Audio envy - dang!


I usually post on AG when I have an issue or concern, so I’m happy for once it’s to praise a new product, in this case Audio Envy’s IC. 

I use an ARC Classic 60 amp with a Herron 1A preamp. The AE cable went between these two.

I run an ARC Phono pre PH3se from my VPI prime as source.
My speakers are Thiel CS2.4’s

Out of the box a bit bright, But after a few hours that just went to strait up transparent - I mean freaking crystal clear. No tonal aberrations. Smooth, with no etched highs. Voices sound right, Natural. Soundstage opened up, as you might expect when things get clearer.

The best part was how inexpensive they were. They made my Cardas Clear Light interconnects I was using sound clouded by contrast. The Cardas was about x3 the cost of the AE’s.
BTW, this wasn’t “I think I hear differences”, this was “I’ll never use those Cardas in this system again, and where is my IPad, I need to order my next set!”

And that’s just what I did.
last_lemming
Post removed 
Well there's always someone who feels like investigating my posting history. Because of that I feel like I can't break the trend so it's basically become my brand.

Anyway to try and expose the apparent sound staging I listened to Factory Girl from Beggars Banquet by Rolling Stones. I picked this track because it has a strong spatial effect due to manipulating stereo. Listening to this I realized that the "shift" in soundstage I experienced is due to one of the cable sets being cross-wired. Honestly it doesn't look there's much a difference between the AE and Mogami cables in place. I'll need to test further, perhaps not with rapid A/B testing which might be messing up my audio perception.

I also have a set of Audio Sensibility cables connecting pre to amp. I'll figure out how to test those as well.

Source: custom audio server, linear power supply, Paul Pang v3 USB card + external battery supply. SSD power isolated with splitter cable to another battery. Windows 10, Fidelizer Pro, Roon. All fanless. CD player when the batteries are charging.

DAC: Schiit Yggdrasil Analog 2 + Unison USB (Supra USB cable and optical for CD player).

Pre: Yaqin B-2T + Herbie tube dampeners, all NOS. Both DAC and pre plugged into a Chinese balanced isolation transformer. Audio Sensibility power cables to devices, transformer is plugged into a Furutech outlet with a AE power cable.

Amp: VTV Purifi, currently burning in but I think it's about done. Old Odyssey Stratos standing by, Odyssey Kismet coming in. LessLoss level 1 power-filtering cable (not the C-Marc) with a LessLoss Firewall x64, plugged directly into a Furutech outlet.

Speakers: ProAc D30R + Audio Sensibility cables + matching jumpers. 

Cap here with Audio Envy, 

We are blessed to have many outspoken clients and now friends. I extend my gratitude to be a part of their audio system and life. 

Addressing directly to madavid0. Most thread comments are relevant to our current cable offerings. Which have evolved from your/madavid0 claims of past purchased some years ago.   I have read through your/madavid0 other posts  and can appreciate your straight forward, no nonsense demeanor. However, I appreciate the truth too. Perhaps take some time and reflect on what your intentions are.  Would your single experience be more important than hundreds of satisfied listeners?

 This is not a marketing ploy. I would not spend the time, nor the deep CIA level planning to implement such. I believe you’ll find these audiophiles have a solid history here and love talking about cool gear.  

Perhaps our latest cable offerings can bring you up to par with customers excitement. If not, perhaps what your ears sense or like, is not in accordance with AE fans or myself, and that’s ok, because somebody out there makes a cable for you to get excited about…. even if you have to go to japan...little joke;) 

 EVERYBODY THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL THE SUPPORT😊. It truly is a blessing these days for a smaller company to get any traction at all.  Let’s move forward that it’s not David’s wishes to disparage such for entertainment.


@madavid0 -- I'm trying to understand the motivation behind your original post with respect to the 'red flag' comment. Are you implying that those who are smitten by AE cables are in fact shrills working on behalf of the captain who is orchestrating some sort of a clandestine operation? Or is it because you think that AE fans are novices who are particularly prone to irrational exuberance due to lack of experience?

It's always a good idea to backup your claims with some evidence before making these kinds of baseless accusations.
@arafiq Yes, I am implying that. Of course I could easily be wrong and it’s simply that it’s unrelated people participating in a feel-good groupthink exercise. No cables will have the amazing revelatory effects being described here, and also the almost unadulterated positivity, no one at all except for one person seems to be able to be mildly critical. Don’t worry I haven’t officially labeled the AE cables as "nothing special" yet, more testing is required.

Anyway, AE has nothing to worry about. People, especially in the lower budget spectrum, will already make up their minds about the cables being excellent because they prefer to believe they’ve found the "smart" buy, and all they need to see is most people on here praising it. The one or two mediocre reviews will just get dismissed.

I did the same thing with Anticables some years ago. I trialed a set of their top of the line 6.2 interconnects. Far more expensive than these AEs. I compared them against a set of old no-name cables using pro stock (I forget which) with big heavy connectors lying around the basement. At first the 6.2 was much worse, but after a good amount of burn-in they improved to...no difference at all. No matter how hard I listened I couldn’t tell any difference that wasn’t so minor that it couldn’t be chalked up to memory effects. So, I returned them. No harm no foul. Of course nobody wanted to hear my findings for the reasons stated above and I’m sure that thread hasn’t impacted the purchasing decision of a single person.

And I guess I’ll say that the versions of the cables I have are labeled "patent pending" and look different compared to what’s on the site. The interconnects look more like the phono cables without the grounding wires. I also note that prices have been greatly increased. Has the owner increased price to match the better performance? Or is it just bringing things more into line with expected audiophile margins?