New Zu Mission cable

I have bought Zu Audio cables new, used/demo and off of eBay. If someone pays $5 bucks and I pay $100 doesn't matter to me as much as what the value of the cable is in "my system". You get them 75% off - good for you, I hope you enjoy them! I paid 75% for Julians and I was giggling at the steal for the improvements it brought to my ears at the time.

If the cables are bought at a price then you must have felt they were worth that price at that time. If they bring equal or better than expected improvements to your system then what's the harm? Yes, if you had waited a year then they would have been cheaper. With that logic you can wait 10 years and get a steal at a garage sale but you'll miss out on some great music over that time period. As for dropping a quality product from my system because my neighbour got them cheaper, well that make no sense at all, to me.

I look forward to trying out new Zu products, at the price I'm willing to pay.

At the moment I have two analog interconnects - Blue Jeans Cable and Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference II.

Blue Jeans sounds in my system quite decent. It gives me dynamic, full-bodied sound, but a bit grainy and tones are not as nice as in my Acoustic Zen.

Acoustic Zen was my upgrade from BJC. It is smooth, provides more space, better soundstage, beautiful tones, more extention in bass and highs. It's musical, too! Unfortunately in my system this cable made mids, especially vocals, almost disappear! It's such a shame as I like almost everything about this cable. Well, maybe it could also have more resolution.

As BJC and AZ don't give me the sound I am looking for, I decided to look further. I've gone through lots of reviews and impressions of cables on audiogon and other websites.

Finally I've come across Zu Mission interconnect which is within my budget (500$) and looks promising.

Could you please tell me what the differences between Zu Mission and Acoustic Zen or BJC are? What is the sound characteristics of Zu Mission interconnect?

I'd appreciate your help as in my country I am not able to borrow too many cables for a trial.

I recently bought a pair of Zu Libtec speaker cables an a trio of Zu Bok power cords. I got the Libteks first, to see how they did between my Manley 300b amps and my new Zu Essence speakers. The Libtecs replaced a pair of Transparent networked cables. The Transparents certainly made a difference in my system. They accounted for a much lower noise floor: increased detail, smoother sound, greater realism and better soundstage. But, the Libtecs were much better in my system, much more holographic soundstage, no loss of clarity and better detail, better tonal accuracy, smoother upper midrange and deeper lower midrange, altogether better in synergy with my equipment. A couple of weeks later I connected the Boks to my Manley Neo-Retro 300b amps and one to my Manley Shrimp preamp. They further dropped the noise floor, deepened the soundstage, and my system acquired a sense of spooky realism. I intend to get some Mission interconnects to place between my upgraded VPI Scout and Linto phono amplifier, also between the Linto and the Shrimp. I don't know what to expect on that change, but if they meet up with the improvements that I got from the other Zu cables then I know I am going to be extremely pleased... I did not expect such a relatively inexpensive change in my system would produce such stark results to the positive.

One issue to remember is that the Zu cables benefit greatly from "burn in" of at least 100 hours. I have used And greatly enjoyed the Libtec cables for a few years, and recently tried the Mission SC and now the Event SC. The Mission initially supplied a little more base and general weight to the presentation compared to my Libtecs. The Libtecs seem to excel at an open soundstage with pristine highs, but be a little lighter on the lower registers in my system. I eventually removed the Missions and placed the Libtecs back in the system because some of the detail and air I liked was lost in the "extra weight" they brought. The Events arrived recently and are like a nice combination of the Libtec and Mission. There is better bass extension and weight compared to the Libtecs with no loss of detail and nice balance across the spectrum. They seem to be continuing to break in because the openness and detail continue to improve as my other Zu cables have done during their break in periods. My other cables presently are Zu Mother PC, and Zu Wylde IC.

To Noxs4u - when buying a product in this hobby one factors in a certain resale value. This expectation is built in into the price paid. If the seller turns around and floods the market with product at 25% the price one paid - well - ones resale value drops to 50% of 25% (when the buyer expected to get 50% of 100%).