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  3. 150109-24

Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval 8...OMG!!

I seriously can’t believe what these cables are doing to the sound in my rig.  I had them awhile ago and couldn’t justify the price (used) so I pulled back and returned them.  I grabbed them again yesterday since my local stereo shop still had them hanging there. 

Well let me say that I’ve always been a believer in cables making changes to the sound because I can hear it but I’ve never had speaker cables that changed the sound as dramatically as this.  The way it’s untangling the music, the way its making everything sound real, the way it’s full top to bottom without any harshness is pretty crazy.  

This is on a system that isn’t highly resolving yet all of these differences are completely noticeable.  I’m not talking about a little more resolution here, a little more top end sparkle there, fuller bass here...  I’m talking about did I just get a different amp, this can’t be the same dac, these can’t be the same speakers, kind of changes.

I’ve had this sound in my systems before but that was with higher end gear for sure... it makes me wonder how much I was leaving on the table without these cables in my rig at that time.


Have any of you had similar experiences with the Solo Crystal 8’s as well?  I’m thinking that these are end game cables for me.
b_limo
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,620 posts
 
Well here's my latest adventure.I've been trying this and that attempting to "feed" this system exactly the right combo of signals that will help it perform at it's best:-).Today it all fell together and I feel I'm 98%of the way there.It's leaning just a bit to the lean side,but is so transparent,detailed,and layered.Right now dac and pre are fed by Audio Envy Ocean Elite pcs.Transport and amp have CableDyne pcs.Ics are Audio Envy Prestige.The AE cables work much better together and compliment each other's strengths,and I know this after trying many configurations.The ics are all about the midrange and the pcs bring the high frequencies,bass,and dynamics.The Gabriel Gold Revelation digital cable.
The last piece of the puzzle was moving the High Fidelity MC-O.5 from the power conditioner to the duplex plug.Bam!The Analysis Plus scs in turn are sending beautiful music to the Tektons.Now to add just a drop of warmth by adding or subtracting just one thing.....
A tube,more HF power conditioning,one of the ZenWaves(still waiting).
decooney
2,358 posts
 
re: DIGITAL COAX RCA cable: ???
Some people praise this change while other's may not.  

REQUEST: 
Has anyone here tried or using the Analysis Plus Crystal Solo [DIGITAL COAX] cable in 1.0M or 1.5M in your rig?  Any notable difference? 
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,620 posts
 
The GG cable is an xlr cable that I was using a few years ago when I had balanced connections.I put adapters on it and tried it just out of curiosity.Surprise,I like it!I did try the AP Crystal Solo((1 meter) along with a few others and I could hear slight differences but all were rather dull,veiled.Results may be better with 1.5 meters or even better with  other xlr cables??Sometimes good things happen when fooling around with tweaks.
I have a basic understanding of how reflections and timing errors distort the digital signal so finding one that is a perfect match is yet another adventure.
decooney
2,358 posts
 
@jtcf
...I have a basic understanding of how reflections and timing errors distort the digital signal so finding one that is a perfect match is yet another adventure.

-----------------------

Okay, good to know. So let the experiment continue. I ordered a 1.5M coax AP Crystal Solo on a black friday sale. Not sure what to expect, but I’ve wanted to try this for a while completing the system with AP Crystal Solos. More than a few places I’ve read the shorter .5m and even 1.0m can produce more "reflection", bounce-back, and "glare" compared to a tad longer 1.5M.  I did not believe it myself until trying it and comparing. So, I tested it with ICs on my DAC to pre first and truly did see a difference, like it more. So, I’ll try the same with my Arcam streamer to DAC next, and need 1.5M regardless keeping them apart. Guess I should not be too quick to let go of my Cardas lightning and other cables yet til’ I let this new cable run for a while. Last piece to complete the chain with all AP Crystal Solos. 

re: "timing". Speaking of timing, I was driving myself batty past few weeks after adding some Jensen PIO bypass caps to the DAC, paralleled over some Mundorf Silver Gold Oils as the base caps in the tube DAC. Even up to 100hrs of burn-in I kept hearing something almost like an added reverb / out of timing effect on some instruments on good tracks. Almost a reverb (1.25x repeat sound) and blurring or smearing effect at times. I really noticed the difference with my AP Crystal Solo cables, not so much with my Cardas interconnects which tend to smooth over a bit more. Finally gave up and removed the bypass caps. As soon as they were removed, the timing issue was completely GONE - back to normal, nice clean smooth signal, improved sound stage too. It was really odd, and never had played with or experienced notable timing issues much except for tweeter/woofer mis-alignments in my own custom speakers. While I've had okay success with other bypass caps, components, this was a first and a surprise to a few audio friends. Perhaps just an incompatibility between two different type caps.

Trying the different AP cables has been a fun experiment, the Crystal Solos OCC copper version seems to be in it’s own lane if you like this type of sound, tone, sound stage changes - it’s unique. 


jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,620 posts
 
Fun some days,maddening other days:-)
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