Hitting the Sweet Spot In My System

I have read and studied this forum for many months. The search for the right components and accessories to boost my system has been fun, challenging and sometimes frustrating. Today, I finally hit a real sweet spot. Last summer I picked up a used Auralic Aries streamer to replace a Squeezebox Touch. The next thing was a Topping D70 DAC ($499.00). The last major upgrade was a British Exposure 3010 S2D integrated amp. (priced at $2,695.00). I kept my 2003 floor-standing Dynaudio Audience 82 speakers. The speaker wire is Analysis Plus Oval 12, circa 2003.

Next, I began a quest for upgraded cables to go between the components. I guess I belong to the “warm side of neutral” camp. That describes the sound signature of the Exposure amp and the AP speaker cables. But for the new gear, I wanted as much low, middle and upper detail as I could get, while avoiding edgy, fatiguing highs or muddy bass. This required countless hours of pouring over reviews, and testing cables from vendors with 30 day return policies.

I cannot afford $1,000 cables, so I searched for the best quality at higher than entry level prices. Early on, I scored a pair of British Crimson interconnects from Austin Hi-Fi. These are highly regarded all-copper cables at $360 per meter. They are no longer available in the U.S. Their sound is superb, beating out my reference cable, which was an early Van Den Hul model from 2003. I’m running them from the DAC to the amp.

At this point I was in uncharted territory. I knew nothing about digital cables. So, I tried coax, AES/EBU and USB from the Aries streamer to the DAC. For a while, I settled for the DH Labs D-110 AES/EBU. These budget priced, silver coated cables matched my system pretty well, Nothing sounded overly bright at the top or bloated at the bottom.

Now, I began to really notice the differences in quality of the FLAC files ripped from my CD collection. The best recordings stood out right away. And it didn’t take long to decide that I wanted a fuller, livelier, and better articulated presentation with a good soundstage. There was a missing link and I needed to find it.

That turned out to be high quality USB. I ran a custom-made YFS (Your Final System) silver and copper cable from the streamer to the DAC. But the icing on the cake was the addition of a Singxer SU-1 USB Bridge or “purifier.” This was a very noticeable step up. These devices are all the rage now, and for good reason.

To round things out, I added Pangea and Analysis Plus power cables to the system. And one final cable. From the Singxer SU-1 to the DAC, I put in a Shunyata Venom AES/EBU cable. With the final setup, the main thing I noticed was much better clarity. Not only is the sound lively and engaging with plenty of detail, but the vocals are extremely clear. The overall sound is fuller, richer and much closer to analog. A new sweet spot.

So, I would like some recommendations on speaker cables, under $1,000. I am definitely considering Shunyata Research and Audio Sensibility out of Canada.