The thing I didn’t like about them was how they seemed to enhance brass instrumentation.
The thing you didn’t like about Synergystic?
In the old "Reference" line, Golden Presence was between Neutral Ref and Gold Ref (Gold Ref being replaced by Clear Reflection). From the old Reference line, I found Neutral to be the most transparent among Cardas cables. Golden Presence adds weight and some density of harmonic information, with more refinement in the treble. Gold Pres is not as crystalline as Neutral, but it sounds (to my ears) less, shall we say, interpretive than Gold Ref.
Although it does have its own take on transparency, I have never found Gold Ref to be about openness so much as creating very dense sonic images, and better emphasizing the space between performers or instrumental sections than Neutral Ref or Gold Pres.
In the "Clear" line, Clear Light (Clear "Lite") was the direct replacement for Neutral Ref. Clear Light has just been phased out, and replaced with Cygnus.
I have not heard Clear cables in my system, other than power cords. The older Cardas cables, however, never excelled in that see-through, crystalline kind of transparency. Neutral Ref came closest. Neutral Ref are arguably more transparent than something like AudioQuest Columbia, but not as transparent as AQ Colorado. Cardas are more about creating atmosphere. They have a density or thickness to the sound, like the weight of the air in a concert hall. At their best, they transport the listener to the hall, so they are more "you are there" than "they are here."
