Zebra Cables - Analog IC Review/Info

RuSsMaN

Pudknocker
Zebra Cables Analog IC

www.zebracables.com

*PLEASE POST ONLY REVIEWS FOR THIS PARTICULAR CABLE IN THIS THREAD*

Starting Price: $40.00 for a 2 foot pair - $4.00 each additional foot.


Using Beldens 1694 coaxial wire construction the cables are hand terminated with Vampire Wires high quality RCA 808 or locking RCA8, terminations are your choice. This cable offers a low capacitance of 16.2 pf/ft, true 75ohm impedance and 95 % shielding.
Analog Cable Specifications:
Made from Belden's 1694A Coax
18 AWG .040" solid bare copper conductor
Gas-injected foam HDPE insulation
Duofoil® and a 95% tinned copper braid shield, PVC jacket
RG Type: 6/U
Sweep Testing: 100% Sweep tested 5 MHz to 4.5 GHz
Nom. Impedance: 75 Ohms
Nom. Inductance: 0.106 µH/ft
Nom. Capacitance: 16.2 pF/ft
Connector Choices: Vampire Wire 808 or Locking LRCA8 connectors
 

Attachments

  • zebraanalogic.jpg
    zebraanalogic.jpg
    55.2 KB · Views: 74
Last edited:
Hey Russ,
I just ordered a bunch of these a few days ago from Scott Burns at Zebra. I'll write up a review after I've had a chance to test them out.



Retro
 
After receiving the Zebra Analog I/C and connecting it to my TT... I heard no change in sound that I could detect.
 
First off, I suck at reviews, so I'm just going to cut and paste Tentoze's review from the Zebra Speaker Wire thread.

First off, I got enough Zebra IC's from Scott Burns to swap all my old IC's out of my system. The system being two EchoWars re-bulilt Pioneer SPEC 2's Amps and a re-built Pioneer SPEC 1 Preamp. The speakers are Vandersteen 2C's and the source was a highly modded Sony DVD/CD player.

Oh, and I kept my old speaker cables in so it was just a comparison of my new Zebra IC's and not my new Zebra Speaker Wires.


From Toze's review:

"The Listening:

I had been listening to the normal set-up most of the day yesterday, so it was plenty warmed up. After the Jim White (with me it was a John Coltrane CD...Retro) cd finished, I went through the drill of swapping in the Zebra cables and restarted Jim White (John Coltrane....Retro). Immediate impression after only about 30 seconds: everything about the music was much improved, and noticeably so. The opening track of that cd has some intentional distortion recorded into the rhythm section that was always a little disconcerting form me. It was not as noticeable with the Zebras. Also, the soundstage opened up dramatically- ~3 feet wider, ~3 feet deeper, and maybe 2 feet higher than what I was accustomed to. Clarity and detail improved to the point it was as if a quilt had been pulled off the speakers. The presentation was more like a sonic hologram in front of me, with instruments and vocals placed solidly in their respective occupying air space.

From that starting point, I proceeded to play a combination of 8 or 9 cd’s and lp’s (no LP's for me....Retro), dutifully swapping between the Zebras and my regular cables and re-listening. The resulting impressions were identical to what is described above.

At some point, it became obvious to me I was wasting time swapping back in my regular cables to compare to the Zebras- each time I did, the listening experience diminished dramatically.

The Conclusion:

The damned things work, and work phenomenally well. I don’t know WHY, and frankly don’t care. If I had any complaint at all, it would be that due to their construction, they're quite stiff, and getting them to lie on the floor or otherwise be routed is somewhat like old Marlon Perkins wrestling an anaconda.

For anyone who wants to declaim that this wasn’t valid because it wasn’t a double blah blah, or that I WANTED to hear an improvement, you are cordially invited to bite my ass. I listen with my ears."


Like I said, that was just the new Zebra IC's. When I hooked up the new IC's and the new Zebra speakers wires, it was all that much better. I'm glad I bought them, and I will be bringing it all to the Fest for anyone else who wants to have a listen too.


Retro
 
Last edited:
The Zebra IC's came in the mail this afternoon (thanks bolly) and Im am looking at them as I write this. They seem to be constructed very well from the braided coax cable to the RCA terminations. Much stiffer than my Tributaries silver or any of the Kimber Kable Im am currently using. By the weekend I should have enough time to listen to my set-up for the morning and get comfortable with a few recordings and then swap them with silvers and see what we shall see. Im very satisfied with my existing cables and am not in a cable buying mood. I really do believe from my experiences that cables can effect overall presentation. Sometimes it's not for the better or worse just different.

Like I said Im not in the market for cables so I don't think that will effect my assessment of the Zebras. Better, worse or neutral, I will let you know what I find.

RC
 
Here is my short-winded review of the Zebra IC's:

System Basics
PSE Studio 3 preamp
Pilot SA-232 amplifier
Denon DCD 2560 CD player
Klipsch Quartet
EV SP15Bs in 3.5 cu-ft Altec cabinets, open back.

Zebra IC's
Tributaries A1 silver IC's


For comparison sake and to make things easy, I only used the Tributaries for comparison. The recordings included Cal Tjader~Best of the Concord Years, Jack Johnson~on and on, Monty Alexander Trio~Impressions in Blue, Patsy Cline~The Definitive Collection.


For those of you who don’t believe in the ability of IC's to alter sound, you may be right or you may be wrong. The following is what I heard with each.

Tributaries: Nice soundstage. Nice smooth extension through the mids and highs. Lots of detail without becoming annoying. Bass is what I’m used to in my current set-up. Not worth trying to describe for this experiment.

Zebra: Same as above but there is a more three-dimensional feel to the soundstage and the bass is more present than with the Tributaries. This sense of soundstage depth might be due to the more prominent bass. It is subtle but definitely there. The mids and highs are extended and detailed like the Tributaries but there is three-dimensional depth and have a lushness that the Tributaries does not possess.


If the question is do they sound better than the Tributaries A1's, the answer is yes. I wish they didn’t but they do. My Tributaries A1 Silver IC's sound a little dull by comparison.

Construction of the Zebra IC's is outstanding at this price point. The only negative I could see would be that if you have a narrow depth cabinet or stand you might have some issues. The Zebras braided jacket is very stiff so if you need to turn tight corners with them you could be in for a struggle.

I have a few audio irons in the fire at the moment but I be buying a 1-meter pair not too far down the road.
 
Well Guys and gals, the cables have arrived! Thanks Doucanoe!
I have to concurr with the other reviewers the the visual quality is very good. The cables are nicely made, and excellent connectors are used. One thing, I dont find them to be overly stiff, compared to the cables I already have. At the price-point they sell these for they already look like an excellent value.
On to the review!

My system:

Amplifier: Bedini 150/150 mk II

Speakers: Apogee Duetta II's

Preamp: Luxman CO2

CD player: Marantz SA 8260

Speaker cables: Speltz Anti-cables on the Tw/Mid ribbons, Radio Shack 16ga flat braided copper on the bass panels.

Ic's: custom computer grade OFC teflon wrapped, Gold Plated RCA (very good quality, but no-name)

Cd's: In order and tracks used for each comparison:
1. Evanescence, Fallen, Track 4, My immortal
2.Norah Jones, Feels like home, track 9, Humble Me
3.Ry Cooder, Jazz, Track 7, Flashes.
4.Muddy Waters, Folk Singer, Track 4, Good Morning Little School Girl
5.Nickel Creek, This Side, Track 10 Beauty and the Mess
6.Riuichi Sakamoto+ Danceries, The End of Asia, Track 4,Boku no Kakera
7.The Tannahill Weavers, Land of Light, Track 2,The Scottish Settlers Lament & Track 3, Donald MacleansFarewell to Oban/Dunrobin Castle/The Wise Maid/Iain's Jig (whew!).

I started out warming up the system for two hours before comparing. All tracks were listened to with my system as-is, then with the Zebras installed from the CD player to preamp.
From the on set the Zebras clearly out-did my old cables. On "My Immortal" it was apparent that the soundstage was wider, with better front to back separation of vocals (back up). The piano was also sized properly.
On the Nora Jones, it was easy to hear the increase in bass extension, detail, and more of a "thereness". I heard a few things that I had not heard berfore! (players moving around)
On the Cooder track, his positoning was now slightly left-of center, and his guitar was more well defined. It was clear that he is sitting on a stool.
The really telling track was the Muddy Waters. Again the soundstage was wider, but at the same time "tighter". Muddys guitar was now slightly inside the right speaker, but also just behind it. The drummer is clearly to the left, and bass player centered, and in the back. All the players had the correct width and depth that you would expect from a live performance. The speakers really "dissapeared" on this track.
The Sakamoto was even better! This track starts out with a large drum setting the fundamental beat for the song, with viola and violin joining in. Normally the drum was centered and about 4-5 ft back from the plane of the speakers. The strings came in left, but were never clearly defined from each other. Now it is very easy to hear the slight delay of the drummer's hand hitting the drumskin on one side and then being able to hear the size of the drumhead from it's reverberation, and then the decay of the room. The drum was also placed back a foot or two farther within the stage. The strings are now well separated and are defined within they're own space. This is an incredible recording!
With the Weavers, the the goodness continued. Again, the ability to pick out separate insturments/vocals at the same time, was very,very, good. Bass detail was another step-up from what I was used to. Very quick, very detailed. With vocals the percieved height of the singer/s was more realistically presented, being on average about a foot higher, with the lead singer slightly ahead of the plane of the speakers.
One thing, the Nickel Creek is my only SACD. I found the vocals a tad "hot" and etched, though very "lively". I'm not sure I like this, though it's not a fault of the cables or speakers, just the recording.
All of this points to better low-level detail retreival, and a much quieter noise floor, with the sense of the old worn out saying, "vail being lifted". You just feel closer to the music.
Honestly for the price I dont see how you could go wrong with these cables. They really surprised me with the ammount of detail they can retrieve. I've heard other cables do as well, but at 3x plus the price, why bother?
Highly reccommended. :thmbsp:



P.S. I'm keeping these puppies for my allotted time! I gots lots-o-music to listen to! :D
 
Last edited:
First off, I would like to thank Russ for making this happen. Let me preface with a couple of things, I don't have anything remotely high end, nor a dedicated listening area. I'm not sure how "critical listening" would be defined.
I initially tried them the MIT Terminators, since there is no review thread, I'll toss some thought about them in here as I was fortunate enough to have them and the Zebras for a couple of days. I appreciated the build quality of bith, but though the MIT's were pretty much a stock type cable with ferite cores for supression. I did hear a bit of difference with both of them compared to generic gold plated IC's, but nothing that I felt couldn't be accomplished with a tweak of a range expander, or equalizer. I didn't get any more "soundstage", or "seperation".

I used several sources, Turntable, CDP, and Tuner. Surprisingly, the most change that I could detect was in my cobbled up, everything under test on the bench system. This consists of some pretty modest equipment, but seemed to go a bit lower and sound crisper just with the cable swap. I can't believe this stuff is still on that bench. It consist of:
Marantz 1122DC as a pre amp
Radio Shack MPA-100 power amp
Pioneer CT-F 700 cassette deck
Marantz 115 tuner
Bose 601 series 1
The most significant change was with the tuner, I played different stations from lite Jazz to country to head banging. Everything seemed to sound crisper.

Next up I tried:
Kenwood KA-7100 integrated
Pioneer TX-6800
EPI Magnus 12's
No real change, might have been louder, but I never gave it more than 10-15 watts anyhow. May not be a fair test, as this stuff was basically stacked on the pool table, far from optimal.

Finally I gave it a shot with:
Pioneer SA-5800 integrated
Pioneer TX-7800 tuner
Toshiba DVD player
Pioneer HPM-500's.

I didn't have as much antannea on the tuner, and it's in the basement, helped a little, but it did seem to enhance to overall sound of the CD's.

Some pretty low-fi equipment, but overall, I can say I would upgrade to the Zebras if I had the funds. The MIT's, not so much. I do appreciate the opportunity to hear for myself without anyone proclaiming the virtues, or arguing about A versus B.
 
would also like to start my review by thanking Russ for making this happen and AK. It’s been fun.

I had a few IC’s about the house when I signed up for this. Canaire’s and Monster’s, plus a pair of 80’s version Radio Shack “golden ends” and a pair of AR’s.

While waiting for the Zebra’s and MIT’s to arrive I started looking at different IC’s and speaker wires, which turned into shopping. I found some 14 AWG silver plate speaker wire for 30 bucks (I didn’t sign up to try the speaker wire because I need 25 feet worth to reach my left speaker), and some Audio Quest G-Snakes for 12.50 each and some KnuKonceptz, two pair for 17 bucks with shipping to connect my new dbx box.

I also have a bag full of interconnects that came with Pioneer and Luxman gear in the 70’s. They were used as the control for the test.

Also, with knowledge of the connection between Tributaries and McIntosh I decided I wanted to pick of a pair of Trib. Delta’s and waited for the fun to begin.

My system
McIntosh c-27 preamp.
McIntosh MC2125 Power amp
Sony ST-5100 tuner (aligned last Nov)with rooftop antenna and rotator.
AMC cd8b CD
Philips N-4504 Open reel with dbx NX-40
Luxman K-371 cassette.
SOTA Moonbeam TT with AT440ml during test period.
Ohm Acoustics Walsh 300 loudspeakers.

The Zebra’s were the biggest and best looking of the bunch, they have a very professional look and the pictures on their website don’t do them justice. They are very solid and give the impression of being very well made. When I first hooked them up, my amp screamed when turned on. I quickly turned down the volume but the wail continued until I dropped power. The event caused my daughter to run in the room to see what exploded. I had thought the cables were shorted out, though I must not have pushed the connectors completely down on the preamps rca sockets. Reconnecting saw no problem, and it was the only time during the tests that this happened.

If the Zebra’s were the best looking, the MIT’s by comparison, weren’t. They are gray and AV department looking. The also include a gray plastic box at one end that I was so tempted to pop open, but I resisted the urge to break something that wasn’t mine. The barrels on the connectors where an interesting black chrome colored affair that were loose. A peek inside revealed nothing unusual, just an rca connector.

The Canaire’s I had bought at Fleet Farm a couple years earlier and look much like the MIT’s, minus the mystery box and loose barrels.

If the KnuKonceptz were a woman, they’d be that pretty girl who lives in the trailer park and drives a Trans Am with a trailer hitch. The are blue, silver and pale gold and are rather shiny. They were the heaviest IC’s of the bunch, mostly plastic, the barrels on the rca connectors were also the heaviest in the house and though they look like plastic on the web site, they are metal, and they were also loose. In fact several had fallen off in transit and the only way I could tell which was the left and the right was by looking at the wires inside.

The Audio Quest’s have plastic barrels on their rca’s which are firmly attached and feature arrows to tell you which way the electrons are supposed to flow. The Tributaries have colorful painted barrels which were also in no danger of falling off.

The Radio Shack’s were the only ones which had the vise grip of death, all the others went on and came off without pulling the back of any given piece of audio gear.

I also made use of contact cleaner of the variety that the engineers use at the radio stations and a Caig DetoxIt pen.

I mixed the various IC’s quite a bit though the MIT’s and Zebra’s spent most of their time between the pre and power amps.

I managed to listen for about an hour a day, the vast majority of what I listened to was classical, mostly turntable and radio, though I did spend time listening to the classic rock format at the group of radio stations that employ me. Plus I dug out Robbie Robertson’s self titled solo LP and some Pink Floyd and Clapton. Starting with the arrival of the KnuKonceptz, the test period was two months. It made a wonderful end to the day, I generally work on three different radio formats daily and hear the same stuff over and over a lot. The change in music just seems to brighten my day. That, and during my time with the wires I hauled 2,000 bales of hay for the horses and the chance to sit and drift off with the music, was just soooo nice.

I spent my time paying attention to the music, not the system, so I don’t exactly know where I reached the point where I realized that the sound from the tuner had improved, and not just a little. There was a lot more bass for one thing. The station I listen to at home is public radio and the bass had always been a bit anemic for classical. Now it was full and wonderful.

Now that I found a clear difference in my system, I decided to trouble shoot the change. As I sit in my studio during the day I tend to see one of the engineers from public radio walking down the hall from time to time. So I waited to waylay him with questions about changes to their transmitter in the previous six weeks. His response was interesting as he was surprised that anyone pays attention to how radio stations sound, followed by surprise that I listened to classical, not rock. He compared that my listening to other stations to following Darth Vader and then went on to talk about how tuners just aren’t built like they once were. “They don’t bother to tune the front ends anymore, did you know that?” he said. I told him my tuners was 36 years old and had been recently aligned. Again, he seemed to think this was just odd.

He told me that repairs had been made recently, the processing had not been changed and there may have been upgrades to the STL (studio transmitter link) though he wasn’t sure, he had nothing to do with those things, and maybe an engineer had come up from the cities.

Since I had no definite answer, I went through the process in a more traditional manner. I swapped wires between the tuner and pre amp and the pre and power amp.

No matter what wire was in use, the sound remained the same. As there were no other changes to the system, it was clear the improvement came from outside the stereo and remains to this date.

One item that I did try to pay attention to was RF. It is a concern where I live. My phono cartridge picks up AM sports talk radio better that my tuner when not firmly grounded and computer speakers pick up the oldies fm station without being asked to do so.

I have not so fond memories of days gone by hand listening to CB’s running linear amps jumping over my music when I live in Wyoming 30 year ago.

RF was not a problem with any wires, even the old 70’s variety wires. I also haven’t seen a CB in a wonderfully long time.

I also spent a day playing with test tones (the MIT’s were not involved as they had been shipped to Cracker Korean by then). The test tones ended up proving nothing. The always sounded the same and the meters on my amp never indicated any frequency was coming through louder or softer than another.

Through out the test, I was very pleased with the sound of my stereo. However, it made no difference what wires were involved. They seemed to have no effect, good, bad or otherwise.

Thank you again to Russ and AK for the chance to try this.
 

Attachments

  • ics.jpg
    ics.jpg
    33.3 KB · Views: 40
Update:

I liked them to the extent that I bought them.

I finally got my order into Zebra for 3-pair of IC's. They are shipping on the 19th and should be here shortly.

RC
 
Zebras

I've had my time with the zebra I/C's and sent them on to Stuwee.From the first time I heard them in my system I knew they would be a worthwhile addition to my system.They make my system more detailed,and a much better low end.I've ordered and installed 2 pr. in my system,that for me, says it all.Thanks to all involved with this program.David.... :yes:
 
The Zebra's IC

Okay kid's I got these on Sat. afternoon, warmed them up all day Sun and did not listen, closed the music room door with cd on repeat.

My system, Marantz 2270 pre outed to an SAE A202 Power Amp, The Thorens 125 MKII, SME 3009 II, Grado silver cart calling the shots, for now the CD player review to come in the next couple of days! speakers are Martin Logan The Sequels and a single Celestion DL6 series II set back and centered between the ML's for that great titanium tweeter for the highs the ML's can't quite achieve.

Thanks Dave!! :yes: I did not read any of these reviews before listening or this post. This is the LP review, I always feel first impressions grab me first! So hear goes,
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy,I bought this LP new in 1975, has quite a few pops. But, very good sonics for as many times it's been played. Much more slam to the drums and the bass. more air in the mid's the ML's main forte', not much diff in the highs but, this LP has been played to death.

CC Music Factory, Gonna Make You Sweat 12" remix, OK now were talkin', bitchin' BASS, had to back the Marantz bass down a notch, I thought this was a drum machine and, yes, there is one in the mix, but, also a live one that amazed me. the cow bell and Martha Wash's voice more there.

A-Ha The Sun Always Shines on T.V. LP, I always thought early A-HA recordings were bright and harsh (their CD's are worse) The Zebra's fleashed out some sonic's but, garbage in garbage out, they just made it more noticable. God that dude has a beautiful 4 octave range of a voice of an angel for a pop singer, it came though overdubs an all very nicely :music:
 
Sorry one more

Christopher Cross , Ride Like The Wind, The Light is on.
This was interesting, the vocals were shoved way out into the room, the soundstage evaporated the walls like nobody's b'ness, WooHO :banana: The Triangle on The Light is on, shimmered and decayed longer,

I used them between the Marantz and the SAE Amp for this review.

I'll now use them for the CD player into the previous review, and then the CD player using the Zebras into the Marantz.

Please let me know who is next on the list as, I don't want to hog them, I like them and will be ready to send them on by Friday, Thank you Russ, this is so cool to be a part of!!

Go :smoke: in Hot 'Lanta, I'll be in PHX for the race Nov 11th we have a pretty cool party in the motorhome site if anyone want's some cold beer, great drinks, and kickass B'BQ let me know.
 
Well from the Toshiba XR-35 CD player, ouch!! now I had to back down the mid and treble controls on the Marantz but nice sound on the ML's the horns on Santana Shaman's Foo Foo was awesome, I could hear his fret work so much better with these cables but, man are they bright with CD's!!

I played my fav female vocalist, Teena Marie, all seven CD's, Her voice was soooo much nicer than I've heard before, and I've heard these recordings a 1,000 times, now this was better, the slam was there, her voice was so There :music: I could go on and on Talk TalK, A-ha, Bruce, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, The new Jerry Lee Lewis!!!!

To sum up they, the Zebra's IC were not as jaw droppin' as the SAE into the Marantz, a little more finness to the sound, took it to a higher level, bright on cd's, LP's sounded like nobody's B'ness
I have the ML's loaded into the corner's like a horn driver that our good friends in NC are so proud of ,Altec Rules,

I'm buyin' a pair or two, These have not made me a believer on all kinds of music but, my rigs are easy to swap out cables,

Who's next?
Peace Craig
 
Back
Top Bottom