Glad to hear you have a winner! I can relate to the FrontRow Reserve quality, I have the Reserve USB cable coming from my Aurender N200. I wish I had a dealer nearby, that would make things easy.
Wireworld Platinum Starlight® 10 Twinax and AQ Diamond
Interested in hearing thoughts from those who compared these ethernet cables or have experience with either of these cables . Sonic character, tone, dynamics, imaging…all good stuff that matters that you observed when adding these cables.
NOT interested in hearing from those who don’t think cables matter. This is not that forum. Let’s be civil and stay on topic.
Current setup:
Configuration 1: eero mesh network node -> Purist Audio CAT 7 -> Meitner MA3i
Configuration 2: eero mesh network node -> Purist Audio CAT 7 -> Aurender N200 -> Audience Studio One USB -> Meitner MA3i
Sources: Qobuz, Tidal, local music library, Roon or Aurender Conductor native Aurender processing
Looking to upgrade ethernet cable. Not a tweaker - don’t need switches, regens, fiber optic isolation, etc.
TIA!
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@audphile1 , the front end of my system is as you have: Aurender N200 to Meitner. Currently the Meitner is MA3, and it literally just arrived in Calgary for an upgrade to the "i" version. I have been using the Hidden Treasure, which was a big bump from an older Shunyata Alpha ethernet cable, very pleasing to these ears. Then I upgraded my home theatre side (the lion's share of my entertainment time), plugged the Hidden Treasure into my new video streamer for giggles (a whole other story) and the Audience cable made things pop. I had to wonder what an even better cable would do, found a used Shunyata Omega cable that needed a home, and went for the gusto. In fairness, all the pieces of the puzzle are still on the coffee table, but the Omega is an excellent cable, better than the Audience. Worth the extra cost? Hmmm... I considered the AQ Diamond but it has silver conductors, which can be problematic for me. When the Meitner comes back and the puzzle is put back together, I will compare the Audience and Omega cables on the stereo side to see where they work better. I agree the Hidden Treasure is a keeper. I even thought of getting a second for the home theatre side, but couldn't resist seeing what a purportedly better cable would do. We should all be saddled with such dilemmas. Good luck and happy listening. |
@traubr I tried the new Shunyata Alpha X USB cable. While very good and more detailed than the Audience FrontRow USB cable I have now and the Stealth USB I had for a brief period of time, I find Shunyata lean and cool sounding. It’s not as musical, not as colorful as Audience and Stealth. Their Alpha power cords have exactly the same sonic signature. So I ruled Shunyata out for my setup. As to Meitner DAC…it’s awesome. I heard the MA3 in my system and loved it. Ended up getting a new MA3i. I have been comparing N200/MA3i to MA3i alone and I can tell you in my system to my ears they sound slightly different with N200 being a bit rounder and slightly less fleshed out but a bit fuller than the MA3i when used as a roon end point. I can say it boils down to preference. One’s not better than the other. These differences are very slight and require a trained and strained ear. I will most likely be selling the N200. Further testing needed but that’s my preliminary findings with about 240hrs on the Meitner. |
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