synergistic Research cables recently because with my system there was too much resolution. Clarity was amazing, but there was a cost with too much sibilance on some tracks. These cables might be a better fit for a system that needs to wake up a bit. My system needed to calm down some, and so they had to go. I listen to music for 10-12 hours a day, and so it has to be fatigue-free. I can do that now with no unpleasant surprises. |
Acrolink. I use Acrolink power cords and interconnects in my system. Speaker cables are from Chord. The Acrolink power cords brought the largest impact to the system. Initially I bought one for the amp but got a second one for the DAC several months later. I actually paid more for the power cord than the DAC that’s connected to it. It may sound ridiculous but that's the reality. |
Power: Dynamic Design, BMI, Snake River Audio Gold IC: Dynamic Design, Gabriel Gold (Rapture R, Infusion 2), Sablon Panatela (older silver in cotton) Speaker: Auditorium 23, Jade Audio Vermeil Gold, Snake River Audio Signature Gold, Duelund tinned copper Normal caveats of system dependent, etc. of course....I've found DD and BMI power cables and GG interconnects to span my different systems, though, from high powered ss w/ less efficient speakers to moderately powered tubes and more efficient speakers. Never had DD IC's in my ss systems or SRA SC's in my tube system. Limited experience, but the SRA Boomslang is a great sounding digital cable. |
@millercarbon - totally agree with Townshend - revelatory. I really like Vertere interconnects - I use a lavardin amp and they recommend their own cables, nordost flat 2, and DNM. The Vertere was waaay better than the Lavardin cable. Likewise the Townshend Isolda speaker cables just added so much depth and body it was incredible |
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Nordost. I’ve been in the hobby since about 1985 and was in retail for 12 years. I’ve personally owned many of the usual suspects, and when in retail many companies would send us cables, hoping we would promote them. Also, trade-ins. Nordost, to my ears, in a wide variety of systems, simply passed more information and editorialized the least. Of course, I have not heard everything and I don’t dismiss anyone else’s different preference. But Nordost has proven itself to me and I subscribe to the "complete loom" approach; I have a smattering of Heimdall2, Frey2, Tyr2, and Valhalla2. |
Neutral sound-GroverHuffman.com handbuilt, patented air core insulated, embossed platten rolled wire, etc. power cables, ICs and speaker wire. Warmer sound and High resolution brighter sound - Verastarr all copper ribbon and the all silver ribbon power cables. Haven't tried ICs or speaker wire. Many worse sounding as I am a beta tester. Worst-High Fidelity cables (all types, many versions). Dark sounding - Magnan and Kubala Sosna cables Matching cables to system is important. Use the Verastarr for COS Engineering D1 DAC, Grover Huffman for rest of the system. |
Over the years I have used, Transparent IC and Speaker. Audio quest IC and Speaker. Cardas IC and Speaker, Pangea PC, Nordst, .... A couple years back a friend gave me a set of Raven Soniquil IC to try and now I use all Raven IC, XLR, Speaker and Power. Love the No Fairy Dust philosophy, just quality cables at a fair price and you are not waiting 6 weeks (Signal) |
Blue Jeans Cables are my go-to for interconnects and speaker cables, and Pangea for power cables. I had a set of AudioQuest Evergreens but I sent them back because I thought they sounded thin - I don't know if that's even possible, but in this hobby if something bugs you it's better to resolve it to your satisfaction and move on. The Pangea cords I use because when I run a voltage tester along them it doesn't detect voltage as opposed to my OEM cords. Changed out the Bluesound Node 2 power cord for a WireWorld C7 cord. Thought I heard a difference, don't hold me to it. |
I use Cardas cables throughout my system. I have tried several other brand of cables, but I seem to gravitate back to the Cardas sound and build quality. I am currently using Cardas "Clear" interconnects, coaxial, and USB cables with an old set of Bi Wire Quadlink speaker cables. I would like to move up to their top level "Clear Beyond" cable but that will have to wait for a while. lol |
I prefer used cables. List price for some of these cables is ridiculous. Cables are high margin items for sales folks. I’d rather save money and buy a lightly used pair second hand. I use Audioquest rocket series in my system. I like the way my systems sounds. So I don’t spend money or time swapping them. If it sounds good, be happy. |
My favorite cable brands are from Europe. The American brands such as Nordost and Transparent, Kubala Sosna, etc leave too much on the table performance wise. As do cables designed by 'first priciples' While I still love Purist Audio Cables (they were the first 'cray cray' money cabling I bought for my system) Jims stuff is no longer SOTA, and High Fidelity Cabling, while good, do not represent value for money at even the insane prices that even I look at with doubt (I always remain open minded however.) As with most audio gear IMO, the best of the best cabling wise now comes from Central and Eastern Europe. Inakustic cabling is amazing. It has a combination of design features and TRUE air dielectric construction that NO ONE else is doing. Their prices are reasonable for the technology and outstanding for the sound and represent excellent value/performance at the upper echelon of the segment. For everyone's reference, I had too many cable brands to mention; Cardas, JPS, a compete loom of Nordost Valhalla V2 in my system for several months. I sold it all to a nice man in Switzerland before slowly moving to the Siltech brand, which I eventually migrated to their 35th Anniversary Silver. The top of the line Inakustik cabling is better than my previous reference Siltech 35th Anniversary Silver and gives the Siltech Double Crown a run for its money at a small fraction of the cost. (While the Siltec Double Crown and TC are beautiful sounding, the Inakustik is actually much more neutral than the DC and TC IMO) There is a reason the Inakustik cabling names their best cables "Air". Nothing in my experience does ambience and detail better. If there is better, I've yet to hear it. |
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Here at Sound Advocate; https://www.thesoundadvocate.com I have personally tried many of the finest cables and interconnects. I can re-instate my opinion, after recently re-installing my Inakustik LS-4004, that they are, arguably, the finest and MOST “accurate” speaker cables, notwithstanding amplifier interaction- I have so far evaluated! |
Over the years I have used many cable brands I currently have two systems with all Inakustik cabling One is a full silver set up and one is copper The thing I love about these cables is the neutrality These will not help if you are looking for tone control I have tried from mid to the top tier and I feel in the cable world they represent great value at each stage Just my thoughts |
These posts can be bewildering to those new to this hobby. I can see how the less experienced just walk away in frustration and go back to their iTunes. It's not just about cables. Everyone's comments are valid from their background of experience and monies invested. The comments here range from cables that cost a few dollars to cables that cost many thousands of dollars. Add to that audio systems that the users posting here have that range from modest to full out ultimate professional studio level. So many levels of systems here. How to find a common thread or standard to start from. It is likely not possible. Back in the day, we would walk into a hifi shop and the salesman would play a record with a $10 cartridge. After agreeing that it sounded very good, he would demo a $100 cartridge. Oh boy, did that sound awesome. We just had to have that $100 cartridge. Now imagine justifying a $100 phono cartridge to your friends and family. No way any cartridge is worth that, they would say. Oh, you had to be there. It is the best cartridge ever. And that is how this hobby goes... |
For my revealing main system .. I used Tellurium black diamond ic and speaker cable, tq black ic, audience power chord. Kimber Palladian pc , Kimber ascent , aq Diamond ic.Nordoest Heimdall ic, cerious graphemes ic, Dons pc DCCA? Audio Envy pc ,Speakers Andra Eggleston, Tekton impact monitors. Amp Tsakadiris apollon monoblocks, pream Krell, sources , Marantz SA10, SME 10 tt. |
