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Essence®gZero10 Interconnect cables single ended

I received these IC's about 12 days ago and since then they have been cycling through the burn-in process - i.e. 24 x 7 streaming internet radio.

They already sounded as good as the gZero6 right from the start, but the blurb on the KLE Innovations web site implyed a significant improvement.

It took over 200 hours for them to "break out", but when they did - let's just say it was well worth the wait.

I've been fortunate to have tried the gZero3 on my system and I currently own the gZero6 and having now heard the gZero10's the one thing that stands out about the entire range is their consistency of tone - it just does not change.

So what has improved with the gZero10 ?...
- the dynamics are faster
>>> the gZero6 was excellent, but the gZero10 is significantly faster

- the very fine details have improved- especially the those extremely fine whispery details that contributes to the emotion of a vocal performance and also the mechanical artifacts as the performer depress instrument keys or move up and down the fret/finger board adding to the realism.

- the image is more spacious and accurate - instruments and artists are placed with laser precision but the space around them not only contains artifacts from their instruments, but also those adjacent instruments. It's a much more natural blend.

- the bass is significantly deeper, but extremely well controlled to the point where textures, even in the lowest frequencies can be heard.

But for me, the most convincing improvement is the reproduction of the venue acoustics present in recording of live performances.

One album I have is Julian Bream and John Williams Together. The venue acoustics have always muddied their position on the stage, but the gZero10's have cured that issue and then some - this is perhaps one of the best live recordings I have - now :-)

I have had the opportunity to audition the gZero3 on a friends very nice system and we both agreed they outperformed his far more expensive silver XLR interconnects from a well known brand, so the gZero10's should provide an even better sonic performance on systems capable of extremely high resolution.

If I had to sum up the key qualities of the gZero10 I would have to say they are fast, articulate, spacious, smooth and are able to convey the emotion of the performer and the space of the venue

These IC's are extremely good on my analogue rig, but on my DAC they bring the performance as close to analogue as I will probably get.

Either way, these IC's are excellent performers and will give more expensive cables a run for their money.

Yes, they are a little pricey, but they will probably be the last cables you buy.

Visit the KLE Innovations web site for more details and reviews

And if you do happen to buy a pair - be sure to give them 300 hours burn-in

Regards
williewonka
williewonka OP
3,072 posts
 
Yping - the 10's are definitely better than the 6's in my system and probably more so if they are used with higher resolution components.

My problem is - I a bit too pragmatic and frugal for this hobby.
- I DIY most stuff because it saves me $$$.
- my system is modestly priced.
- however it performs way above it's price point
- mainly due to my cabling choices

Right now the 10's are a little "to rich" for my wallet (and mindset), but if I should elect to upgrade my components there may be a solid case for the 10's in the future.

Right now the 6's are performing very well and sticking with them affords me the opportunity to upgrade my phono cartridge, which is something I've been wanting to do for a while.

If the 6's fail to convey the level of performance I am expecting from the cartridge upgrade I might just opt for the 10's.

But to be honest - I think the 6's have a LOT more left in them

Regards...
yping
351 posts
 
ok thanks... more thinking to do but the 10s performance was extremely high fidelity. Mind you the 6s performance are extremely high fidelity, also, but I heard the 10s... :)

I wonder if there are better ICs out there then the 6s and 10s? I have listened to the 6s compared to more, even much more expensive ICs, and so far they have been better and much better in many/most instances... I guess, we always want more don't we... ahh, the 10s...hmmm :)
williewonka OP
3,072 posts
 
Yping, if you opt for the 10's and want another use for the gZero6's - try them as a digital link!

I got to thinking about what KL had said about using the Copper Harmony for this purpose.

The issue with using normal RCA for spdif is their impedance is generally lower than that of the cable which results in degradation of the digital signal.

If you use an RCA with an impedance greater than the cables impedance then there is no problem.

I had tried the Copper Harmony on a 75 ohm cable ant they worked extremely well.

So this morning I thought I'd try the gZero6 on my $70 DVD with a spdif output.

The results - A-m-a-z-i-n-g !!!

They are definitly better than my Van den Hul "The Name" 75 ohm cables

Give it a whirl if you have components with spdif

I think you will be pleasantly surprised

However - I think the gzero2 IC will be just as effective for digital purposes - I don't think you need to use something as expensive as the gZero6's :-)

Regards
yping
351 posts
 
Williewonka, now that is interesting...
williewonka OP
3,072 posts
 
Yping, many of todays analogue IC's are capable of delivering digital content - since the quality of the copper used is extremely high, but the impedance of RCA's they employ tends to be the issue.

My VDH "The NAME" is just one of several IC's that can perform double duties.

But - to the consumer, it sounds better if a company has a purpose built "Digital Interconnect"

The KLEI Harmony RCA'a all have an impedance greater than 110 ohms, so they will work very well on the 50, 75 and 110 ohm cables used for digital IC's - so I'm told by KLE Innovations.

Granted - the Harmony RCA's do not "match" the impedance of the cable, but it appears using them for digital duty does not impede the cable's performance as would a more conventional RCA.

The KLEI gZero IC's also appear to have sufficient screening ability so as to prevent noise from degrading the digital signal, so it stands to reason they would be able to perform as a digital IC.

There maybe some members that will disagree with this, but all I can say is that I and others have tried the RCA's on "digital cable" and using the standard IC's for digital links and found they work - extremely well!

Proof of the pudding is in the listening :-)

Regards ...
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