Clear Day vs Acoustic Zen


As I mentioned in another thread, I am looking to make one or two upgrades to my system this year. Total budget is around $500 - 600. My current system is:
B&W CM10
Parasound A21
Cambridge Audio Azur 851D (preamp + DAC)
Cheap Audioquest wires (I think I paid around $50 for an 8 ft pair).

The two speaker cables that I've seen mentioned a lot here are Clear Day and Acoustic Zen Sartori. I almost pulled the plug on a pair of used AZ Sartori a week ago, but it was sold before I could make an offer.
There are other AZ Satoris on sale here at agon but they're all over 8 ft, which is not what I want.

However, I see that for the same $$$ for used AZs, I can get brand new Clear Day Double Shotguns.

Has anybody compared these two in their systems? Given that B&W is generally considered to be a tad bit on the bright side, I wonder if the silver in Clear Day might not be the best choice?
128x128arafiq
Az all the way . Just talked to mr lee today he is great .. he cut some 1.5 meter cables in half and made .75 meter . How long did it take? 2hrs after he opened my box next day heading to me .. i am a huge az fan. i run all az cables ac ,interconnects and adagios đź‘Ť
Okay, so received the cables last night. Admittedly, I have only listened for about a couple of hours, but here are the initial impressions...

Like some other folks, there really wasn’t a jaw dropping moment.

I haven’t noticed much improvement in imaging or soundstaging .. about the same. No noticeable difference in depth, width or height.
Definitely no improvement in bass response thus far. That’s one area I was hoping to see an improvement.
There might be a tiny bit of improvement in detail and clarity ... but to be honest, I don’t know if its perception bias or what.
One thing that I definitely noticed is that the background is blacker. Definitely less background noise than before.
Voices are more centered and ’present’ - not sure if ’present’ is the right way to describe it, but it does feel that the singer is sitting closer, in an intimate way, to me than before (that’s a good thing in my view).

Having said that, maybe the wires need more break in. I’m not sure how many hours were put on the wires by the previous owner. Also, I’ve ordered jumpers from Clear Day. That might improve the sound.

Imho it goes like this 
1)room treatment 
2)interconnects 
3)a/c cords
4) spkr cable if under 3meter 
your mileage may vary 
Okay, I really feel like an idiot now ... shouldn’t have jumped the gun when I posted my first impressions. So it turns out that the spades were not inserted all the way into the binding posts of my speaker. Second, I realized that the volume was set well below my normal listening levels. This is remarkable, because once I set the volume to my normal listening levels, it’s like a veil was lifted.

I’ve been listening non stop for the last hour or so ....

The soundstage has definitely opened up ... it’s wider, much wider now. I can hear things at least 4 to 5 feet to the left and right of my speakers. The cymbals reverberate more and feels like the reverberation is travelling outwards and around my room.

The separation between instruments and the voices is much more defined.
The base is not more per se, but has tightened up considerably.
I’m hearing new details on familiar recordings. And it all sounds so clean.

The best part is that the brightness that I complained about earlier is pretty much gone. I cranked up the volume waaaay up, and guess what? No more harshness. Lastly, and I’m not sure how to describe it, but it’s almost as if someone added more ’heft’ to the same music I listened to before.

Okay, so I had my jaw drop moment about an hour ago, when I listened to Alan Pasqua’s The Antisocial Club. Holy cow!!!! They’ve finally stepped into my living room :) Sorry if I’m gushing like a newly wed. But this is pretty amazing for a guy who is new to this hobby.

Your hooked lol you have the cable bug . I feel interconnects will make a bigger difference.. then a/c like i said if you think thats a wow moment get on treating your room ! go on gik website and fill out form take a cple pics . Your jaw will drop . No affiliation đź‘Ť