What follows is a comparison between the Purist 30th Anniversary USB cable and the Stealth USB cable. This comparison, with it's focus on the Stealth (it's strengths and performance) as the first place finisher, also applies versus the Wireworld and the Audience cables.
My initial take / read on the Purist 30th Anniversary (P30) after it was added into my system was that it was better 'out of the box' than the Purist Ultimate (which is a step below in the Purist line-up).
The P30, however, needed more run-in time before I felt it had stabilized (this may have been relative to how 'broken-in' it was from the lending program). Highlighting this in case you go with the P30. You may have to give it some time.
It is a warmer and softer sounding cable, than the Stealth, and it's rounder and fuller signature is addicting and enjoyable. It is more forward with vocals. It is also superior to the Purist Ultimate across the board and minimizes the Ultimate's weaknesses. However, both have a very similar 'house sound' to them. The P30 is better, but it comes at a 60% premium over the Ultimate.
The Purist highlights or accentuates the main / primary focus of a music passage or recording section. It is there, fully bloomed, like a close up photograph of a flower, with the other details, as you pan further out and further in, lightly to more faded out and hazier. The Stealth balances that primary focus with all of the other musical information around that main section, without marginalizing it. It shows the flower along with more of the parts and layers and makeup of the flower as well as the stem / leaves / and plant that it is part of. It conveys a whole and comes across more natural and real while doing so. All the while maintaining it's grip and delivery of that 'main section / musical passage.'
The P30 does not resolve micro detail as well as the Stealth. This was interesting, because I noticed the micro-details with the P30, as in 'hey, there it is.' However, when I first listened to the same via the Stealth I missed those 'hey there-they-are details' initially. I was fairly sure that wasn't the case and in the process of figuring it out, I learned a very important lesson.
The micro-detail, more importantly the micro-micro detail, was very much present with the Stealth. It was conveyed as whole music, rather than a 'break' or 'hey there it is' piece of information / 'interruption' (as in "there is music there" vs a piece of information) which is why it was easier to miss.
Audiophiles talk about that 'lost in the music' state...I think this helps convey this point. The Stealth was so good at this (this level of resolution and clarity) that the information did not stand out as an 'anomaly' (noticeable, if you may) but rather as a continuation of, and inherent part of the music.
I found the Stealth to have better timing, and tighter control than the P30.
Where the Stealth really stands out (vs the other cables) is in the level and amount of musical energy and pressure conveyed, the control and delivery of bass and the naturalness in how it conveys musical tension.
It manages to do this while being delicate and refined, and handles musical layering better than the other cables.
As I review my notes, I cannot see an area of music or 'audiophile descriptor' or a specific track segment that it was bettered in.
There is just 'MORE' to the music. A Greater Whole. I naturally preferred it and kept wanting this cable to go back into my system.
IT, I SHOULD SAY MY SYSTEM WITH THE STEALTH IN IT, is rendering music beautifully with a level of emotional engagement and realism I am thoroughly enjoying. Getting lost is now easy.
I ordered the Stealth USB in a 1M length from The Cable Company. It went in system on the 15th of Nov. and is nearly broken in.
