TransParent Cables vs. Others

When I had my Audio Research LS25, ARC VT100MKII, Levinson front end and Merlin VSM-SE speakers, I tried some Transparent cables. They made my system sound lifeless -- uninvolving. To my ears, the stuff is a blatant -- and very expensive -- tone control.

I don't think you can go wrong with Cardas Golden Cross (very smooth but perhaps lacking in absolute resolution) or Acoustic Zen Satori (very quick and revealing.) At least that's been my experience.

I agree with 9rw except I would not say the Transparent Ultras are lifeless....only that in my ARC based system, they clearly showed a rolled-off top end compared to every other cable I tried. I did not consider these a good value in cables at all. The Audioquest Diamond cables win the award for lifeless!

The Cardas Golden Cross is indeed an excellent cable which is very hard to beat for value. But I have found that too much of this in a system, expecially a tube based system, can make the mids too warm and over emphasized.

I have a solid state system and love the Golden Cross biwires. In yours, you might want to consider Red Dawn IC's, which will give you good clear bass extension with the upper end detail for your tubed system.

Hello All,

I owned the Transparent Super XL speaker cables and Ultra XL balanced ICs and was very happy with them. I was in the market for a DVD mod and spoke to Stan Warren. He mentioned a set of cables he was making and selling for $105 for a 10'pair of speaker cables and $55 for RCA ICs, including shipping. He also informed me of his 30-day trial. I felt all I had to lose was the shipping charges, if I did not like them, so I purchased both the ICs and the spkr cables and compared them with the Transparent. I got the cables together and listened, first, to the Transparent. After about 45 minutes and a lot of my favorite music, I replaced them with the Stan Warrens' and let them warm up for about two hours. After warm up, I listened for another 45 minutes and I came to an astonishing conclusion. Disc after disc, song after song, the Stan Warren cables were much better. The mids were fuller and cleaner, the high end extended further but maintained crispness and musicality. The bass, which had not been bad with the Transparent cables, came to life with the SW cables. The soundstage was wider, taller and deeper with a blacker background and more space between the instruments. The difference in the speaker cables was startling but the difference between the ICs was subtle. The difference in price, Trans' Super XL spkr $1800.00 and Ultra XL IC $2200, compared to the difference in performance was shocking. I was so impressed with Stan’s cables, I sold all of my Transparent cables and finished my entire system, including subwoofer cables, with Stan’s' cables. My system can be referenced hear on the virtual systems. If you are curious about the Stan Warren cables you can do a search of his name in the forums and find his phone number here on Audiogon. Of course, everybody may get different results according to their associated equipment and the effect the room may have on the sound of the system. I am not associated with Stan in any way and do not get any special consideration for pushing his products. I am just a very satisfied customer that is sold on getting the most performance for the least money.......John

I've found that all above comments are true about Transparent, but that the real magic starts at Reference and above. I know it's silly money, but in my opinion worth the price for what Transparent does so well.