Jena Labs Symphony vs. Valkyre IC's

I would be interested in hearing more comparisons between the Symphony and Valkyre as well. I think Jtinn and Tireguy have the most experience with the two cables around here.

It's comments like that that always tempts me to upgrade from the Symphony's. But when you really look at it, the Valkyre's are about 3 times the price and the Pathfinder's are 6X the price. Costs-no-object, I have no doubt that the Pathfinders or even the Dreamdancers are the way to go. But I think the Symphonys are at a level where it wouldn't be a weak link in a SOTA system. I have no reason to doubt that the Symphony is where the sweetspot is.

But it's not such a big issue. Upgrading from Symphony's is going to be easy. Since the cables are made pretty much the same way (except more wires), you can upgrade one IC at a time. But for the difference in price between the Symphonys and Pathfinders, I would bet using the money on 2 top of the line powercords would be a better upgrade. But I would imagine that someone with everything in place wouldn't be able to live knowing that there's something better out there.

Tireguy, I agree that ICs make a bigger difference. Obviously when you have a top of the line $2000+ list price powercord, there's not too much room for improvement. But depending on one's idea of what a good powercord generally goes for, the difference between a $100 PC and a $600 PC or a $350PC and a $2000+ PC is going to be a lot greater than what the Pathfinders offer over the Symphonies (not to mention going from stock powercord to two $2000 one). This isn't because the Pathfinders aren't that good but because the Symphonies are that good (again this is my assumption).

If you have the Symphonies and you don't have your gear, room, any power tweaks (including dedicated lines) or at least the Symphony speaker cables in place, I just don't think upgrading the ICs to Pathfinders will be the most efficient upgrade. It's a case of improving your weakest link vs improving a strength and identifying the point where diminishing returns really kicks in. It is tempting to upgrade ICs though since they're so easy to switch out.

Hey Tireguy. I agree with you and do not doubt what you heard. I actually went for the Symphonies without everything in place because I place an importance on ICs. I figured I'll get something that I'll keep and fill in the gaps later. My point is that one pair of Pathfinders with modest powercords will cost much more than one pair of Symphonies with two $2K powercords. That was the point I was trying to make. If I had a choice, I would go with the Pathfinders and $500 powercords too. But if you have SOTA gear and trying to decide how to spend the rest of your money on cables, you can get two pairs of Symphony interconnects and outfit all your gear with $2K powercords (5 of them) for the same price as two pairs of Pathfinders alone. In the former scenario, you're pretty much set and can be happy, while taking your time to decide whether to upgrade and when to upgrade to the Pathfinders. Whereas, if you have SOTA gear and Pathfinder ICs, I don't know how long you would hold off the PC purchase (very few people power their SOTA gear using stock powercords). Besides, if you don't need 5 powercords you have money left over for speaker cables.

In this industry a best of the best $1000IC is considered to be near SOTA for a lot less money (how many times have we heard about near-Valhallas levels for a lot less?) and I just think that for most people who have trouble with the idea of spending that much money on cables, Symphonies are pretty much as good as you need. I believe this is how the Symphonies are marketed. The Pathfinders are for those looking for that last bit of performance to push your system to new heights.

Tim, if you have time and the opportunity, I would be interested to know your impressions after you swap out all your powercords for stock ones and then compare the differences between adding one pair of Pathfinders vs adding back all your powercords :D It'll bet it'll be very very close.