Do I really want the musicians in my room?


I've spent the last month - as time allows, at least - auditioning some of the popular gold/gold hybrid cables on the market. I noticed something very striking between a couple of the manufacturers: with one set in my system, my system "puts the musicians in my room". With another, the musicians are not in my room, but in the room the recording was made in; that is, I can hear the reverberataions in the studio or the venue. When I listen to the former, I think about how much information is on the source that I'm not hearing; with the latter, I wonder why I've spent ridiculous sums of money to get such resolution. Interestingly, though, my experience has been the "less resolving" "musicians are here" cables tend to have a more lush, seductive sound, while the "higher resolving" cables have a faster, more detailed sound. Which I prefer depends on my mood and the type of music I'm listening to.

Unfortunatly, it seems to me that these conditions are mutually exclusive. You can't have a system with a high degree of resolution and still have that "musicians are in your room" feeling, unless the recording itself allows for that. I don't seem to have many recordings that allow for both, though. Even then, the lushness is missing in the "higher resolving" cables.

Has anyone else struggled with this? If you found a way around this frustration, how did you do it?
aggielaw
Yikes! I need to make a correction: the Jade cables are the Vermeils, not the Hybrids.

Would love to try the Raptures and Vermeils, but first priority is an AC cord for my amp. I hope to audition those top-of-the-line interconnects later this year or early next, though!
04-24-08: Hiernote
Hi aggielaw> you should have taken a shot at the Gabriel Raptures IMHO they are in a far superior class than that of the KCI ,as they should be at twice the price and most likely will certainly better the Jade.


Huh??? Most likely will certainly better the Jade?? Is that English? What does that even mean???
Since Aggielaw clearly said that GG was not involved, there is no since beating this dead horse yet again.

Glory, perhaps you should try the decaf. :)

Cheers,
John
Haven't gone away, just sleeping - as you probably are now. Tried the Revelations and first blush was kinda impressive, but they became fatiguing and ultimately not as resolving of fine detail as the other cables I tried. The OP's description sounded so much like my experience with the Gabriels I mistakingly thought it must be them.

Nice to see there is so much support for the Gabriel cables and I regret slagging them and offending. Wasn't my intention.

I just didn't like them.

At least I tried them. Interesting how my system is being judged as deficient when you haven't heard it, is that how you got to like the Gabriels, by reading about them here?
me no speak english good like you know hear good
sounds like someone in the Pharmcuetical industry is doing more than he's selling.

Decaf? At least I think Glory can handle the caffiene.

go away
Hey Hiernote, you just don't get it. Your statement is like saying a BMW most likely will certainly better a Mercedes, a car that you've never seen or driven. How can this be? How can one thing probably/certainly beat anything that you haven't experienced? That's just naive or ignorant.

Steve is a nice guy, and I know some GG owners that are normal audiophiles. However, for some reason there are many GG owners that are right up there with Virtual Dynamics owners in their over-zealous nature. They get offended if anyone says anything negative about THEIR favorite cable. Grow up and realize that there is no one perfect cable for all people in all applications.

I have heard the GG Revelation and Extreme, and they are fine cables. However, I prefer cables from Jade and Stealth Audio. So someone like Hiernote, with his limited experience can say I don't hear good, and I'm on drugs......very mature.

Cheers,
John