Thread: What are your reference cables.

Great post Kev. Wireworld Platinum Eclipse G7 XLR and loudspeaker cables are my reference cable along with Siltech Royal Signature Ruby Mountain II G7 with Furutech carbon rhodium F-50 terminations and Flux-50 filters.

The WW PE are a great cable I am happy to live with but were a price compromise. If price was no object, I would prefer a Siltech Royal Signature choice instead. There's no beating their military/aerospace grade Kapton shielding implementation from DuPont. They emit absolutely zero emissions meaning they are also not subject of any external influences. The mono-crystal silver wire injected with gold nano is a signature process that other manufacturers are only just beginning to experiment with and introduce into their own premium formulations. Furutech Nano Flux comes to mind here.

Siltech Royal Signature oozes super premium metallurgy, material composition, geometry and construction. Price can be a barrier and so can the expansive Chinese counterfeit market. Buying Siltech outside of the authorised dealer network is a risky proposition which also means buying second hand can be an issue.

For interconnects, I think Siltech excels most between pre-amp and amp and this is where I would like to permanently swap in a 2m XLR length and move the Wireworld Platinum Eclipse elsewhere, eg. Source.

I have also tried the Shunyata Zitron Anaconda (unshielded) in my system and agree that the Siltech offers the best of both without missing anything that the Shunyata does.

On that note, I would not recommend any form of unshielded cable especially with tube amplification. indeed, the concept of using unshielded cables anywhere is a ridiculous proposition IMO.

Kev,

Yesterday I heard Siltech 550 ic's and speaker cables in a friends system yesterday. I had heard Kimber, Audioquest, Shunyata and I think one or two others in the past. I am fully aware of your holy sh!t moment with Siltech. I am obsessed now. I could not believe what a difference. Full and tuneful bass, tremendous separation, sweet highs and perfect mids, seamless top to bottom as in being more coherent. I've always admired Siltech from other posters over the years on many forums. Now I truly know why. I don't know how or when but Siltech is on my radar and come hell or high water, I will be Siltech bound.

If you can't get into the Siltech Royal Signature bracket, the 770 G7 ICs are quite awesome also. I have a pair of RCAs hanging off the MCD1100 and often switch between the (balanced) XLRs and these. More often than not, I prefer the unbalanced presentation of the 770s in comparison!

Kev, A friend of mine with Salons and Hegel amp told me the Siltechs were fantastic ! I would love to try some in my system. I love my Kimber Select sp cables, but I want something for my IC's instead of my Shunyata.

The Shunyata Cobra and Anaconda that I have are very good, but since I'm not buying any new gear for a long time, I want to maximize my system by picking out the best cables that I can find.

I want to find that "Magic" synergy !!

And if the Siltech speaker cables beat my Kimbers, I'll get them too.

I am no expert on cables and have tried only a handful .

A dealer once told me their are only 3 kinds of cable those you can not stand to listen to, those you can not afford(the biggest group) and Cardas.

I have always come back to Cardas whether or not it is better or what I am use to and like I am never sure. But Cardas is not a bad choice for a lot of gear. IMO only

I'm no expert in cables either, and have maintained an overall modest cable budget. My reference are the top of the line LAT International cables which just sound "right" to me as well, especially in the midrange as you mention Kev. I have demo'd several much more expensive offerings in my system, including WW Silver/Gold/Platinum, Tributaries, Shunyata, Cardas, Nordost, etc. and I've only found them to sound "different" vs. blow me away this is so much better that I want to spend 2-5x the price for them. As I've written elsewhere here, I made what I considered to be a mistake by going down the WW SE upgrade path because I was told I would be blown away with the difference. I was not. Over time I swapped out all of my LAT International cables, only to find out that I didn't like the sound near as well and was much happier when I sold them off and switched back. Since that time I've upgraded to even better LAT cables which was a modest investment and am even more pleased by the improvements without jumping into a completely different level and price bracket. I'm very satisfied and no longer think about upgrading cables outside of wanting to try out Jeff Whitlock's power cables in my system again down the road sometime. Now that being said I probably shouldn't demo the Siltechs in my system and take that blue pill because I do know they would likely break my perceptions based on what I'm reading in this thread, but other upgrades will take priority for now.

When I search to improve the sound of my system, I use bad cable because I have a beginning system.
Now, I have a great system.
So I use Furutech Lineflux RCA and XLR, Speakerflux, jumperflux, and Flux 50 NCF (4)...Very good cables.
I have VDH too.

Ansuz D2's, Chord Music

Originally Posted by Speedskater

Belden, Canare and Mogami.
Oh, West Penn and Gepco are also good.

my guess is you have not been able to perform a good cable comparison, but all that matters is that you are happy with your choices

Originally Posted by JCS123

From a "Blue-collar budget" perspective:

This is only my opinion, but I consider "my reference cables" to mean the the best sounding that I have in my own systems. I fully understand that paying more could produce better sound.

Anticables Level 3 power cords, Level 6.2 and 3.2 RCA's and Level 3.1 speaker cables perform wonderfully together to my ears.

Shunyata Venom power cords, DH Labs Silver Sonic D-14 speaker cables, Kimber 8TC speaker cables and Hero RCA's also provide great value.

Blue Jeans Cable LC-1's are good enough for me for powered subwoofers.

Monoprice HDMI cables work fine on the TV.

Swapping any and all of these cables between systems in many different combinations has yielded interesting changes in sound, so in the end it all comes down to whatever sounds right to you.

Your opinion matters when you have gone through the exercise as you have, that’s the fun in it!

Enjoy your sound!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Originally Posted by Speedskater

My guess is, you have not studied cable design engineering and what qualities are required to make a good cable.

But for you:
but all that matters is that you are happy with your choices

Perhaps the quote you referenced meant something else? It’s too general a statement with zero meat on the bones.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

JPS Aluminata interconnects, JPS Superconductor 3 speaker cables, JPS Kaptovator AC cables only on amps. Curious Cables regen link USB. Best cable investment I have made was the JPS, they have been the most balanced and homogeneous sounding cables I have used. It’s saying a lot when an audiophile has been using the same cables three years and no desire to change.

All Shunyata.

My cable journey over the past few years started with Cardas ending with their Clear IC and Speaker cable. Used that on a system with McIntosh MC601’s and Martin Logan Ethos and loved the synergy. As I upgraded components and went with the new Mark Levinson 536s and at first No52 ref preamp and Wilson Sasha 2’s to my ears the clear was a little heavy on the top end which was likely more the fault of the No52 but anyway went with Shunyata Anaconda IC and Sigma speaker wire which was a better match for that system as that combo was a little warmer sounding than the Clear which the 52 needed. I then moved on again to Bat Rex2 Preamp w. Same No536 amps and Wilson Alexx speakers and demo’d some older but still good MIT Oracle speaker cable and IC and with that setup the MIT had better detail and clarity than did the Shunyata so I swapped it all out again. For me I can’t say I think any of those cables are better than the others just that to my ears certain cables sounded better or more to my tastes with certain equipment. So if I don’t want to swap out cables guess I need to get off the upgrade carousel with my equipment.

George

In my system is use Kubala Emotion for speaker and interconnects, Apogee (clock) and DH Labs (AES) for digital, and Shunyata for power.

When I get a chance to audition other cables, I always jump at the chance to learn more about how they impact my system. For example, I have tried the Transparent Ref XL Digital loom which I really liked but cannot come to grips with the overall cost at this point (some day...).

I've been surprised in so many different ways with cables. Whenever possible I try cables on loan before I buy in an attempt to minimize bias.

For balanced interconnects, I've tried AT 8300, Nordost Valhalla, Shunyata Delta, Cardas Clear, and Mogami Neglex. I really expected to hear a dramatic difference in these cables but after auditioning for several weeks they all sounded the same with my gear. So Mogami Neglex stayed. This was a surprise.

For speaker cables, I've tried MIT Evo, Kimber 12TC, Audioquest Rocket 88, Cardas Clear. These cables were slightly different sounding, but since my speaker cables are only 1 meter long the differences were not substantial. The MIT sounded rolled off in the highs, the others were very similar. The Cardas Clear and Kimber 12TC had the most balanced presentation overall. I chose the Kimber 12TC based on cost. The surprise here was a modest cable performing as well as a very expensive one, at least in my system.

For USB, I went from a generic USB A-B to an Audioquest Forest to WireWorld Platinum Starlight 7 and Starlight 8. Each made a dramatic difference in overall ease and musuicality of my digital front end. I never thought a USB cable could make that much of a difference. Boy was I wrong.

For power, I went from stock cords to Shunyata Venom and Delta cords. These made the second biggest impact of any cable change I've made, right behind the USB cable. This was a big surprise as well.

In the past I was a proponent of a one manufacturer loom. Over the past year or two I have performed a number of A/B comparisons and modified my thinking. I still prefer Transparent Opus for my amps and speakers but have moved to all Shunyata on my dCS stack and Everest. On those components Shunyata was the winner.

I have and enjoy a mix. For power, all Shunyata. For analog signal and speaker wires, all Wireworld Platinum 8. Digital Ethernet Shunyata Sigma. And, phono cable Cardas Clear Beyond.

PranaWire Cosmos spkr cables. Built with 3" wide pure silver foil, wrapped in carbon, copper foil, and cotton, with black outside wrap. PranaWire Cosmos XLR interconnects rebuilt to ArHat materials- "Pure silver, custom made ribbons - 6 gauge architecture
Multi-layered, 3 shield -17 element construction for maximum noise reduction and noise absorption
Custom Vibration Damping
Oyaide Spade Lugs"