Traveling Digital Cable Demo

Mike said:
Hi Mike - I would love to try a one meter digital RCA to digital RCA cable and a one meter AES/EBU cable (XLR to XLR).

Mike
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Hi Mike,

With the other cables for Jerry and Darrin being 1.5M will these suffice for your needs as well instead of 1.0M?

Thanks.
 
I can drop off all (3) cables to Mike if you wish, once I get done with my demo. I go to Mike's house quite often, so it would not be a problem. I am very careful with cables, so I'm sure they will be fine after my testing. Then Mike could return them back to the factory. Let me know if this would be acceptable ??
 
JDLaudio said:
I can drop off all (3) cables to Mike if you wish, once I get done with my demo. I go to Mike's house quite often, so it would not be a problem. I am very careful with cables, so I'm sure they will be fine after my testing. Then Mike could return them back to the factory. Let me know if this would be acceptable ??
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Hi Jerry,

There will be four cables total and yes, that sounds like a good plan to me.

Mike & Darrin, that sound ok to you guys?

Thanks
 
MikeCh said:
Hi Jerry,

There will be four cables total and yes, that sounds like a good plan to me.

Mike & Darrin, that sound ok to you guys?

Thanks
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hi Guys,

I built the four digital cables today. They are now running in on my cable conditioner and will remain there for either 36 or 60 hours depending on when I can get them shipped to Jerry. E.g., started conditioning Saturday night at 7:00pm...will be 36-ish hours if I can get them shipped on Monday or will be 60-ish hours if they ship on Tuesday.

I will plan to re-condition them once I receive them back from Mike and before they ship to Darrin. Due to the schedule, Mike will receive them direct from Jerry without my fresh conditioning procedure, but by then they should be nicely broken in anyway. If anyone else signs up, the normal process will be for me to re-condition the cables before shipping to any new recipient.

If you have your own cable cooker, please try them out as-is (with my conditioning process) for a few days in your systems and if you feel like running them on your own cooker after that feel free. If you would, please report any differences you might find/hear between my and your cable cooking/conditioning processes.

One last thing: Are the shipping addresses that Jerry and Darrin have provided to me able to accept USPS Priority mail?

Sound like a plan?
 
Heads up....the Demo cables are shipping to Jerry today. They should arrive by the end of the week or so.

(Note: The first post has been updated with specifics)
 
MikeCh said:
Heads up....the Demo cables are shipping to Jerry today. They should arrive by the end of the week or so.

(Note: The first post has been updated with specifics)
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I appreciate all your efforts to give us sharks a free demo. Thanks Mike.
 
Cables arrived today, and looked like they had a safe trip. I must say the cables have the look of very high quality, for such reasonable costs. I will get these beauties fired up tonight and cooking. Thank Mike.
 
JDLaudio said:
Cables arrived today, and looked like they had a safe trip. I must say the cables have the look of very high quality, for such reasonable costs. I will get these beauties fired up tonight and cooking. Thank Mike.
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Glad they traveled safe Jerry, thanks for the update. Hope you enjoy them!
 
Well I have completed a pretty thorough trial on the first Avanti cable (BNC/RCA). I let the cable burn in for two days before any testing was started. I put the Avanti cable up against cables ranging in price range of $10 to nearly 4k. The brands of cables included Audioquest Cinnamon, Nordost Heimdall, Crystal, Stealth Varidig, Stealth Sextet, Belkin, and a "no-name" that has always performed well.
First off, the cable exhibited a very even frequency response. Bass response was extended, not bloated, and detailed. It seemed equally matched to its rivals in the bass dept., except for the the Stealth Sextet. The Sextet cable plumbed lower, and definitely had more detail and speed.......but at a 4k price point. So far, so good. Then I played several of my favorite vocal tracks, and acoustic oriented arrangements. Again, the Avanti held its own with cables exceeding its price point, by hundreds of dollars. It's midrange did not seem to be overblown or ripe, even when being used with the Cary 211 FE tube monoblocks. The Crystal and Stealth Sextet cables had a tad better rightness to instrumental tones......but the Avanti was a surprise.
The higher frequencies were pretty much equal to my well travel ears, as they have suffered from the many years of mixing live music. I have to say I was mighty impressed with the Avanti cable, especially at a $160.00. Their build quality is excellent, and make solid contact without fuss. I think these cables are a "must" demo, that could displace many higher priced competitors.
I may have a family situation that could cut my time short in the next couple of weeks. If this occurs, I will forward the cables to Mike......so as not to hold up the auditioning.
 
I'm totally game. In my experience the impact of digital cables is significant and good ones are hard to come by at any price. I'm happy with my Antipodes Kokiri SPDIF (CD player to DAC), besides the fact that it takes at least a few days to give the full results, but it's quite the expensive wire (600€ a piece, retail, what with the USD being what it is). I'm reasonably satisfied with the Audioquest Carbon AES that links my SOtM USB interface to the DAC, but I would appreciate something more natural sounding, not to mention more affordable.

Is there a listening protocol that you suggest? In the past I have found that A/B comparisons are a bad approach because the same cable would not sound the same from one try to the next (if you do the obvious and put in a cable for a few minutes, then another for a few minutes). So I have resorted to several days long trials with any cable unless there is something I find absolutely irritating or a deal-braker from the get-go.
 
Julot said:
I'm totally game. In my experience the impact of digital cables is significant and good ones are hard to come by at any price. I'm happy with my Antipodes Kokiri SPDIF (CD player to DAC), besides the fact that it takes at least a few days to give the full results, but it's quite the expensive wire (600€ a piece, retail, what with the USD being what it is). I'm reasonably satisfied with the Audioquest Carbon AES that links my SOtM USB interface to the DAC, but I would appreciate something more natural sounding, not to mention more affordable.

Is there a listening protocol that you suggest? In the past I have found that A/B comparisons are a bad approach because the same cable would not sound the same from one try to the next (if you do the obvious and put in a cable for a few minutes, then another for a few minutes). So I have resorted to several days long trials with any cable unless there is something I find absolutely irritating or a deal-braker from the get-go.
Click to expand...

I'm very familiar with my reference Stealth cables. I usually play those for an hour or so, as a quick reminder of their character......then switch to the new try-out cable. I play the new cable for at least two days at a minium. Then I immediately switch back to my reference for a couple of hours. It's pretty easy to hear the differences this way. Then I will switch in my other cables for about an hour or so each. It is very time consuming, to say the least.
The quick A/B sessions can be confusing. I find it helps to have someone else do the switchin....if you have a limited time to test. If I have to get up and down to do the change outs, I get lost. YMMV
 
JDLaudio said:
Well I have completed a pretty thorough trial on the first Avanti cable (BNC/RCA). I let the cable burn in for two days before any testing was started. I put the Avanti cable up against cables ranging in price range of $10 to nearly 4k. The brands of cables included Audioquest Cinnamon, Nordost Heimdall, Crystal, Stealth Varidig, Stealth Sextet, Belkin, and a "no-name" that has always performed well.
First off, the cable exhibited a very even frequency response. Bass response was extended, not bloated, and detailed. It seemed equally matched to its rivals in the bass dept., except for the the Stealth Sextet. The Sextet cable plumbed lower, and definitely had more detail and speed.......but at a 4k price point. So far, so good. Then I played several of my favorite vocal tracks, and acoustic oriented arrangements. Again, the Avanti held its own with cables exceeding its price point, by hundreds of dollars. It's midrange did not seem to be overblown or ripe, even when being used with the Cary 211 FE tube monoblocks. The Crystal and Stealth Sextet cables had a tad better rightness to instrumental tones......but the Avanti was a surprise.
The higher frequencies were pretty much equal to my well travel ears, as they have suffered from the many years of mixing live music. I have to say I was mighty impressed with the Avanti cable, especially at a $160.00. Their build quality is excellent, and make solid contact without fuss. I think these cables are a "must" demo, that could displace many higher priced competitors.
I may have a family situation that could cut my time short in the next couple of weeks. If this occurs, I will forward the cables to Mike......so as not to hold up the auditioning.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update Jerry!

Interested what you find with the AES/EBU cable if you're able to rotate it into the mix too.

Please keep us posted with your schedule.
 
Julot said:
I'm totally game. In my experience the impact of digital cables is significant and good ones are hard to come by at any price. I'm happy with my Antipodes Kokiri SPDIF (CD player to DAC), besides the fact that it takes at least a few days to give the full results, but it's quite the expensive wire (600€ a piece, retail, what with the USD being what it is). I'm reasonably satisfied with the Audioquest Carbon AES that links my SOtM USB interface to the DAC, but I would appreciate something more natural sounding, not to mention more affordable.

Is there a listening protocol that you suggest? In the past I have found that A/B comparisons are a bad approach because the same cable would not sound the same from one try to the next (if you do the obvious and put in a cable for a few minutes, then another for a few minutes). So I have resorted to several days long trials with any cable unless there is something I find absolutely irritating or a deal-braker from the get-go.
Click to expand...

Hi Julien,

For sure! I'll add your name to the listing in the first post of this thread. Thanks for participating.

Comparing with your known reference cable in the manner that Jerry describes is a good method. I find it difficult to compare by only playing snippets of music then swapping cables, etc. Better to listen for a few days to any new cables then swap back in your "old familiar".
 
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