Old interconnects and digital cables that have stood the test of time


My 15 year old SR digital cable bested many others I auditioned recently, which leads me to wonder, Which old (10 years or older) interconnects and digital cables have stood the test of time? What holds up with today's competition and technology?
pmboyd
Michael's MPC mod is out of this world. The guy really knows what he's doing. I've heard his MPC's up against the Galileo and it's not even close. Frankly, he's one of the best kept secrets in audio.
pmboyd:
Indeed, my digital cable is a Resolution Reference Active!


Best thing ever, if you have stock Active Shielding, is the Michael Spallone MPC mod. You can DIY if you’re good with soldering. Or send them off to Michael. Do a search, he’s still doing them and did mine earlier this year.

The Active Shielding circuit is extremely simple: Power comes in to one small transformer, one cap, one pair of diodes. This is all mounted on one cheesy circuit board. Michael swaps out the diodes and cap, replaces the circuit board with point to point wiring, burns it in and tests it a bit, and gets it shipped back to you in a day or so.

The beauty of this mod is everything you like about your SR is still there, only so much better you will hardly believe it. Inner detail, depth of stage, dynamics, all the awesome harmonic development and rich bold palpably real sound SR is known for, its all there only so much more you will be shaking your head in slack-jawed disbelief. Even more so when you realize you got all this improvement for like $60 or whatever plus shipping.

Again you can DIY. I have done this before (swapped diodes, caps, etc) but opted for Michael to do it simply because he is the one with the experience to know which diodes sound the best. Diodes are dirt cheap, but there are a lot out there, they do not all sound the same, and so I look at it as I’m paying Michael for that expertise. He knows it, too. The one thing he wouldn’t tell me is which diodes he uses! Smart guy!
@pmboyd good idea for a thread!

I also have 3 master couplers not in use currently but do put in on occasion.  MIT Z cord II on digital and amp in a second system.  Illuminati D60 and AQ digital pro digital cables and MIT terminator 2's SC in a HT system.


I’ve been using Kimber Select(KS-1032 & KS-1132), as source interconnects, Synergistic’s Analog Tricon(cart to phono stage), Tesla Apex to my mains amps and their Reference Master Couplers, to my AC conditioner(Stealth XXX) and Bass amp, from the outlet. I’d have to go back to work, to move up from those pieces(the Element CTS, was tempting). To my ears; no need/great resolution, sound staging and fidelity. The Zu Mothers, that make up all my other PCs, are excellent classics, in my book. When I needed an AES/ABU cable, between my CAL Delta transport and either Alpha or Sigma DACs, I had a 1.5M Kimber Orchid. Tried a .5M first and found it terrible. Anyway; if I needed another AES/EBU, I’d buy another Orchid(it was that good).
Yes. This makes sense- if SR is for Synergistic Research. A lot of Ted's new stuff is so far ahead of everything else that its still better than most of what there is even 15 and 20 years later. 

The SR Master Coupler has been a power cord standard for over 20 years. I still have one, and one Resolution Reference power cord as well. My Element Copper Tungsten Silver speaker cable is 15 years old, but with Michael Spallone modified MPCs is just outstanding. Before that was 20 year old Resolution Reference .5 speaker cable. Which even today is a pretty darn fine cable. Compared to everything else. Except new SR. Which my Atmosphere Euphoria interconnect showed me is out of this world. Figure that should be good for at least 20 years, in other words it is to paraphrase Seinfeld a dead man's interconnect.