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Review: Acoustic Zen Absolute Interconnect

Category: Cables

I was looking forward to audtioning Robert Lee's new highest reference Acoustic Zen interconnects & speaker wires which he calls the Absolute. They represent his latest thinking regarding the state of the art in his house of wires. About two years ago I had gone through a lengthy audtion process, which included five highly regarded sets of wires from well known companies, untill I decided to replace all my wires with AZ Silver reference II & Matrix reference II and Satori speaker wire. I'm a great fan of AZ for two major reasons;1) They offer great "bang for the buck" out standing performance for the cost ratio.2) They have,for me, a wonderful combination of tight/powerful bass,great details,transparency,dynamics,natural timbres, along with being musical and a smooth "sense" of ease. The process of audtioning the Absolute began with inserting a Absolute interconnect between my DAC and PRE-AMP along with putting the Absolute speaker wire in. Since I bi-amp there are four sets of interconnects so I put the Absolute interconnect at the front of the system. Well, it turned out to be a very gratifying experience! It not only tremendously improved the above stated virtues but added the following;1) A giant soundstage with excellent layering of players in a sense of real space.2)A sriking sense of air/three-dimensionality around everyone in the soundstage.3)Much improved/natural timbres.4)The new cables added that wonderful "organic/musicality" that I think we all strive for in our systems. It strongly reminded me of the experience I had when I audtioned my Pass Labs-350.5 to my then current amp an Edge NL-10. The Edge, which is still a great amp with many reference level characteristics, just kinda sounded sterile compared with the musicality of the 350.5. I know thats a very subjective way of explaining my experience, but its hard to use objective language at times to explain why a component just sounds more like the experience of real music. These wires are not inexpensive(2000.00 for the interconnects and 2800.00 for the speakers wires) but offer so much without any apparent shoutcomings that I think they are very fairly priced and compete with many reference level wires at a much lower price.So I think Mr. Lee has done it again, great sound at a reasonable price! As a final note I want to mention, even though we all know it all ready, that important factor of system matching and synergy long with your personnal taste make home audtioning a must for us serious audiophiles! I highly recommend you try these wires out if your a fan of AZ or looking to upgrade you wires in your sytem.

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Showing 9 responses by guidocorona

guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
TJ, do you have any feelings about how the AZ Absolute may compare with the similarly priced AudioQuest Sky?
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
TJ, the Acoustic Zen site indicates the Absolute cables to be made from a Silver Copper Hybrid. Does this mean that some strands are made from copper and others from silver, or that copper strands are silver coated, or that a Silver/Copper alloy is employed?
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
TJ, good idea. I will call Robert early next week and will post my findings. Looking at the converse implications of rsbeck's observations, I find it rather wonderful and exciting how there seems to be no apparent limit on the amount of improvements and optimization we can make to the sound of our systems. Does this not make this hobby one of the most exciting? Perhaps this is the only field where such thing as 'better than perfect' truly perceivably exists!
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Rsbeck, have you eaten hot chiles today? Relax, this hobby can be fun!
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Returning to the subject matter, I called Robert Lee and asked him about the metallurgy of the Absolute wires.
The Silver-Copper Hybrid wires have mixed strands of Silver and Copper. More specifically, 96% of the strands are made from Silver, and 4% of strands are made from Copper.
The function of the Copper strands is to enhance the reproduction of the resonance from the 'wood' of many instruments, such as violins, cellos, violas, string basses, Pianos etc. . .
Enhancement to the reproduction of the resonance of 'wood' is a theme also very dear to Emmanuel Go of First Sound when discussing the characteristics of premium models of his pre line, Such as the Paramount SE, which is equipped with Copper capacitors.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
TJ, the Absolute costs approximately 2.5 times the price of the Silver II. I forgot to ask Robert what accounts for the price difference. As far as you know, is there more than the hybrid Copper/Silver strands and the insulating material as the difference between the two lines?
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Rsbeck, ignoring the import of any capsaicin-bearing fruits and copper sulfate pentahydrate, or other such corrosives, I can see a few different issues in this discussion:
1. Improving over 'perfection'. This is rather unique to audiophilia. When I was a lad in 1967 I was positive that perfect sound was yielded by my father's Braun 30W RMS amp and bookshelf speakers of the same make. Since then I have owned several systems, each 'more perfect' than the preceeding one. So often flaws in sound can be discovered only in hindsight.
2. I have the impression that so many times the audible virtues of an interconnect or other component -- even when real -- exist for reasons other than those advertised by the manufacturer. This may be at times caused by simple marketing hype, or more often by the fact that even engineers may not yet fully understand the obscure physics behind their designs,
and may be masking their successful artistic achievements in technical sounding language. Doesn't this remind you of the alchemists of old?
3. I confess that, Given my limited information about the apparently small metallurgical and manufacturing differences between the Acoustic Zen Silver II and Absolute lines, I can not explain the 2.5X price difference. Robert Lee seemed to indicate that things such as sound stage should be consistent between the two lines, and the only perceivable difference is expected to be a subtle greater realism in the overall sound. If I have the opportunity of auditioning these two wires I might be able to decide for myself if the price difference is justified, in the meantime I can only thank TJ for sharing his personal insight and experience in the matter.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Rsbeck, I would say that yes, in at least some (or sadly many?) cases, the advertised virtues of some component or device may not be real. In this I am making no pre-judgement about the particular device discussed here. But when I go to a dealer, audition a system, swap in a vaunted component, with a pedigree a mile long, and start scratching my head in perplexity about unrealized expectations, most invariably the consultant states that: "this component is oh so good that I have to go through a long mental-breakin-period to 'learn' to like it, and eventually to adore and worship the very ground where it rests!"
Isn't this a failure of a marketing-induced 'placebo effect' of some sort? [chuckle]
For some reasons, cable manufacturers web sites are particularly prone to pyndaric flights of quasi-lyrical techno-fancy., AZ not being the most audacious of the lot by any stretch of the imagination. At least it does not make claims of proprietary metallurgic processes which fly against principles of basic physical chemistry, as I have very recently learned from at least one even more highly pedigreed brand. But that's for another topic, and perhaps for another thread.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Nicksgem10s, how would you characterize the audible difference between AZ Silver Ref 2 and Audioquest Sky? Thanks, Guido
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