GutWire Ultimate Grounding Cable

I'm not sure if my Ultimate Ground has fully broken/settled in yet, but the break in brightness is gone, and my system is sounding amazing. Realism, musical involvement and enjoyment have been raised to a new level.

Prior to adding it, I had already taken extensive measures to deal with various types of noise. Most recently I put RCA shorting plugs on all the unused inputs on my pre. This made another very nice improvement. I was wondering how much further could the Ultimate Ground lower the noise floor? The answer is, “Quite a bit”.

One note: the Ultimate is definitely in the stiffer “garden hose” category of cables (although the section close to the RCA end is narrower). You will need some space behind the component to fit it. If this is a concern, you may want to consider going with the Perfect. The standard length is 6’.

Am curious to see if that "bit of brightness" disappears over time. Or it may simply be a touch revealing and maybe the cheaper gutwire will work better in some systems? Just wondering. I can appreciate the Iso Acoustics as I'm using one half of my Iso Acoustics "original" stands under the Aero 6's instead of the supplied plinths because they work better for me. The Gias are very interesting. All the best of the season. Be safe, be happy. cheers, bluenose

Following this tread with great interest, so please share whether the initial brightness of the Ultimate version subsides over time.  Thanks.

I'm using a modest IFI Groundhog on an Aqvox switch that connects a modem, (2) routers, and server.  I bought the $50 device as a "test" before spending serious money on an Entreq, Synergistic Research, or something similar.  Once connected the modem, the Groundhog made a major improvement in SQ.   In the quest for better sound, I'll probably replace it with either the Perfect or Ultimate ground cables soon and report back.  

Installed the Gutwire Ultimate Grounding cable and was sort of hoping it wouldn't make much of a difference so that I could return and use that money elsewhere on my system but it's staying right where it is. As Tommylion pointed out it lowers the background noise allowing improvements across the audio spectrum to come forth. I too find it a tad bright but I only have about ten hours on it so far, I'm sure the sound will improve with time. 

Between recently adding the Gutwire grounding cord to my preamp and the Isoacoustic Gaia I isolation footers on my speakers I'm experiencing the blackest background I've ever had and that really allows the music to come forth beautifully. If this keeps up I'll have to rethink my skepticism of audio tweaks :)

Tommylion,

Thanks for your response and will give the ultimate a try.

Wig

Yes, definitely. My experience so far agrees with the reviews. The areas where I hear improvement read like the proverbial audiophile checklist (transparency, resolution, texture, sense of space & air, palpability, dynamics, musicality, involvement etc.). It still has that bit of brightness, or glare, that I’ve learned to expect during break-in, but pretty much everything else has improved quite significantly.

Tommylion,

Any improvements in SQ since installing the Gutwire Grounding Cable?

Thanks,
Wig

@tommylion, 

Didn’t I warned you 😉

Component grounding is just as important as AC grounding. My system took major leap forward when I added component grounding from Nordost (QKORE6). 

I am glad you’re enjoying your upgrade. 

Cheers!

I am trying very hard to be objective and not rave about this cable. To not say something like: “The reviews nailed it, JUST GET ONE!”.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

lalitk,

The Purifiers sound interesting, especially at the price. I look forward to your report on them.

@tommylion,

That’s a very encouraging news! I am glad to hear your positive experience so far...

On another thread here, I acted on a lead and order a pair of iFi iPurifiers earlier today. They seem to be well thought out in their design philosophy at a very attractive price of $99.

https://ifi-audio.com/portfolio-view/accessory-ac-ipurifier/

Got it today. Initial results after plugging it into my pre are very encouraging. More transparency, resolution and sense of space. Musical details and textures are more apparent. Pretty much in line with the reviews. I'm looking forward to it being fully broken in.

It's on its way, supposed to be here tomorrow. Really looking forward to getting this into my system and hearing what it does.

The bad news is that The Cable Company is waiting for a shipment from GutWire. They say it will be 9-12 days before I get it 😢

The good news is, my system already sounds great 😀 I recently got some RCA shorting plugs for the unused inputs on my pre. They definitely lowered the noise floor, and made a nice improvement. I do wonder if they are already taking care of some of the noise that the ground cable would otherwise?

I love Gutwire. Still using The Note Pad2.  Used some of their power cables years ago. 

N

OP, I am looking forward to your review. The only downside I see with this solution is running out of wall outlets, should you choose to add grounding to rest of the components. That’s one of the reason I chose Nordost QRT components with QKORE6 for the entire system. And now I cannot imagine my system without it.

With drop in noise floor, I expect you to hear improvements in the areas of depth, clarity and musicality.

This is also on my list. Nothing negative about these cables or this idea of grounding on the web, except of course, the few Debby Downers with closed minds that post on this site.