I also was able to compare the balanced RSAD Poima !!! Signature and the balanced Purist Aqueous Anniversary I/C's in my system yesterday. These were the same pairs that RhythmAce4218 (Darrin) compared above. My conclusions were very similar to Darrin's.
Both I/C's are very good. The Aqueous appeared to be quieter and darker sounding overall; however, here is where my subjective impressions are hard to describe. To me it seemed that the Aqueous inhibited some of the signal to achieve this and as a result, the air around instruments and the ambience from the recording space were reduced. To me this is a coloration.
The Poima !!! Signature, on the other hand, passed more information along in a very natural way...when present on the recording, the hall was "energized", instruments were more naturally portrayed in real space, and nuanced detail was very acccessible. The Poima !!! Signature did NOT sound noisy...far from it. The Aqueous just made everything more darker and the silences "blacker", even when that did not sound natural.
Keep in mind that both of these I/C's are very good, but in my system I found myself drawn to the Poima !!! Signatures and after the initial few A/B's, wanted to leave them in and just listen to music through them...which I did for several more hours. I will certainly be considering RSAD cables in the near future.
I used these I/C's between my Esoteric UX-3 (with Statement mod from Steve Huntley) and my BAT VK51SE linestage. Other components were 7m of Purist Audio Design Museaus balanced I/C from preamp to Atma-Sphere MA1 Mk II.3 power amps, Magnepan MG3.6R speakers connected by 2m doubled up pairs of PAD Museaus speaker cable. Chris Venhaus Flavor 4 PC's were used on amps and preamp. Electraglide Mini-Khan PC to the Esoteric.
Jordan
Both I/C's are very good. The Aqueous appeared to be quieter and darker sounding overall; however, here is where my subjective impressions are hard to describe. To me it seemed that the Aqueous inhibited some of the signal to achieve this and as a result, the air around instruments and the ambience from the recording space were reduced. To me this is a coloration.
The Poima !!! Signature, on the other hand, passed more information along in a very natural way...when present on the recording, the hall was "energized", instruments were more naturally portrayed in real space, and nuanced detail was very acccessible. The Poima !!! Signature did NOT sound noisy...far from it. The Aqueous just made everything more darker and the silences "blacker", even when that did not sound natural.
Keep in mind that both of these I/C's are very good, but in my system I found myself drawn to the Poima !!! Signatures and after the initial few A/B's, wanted to leave them in and just listen to music through them...which I did for several more hours. I will certainly be considering RSAD cables in the near future.
I used these I/C's between my Esoteric UX-3 (with Statement mod from Steve Huntley) and my BAT VK51SE linestage. Other components were 7m of Purist Audio Design Museaus balanced I/C from preamp to Atma-Sphere MA1 Mk II.3 power amps, Magnepan MG3.6R speakers connected by 2m doubled up pairs of PAD Museaus speaker cable. Chris Venhaus Flavor 4 PC's were used on amps and preamp. Electraglide Mini-Khan PC to the Esoteric.
Jordan