Category: Cables
First, I would like to thank the fellow GON members who gave me accurate and helpful information regarding the Metacarbon cable last week when I posted a thread regarding the performance of these IC's.
On a few occasions I had heard in other individual's systems the justly praised Stealth Indra cables. I also had read much about this very special and expensive cable, along with talking to many "golden eared" audiophiles who believe it's one of the great IC's produced today. They all said don't audition this cable unless you can handle the price of admission (around $6000.00 new) because if you put it in, you won't want to take it out.
I had auditioned a bunch of digital cables before I settled on the Stealth Sextet, I wrote a review of that cable also here on the GON, which was one of the most amazing cables I have ever put into my system. It was Stealth's attempt to replicate the sonics of the Indra IC's in a digital cable.
I then started to read about how Serguei Timachev, Mr. Stealth Cables, was trying to design/build a new IC's that would also live up to the legendary Indra's sonic performance for two reasons:
1) The infamous amorphous metal/conductor of the Indra that he brought with him from Russia, would one day run out and not be able to be replaced.
2) He wanted to design a cable that would offer the sonic performance of the Indra at a much lower cost point.
As, in all my reviews if you want technical details I recommend you go to Stealth's website or the 6moons website for a more detailed history. In brief, the Metacarbons are a very well built cable that's jet black with gold sparkles, relatively loose, not rigid and are composed of carbon with fine metal particles in a specific recipe. My pair are single ended with locking RCA's.
The Sonics of the Metacarbon
I could get very long winded about all the striking attributes of this cable because there all their in spades:
1) Transparency/clarity 2) A much bigger/better soundstage 3) More air around each player and more precise layering 4) Tremendous macrodynamics/extension 5) Very natural timbres 6) Beautiful details
Just as I struggled to try to express in words what the Stealth Sextet did in my system, it's just as hard to try to convey what the Metacarbon's offered without sounding mystical or so subjective that the following statements just sound "mumbo-jumbo". The above stated sonic attributes are fine and dandy, but they don't explain the further absence of "any type of electrical/artificial sense" of music being reproduced in my system. How do you explain the sound of "nothing" except to say things like , it just sounds more like real music, or it's more organic and musical, or it makes it more easy to relax into the illusion that your hearing real music. Well, that's the best I can do and I hope it conveys what I'm experiencing with this cable in my system.
So, did Mr.Timachev come up with a exact sonic clone for his legendary Indra? I don't know since I never had one in my own system. However, individual's who have heard both seem to believe the Indra is still slightly better at not sonicly "being there" compared to the Metacarbons. The Metacarbons have to be ranked as one of the finest reference cables around today. I also always say their is no BEST piece of gear in the world, including the Metacarbons, so much of our hobby is based on personnal taste/system synergy. These are not inexpensive cables, they retail for $3000.00 for a one meter pair, but based on a cost/performance ratio, they offer reference level sonics for alot less money then many other cables.
Associated gear Click to view my Virtual System
