I received my Cerious Technology Graphene Extreme speaker
cables and interconnects recently and now have about 50 hours on them. It took less than 2 weeks to make and deliver the cables. I was
looking to replace my Audience AU24e speaker cables, which I really like, but I
wanted to try something new. I also was seeking something besides my Coincident
CST Extreme speaker cables (which were serving back up duty to the AU24e’s) and
Coincident CST Extreme interconnects, both of which sounded a bit edgy to me.
In addition, the aforementioned Coincident CST Extreme interconnects produce a
narrow soundstage with smaller image sizes, which I wanted to improve upon. Based
on my recent experience with other graphene based products, I had a hunch the
CT GE’s would work for me. I was right! With that said, I thought I would leave
a post here on my impressions on all of the graphene products that have been
going into my audio system. (I recently posted my system here if anyone wants
to see where my point of view is coming from).
First off, I have been adding Synergistic Research Black
fuses and power cords for the past 3 months. The fuses have created a greater sense
of presence, adding a wonderful sense of three dimensionality, which is one of
my system goals. Music is also more clear and intelligible, but not harsh or
edgy at all. The improvement is very noticeable. I listened to my system with just the new fuses
and my older cables and I swapped back and forth between the new and old fuses,
to make sure the fuses themselves are what is making the difference. With the
stock fuses, the sound is smeared and washed out. There’s no doubt, hearing is
believing.
Adding SR Black power cords to my preamp, power amps, dac,
and phono stage led to a subtler change. There is a greater sense of having a
black background, leading to even more clarity and inner detail. But there was
not much of an additional effect to width and depth of the soundstage. I confirmed
this by swapping back my old power cords, which are JPS Labs AC+ cables. When
re-inserting the AC+ cables, the size of the soundstage stayed relatively the
same, but the music got just a little mucked up, slightly more smeared. I concluded the SR Black graphene power cords
are a worthwhile upgrade, and I bet the CT GE power cords would have a similar
if not better effect.
The CT GE speaker cables are a similar improvement as the SR
Black power cords. Compared to my Audience AU24e cables, they subtly add to the
sense of blackness and clarity and to the sense of image specificity. Soundstage
size is the same. They do not have any of the edginess of my Coincident speaker
cables. These are very listenable. Now, I must admit, I did not break down my
system and put all my old interconnects and fuses back in to gauge the speaker
cables impact on my old baseline. That said, as they break in, I look forward
to even better things ahead.
Now for the CT GE interconnects. As background, I once had a
full loom of Virtual Dynamics Master cables, and have tried almost every cable
made by Cardas and JPS (except Aluminata). I currently have the aforementioned
Coincident CST Extreme, Coincident CST (non-Extreme), Audio Sensibility
Statement Silver, and Ocellia Silver Reference cables (ranked worst to best in
my opinion). I tried the CT GE’s with my dac to preamp, and also with my disc
spinner. I find these interconnects to be free of edge and glare. Even with all
the other graphene products installed – the fuses, power cables, and speaker
cables – i can tell the CT GE interconnects are a benefit to my audio system. The
sense of blackness and separation of instruments, of placing images in more
clearly defined spaces – all are much better. A pleasant surprise for me is that the blackness and image separation/specificity is clearly better than what I hear with my
Ocellia cables. On the other hand, the Ocellias are more natural and organic.
They sound more full bodied and harmonically rich, but a tad more diffused. To be honest, at this point with the CT GE”s
at 50 hours, I like the presentation of the Ocellias a little better. The Ocellias
provide more of a non-analytical,
addictive quality to music listening for me. But as much as I really like them,
I put them up for sale. The Ocellias are really nice and those of you that own
them are fortunate to have them; I would have completed my system with them and
not opened my eyes to Cerious Technologies if Ocellia’s prices were the same as
they were 5-6 years ago. As it is, I am glad I found out about Cerious
Technologies. Bob has been a great guy to deal with and is someone I am
comfortable doing business with, so he will be getting an order for more cables
from me soon. I might regret this, giving up such a great cable as the Ocellia,
but the CT GE interconnects are very promising in my opinion and will only get
better as more hours are put on them.
Another thing of note is that with all of these graphene
products I find myself able to listen at much lower volume levels, typically
72-78db nowadays, versus the mid-80’s before all of the upgrades. Music still
sounds full, impactful, and detailed at these lower listening levels.
These graphene products have been wonderful for my system. Definitely
worth checking out, especially since both companies offer a money back
guarantee if you don’t like their products.
Postscript, it’s been a few more hours with the GE cables, and
together they are sounding more real, natural, and organic. Very nice. Break-in: What a
concept!
