Volume Control

I, like others, have tried quite a few different cables. Hearsay kept me from sampling the Cardas line until just a few years ago. Though I have since moved on from the Golden Reference speaker cable and interconnect, I continue to feel they are very, very fine sounding wires. I still have my Cardas phono cable. It has a textural and musical quality that continues to pay dividends in enjoyment. No doubt, Golden Reference and Golden Cross give considerable pleasure to others as well, and that's always nice to hear.

It's not only on digital sources that the treble and upper midrange are too frequently "hot" or too bright, it's also on a good number of non digital components as well. In fact at times it seems pervasive. Several of my audiophile friends, including two who have been in the electronics business for many years, recently attended a big audio components show. I couldn't partake, but when I asked them about what they had heard, their main reply was that I "didn't miss much". In the large majority of rooms they reported the kind of sound that was annoyingly bright. In some instances when they questioned this they invariably received the reply that it was "the fault of the rooms". But this sort of chant is nothing new, and seems to have become the proverbial "broken record".

And I couldn't agree with you more, Hifiman. I also attend live orchestral concerts fairly regularly, and do not hear the kind of crystal clear neutrality, squeaky cleanness and treble prominence that is fairly frequently projected by stereo equipment, including a good portion of which costs tens of thousands of dollars. We all enjoy our own preferred, reproduced illusions in the comfort of our homes. Some of them may come closer to approximating reality than others, but there's obviously something unique about unamplified music, and it's easy (and often uplifting) to notice this when we hear the sound of the violin or piano live. As you say, our re-calibration kicks in. Indeed, the warmth and natural, often easy tonality of the violin is rarely approached by electronics. Instead, we are often "treated" to a wiry, acidic and somewhat unfulfilling representation that belies the sort of relaxed enjoyment which accompanies the genuine event. Nonetheless, fortunate are those who, often after a long and sometimes expensive electronics journey, have been able to reap the rewards of their hard won audio nirvana.

Hoi: Years ago the Mercury classical recordings used minimal miking, and the results in most cases were very gratifying. Afterward, virtually every record company went to multi-miking, considered a mistake by many present day classical music fans who cite that approach as having been responsible for a less realistic sounding reproduction of the music's performance and setting...Otherwise, I get the drift regarding your point about "taming those illusions". It's precisely around this issue that impressions, preferences and arguments about the Cardas Golden Reference and Golden Cross seem to resonate. Some listeners feel those cables obliterate detail while others claim they simply present details in a different, more listenable and enjoyable way.

Hoi: I agree entirely with Hifiman. Best wishes for great listening enjoyment!!!