Every now and then, someone in highend audio captures "lightning in a bottle" with a product with performance and a performance-to-price ratio that sets it apart, makes it special. In my experience the Fusion Audio Romance 2IC is such a product. Fusion says that adding a romance ic is like adding a single ended triode character to your system. Having spent several years with set amps (300B/2A3), I really doubted the claim and, in fact, it is not the same to my ears, but to my astonishment it is similar! However SET has been described, it really translates into one thing and that is the ability of SET to communicate the soul of music and this is what the romance2 does - it communicates the essence of the music. And nothing is rolled off in accomplishing this feat, the opposite is true - more detail, more transparency. I have the Audience 2+2 speakers which use full range drivers with no crossover parts - very revealing. I like very much what they do but was struggling with the digital glare that was coming through on all but the best recorded cds. With the Romance2 IC, the glare was gone and I got more of everything else. Amazing, to me! I read in one of the threads here that the owner of the Romance ics could find no fault in them. In my experience, I would agree. I will also point out that the Romance 2s were, in my system, noticably better than the Romance 1s. I am using them between my Benchmark DAC, Modwright 9.0se pre and Spectron amp. In the past I have used Nirvana, gabriel gold, Cardas, nordost, audioquest and others. On top of it all, Eric Love makes it ridiculously easy to try his products and is a total gentleman and pleasure to deal with.
Fusion Audio Romance series cables
On rare occasion I am dumbfounded by a products performance and or an enormous difference between the product and it's more expensive competition. I have been using the Fusion Audio silver Enchanter pc's on my Atma-sphere MA-1 mk.3's for quite some time now. I have also been using Eric's Interlocker i/c's between my modified RA Opus 21 cdp and my Aesthetix Calypso pre and also to the Atma-sphere's with spectacular results. Eric contacted me almost a year ago in regards to his new Romance line and wanted to know if I would give them a listen, naturally I jumped at the chance. Eric sent me two of his top model Romance pc's and a pair of the copper/gold ic's. The pc's were replacing two Kubala Sosna Emotion power cords on my cdp and pre. I was absolutely astounded by the increase in transparency that the Romance cords provided over the KS Emotions.The KS Emotions are credited for their midrange qualities, however by comparison the Emotions were veiled, gungy, and congested sounding. The Fusions are far more extended in the frequency extremes and had a much better grip in the lower regions. Instruments had much more life like timbre to their presentation. I was hearing more of the wooden body of the cello. Piano had become a far more realistically compelling instrument. The flute no longer had a slightly dry anemic quality to it. The bottom line is these cables breathed new life into my system. I listen to alot of neveau flamenco stuff that is very rhythmic with alot of assorted percussion and the Fusions speed, pace, and timing are exquisite. The soundstage with the Fusion Romance cords and Ic's became much larger and more three dimensional. I now had a more dense presentation stretching from rear corner to corner.If you want vocals that have that "in your room" spooky quality, the Romance copper/gold ic's are amazing. I am now using all Fusion cabling in my system with the exception of my speaker cabling (Eric has not released a speaker cable as of yet) I have a mix of Enchanter, Interlocker, and Romace cabling and could not be happier with the performance, and the Fusion cabling didn't drain my wallet either. The build quality is outstanding and Eric's customer service is second to none. These cables are a killer bargain. For you conspiracy theorists, NO, I am not affiliated with Fusion Audio in any way. Here are some of the cabling brands I have used long term in the past.
Purist Dominus
Cardas Golden Ref.
Kubala Sosna Emotion
Ridge Street Audio Alethias
Acostic Zen Silver Ref.
Darrin Turner
Purist Dominus
Cardas Golden Ref.
Kubala Sosna Emotion
Ridge Street Audio Alethias
Acostic Zen Silver Ref.
Darrin Turner