Need help : Mit or Cardas?

Neither IMO. I have used various Cardas ICs, strongly recommend for speaker cable you use AP Oval 9 in place of Cardas Quad. More detail, 3D, and liquid and costs about the same or less, also sold by Audio Advisor. Gold Cross is very good IC but even used you will pay @$400, I would also recommend Harmonic Tech Truthlink, all copper, detailed yet liquid warm sound, $250 new $125 used. MIT as you know is a network interface cable, I have never tried, some people like very much, I can do without network interface in my system. As always arrange for home trail of cables by using Cable Co......regards Sam

I do not know the AP Oval 9 so I can't comment on it but I have used a lot of Cardas cable and some MIT and I have always thought the Cardas was better. I would not go with golden cross and hexlink though. I suggest buying Cardas Cross or Neutral reference in some combination for both ICs and speaker cable. You can easily find both used here on Audiogon and I think you would be happy with them. If you really want a network cable, try looking at stuff from Transparent Cable, they make the best network cable (atleast from the cables I have heard).

I use Jenalabs Syphony interconnects and Cardas Cross Speaker cables. They are a great combination. My equipment is a Krell 300i, Aerial Acoustic Model 6s and a Wadia 830 cd player. I tried many interconnects before I settled on the Jenalabs. The last I used were the Cardas Golden Cross. They were great cables, but the Jenalabs were just a little more open and natural in my system. I bought a demo direct form the manufacturer for half price. They normally sell for $1100.00. I rarely see them mentioned here, but they are so good, that since I got them, I stopped thinking about cables completely. I will keep them for a long time, while I may change other parts of my system. I also think the Cardas Cross are a great choice. They are amazingly quiet and allow the suble details to be heard without being agressive. Bass is great, mids are sweet and they are not at all bright. I think the Neutral reference might be as good or better and I would like to try them.

I've tried the latest Transparent Reference, and also Ultra, and MIT's cables are much better, if you want to try a network cable. I'd avoid Transparent, unless you want to omit bass performance. I've tried the Analysis Plus Oval 9, and Cardas Neutral Reference (both RCA interconnect and speaker cable of the Cardas). I liked the NR speaker cable better than the interconnect. I didn't like the AP Oval 9 at all, with the Shunyata Black Mamba AC cord on my amp. But, curiously, the Oval 9 achieves much better performance with a Synergistic Reference Master Coupler on the amp, where the Cardas NR speaker cable was smoother, but lost bass focus (going from Black Mamba to Synergistic). I prefer MIT cables to both of these, however. The Terminator 2 is the best speaker cable I've heard, and works better than 750 Shotgun did when I tried it last year. The 750 did lose detail and had prodding bass, but both Terminator 2 and 3 are almost perfect (they only lack a little bass extension). They're more dynamic than any other cable I've tried, and don't lose detail at all. They make my Krell KAV sound like a Full Power Balanced.

Interesting thing about Transparent cables. I auditioned a set and was disappointed - seemed that the frequency extremes were down in level and dynamics were weak. After discussing with other owners and Transparent, I decided to leave them in the system to break in. It took about 80-100 hours and they truly transformed - becoming very open, very dynamic. One thing that was evident from the beginning however, was the clarity and purity they brought to the music. IMHO, they are the most musical cable made.

The Transparent Reference I tried were broken in for hundreds of hours, and the Ultra for several thousand. Funny thing about MIT, they sound superb from the get go, and only improve a little after burn in. The series resistor in Transparent cables probably has a lot to do with the burn in making more difference. Anyway, I like cables that don't have anything in series but conductors.

Would you like to tell me what's network cable and the advantages over the regular cable? Thanks

It's interesting how many different opinions you get when you ask for one - that's what makes this hobby so interesting. My experience with MIT cables is that they take a minimum of 250+ hours to fully burn in - they sound good right away and then you better leave because you will think your system is experiencing a meltdown! I am currently using Shotgun IC's and 750 S3 speaker cables. This latest series of high end cables beat the series 2 that everyone is dumping by a far cry and the Shotgun IC's are no comparison to the latest 330 series 3 - I established that after much critical listening. I think the MIT's mentioned above are definitely the best I've had in my system which includes various Kimber, Tara, older MIT's and Audioquest. I've heard several types of Cardas in a dealer situation and recently nuetral ref. with Classe pre, Meridian Amp and Maggies and they sounded good. Historically for me, the Cardas cables don't have the ultimate clarity, soundstaging, and dynamics I get with MIT. I have a CJ preamp and I know some people at CJ like them with their equipment. I am also using a Classe CA 200. Hope this opinion helps.

I have the latest MIT High End Series Shotgun Spkr.cables and I C's and used ones can be found very reasonable.These were a whole new design for 1999 as were the Series 3 cables.The Shotguns do everthing extremely well and while thw 3's which I also auditioned do a very nice job,the new Shotguns take take it all a little further.You can't go wrong with either the 3's or the Shotguns and unless you a-b the 2 together you possibly would not realize the difference.Good luck on your choice.