Kubala Sosna and Virtual Dynamics - Similar??

Wow, this thread is a classic example as to why we all need to try out cables in our own systems. I too had my system fully loaded with K-S Emotion cables with Joe here as we tried one cable at a time with the Manley DAC --> Aesthetix Callisto Sig. --> CAT JL-3 Sig. amps --> SoundLab A1 speakers. PLC was an AudioMagic Eclipse II.

The Kubala would be descibed as a midrange cable.

My experience with the K-S cables indicates an opposite experience. These cables are VERY tonally coherent from the bottom octave to the top ... in fact about as good as it gets in this regard. There is NO emphasis in the mids at all.

To me, with my system ,ears and music, the sound was kinda of dead in the upper frequencies.

This too was exactly the opposite here. The K-S Emotion cables had impressive resolution and detail in the trebles. If you want treble roll-off, you have to look into the Cardas, NBS and Purist lines as it's not here in the K-S.

KS cables definitely have a full, rich, smooth sound.

Full as in tonally coherent? I would say yes. Rich as in layered and textured, long decays, etc? The Purist Dominus far exceeds the K-S in this regard....it's not even close.

After I cabled my system fully with Dominus PCs and ICs, and the Opis speaker cables, I borrowed some K-S Emotion cables again and there was no doubt that the K-S had far more coverage, resolution and a blacker background that the Purist could not match. But the Purist was returned as it simply conveyed the dimensionality, fundamental note and follow through of the harmonics, absolutely stunning dynamic contrasts and even more control and extension in the low end. But I always had the K-S strengths in the back of my mind; losing that top-end detail was not easy to handle.

The dream to find a cable with the Purist AND K-S strengths finally arrived with the aptly named Stealth Dream .... and more recently the Stealth Indra. The Dream PCs on my front-end components, especially the Aesthetix Io and Rives PARC is so far beyond the other PCs. The less expensive Stealth M5000 far exceeds these others in a few links here. The Dream is quite impressive on the JL-3 as well but not to the same degree. But interestingly, at a friend's home, it did not mate well at all with his Plinius amp; it was a rather flat result .... very strange. But the Dream PC redeemed itself on his CDP and line stage. And oddly enough, the Indra did not perform well in his system either but it is absolute magic here. I now have the Purist dynamics, 3-dimensionality and the K-S top-end extension all in the one cable line here. YMMV.

Johnb

Hello Teck,

It looks like your system is in need of some attention at the source. Before you spend a fortune on ICs and PCs, you should try to improve the front end first otherwise I do not think you will ever be able to benefit much with any cable you purchase.

Hopefully you can borrow some cables and compare to what you currently own before you commit to the temptations of cables on "clearance". Here at A'gon, there are always great cable deals. Buying new cables brings on no benefit compared to used ones at much reduced prices.

I don't buy into the issue of "system synergy"; it all comes down to our own priorities. The tradeoff for me is to find that balance between detail and 3-dimensionality. But if tonal coherency is a mess, dynamics are compressed or the presentation is distant and flat, it's impossible to go any further with the cable evaluation.

I think we all have been guilty one time or another to go with a cable that corrects for flaws elsewhere in our system. Throwing in cables to "warm up" the sound just makes no sense. And we can get carried away with buying the higher cost cables because they get a lot of praise. It's easy to get trapped into buying such cables when so often our system is not able to take advantage of such refinements.

There have been so many claims about power cables here but it was only the last couple years where these started to make a big difference in my system. A power line conditioner (PLC) brought on such a huge improvement to my system's resolution that only then power cables made worthy contributions. And this was with top-notch gear from ARC, BAT, Wolcott, Aesthetix and CAT with Magnepan and Talon speakers. Much of this gear's capability was masked until the PLC was added. And then power and speaker cable differences became far more evident.

ICs and phono cables have always made differences for me. The link from line stage to amp has been the most critical. I currently use a 10m Purist Dominus between the line stage and amps. Long ICs are tough to find and can be very costly. Of all the long ICs I have heard here, the NBS Statement, Kubala-Sosna Emotion, MIT 350 and EVO, the Dominus is the one I prefer. Between the phono and line stages, I have played with numerous XLR cables from NBS, Kubala-Sosna, Purist and Jade, and so far the Jade Gold is wonderful here. I hope to hear the XLR Stealth Indra here soon. For RCA cables between the DAC and line stage, I use the Stealth Indra. The Jade cables are quite nice here too but I prefer the Indra with how it renders the harmonic overtones and the top octave's clarity in my system.

Power cables can be kinda strange in how they react so differently with various components like I previously described the Dream. When I went to a VD dealer last year, I also was able to directly compare the top Revelation PC to the Dominus Ferox into my Manley DAC. With the VD, the presentation was very flat, decays much reduced, the body of the instruments also clipped off. A return to the Dominus and the performance was right back there. We tried the same experiment with the dealer's Wadia CD playback setup and here the VD edged out the Dominus in portrayal of upper frequency information. But the Wadia was not at all in the same league as the Manley in terms of the 3-dimensional presentation....and this is where the Dominus was miles ahead of the VD.

John

Wow, this thread keeps on going like an Everready bunny.

Grr6001 - This is not a "one cable bests all others" thread. Keep in mind that my comments on the VD Rev vs. the Dominus Ferox were ONLY with two components side by side: the GNSC mod'd tube Manley Ref DAC and the GNSC mod'd Wadia 27 DAC. The major factor here was the Manley's ability to render piano harmonics and decays that the Wadia simply could not do. But it was ONLY the Dominus that brought this capability to the forefront. The VD PC significantly reduced the reasons why I would put up with the hassles of owning a tubed DAC. I am not talking about tonality issues or detail where the VD excels.

As previously stated, the VD rendered the frequency extremes with more coverage and control. But this is not significant to me if the harmonics/textures/decays are much reduced. And the same holds true for other components in my system like the Aesthetix Io & Callisto. I have heard so many preamps and only a few cut it for me.....all tube based. It makes no sense to find such a prize, with premium tubes that take the stock tube component to even greater heights, only to destroy the magic within it with cables that dramatically reduce these strengths. And again, other than the Stealths that I have recently switched over to, only the Dominus cables so far have allowed for such strengths to come through. I will have to borrow a few VD cables and try them elsewhere to determine if the result with the Manley DAC was typical with tube gear or perhaps unique.

I would like to thank everyone for their input and hope that fans of these cords are not upset by my post.

Nice to hear that you put forth the effort to try out some of these cables. You liked the Stealth Dream and you say it is our new reference. I can relate to that as it is mine as well. 8-) But keep in mind, it is your reference in the dealer's system so you still need to find out if it locks in at home. And don't worry about upsetting anybody with your own experiences/auditions/findings; that's their problem, not yours. Please keep us posted.