2. cables
  3. 162333-142524

What Was Your Favorite “Game Changer” Moment?

I've been rebuilding and modifying my system since the summer of 2029. I have a pile of rejected cables and assorted gear to sell sometime soon. Several times I told myself that I was finally finished with upgrades, only to be tempted to try just one more thing. Happily, I stumbled upon an unexpected game changer in the past week. I purchased a used pair of Fusion Audio Romance 1 interconnects.

The reviews, some on this forum, suggested that this cable is “warm and romantic,” as the name implies. My biggest concern was that the top end might be somewhat muted. I have been using Shunyata Venom interconnects and speaker cables. They have plenty of top end sparkle that I didn’t want to lose. But I’m always in favor of curbing harshness.

Well, not to worry. The Fusion Audio interconnects did not just keep the high end sparkle, they extended it. And they did it in a very musically pleasing way. I played a native tropical bossa nova album, and the percussion instruments danced around in a stunning holographic fashion. On some other albums, I heard female vocals served with a sublime, expressive quality that surpasses anything that my system was capable of before.

I consider myself a “warm side of neutral” kind of listener. Fatiguing harshness has always been the obstacle to overcome. But I want the details at both ends of the spectrum. As for Fusion Audio cables, they are available at Audio Surroundings in Boca Raton, Florida. Here is the link: https://www.audiosurroundings.com/store.php?seller=Ericlove&navt1=263817&per=6&num=6&...

Does anyone know how to contact Eric Love, who was mentioned in numerous threads a few years ago as the maker of these cables? I would like to contact him.

Please share your favorite “game changer” moments with cables and other items. I'm still looking for the “magic” USB cable.

My system:

Exposure 3010S2D integrated amp
DynAudio floor standing speakers
Topping D70 DAC
Auralic Aries Femto music streamer with SBooster power supply
Kitsune modded Singxer SU-2 USB bridge
Netgear S8000 Network switch with streaming music preset
Cables and power cords by Shunyata, Lessloss, Wireworld, PS Audio, Chord Company, Fusion Audio


boakey39
pauly
1,012 posts
 
Power cables/filters and bass traps. I was very skeptical about tweaks but these turned out to be massive upgrades. They changed changed my from being a skeptic (read, narrow minded) to being open minded. 

It also made me understand why we have so many man made disasters like the RMS Titanic, Gleno dam, Tacoma narrows bridge, Chernobyl, Fukushima etc.
larryi
3,790 posts
 
I've experienced a number of pleasant surprises over the years.  One of the early surprises, after hearing some Klipsch, Altec, JBL and Electro Voice horn systems, was hearing an Edgarhorn system that lacked the coloration that I thought was common to horn systems.  After that, I've heard many other good horn systems.  Likewise, I did not think that single driver speakers could do reasonable bass and have a reasonably smooth frequency response (i.e., absent a high frequency peak) until I heard Charney's quarter wave backloaded horn systems.

For amps, my early exposure to tube amps were primarily Audio Research amps and I did not particularly like them.  I heard a number of other higher powered tube amps that also did not really excite me.  It was later that I got introduced to lower-powered pushpull and single ended amps and I still like those kinds of amps.  The most surprising single amp I heard was a custom-built output transformerless amp that is one of my all time favorites--very dynamic and exciting sounding without being artificially edgy or harsh sounding.  
chayro
2,940 posts
 
When I heard in my own system that a $750 turntable in some ways sounded better than my 10K CD player. I knew then that I needed to reorient my thinking about my future upgrades. 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Et tu, chayro?

Same with me, twice! First, Robert Harley convinced me to dig my old Technics SL1700 out of storage. Bent cantilever had to be straightened, okay. Bearing was dry, whatever. No way it is gonna sound that good anyway, right? This is just to humour old Bob. Only "phono stage" I had was the one built into my 30 year old Kenwood integrated amp. Put on a record, blew my mind! Wife came home, not knowing what was playing said Wow that sounds great what is it?!    

Second game-changer, Definitive Audio had a LP12 in a Linn wall system on the side wall of their main listening room. Never heard a Linn so we dug around found a dirty old random record they had somewhere, total crap never heard of before. Put it on, walls melted away, huge sound stage, freaking unbelievable!

Sales rep says you like that listen to this. Pulls out a CD of Janis Ian Breaking Silence. One of the all-time best audiophile recordings guaranteed to make any system sound better all by itself. Puts it into this Mark Levinson transport that alone cost more than the whole Linn system. Plays it through monster ML mono-blocks into Wilson Watt-Puppy.

Cranks up Breaking Silence and within ten seconds I am like, "Crap. I have got to get a turntable." This system costs probably 5X the Linn. It is playing an absolutely superb recording that I love. And the little Linn is making it sound like crap.

Total game changer.
petg60
1,486 posts
 
Back in 1985 when i got Cyrus 2 and PSX, shoebox amp with the plastic casing, but it was a good introduction.

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