Help with XLR ICs.

OT but I had Straight Wire Crescendo Speaker cables for 13 years and thought they were great. I upgraded to Townshend F-1 Fractal speaker cables and the difference was astounding. Better in every way. 

I also had Crescendo XLR IC's but changed to Townshend Fractal RCA's. Getting the RCA's at Max Townshend's recommendation. He thought RCA's provided more "pure" music due to less circuitry of the RCA's. Unless you had very long cable runs, he believed that RCA was better. 

I recently upgraded to Morrow and noticed a big difference in the overall sound. From center stage to mid bass and highs. They have a very nice range of price and will offer a fair assement based on your equipment. 

Make your own cables for wire is wire, just make sure you get some pure copper xlr cable and neutrik xlr connectors or switchcraft both make the best xlr connectors and wire is wire I am an electrician so I know what I am talking about, Mogami gold is one of the best premade wire you can buy but if you make your own it only takes a fraction of the price, do not buy into gimmicks thinking that companies have access to a private material that no one else can get their hands on for that simply isn’t the truth.

I appreciate the cables I tried are not at the same price point as the cables you are considering but the conclusion may be something to consider.

I tried some AQ Earth XLR's they were used and a good price so why not, anyway they sounded ok. My son came round to listen to some music with me and after 5 mins he said it sounds a bit flat, not knowing I had the AQ ICs in. I changed them back to my Chord Chorus 2, and straight away we both thought that was more dynamic etc.

Moving on I had bought a pair of used VDH D102 mkIII'S  and out of curiosity I tried them and wow they sounded fantastic, dynamics, scale, detail and tone were all better. I started to research VDH cables and bought a used pair of VDH The Rock, they had the same signature as the D102's but everything was up a notch or 2.

So to the point try some upper end VDH'S and you might be able to save yourself a buck or two.

You can find top quality pure silver interconnect cables, RCA and XLR at silversolids.com. For way less than $4000

Many reviews and user comments.

See what you think.

Very good quality and value Wireworld 

ECLIPSE CABLES  silver over copper connectors 

Many use cheap brass -7-9s pure copper 

Litz construction ,patented doelectric 

And decent fair pricing i got a great deal at      perrotta 

Consultants

@audphile1  I’m really interested in the Nordost Valhalla 2 XLR. I’m gonna continue to research and read the reviews. Ty. 

@nrchy Yes they are amazing cables. But retail is about 18k which is something that u can’t do right now for 2 cables. And I’ve never seen them used for sale yet. 

I've never heard the Audioquest Dragon cables, but I've heard from some that I trust that they are amazing cables.  I'd like to try them, but for now I'll have to stick with my Purist Dominus.

tattooedtrackman

Yes indeed. Transparent is better at a significant cost.

Happy Listening!

Thanks everybody. I will look into all replies further. 

@jafant So what u are saying is what I am using now Straight wire Crescendo is a good match with my ARC ? 

tattooedtrackman

Straight Wire and Transparent are both sonic matches for ARC.

Keep me posted.

Happy Listening!

Cardas Clear Beyoud at a very good price too. 

I’d recommend XLR IC’s based on Mundorf’s Silver/gold solid core wires (i.e.: 99% silver + 1% gold). I use their wires as both speakers cables (1mm variant for the lower midrange on up) and XLR IC’s (0.5mm).

Sonically I would describe them as the perhaps most balanced sounding cables I’ve heard. Extremely resolved, coherent/great solidity, tonally with a natural warmth, and with an imprinting that "morphs" depending on the source material. They’re always very listenable and yet revealing. One may even call them "musical monitor" cables.

I am a big fan of Transparent speaker cables and interconnects with Audio Research. It is a classic synergistic match. The best you can afford. Try before you buy.

If you like how a ‘loom sounds’ go for it. 
 

I use Shunyata for power and Kimber Kable for others. I did it over time and don’t see a value to migrate to one manufacturer. 

@tattooedtrackman I use Nordost Tyr 2 XLRs throughout. Upgraded from Acoustic Zen Absolute Copper. The Tyr 2 are amazing cables and a great value on a used market. If you can swing the next level up, the Valhalla 2, I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed either. Worth trying out.

As far as full cable looms are concerned…my $0.05 here on the subject…I’m on a fence about it. Adding more of the same doesn’t always result in the best possible outcome. I wouldn’t ho out of my way trying to accomplish this.