2. cables
  3. 154123-141448

New cables...

Greetings,

I'm new to the forum, at least in so far as posting goes, but I have used it for reviews in the past.  I recently made an equipment upgrade, and hence decided to do the same to the cables.  I'm not sure if I notice a difference, other than the money that is no longer in my bank account.  First, the back ground.

My last speakers were a pair of Sonos Faber Venere 2.5, which were hooked up to a NAD M3 amp.  When I first paired these pieces of equipment, I was using 3 meter length, High Diamond 2 cables, bi-wired (2 pairs of cables, hooked up to the four pairs of terminals on the amp).  The rest of the pieces in the system were the NAD M5 SACD player, the NAD M4 tuner and the Gold Note PH10 phono preamp.  My turn table remains the impressive Acoustic Solid 111 Metal placed on top of their dedicated isolation platform, and paired with their WTB213 tone arm and fitted with the Benz Micro Wood L cartridge.  The interconnects that I was using were High Diamond 2 RCA on the SACD player and the Tuner and Cardas Iridium RCA on the phono stage.  Initially, I was using the stock power cables for everything, plugged into a run of the mill, $20 hardware store power bar.  At some point in that systems' history, I upgraded the speaker cables to the Cardas Parsec bi-wired (also 3 meter), and bought a Cardas Iridium power cord for the M3 amp.  To be sure, I noticed an improved difference in the sound, which I attributed to the Cardas speaker cables, more than anything, though it may have also had something to do with the Iridium phono interconnect as well..

Fast forward to this past fall, and I came into some money so I decided to upgrade the speakers to the Sonus Faber Olympica III speakers, the Simaudio Moon 700i V2 amp, and the Simaudio Moon 650D CD transport and DAC.  Initially, I kept all of the cables and power bar the same. They remained in place from October 2019, until yesterday.  I think that time frame gave me plenty of time to get to know the sound of the system, and for everything to get broken in.  

Yesterday, I decided that with the obvious jump in improvement with the three pieces, I should take the plunge and upgrade the cables and power bar as well.  I purchased Cardas' Clear Cygnus 3 meter, bi-wired speaker cables, two 1 meter Clear Cygnus interconnects, one RCA for the phono stage and one XLR for the CD transport, two Clear Cygnus 1 metre power cables, one for the amp, and one to connect the impressive Cardas Nautilus power strip to the wall.  The Cardas Iridium power cable that I previously had was moved to the 650D CD Transport, and I used the stock power cable that came with the 700i V2 amp for the NAD M4 tuner.  

What has surprised me most, is that lack of difference in overall sound that I have noticed.  To be clear, those cables and power strip cost $8000CDN, plus tax!!! (inset appropriate emoji here).  Is it my ears?

Regards, Jared Purdy
128x128jaredpurdy

Showing 1 response by megabyte

megabyte
34 posts
 

My experience is that cables make extremely subtle, nearly inaudible differences. If you buy them because they appeal to you aesthetically, or to feel like you’ve ruled out a weak link, and it makes you happy by all means do it. Why not? But expecting dramatic differences imo is very much overstating what cables can do. Which frankly isn’t much. But thats just my experience. And, I’ve tried expensive cables. Maybe not the insanely expensive ones but I’ve compared in my system a $175 pair of speaker cables to a $375, to a $1200 pair. If there are differences, they are so subtle I can’t reliably tell. And my hearing is fine, and my system is easily “resolving” enough. Cable money imo is far better spent on improving speakers and room acoustics. And imo high end cables are 95% marketing and 5% reality.

Needless to say if you can spend 100k on cables and still have unlimited $ left to throw at speakers or acoustics then my hat is off to you. :)

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