I started purchasing and demoing their cables in my system after reading many great reviews and because I was somewhat disappointed and "searching" for a different and better sound. I had Transparent Reference (MM2) everywhere--power, interconnects, speaker cables... I mean, these are world-class cables and very expensive. It all sounded very flat (depth-wise, not left to right), recessed, and dark. The timbre of things seemed off, especially with cymbals and guitars. Another problem was that Transparent no longer offers a true bi-wire speaker cable.
I first replaced my speaker cables with two full runs per speaker of the Satori AZ. It was a huge difference. I finally, for the first time, got depth and volume. Things sounded more real and organic. With such good results, I purchased AZ Absolute Copper, Silver, and a power cable to try. My experience with the Absolute power cable versus the Transparent Reference power cable was the same as the speaker cable switch. It is clearly better sounding to me--more relaxed, more open sounding, more realistic.
The Absolute Copper and Silver versus the Transparent interconnects has been a harder call. I even just got a new Generation 5 Reference cable to demo. I keep going back and forth between the setups, and there are benefits to each. The Transparent interconnects are more dynamic and have more energy (slightly), and they sound slightly warmer. I find that vocals emerge from nothing, though. They have a very silent background. I like the Copper better than the Silver AZ, but I settled on Copper for my source and Silver from the preamp to amp, which seemed to be a better fit (Silver was too bright on the source but opened up imaging on the amp). The AZ setup is very dynamic also, don't get me wrong. Vocals sound mic'ed, and there is a presence to the singer because of room information coming through. Timbre sounds a little more realistic. They ultimately sound a little cooler but not harsh at all or bright, really (unless put up against something else, nothing that would pop out on its own). These comparisons are without looking at price at all. Looking at the Transparent interconnects costing 3 times as much per run, the case is really made for AZ. They are phenomenal for the money. I'm sure there is better, but if would cost many times what the AZ costs, if that matters.
Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. I'm interested to see what you have tried instead by now.
