Zavfino

@thyname - thanks for telling me - how am I supposed to know which way they go if there are no arrows?

I loaned a Golden rush phono cable from my dealer. Pretty impressed with the cable. Similar to silver dart cable, IMO it has balanced sound with better separation than my previous phono cable. Overall full bodied sound without being warm or rolled off, and retains good resolution 

@larsman : I have a picture Raymond emailed me when I bought mine. Did you buy yours from Zavfino USA? He always sends the picture to buyers. I don’t know how to post that picture here. You can PM me your email address. Basically, Zavfino letters up on the speaker cable going to left speaker, and upside down to the right speaker

@larsman why not give Ray a call?

@jdub39 

Did you get Fusion RCA or XLR’s? I’m asking to ensure that in case of RCA IC’s, you’re using the cable in correct orientation (direction).

You should install Fusion RCA cable with metal ‘shells’ farthest from source component. You will find these metal shells mounted closer to RCA connectors on one end, that end needs to go on preamp or amp input (if there is no external preamp in the chain). 

Is majestic or Prima power cable as stiff as silver dart?

They all lean to stiff side. The Silver Darts are certainly the stiffest. This is not an issue for me, but I realize it may be for others, depending on the physical arrangements of gear

@thyname @lak - thanks for your suggestions. I did buy mine through Zavfino USA - no pictures, just a couple of cards, one of which shows features of the cables (as does the sticker on the case) but none of which say anything about them being directional. I appreciate your offer, but I'll just send Ray an email - he's pretty good at responding... I wish one could post photos on here, but you can't unless you put a URL link to one. 

@lalitk I purchased the XLR's so the shell was at the amp end, I use a 70% rule these days for break in , I expect 70% out the box of what a product will sound like and after the first 100 hrs or so I expect swings fits etc..  The fusion's tilted the sound in the wrong direction in my setup and if I wanted or needed what they bring to the table I would keep them but I've decided to send them back. Raymond is a pleasure to deal with and I do look forward to doing business again with them in the future.

Thanks to all who have brought attention to this wonderful product line.

jdub39

Which direction were you referring to?

@maxima95 

Transparent and  top to bottom coherence is the direction I'm headed and any cable equipment etc.. I add needs to further that.  The fusions took away a tad to much spaciousness and resolution between notes and added to much bottom end and touch of sterility to the tonal balance. I can see why most hear like what they can do and the right setup I will to bet they are just what was needed.  

@thyname - Heard back from Ray with the diagram; he says that eventually the cable will perform equally well in either direction.... 

Good to know. I would however put them in the right / recommended direction from the start. And why not. Set them and forget them.

jdub39,

Thank you for responding.

Now that I have had three weeks to try out the Zavfino Fusion and Arcadia interconnects (as balanced XLRs), I wanted to update the initial impressions I summarized earlier in this thread. Most of my impressions have remained unchanged. I still think that the Fusions sound clear, open, and quite natural, with well-balanced sound overall. In my system, the Arcadia continues to sound warm, smooth, and forgiving, but the highs sound a bit softened or rounded off. There seems to be plenty of bass, but it doesn't sound particularly well-controlled or refined to me. Imaging is okay, but not outstanding. In contrast, the Fusion is more transparent, images better, and sounds more "real."

Because my early listening favored the sound of the Fusion over the Arcadia, I spent more time with the Fusion and made direct comparisons with my reference XLR, the Cardas Clear Reflection. In comparison to the Cardas CR, the Fusion doesn't sound as full-bodied or rich. It simply has less "meat on the bones," as some reviewers like to say. It was also not as forgiving on poor recordings or as musical on good recordings that included many overlapping layers of sound, such as the song "The Price of Love" on the recent Robert Plant-Alison Krauss album "Raise the Roof." Too often, I thought that the Fusion needed more weight to match the rich fullness of the Cardas CR. In terms of the warm-cool spectrum, I thought the Fusion was fairly neutral while the CR adds a bit of warmth without overdoing it - at least in my system. 

Although I had hoped that the Fusion might equal or even surpass the CR in my system and for my preferences, the CR still won out. Providing amazing clarity and excellent imaging while costing less than a third of what the CR costs, the Fusion XLR is an exceptional value. 

An Update on my experience with the Fusion ll interconnects.

The problems I had with them have almost all resolved themselves with more burn in time.. I think the small remaining issues will likely all go away with the suggested 200 hours burn in,

All in all I think they represent a good value for the money. 

Still on the fence about buying the Prima speaker cables as my Purist cables seem to gel with the IC's and I'm enjoying the sound I'm getting. I'll see after all the interconnects are well past the 200 hour mark

KB

Trying to decide my next Zavfino purchase - Prima power cord or Prima speaker cables. Anyone have a preference for one over the other? This is a Rega amp into some Dynaudios. 

I would do speaker cables first.

Well, curiosity got the best of me- I ordered the Prima mkII power cord and fusion interconnects. I can honestly say these two cables have had a huge impact on my system. Along with the SR Purple fuse, I am just loving what I’m hearing. I just placed an order for the Prima speaker cables to complete the loom. 
 

Thanks for starting this thread, Thyname. Otherwise I never would have known about this company and the amazing work they’re doing.

Lalitk, if there’s any other cable company that we need to know about, please share!

Well, @lalitk made me do it 😂🤷‍♂️. The only thing I did was posting a new dedicated Zavfino thread.

Honestly, since I went all in Zavfino, full loom, I stopped looking at cables. Which is a big deal for me. I have spent years, time, and (a lot of) money swapping cables. Until now. That’s it for me

That’s it for me

Uh huh.  😉

@cd45123

Congratulations on completing the full loom of Zavfino, aren’t they amazing. Since you asked, I do have another cable brand that I am concurrently using with Zavfino. Check out HIJIRI Cables from Combak, Japan. They only have two lines (thank god), one is high performance to cost and cost no object “Million” series. For more details, you can check out these cables at their home page - www.combak.net or in my digital system page. I am using Million series PC, Speaker and Interconnects. 

A word of caution, they are very additive so only try them if you’re ready to fork money for complete loom :-)

I am using Hijiri and love them! Another level based on my experience with these and many other cables. Colin King at Gestalt Audio Design in Nashville is the importer/dealer. I have 5 of their Nagomi power cords and their HCS SC. Just fantastic.

To be fair they are more money.  I still recommend Zavfino for those looking to spend less and still get performance. 

I use Tchernov ICs and USB cables, also from Colin, as I found they really worked in my system.  Again, another level of sound quality, but not inexpensive.  I still find the Hijiri and Tchernov to be a good value when comparing top notch cabling. 

@lalitk @grannyring 

Thanks for chiming in. I did hear about HIJIRI and may check with Gestalt, as I have a living room and bedroom system, so only one is really complete. 

The Prima MkII speaker cables came the other day and they basically transformed my system. I've listened to a few popular brands through Audiogon member recs, but these totally shocked me for the price. So many times, I've seen the interconnects essentially take over the sound and the speaker cables just carry through with minimal differentiation, but not the case at all here.

Great tonality, amazing focus, detail, things really snapped into place beyond just the interconnects. I'm now taking a hard look at the Silver DART cables, but the Primas are just so good. Maybe I would start out replacing the interconnects, but honestly this is more than I expected.

BTW, if there's an ethernet cable pick, please let me know.

@cd45123

Don’t you love when everything comes together like a perfect harmony. I have been a huge advocate of full loom, especially analog cables. As far as LAN cables goes, I highly recommend Network Acoustics ENO Streaming Cable. The best I’ve heard for the money before you spend crazy money for a JCAT Signature Gold LAN cable.

Network Acoustics  ENO filter and cable are just great.  The new Muon filter and cable are the best I have heard.  Improved my streaming and file playback to I level I thought not possible. 

Just sharing my experience. Speaking of Hijiri cable, conincidently I just loaned the million IC yesterday from my local dealer.

I am connecting both silver dart XLR and Hijiri RCA from my TAD CD player/DAC to preamp, so able to switch the preamp input and compare albeit is between XLR vs RCA.

Initial listening is that Hijiri is more fluid sounding with more rounded and seductive mid, silver dart soundstage depth sounds slightly better. But I am not sure how much the connectors impacting what I am listening. 

I agree the Hijiri Nagomi cabling sounds great but is also expensive. The  Zavfino sounds very good and is more reasonably priced. Back in the late 1990s (if my memory serves me correctly) I had a full loom of the Harmonix HS-101 Golden Performance, which I believe is manufactured by the same company (Combak Corporation) and at that time was their top of the line.

@lak 

Just curious what Hijiri Nagomi cables (power, SC, IC) were compared to Zavfino and what model Zavfino was compared to the Nagomi. Would you mind stating what differences you hear and what you thought was better?

I've had Audio Envy P and M series power cords for a year and love them but had heard Zavfino is better than AE, and then recently was encouraged to check out Hijiri, so I'm just trying to gather user input.

I wonder if it would make sense to start a Hijiri thread? 

Best to start another thread.  I only compared the Nagomi power cord vs. the Majestic. As Lak said the Nagomi costs much more.  Not a fair comparison really. 

@grannyring 

OK Bill, I've created a 聖HIJIRI thread.

forum.audiogon.com/discussions/hijiri-users-thread-2

Those of you who've used 聖HIJIRI and made the move, or haven't, would really love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Anyone heard the top of the line Zavino versus Grover Huffman's excellent Pharoah speaker cables?

Or Grover Hufffman's Empress+ speaker cables?

Just got a pair of silver dart Graphene rca interconnects.  They were inserted into my reference system between the Sachs tube preamp and the Voyager GAN 350 wpc class D amp.  Sounded really good straight out of the box.  There was a touch of grain and roughness that left when my old cables came out.  Spacious, smooth and with great body and tonal colors.  Over the last 18 hours of continuous play, they have improved.  They are the most expensive interconnects that I have ever purchased.  I don't think I would spend this much on any of my other three 2 channel systems.  I wonder how close the Fusion interconnects are to the top ends ones I have.  

I own the Zavfino Dart power cord and am happy with it. I also own and have compared the Dart to Synergistic Research SX Galileo and my AudioQuest Dragon. The Dart is not in that league, but it is far better than many power cords especially for the price.

ozzy

@jaymark : you should have started with the Fusions first, then worked the way up to the top with the Silver Darts 😂. Congratulations, going to the top tier leaves no room for regret down the road, and merry go around of selling and buying.

One thing I can tell you from my experience, the Darts require a substantial break in. A lot. Substantially more than the Prima power cords and speaker cables. Maybe because of the Graphene? Give them a couple of weeks of continuous play, and you will then no longer want to switch around. 

@jaymark nice! So you have a loom of Grover’s cables?

I was going to try Pharoah a couple years back but never got around to it - I think he was waiting on some silver or something- anyway, nice guy, should give them a listen this year, as they seemed like great value. 
 

I thought the Fusion was a big step up from interconnects I had from Audio Envy, Shunyata Venom, Stager silver, and even my former favorites from Sunshine cable in Japan. The Prima mkii speaker cables are excellent, too.

Two new 2.5m Silver Dart power cables arrived a few days ago. I first put them on the Kii Three active speakers and then I tried them on the headphone amp and standalone DAC.  After the first night listening on headphones, my old cables were put on the used market. Those were excellent cables from a highly regarded manufacturer. With just a few hours on the cables, I asked my wife if she noticed anything different with the music. She listens to music on the Kiis and she said the music is more clear and something along the lines of less shouty. She also said the performer is more in the room.  I agree with her assessment and then some.  Again, this is comparing well broken in and well regarded cables against the Silver Darts.

As reported, these Silver Darts are stiff and that's one reason why I ordered 2.5m instead of 1.5m.  That was a good decision for my application.

A few days after receiving the power cables, the Silver Dart XLR cables arrived.  Unlike the power cables, these XLRs did not show their magic so easily the first night. It will take time for them to shine but I can sense the improvement already on night #2.

Like the OP, the power cables are connected to a Shunyata Everest power distributor powered by an Omega XC cable.  My setup is designed with transparency as the goal.

Anyone have experience with their headshell leads? 

I purchased a set of Zavfino jumper cables spade to bfa very nicely made.

Great customer service from Raymond Li. Ordered on Wednesday received

Saturday 77.00 plus 12.00 shipping a great deal. shipping would have been free

If I would have spent over a hundred.

I looked into making my own occ copper jumpers, the spades, bananas, solder and wire were almost the same cost as these.

Very happy

I received a bfa set of them last week...i put them in for a couple hours and i took them out because i preferred my old one’s to them...which are single 12 gauge neotech wire and nice aeco banana’s.

I was thinking of selling them but for giggles i put them on my fry baby for a couple of days...oh yeah thats more like it...opened up and nice deep sound stage...can only imagine it’s going to improve as time go’s on...they are staying in and yes they are a no brainer for materials you get for the $.

Anybody know if the Prima speaker cables are more on the forward side of their presentation or do they set the stage back just a bit?

In my system the Prima speaker cables set the stage back behind the speakers.

Good to hear and thanks for such a quick response!

I would not call Prima (and the Darts) having the stage placed behind the speakers. I have had many speaker cables over the years, and some were really behind the speakers. Some too forward. IMO, from all the cables I have owned, and I don’t claim to have owned them all, the Zavfino are just right on that regard 

@thyname  Do you have any of their ic’s in your system?

Yes. The Silver Darts XLRs. My system is pretty simple: one pair of interconnects only, from streaming DAC to Integrated amp. No analog. It’s in my profile under Systems