Did you compare veritas with anny other brands? When I got the Argentum x interconnects, after 100 hours of burning, they exhibited all attributes that you are describing in your posts. But when I compared them with my Snake river audio signatures ($1650 retail), I noticed that Argentums have less bass, backgrounds are not as black as with snake rivers and as result overall sound is not as organic and relaxed as with snake rivers in place. With aregentums in place my all,solid state system sounded more solid state than with snake rivers. So to me and in my system the Argentums were great for the price, but not the giant killers I hoped for, and unfortunately I had to return them.
Veritas Cables a new brand that I found
Always been a big fan of smaller cable makers. I've had great luck in my system with brands like Audio Art, Cabledyne (RIP), Audio Sensibility, and Triode Wire Labs. These and others I'm surely forgetting seem to offer so much bang for the buck compared to the more mainstream brands. Not exactly cheap but usually a great value for what you get. It's noteworthy that most of these are most easily found by cruising Audiogon, US Audio Mart, Audiocircle, etc and if you only ever read Stereophile/TAS you'll probably never be exposed to all these great options.
As with most people around here I've also had my fair share of Audioquest, Kimber, Shunyata, Cardas, Wireworld, MIT, and the rest of the big names. Some of those were very enjoyable but I have a hard time when I think about how big their marketing budgets are. And when my local dealer will always give me a deal for a very substantial discount, it makes me realize how inflated the regular pricing is. Not to mention I notice that many of these don't really get good until you move fairly high up the line, with their entry and mid priced options often being pretty uninspiring.
A few weeks ago I was browsing the various classifieds as I often do and stumbled across a name that was new to me. Turns out that's because they are new, period. Veritas Cables calls themselves a boutique hifi cable company specializing in small batch creations. That sounds reminiscent of early Black Cat Cable which they actually reference as an inspiration. This immediately caught my attention as I used to work with Chris Sommovigo at one point and loved his approach to building cables. The company had 3 items listed at the time: RCA interconnects, a power cable, and an ethernet cable. I liked what I saw but was actually in the market for an XLR interconnect, so I checked out their website (still under construction) which indicated more cables were coming soon. I figured it was worth an email inquiry to see what the time frame might be.
I got a quick response stating that they had just completed a batch of XLR cables and while most were spoken for via local word of mouth sales, they did have one extra set they could sell me. The price was well within my target and actually much more affordable than the others I had been looking at (Audio Art Copper Cryo, Morrow Audio MA6, Silnote Anniversary being the main contenders). So I took a chance on it, although with their in home trial terms it wasn't a huge gamble. They sent over an invoice with paypal and due to Veritas being in California like me the cable arrived very quickly.
When the company told me they don't use any fancy packaging, they weren't kidding. It was more like buying a second hand cable off a forum with no original packaging. But I've never cared about any of that stuff and would rather have that money go towards the actual product. In that sense I was not disappointed. Veritas calls this their Magnus cable and it shares design cues with the rest of their line I had seen listed on USAmart and the Veritas website. Specifically that means the use of a metallic silver braided jacket instead of the usual plastic or fabric sleeving most other cables have. This is the same approach used by Ed Bowman with his Cabledyne brand which I miss dearly. Back in the day my entire system was Cabledyne Reference Silver, then upgraded to their Vanguard line and was happy with that for quite a while. So I am very pleased to reintroduce a similar looking cable. That said the Veritas Magnus is somewhat thicker yet more flexible than the Cabledyne models which makes it easier to deal with.
Veritas doesn't come right out and list exactly what the internal composition is on their designs. When I asked directly they were happy to answer so it's not a complete secret, but I guess more of a marketing choice. Discussing this with them also reminded me of chatting with Ed Bowman, where there is clearly a lot of knowledge but also a desire to simplify things for a dumb end user like me. I tend to agree with their philosophy that says silver doesn't always have to sound bright and copper isn't always warm. Designers can do a lot based on geometry and purity and shielding and a dozen other factors to where a silver cable might actually be warmer and smoother than a copper cable. Or a copper cable might be more focused on speed and treble extension. Honestly I don't care as much about the specifics as I do about the end result, just give me an excellent performing cable no matter what it's made of.
In any case to my eyes the Veritas Magnus looks every bit as well made as the other options I had been considering. Those range from $630 for the Audio Art, to $1250 for the Morrow, to $1500 for the Silnote, all for 1.5m XLR versions just to give you a general idea. Meanwhile the Magnus was $389 which is almost what I would call entry level territory with the price of cables being what it is these days.
So far I've been using the Magnus to connect my Eversolo DMP-A8 to a variety of tube and SS headphone amplifiers in the $2-5k range, then feeding the amazing Raal Requisite CA-1a ribbon headphones via the Raal transformer box. It's a pretty simple system and this is the only interconnect involved, making it easier to spot the contributions versus a system with separate transport, DAC, preamp, and amplifier and of course cables running between each of them.
The sound I heard was shockingly open, clean, detailed, and smooth. Huge staging with impressive depth and even height on the right recordings. Very convincing tone on violins, guitars, and vocals both male and female. The Raal headphones are pretty ruthless and reveal all sorts of upstream shortcomings, but I got the feeling I was bouncing up against the limits of the DMP-A8 D/A conversion rather than the cable/amp/headphones. I'll test this out soon when I switch to my bigger system with a better/more expensive DAC, and I'll report my findings when I have some thoughts on that.
Checking my cable collection for things with a vaguely similar price as the Magnus. I rounded up a Harmonic Tech Truth Link, Analysis Plus Copper Micro, Anticables 3.1, and Moon Audio Black Dragon, all of which sold for somewhere in the sub $500 space (I think) at some point in the last decade. It was no contest, the Veritas Magnus outclassed them all by a significant margin. These are all decent cables with something to offer which is why I keep them around in my stash, but compared to the Veritas they all sounded either dull, thin, slow, compressed, or some combination of those traits. I also note that each of them looks and feels like more of a budget product (which I guess they are) where the Veritas Magnus seems like it belongs in an entirely higher class despite the price not reflecting that.
My next goal is to compare it to some others in my arsenal priced around the $1K range. So far, from memory I would say it feels very competitive even in that class, but I want to be more specific about it so no comments for now. The crazy thing is that Veritas told me they have another XLR option (didn't catch the name or other specifics) positioned higher than the Magnus, for what is likely still a pretty reasonable price considering their approach to the market. All of those were spoken for at the time but did ask to be notified when the next batch is ready so we can discuss that. I had been considering the Infigo Audio Sparkle or maybe even Sparkle Signature XLR down the road but I might detour to the Veritas instead, just for the sake of adventure. But that depends on the pricing and specifics they give me, if and when we have that discussion. I'm also curious about their power cables or maybe a USB down the line. Sometimes when cable companies try to do everything, they bite off more than they can chew, or seem to excel with digital rather than analog or vice versa. So it would be interesting to see if Veritas can do the full line of cables to this same high caliber.
In closing I'll say (and it's probably obvious) that I'm extremely impressed with this product so far. It's the most dramatic result I've had from a cable in quite some time, and I appreciate that it didn't involve spending thousands of dollars. The folks at Veritas really seem to be on the right track in terms of quality and value. Which is not to be confused with being very good at marketing a product, which honestly they don't really seem to be, nor do they seem to even care all that much at the moment. They definitely have some improvement to do when it comes to optimizing their operation, but they told me their focus is on organic growth and quality over quantity. That seems like a noble approach so I can't fault them for it. Their website also could really use more specifics but at least they answer emails quickly and are easy to deal with that way.
I'll be back in the next week or so with additional updates. Maybe some downsides will present themselves. But so far it's been a totally positive experience. Next up is my bigger system with more expensive components and cables, we'll see how the Magnus holds up in that context.
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Hour 67. Vocal is the star of the show but man... The dynamic range is absolutely incredible as well. From the mids to the highs, the shift can be quite stunning. I hope the cables can sound 5-10% smoother. That'd be perfection. I'd also like the cables to have better note decay. My system is capable of presenting previous notes cleanly. It can prevent new notes from overpowering/washing out the old ones. The cables are not performing at a high level in this regard. I hope it can improve as the burn-in progresses. Fingers crossed. |
@tubeguy80 it seems we share a lot of "audio craziness” in common than disagreements, incl. enjoying vinyl/tubes/lossless/cables/jazz/etc.. :-) - thanks! |
To further elaborate on why I say these highly detailed cables are not bright, I use a few tracks that are mastered hot. Rockabye by Anne Marie. Just smooth, and airy. And balanced. My heart will go on remix by Laback. Same, smooth and airy. Faded by Alan walker. This is the one track that always make me run for the door in most system, especially at the 1:00 mark. Here it is airy and smooth, still quite hot in the treble but enjoyable and not glaring. These cables make my system sounds very hi-fi without any of the drawbacks, which is something I've always chased after. |
54 hrs on the Veritas combo reporting in. My overall impression of these cables: They are intensively detailed, transparent, and musical (sweet and smooth). Sounds very balanced, treble and vocals are highly expressive and open. Best way to describe the sound is multiple veils of treble has been removed. This gives the impression of the treble being boosted but it’s not. Not in my system. The soundstage depth is also quite good, I believe this is due to the overly open treble and mids. Oh and the bass is juicy and bold (I’m so terrible at describing bass). Forget your past experience with silver and anemic bass. 54 hrs is still early in the overall break-in phase. I’d like to hear more dynamics and transparency, 2 things that could always be improved. I also wish for instruments to separate and be defined even better. System: Martin Logan Summit X speakers. BMC Ultradac, BMC CS3 amplifier. |
Take a new Veritas speaker cable and the Argentum X and put them in the system, you will have no bass for 12 hours. It’s a very clear indication of cable break in. But let’s ignore the bass for a second. Throughout my experience with new cables, almost all of them exhibit this etchy, echoey sound in the vocals. A small update. 53 hours on the Veritas cables. Not much to report since the last update. Nothing I'd reliably report anyway. |
@westcoastaudiophile So many of your post history is just you bickering with people about cables. Doesn't that get old? Please recognize that we are already the weird ones in this hobby. Most other people think we are all crazy for spending more than $50 on a bluetooth speaker. We're crazy for liking "inferior" vinyl, crazy for using tube gear, crazy for caring about lossless music, etc. And you know what, maybe we are a bit crazy, but we enjoy it so why not let us have that? You seem to have embraced most of these crazy concept but disagree about cables, which is fine. But please let other people have their fun. |
@lak I respectfully would love to offer you challenge to prove your opinion.. take brand new and brake-in pre your method cables, and try to identify the difference.. if you are in PDX area, I would love to assist you! |
@westcoastaudiophile thank you for your opinion, I respectfully disagree, as ofter happens with audiophiles. |
@tubeguy80 holidays got the best of me too |
"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." (Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse , 1872) "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon," (Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873) "The super computer is technologically impossible. It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." (Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University) "There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom." (Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923) "Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." (Dr. Lee DeForest, Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television) "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible!" (Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895) "The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." (Admiral William Leahy, re: US Atomic Bomb Project) "Glad you like your cables. Also, they don't sound any different than any other cheap OFC wire. It's all in your head." ( squared80, Denyin'tology zealot) "Good lord these 2 cables are blowing my mind." "yeah, “mind” could be the biggest variable." and so on, ad nauseam. (westcoastaudiophile, Dunning-Kruger exemplar) When the steam locomotive came on the scene; the best (scientific) minds proclaimed, "The human body cannot survive speeds in excess of 35MPH." Until recently (21st Century); and the advent of the relatively new science of Fluid Dynamics, the best (scientific) minds involved in Aerodynamics, could not fathom how a bumblebee stays aloft. Often; Science has to catch up with the facts/phenomena of Nature and/or, "reality" (our universe). I haven't been in school since the 60's, but- at Case Institute of Technology; the Physics Prof always emphasized what we were studying was, "Electrical THEORY." He strongly made a point of the fact that no one had yet actually observed electrons (how they behave on the quantum level) and that only some things can really be called, "LAWS." (ie: Ohm, Kirchoff, Faraday) PERHAPS: that's changed in recent years and I missed it? |
@samureyex Thank you again for updates, I have to agree about the "musicality" for lack of a better word. It's a great balance between resolution and listenability that not many cables can manage. @tump350 They told me the same thing when I asked about getting a 2nd Connexa network cable. I am thinking about going Ethernet out from my Innuos Zenith to a separate integrated streaming player (possibly Matrix Element X2 but still undecided) for driving headphones. I want it somewhat isolated from the rest of my gear. But there are already cables everywhere on the rack. They said Mirus would work better in that environment which saves me a couple hundred dollars. I appreciate that. |
45 hours of listening time on the Veritas cables. Not confident enough to say what kind of change had happened since my last update around 28 hours. Overall, I find these cables to have unusually good depth. Exceptional clarity but also forgiven. No sign of harshness. Fantastic musicality as well. What I mean by "musicality" is the smoothness and the sweetness of vocals and instruments that stems from the very clear and open upper midrange - treble range. I'm not good at describing bass but I can say it's not lean and sufficient in depth and quantity. |
Agree about their Praesto power cable. It is extremely nice. I will be getting more when they have them in stock. I asked them why it didn't match the rest of the lineup (silver metallic look) and they said Praesto was their first creation, from before they settled on the silver metal theme. They liked it so much they didn't want to change it. They did mention working on another power cable which should be ready soon. A more affordable version. It looks like they want to have two levels of most cables. A quality mainstream model and then a top level model. That makes more sense to me compared to a lot of brands that have like 7 different models for each type of cable. |
@tump350 nice! I have virtually the same hours as you. 1 thing I’m really surprised is how un-ruthless the Argentum and Aperta combo is. It doesn’t pull out the nasties of poorly recorded tracks. I wonder how well their power cables perform. |
I have been following this thread with great interest and purchased both the Argentum X (XLR ICs) and the Mirus ethernet cable. I bought the Mirus cable first and found that I really liked it a lot better than my Via Blue and TWL Freedom ethernet cables, so I bought the Argentum X’s. I agree with the description of these cables posted above by the OP @v-fi, @lak and @samureyex and certainly heard greater micro-detail, a sharper leading edge, no to much less glare, better musicality (instrument cohesion) and better air – more detail, less glare, sharper leading edge and less fatiguing -- go figure! This is after about 35 hours of continuous playing. So far, so good. While my prior Vogue Audio Silver Strand Ultra XLRs were good, the Veritas cables are a better match for my system. The Company is cool as well. When I contacted them about replacing the Mirus with the Connexa they recommended because of the cable mess behind my system and the need for better shielding, that I stick with the Mirus which provides better shielding and was designed to be run in close proximity to power cables. Honest advice – good stuff! |
I've been meaning to get back to this thread but haven't found time until now. Still very impressed with the Veritas Connexa network cable which I run from the wall jack to my Innuos Zenith mark III. It is so much better than the Wireworld Starlight 8 I used to have. I also tried Audioquest Diamond and Cardas Clear, the Connexa is better than both of those by a noticeable margin. The Audioquest Vodka was a tough challenge, I prefer it over the more expensive Diamond. The Veritas Connexa beats Vodka by just a touch, better imaging and feels more open. Close competition in sound but the Connexa is more affordable so that helps. I also grabbed a Veritas Praesto power cable when they had them in stock. It replaced an ASI Liveline cable that I've owned for quite some time. I liked the Liveline well enough to keep it around for many years so it must have done something right. I want to say it cost around $1100 when I purchased it back then. Connected to my Luxman MQ-88uC amplifier the Veritas Praesto makes my system sound a little bigger and bolder than the Liveline. I hear what feels like better midrange articulation, like notes have slightly more weight to them. I am not great at describing what I hear so I will stop there. I'm impressed the Praesto beats the ASI cable that sold for double the price. The rest of my system uses a mixture of old Cardas power cables and very old Stealth M7 power cables from back when Stealth didn't cost a fortune. I've always been happy with them but now I'm probably going to swap them all for Veritas Praesto once those are available again. |
@samureyex ..in your cable break-in experiment :-) assuming you didn’t change eardrums + and speakers! cables are degrading performance with time, resistance increases, electrical length (derivative of phase velocity) increases, leakage increases, shielding isolation decreases. In some cases, listeners like worse performance cables over better ones, some amp manufacturers have damping factor degradation dial, and some ppl like it! |
@westcoastaudiophile really? Not the speakers or the eardrums? |
@lak thanks for the PM earlier today. I couldn't directly reply. To the guys that break-in their cables by music listening, have you noticed the cables shift from sounding a little dull to perfectly right and then back and forth? |
@v-fi Thanks!! These cables have had wild changes since hr 1. Wild improvements to be more accurate. I’m curious to hear what’s in store at hr 50. |
27 hours on the pair of cables. Some more updates. These cables have excellent dynamic range for the mids and treble, lots of layering and details. Soft notes and vocal can be exquisitively soft and vice versa. The combination of these 2 cables also result in quite a forgiving sound. Mids and highs do not sound boosted in the slightest. It is also nicely smooth. I listened to many very poorly recorded tracks on soundcloud to reach this conclusion. They are not dark or sit to the warm side, so if these criterias are required for a forgiving sound, these are not it. |
Good lord these 2 cables are blowing my mind. The first 12 hours I highly doubted myself. Asking what have I done with $1,100. Now they are extremely detailed and balanced sounding. Mids and highs I can only describe as ethereal and seductive. Expressive, highly detailed, greatly nuanced. These are the best $1,100 I’ve ever spent. Even a better purchase than the Isoacoustic Gaia which I love. Slapping myself in disbelief. |
Hr 14. It’s sounding amazing. Almost all negatives have disappeared. Tone and timbre are exceptional. The sound has this sweetness and delicacy in instruments and female voices. Veritas described the sound as "exposed". I believe it sounds somewhere between pure and unrestrained. It’s not bright but the highs are fully "exposed" and it is splendid. Turning up the volume to 90db, the sound remains fully composed. Not a hint of harshness and stridency. I tried to find songs where it would be unforgiving. Couldn’t find many. Songs like "Kiss My (uh oh) - Anne-Marie" during the chorus are where it can be fatiguing after a bit. I don’t get the sense that Argentum and Aperta together are track dependant, they feel more like system dependent. Something like a Bright focal is probably not a good match. A warm or neutral system needing more details and clarity, these are probably it. |
@squared80 YAWN. |
@lak 👍👍👍 Bass suddenly comes to life at hr 12. It's crazy. From -70% bass to proper bass. Wonderful extension for mids and highs. Female vocals are wonderful and airy. The negatives, borderline bright, actually it's pretty bright, lots of treble glare. Female vocals a bit sibilant on a few tracks. Sibilance is something my system never had. Separation is still not good especially on pop songs, treble glare. Keep in mind these are all early impressions of burn-in and prone to change. Bass is great. I'm terrible at describing bass. All the usual words apply, fast, punchy, textured, nuanced. |
I prefer the Argentum R and X over the Fidelis interconnects. The Fidelis interconnects are good, the Argentum are silver and in my systems sounded more realistic for my taste. The speaker cables did take longer in order to reach maturity for whatever reason. As I have said before these Veritas Cables are very well built and very sexy in appearance. Now I'm not saying there are not better sounding cables out the in audiophile land some place but for the Veritas Cable pricing they are fantastic. I just received two more pair of the Argentum R interconnects yesterday (USPS must be doing something correct because they arrived one day earlier also) and currently have them on my cable cooker. |
@v-fi I’m very relieved to hear your comment about the bass. I’m not a basshead, far from it. But when I had the cables in, it sounded like someone took the bass knob and turned it down by 70%. I imagine this is the doing of both the Argentum and Aperta. At hour 10 and the bass is still far from what it should be. But I’m eager to hear how it changes over time. The Summit X as you probably know, has 4 10-inch woofers in total and has 4 internal amps powering those woofers. I turned the bass knobs on the speakers to +4 and it didn’t increase much which is unusual. +0 has sounded the best to me in the past. It can go from -10 to +10 so a swing of 20. |
@mbolek You have a great system as well, seems like this whole discussion thread is full of people with good taste. I bet those Nova 5s sound amazing. I used to have their Guarneri Homage monitors a few decades back and still wish I held onto those. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts when you've had enough time to spend with the Magnus in your system. I still very much like the Magnus even if I am tempted to grab their Argentum X as well. In my system the Magnus outperforms quite a few other cables, including some I really like a lot. And even when others do certain things better, the Magnus seems to offer a total package with no weaknesses. I appreciate that. |
@samureyex Nice system there, love those Summit X. And I agree, the pictures don't really capture the metallic sleeving very well. I had the same thing when I first ordered from Cabledyne back in the day, where I was expecting a simple silver colored cloth braid but was surprised to find actual metal instead. I wonder if Veritas uses a similar sleeving because it sure looks similar. Btw both the Magnus XLR and Argentum R RCA sets that I have felt a little bass shy when brand new, but that shook out in the burn in after a little while. Now the bass is one of my favorite parts on both models. |
@mbolek eager to hear your experience. As for me I have clocked in 10 hours today. Keep in mind the burn-in is for both the Aperta and the Argentum. The Argentum (XLR) is +6 hrs of burn-in. Still waiting for improvements in some aspects but I can say the combo is exceptional at soundstage depth and macro dynamics. Not a lot of bass. |
Interesting thread. Since these guys are local to me I decided to reach out and learn more. I have been building my own cables for years and followed these simple guidelines....good conductors, low mass or sometimes no connectors and solid connections. I have really been impressed with Steve’s (williewonka) Helix designs and found that they have performed very well for me. Built several different variations using UP OCC, Triple C, UP silver. Low mass connectors from AECO, KLE, ETI. With that said, just received their Mangus XLRs to see how they sound. I have an ES A8 and use that to stream Qobuz to a Laiv Harmony (I2S). I’ll add the Veritas XLRs to connect to a Rose RA180 that feeds SF Nova 5s. Out of the box, build quality is great (always been a fan of Viborg terminations). Looking forward to swapping out my reference Helix’s and take a listen. |
The cables arrived a day early. Pleasant surprise. The system consists of my much beloved Martin Logan Summit-X, along with BMC Ultradac and BMC CS3 amp from Germany. I've had 1 hour in, will have plenty more tonight but so far, I feel it needs some significant burn-in. It might be because the cables were literally cold. |
@samureyex Congrats, that should be fun. What amp and speakers and such are involved? |
@samureyex That's tempting but probably won't happen until 2025. I already have some Cerious Technology Graphene Extreme that I'm pretty happy with. Is that enough though? Of course not. Which is why I also have a few different speaker cables that I picked up on forums or Agon just sitting here waiting to try, including some older Verastarr Grand Illusion, Wireworld Silver Eclipse 7, Audience Ohno III, and a few others from Audioquest and Kimber that I can't remember the specifics at present. I keep finding crazy low prices on lightly used cables in excellent shape. It can be hard to pass up. But I need to actually try them all out and sell the ones I don't love, before I can pick up any new speaker cables. Power cables are fine though, I don't have many extras of those so I can justify trying more. |
