Stealth metacarbon or Synergistic Apex

What power cord are you using? That too makes a lot of difference. I too have this one box player. Heck, I don't know whether one should address the ic or the pc; first. I run (the older) SR/active ic cable along with a VD master 2 pc.

I have both Stealth Indra and Metacarbons balanced interconnects, no soundstage collapsing as Fplanner described, these are wonderful cables, imaging is fantastic along with being extremely transparent they also come with a huge soundstage. Best interconnects I have ever tried to date. Another caveat I love about these cables are they are very easy to work with, not stiff, very light and manageable. The connectors are first class.

I compared the Stealth Indra to Synergistic Apex when my system was already 1/2 Synergistic when when I put the Indra in between my CDP and Preamp, the soundstage collapsed from front to back. I did this several times over a 4 hour period, and each time I put the Apex back in, the soundstage opened up again. The Indra sounded recessed and not quite as detailed as the Apex, if I try to make allowances for system synergy, but this is obviously a moving target.

In all fairness, the opposite might have also happened if my system had been 1/2 Stealth at that time. I am just reporting my experiences and I guess my point here is that how a single IC cable will sound in your system is very dependent upon not only your gear, but the other cabling in your system.

Chances are if someone has 1 Stealth cord in their system, they probably have others and the same with Synergistic. Both brands definitely sound better with more of the same brand in the system. In my system, under my circumstances, the Apex was the clear winner. I'm sure Stealth makes very good cords as well and I was actually HOPING the Stealth would somehow sound better, but it did not, to my ears. YMMV