so i replaced the Wireworld Starlight 7 USB cable (.5m) that cost me $80 with the 1m DH Labs Mirage the other day..
to start off, the Starlight 7 wasn't a slouch.. I'd gone from a generic USB/AB cable to this cable and immediately heard a perceptible improvement in clarity, especially in the high end but also through the sound range.. shortly after I picked up the same model, in a WW Starlight 8 coax cable, to go between my EITR DDC and DAC..
Originally, when i swapped in the WW USB AB, the sound cleaned up, got clearer.. when I swapped in the WW coax, on the other side of the EITR to the DAC, a similar gain occurred, perceptible, cleaner, better articulation, resulting in better sound staging.
My system has changed quite a bit since then but the WW were still in there until this year.. I'd focused on upgrading elsewhere and figured they were good enough.. but I was just ok with my Jolida Glass DAC, that replaced the Gumby.. I made that switch because CA is such a well run state, that rolling brownouts were a common thing and the Gumby sounds best when it's been running for 24 hours +. Every flicker resulted in an SQ setback.
Fast forward to sometime later.. with the better system, speakers, preamp, cables, IC.. I'm looking sideways at the Jolida DAC.. but really couldn't afford to take a meaningful step up. I was pining for the Gumby again but that was more a greener grass thing.
Then I came across a Wireworld Silver Starlight 7 cable (1m) for a really low, couldn't pass up price.. "save the clocktower.."
When I put it in, I was surprised at the uptick from the non Silver, shorter WW coax.. the difference was stark and hugely positive.. several of the 7 veils dropped- and the articulation improved.
After, I started looking sideways at the WW USB AB but couldn't afford the same level of cable in a silver WW USB/AB.. there were NONE on the used market, looked for months, the new ones, even in last model closeouts, were $465.00 which was some % the cost of the new DAC I wanted..
Then I saw the DH LABS Mirage.. $240 retail + shipping from a distributor.. and started to do research. The rest is outlined above, in earlier posts..
So back to the Mirage..
I didn't think it would be possible to get a similar boost, like the WW Silver Starlight 7 delivered, when adding another cable into the line.. I mean, how much more 'good' can you get, with simple IC swaps?!
The improvement, upon adding the Mirage into line, was equally as 'perceptible' to adding the WW Silver Starlight 7, if not more, in that they seem to work well together (synergy). They sound better together, than either one alone, with the lower level cable on the other side.
As a result, I'm good with the Jolida DAC for the foreseeable and highly recommend at the price point.. I thought it was holding me back but it was more my choices in how I was feeding it..
Future improvements may come from swapping out the $100 EITR DDC but I'm not sure how much I'd have to spend to get a bump there..it's just a converter, right?! :|
In any event, I'm really impressed with the DH LABS Mirage USB AB.. I wish I'd figured it out faster but live/ learn or rinse/ repeat.. sometimes when i'm trying for the prior, the latter ends up happing.. but not this time.
Often, when spending more $, especially on ICs and speaker cables the outflow just delivers different but not necessarily better SQ.. gladly, this was not that. I have 15 hours on the cable right now and it's 'more open' than it was when it got in there and I keep looking up, noticing the things it's doing, when different tracks are played.
Smiles all around. Welcome to Fantasy Island.. I am Mr. Roark, your host.
I went back to the link and just after the 20% off part, it said "through February".. waah waaah bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.