@b_limo
hi jack away! I‘m loving hearing about your tweaks. I’m learning alot from your journaling and I’m sure others are / will as well. I’ve been asking myself similar questions and your feedback is hugely appreciated! Thanks for the continual updating fellas 👍. Seriously, it is helpful and not going unnoticed.
Thanks for listing all of your equipment as well. It helps everyone reading this to know exactly where you are coming from. My amp/pre, dac (Anthem I-225, Bluesound Node 2i) is pretty entry level yet I can hear the same results as you guys are hearing.
Whenever I had used to try to break down what percentage of your money goes where, I’d allot 10-15% for cables. I thought that amount was actually high. Now I’d say 20-35% should be spent. Also, if you can swing a bunch of these Solo Crystals, you’ll be done forever and every component (speakers, amps, dacs, pre’s) will benefit. I would love to have heard my favorite personal system I ever owned, with these in place.
Tried again for the fourth time going back to decent former interconnects to check myself and hearing. No way, each time lasting about ten minutes immediately missing all sorts of things from my former cables when comparing to AP Crystal Solos [in my system].
After several listening sessions, there is more here to these particular AP crystal solo cables than I originally anticipated they would bring.
For Bright sounding systems (not a good match, likely):
If I had an overly bright solid state amplifier and super lean sounding speakers I’d stop here. These OCC cables are not passive EQ filters like some overly laid back heavy OFC copper cables. Unless you have poor hearing in upper frequencies, these might not fit well in some systems.
For Smooth sounding systems (yes, can be a nice improvement):
In a relatively smooth sounding system where the high frequencies are not overly accentuated, these cables can really shine - as the OCC copper and this design seems to bring forward everything.
Most Surprising Discovery (comparing to softer OFC copper cables):
#1 Sound stage increase (wide, tall, and deep), decay
#2 Added separation of instruments, truly a new experience.
#3 Added clarity to vocals, strings, detail, and some added texture.
#4 Bass control and speed of bass was really kind of a surprise. Not mushy.
#5 Deeper bass, not necessarily boomier. Lower bass detail comes from nowhere.
It takes some getting use to at first if you are use to lower quality OFC cables or less. Sure, burn-in time, whatever...but the cables bring forth "more" of everything. Once I realized what was going on, really started liking them. Once acclimated its hard to go back to other cables :)
Tube amp owners (note):
You may find yourself revisiting your input tubes in preamps, DACs, input tubes on your amp(s). Once you hear what the interconnect cables offer when used end-to-end, it can trigger desires for further tuning to shape the tone as you will hear new things with capable gear, speakers. As for solid state amps/preamps, if it’s harsh - it’s going to expose it more. These cables are bitchen’ with really good tube pre/amps.
Burn-in:
Again, told 300hrs but I’m just enjoying the cables (as-is) for what they do now, willing to just listen and hoping they don’t change a lot, seem to be about the same at 200hrs for the past 50hrs, maybe just a micro detail smoother now after 150hrs. I did hear speaker cables take longer, maybe interconnects not quite 300hrs speaking with a few at mfg.
