Synergistic Research vs Gabriel Gold vs PAD IC's


These 3 brands seem to get lots of attention on Audiogon lately and lots of praise. I'm thinking about trying one of them soon - my current cables are Acoustic Zen Silver and Matrix Reference II XLR ICs and Hologram II speaker cable. Great cables but I would like to give one of these brands a try for a change to see if they fit my current system (McIntosh 301-McIntosh C46-McIntosh MC402 - Sonus Faber Grand Pianos) better. How do you guys think these differ from Acoustic Zen and exactly which model ICs (I'd like to start with IC's) could be an improvement? I'm sure some folks here compared Synergistic's (of course Tesla line sounds like the most interesting) vs Gabriel Gold vs Purist Audio. The problem is I live in Russia and all these brands are not officially distributed here so free trials are not an option.
antonkk

Showing 1 response by blindjim


Ditto... what sort of improvement (s) or changes are you seeking?

I've tried 3 or 4 of the SR ICs. I kept the Resolution Ref x2 actives over the Acoustic Ref, Accelerators, & Alphas. I posted a review on the RR x2 as well. that one came out on top of a whole covey of cables, BTW. Great bass, sound stage dimensionality, great presence too.

The SR Resolution Ref x2 active, would be a huge step up from the AZ Matrix ref II ICs. Perhaps a step up from the Silvers too... again, depending upon what it is you seek to modify.

I've found when you don't run all the ics from the same co. that the mix is more the thing. Too much rich and full type wires dulls the presentation. too many dynamic and extended wires thins things out and becomes just hi fi sounding.

Currently I have the HT magic II as main, and Nirvana SX Ltd off the source and have the RRs off the source's secondary outs to my receiver so as to add some body and extension to that all SS deally.

Of all the cables I've used I like the SX Ltd and SR RR x2 the most, with others falling in line where they are best suited... yet again, the SX and RR are more alike than different, so I prefer usually not to run them both together... but it does come down to the genre of music I want to play too. Personally, I'd like to have another MIT Magnum series cable on hand again in place of the Magic II. the HT Magic II IMO is a poor mans Magnum.