Alright, Phideaux,
It's now deigh teux of the Canare cable experiment.
I left the Canare cables between the SACD1000 and the Mod3A overnight with the player on repeat to put some time on the cables to give them a chance to strut their stuff...
Today, SWMBO's best friend is in the state, so like all good wimmen they're out shoppin'...at the factory stores in San Marcos....54 miles away....aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!
What a better way to spend an non-confrontational day than making interconnects fight it out.....so, I went into my cable closet, drug out a bunch of wires, and had at it.
The contenders, in no particular order:
Original JPS Ultraconductors, 1m
Monster M850i, 1m
Wireworld Equinox 5, 1m
Stereovox HDSE, 1m
Goertz Micro Purl Silver terminated with copper Bullet Plugs, 1m
DH Labs Silver Sonic BL1 Series II terminated with Tiffany clone RCA's, .5m
Cardas 2x21.5 Twinlink terminated with Canare F-10, 1m
A DIY design based on Chris VenHaus's cable design using Cardas 21.5 ga. for the hot conductor and two runs of 20ga. magnet wire for the return/ground, 1/4" polyethylene tubing for the center tube, teflon tape, Techflex covering, copper Bullet Plugs, .5m
DIY Superconductor clone of Andrew Heliax FSJ1-50 with Axon WBT clone RCA plugs, .5m
Ixos Gamma Audition 1014, 1m
And, of course, the Canare L-4E6S with F-09 RCA's, 1m
I warmed up the system by letting it play since I got up this AM and after a heavy dose of electro shock therapy...uhhh, online paperwork for my business, a light lunch, and it was time to play!
I used the SACD of "O Brother Where Art Thou", track 4 "Down to the river to pray" just because it was nothing but voice, acapella, no instruments, so any differences are really kind of subtle...but that's what makes it fun, and challenging!
I basically found that there were three groups of interconnects, good, better, best, and any other system, or any other listener, will have different results...these are all very, very subtle differences, and if I was bothered or interrupted today I would not have been able to figure out where I felt the cables ranked.
Ok, here we go!
The good.
Why just good? Well, I sensed these cables were just a bit lacking in the areas of smoothness, definition, soundstaging, but more importantly, there's just a bit of "confusion" in the sound...now, what I mean by that is that there is just a very subtle scrim or hash on the cables...I fully admit that I have tinnitus and ANY kind of screechiness, tizziness, grunge in the top end, any upper end anomolies, just get to me and fatigue me after short periods of time...these cables all did that to a certain extent.
It's also interesting to me that all of these cables use stranded copper, non-litz conductors.
Last Place:
Monster M850i.
I could listen to this cable for less time than any other. While it's frequency response was good, it also was not very good in separating the acapella voices, everything seemed a bit too mushed together...soundstaging was OK. Shieded twisted pair stranded
Next:
Canare L-4E6S
I thought that this was better than the M850i in every way, it was less fatiguing, better imaging, deeper layering, voices were separated a bit better, soundstaging was a bit better, too. Shielded, stranded, star quad.
Next:
Ixos Gamma Audition 1014
I bought a BUNCH of these cables several years ago at MCM on close out for little or nothing, so it was natural to add them into the mix. There is a little to differentiate these from the Canare. In fact, they may tend to be more like the Monster in fatigue factor, but where they were better was in the layering of voices, the separation of the male singes from the females in the back ground, and in the fact that these guys have always had a pretty darn good soundstage, bigger than what the Canare portrays. Maybe not as quiet as the Canare. Real close to the Canare in overall quality, but the better separation and detail makes me feel like it's a bit better cable. Stranded 3 conductor type braid with a dummy conductor..i.e., two stranded copper conductors and one solid plastic rod braided under an outer jacket. Copper with polyethelyne insulation.
Better.
Why better? Well, in my case, it was purely my percieved fatigue factor, if I can listen to a cable for longer without my ears getting tired then I feel like that's a better deal. These also seemed to be a bit quieter than the previous ones.
Last Place:
Wireworld Equinox 5
My placement of this cable here surprises the heck out of me! It is a VERY smooth cable...so smooth, in fact, that for most solid state systems this could be the ticket...non-fatiguing, good soundstaging, a bit limited on layering and separation...the sound qualities displayed by this cable in comparison to the others in this group was a surprise to me as I really have used these the most between my SACD and pre over the last year! Coaxial Litz construction
Next:
Cardas Twinlink
Another smoothie! But, where the WW seems a bit too laid back, a bit too smoothed over, a bit too flattened out, the Cardas cleaned it up a bit, nice big soundstage, better layering, and better separation of Allison from the background singers. Better differentation of the male singers from the female. Shielded, twisted pair Litz
Next:
JPS Ultraconductor (original style with the blue braided cover)
Not really much to differentiate from the Cardas, but a bit quicker, a bit cleaner. Solid copper clad aluminum, twisted pair.
Next:
Goertz Micro Purl Silver
Very much like the JPS, just a tiny bit more extended, a tiny bit cleaner and a tiny bit warmer. Solid silver twisted ribbon
Next:
The DIY design based on Chris VenHaus's cable design.
This cable was very much like the last two, but opened up the soundstaging a bit, was extended without grain or glare. This is about as good as the DH Labs, but maybe a bit less extended, it has that Cardas "glow"....perhaps the silver wire would help that?
OK, now the Best
These cables all caused me to really sit back and think about what was happening here. They were clean, clear, very low grain and grunge free. The separation of the background singers' voices was much better than all but the previous DIY design. The soundstaging was huge and layered. It was also good to revisit two cables that I haven't used much lately, the JPS clone and the DH Labs, and either one of these cables was better than all but the DIY VH design.
The DH Labs Silver Sonic
When I first put this in I was shocked by the focus. Then I noticed the layering and separation, the tunefulness. I really liked this cable. Where I felt like it lost some ground to the next two was that it might have just a bit of an edge to it, but these cables had not been used in a while, and it was nowhere near what I heard with the "Good" cables. Shielded, silver clad copper, teflon insulated, twisted pair.
JPS clone made from Andrew Heliax FSJ1-50
When I put this cable in the system, I wondered why I ever took it out....oh yeah, it's STIFF! This stuff is bent into place...and then it stays there! But the sound quality from it is just sublime...that little "edge" that "might" be there from the DH Labs isn't. Smooth, clear, extended, detailed, layered, for the price of the hardline and the connectors this stuff is a steal. Another huge soundstage, wrapping around the room! My sample has also been unused for quite a while and these things do change as they get used, big time, bending them, rearranging them, letting them sit unused, and you're going to have to do some break-in to get their true sound. Solid copper corrugated shield, copper clad solid aluminum center conductor
And finally,
Stereovox HDSE
I really couldn't imagine something getting better than the JPS clones...well, this was, it was as much above the previous interconnect and the DH Labs as those two were above the Goertz. This was the most extended of all the cables here, and compared to even more expensive cables that I have heard in other systems, may not have the clean top end of $500 or more cables, but what it does it does well! The differentiation of the singers in the background, the placement of Allison Krauss, the size of the room, all were the best yet with this cable. This design is no longer current having been replaced with the Stereovox Vespa which I have not heard in my system....there is a new more expensive Stereovox cable that addresses some of the concerns that some have had with this cable, but I'll never be able to afford any!
Now, these are just my impressions of a day of listening to my system with a vocal track. Other music, other systems, other listeners will probably have different results.
So where does this leave the Canare L-4E6S with the F-09's? When you consider that you can purchase the parts from Markertek to build a 1 meter set of interconnects for less than $15, well, then, it's a slam dunk bargain! To my ears, though, I think that I would rather source some of the Heliax and go that route, IF I COULD LIVE WITH THE STIFFNESS!
The Heliax's outer conductor is a solid, corrugated copper tube. The center conductor is a solid aluminum wire clad with copper. The insulation is polyethylene foam. You make these the EXACT size you need, bend them into place, and leave them! If you don't use bearing type isolation devices like Aurios, Darumas, etc., and your gear sits pretty much motionless, and you don't swap gear often, then this is a great budget cable recipe running a little over twice the Canare price for a 1m set if you go with the 1/4 hardline and the WBT clone connectors on sale at Part Connexion right now....
If you need a bit more flexibility, then the Chris VenHaus recipe should work quite well...using the specified silver wire instead of the Cardas I used, and following his materials list more closely would undoubtably bring that interconnect up a notch, as it was it was neck and neck with the top three!
So, Phideaux, I'm glad you started this thread as it made me examine what was in my system, build a cable I hadn't built in years, and have an enjoyable day playing with the stereo,
THANKS!
And to those who don't feel like cables make a difference, well, just look how much fun I had today!
But just between you and me, well, it's gonna be a loooooong time until I bring out that SACD and play it again, man, talk about saturation!
Rick
I think I can handle that.
