2. cables
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Who out there wants to, or has, validated an amazing cable find?

I own a very decent audio system and have slowly been moving up over the last several decades weeding out less-natural sounding equipment and focusing on best sound for my money (what I can afford). My current gear is a collect of Quad, Pass, Klyne, VPI, soekris and a fairly large collection of Kimber, audio quest, Furutech, Cardas, Straightwire, DH Labs cables built up over time.

I have come across lots of high-priced gear that isn't faithful to the music. My reference has always been unamplified voice and instruments and attend such concerts regularly though they are hard to find (but still easy if you live near a major city).

It always a pleasure to come across gear that is low priced and exceeds higher priced gear when it comes to faithful reproduction of music holding to the live unamplifed sound standard.

So.....

I have recently purchased some ATAUDIO cables from Aliexpress that have left me stunned due to low price and performance. Recommended by another audiophile who seemed credible and owned good equipment so decided to give them a try.

A $26 1 meter ATAUDIO copper interconnect cables is running neck and neck my Cardas Clear interconnects and beaten my Cardas clear Cygnus interconnect cables when it comes to clarity, lack of edge and sibilance, warm open holographic sound reproduction. 

Would someone here with a good resolving audio system give one of the ATAUDIO cables a try? The price is noise for us who have invested in decent (high-end) audio system.

ATAUDIO power cords and Interconnects have proved amazing. About to try their speaker cables. I would not recommend their silver cables. I tried them and while they sound more robust and full than their copper cables the silver cables have the a high frequency edge similar to other silver cables I have heard.

Just looking for couple of regular posters here to give the ATAUDIO cables a try.
Can't resist passing along an audio bargain.

If you don't believe in cables making differences please don't post here and go do something else as you have already found your happiness. 

sudnh
benanders's avatar
benanders
213 posts
 

pennfootball71

193 posts

 

Synergistic literally melts the silver on the cable from super high voltages to smooth out the silver to have a perfect surface, Audioquest rubs the cable between 2 massive plates at high pressures to smooth out imperfections, DH labs draws the cable through a jig to smooth out the silver.

These things are perplexing to me bc at the end of such production strategies, the cables all get rolled into packaging of some sort or another.

What happens to molecularly perfect cylindrical metal surfaces when cables are coiled / uncoiled?

This isn’t a prod. It’s just a query on how chemical effects on cables should be lasting if the cables are not infinitely malleable like the T-1000?

 

roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,688 posts
 

@pennfootball71

I am well read in audio, and I’m familiar with the many unusual schemes that have been used to improve cable performance, but you need to realize that just because something sounds wonderful and exotic doesn’t mean that its actual performance is superior. Sometimes it will be, and other times it is not much more than romantic ad copy.

vthokie83
643 posts
 

sudnh,

I have spent a ton of time over the last 3 months studying cable purity, construction, and geometry. A lot of companies (some Japanese, some US, a few Chinese), are striving to make the very best possible cable and connectors. I personally cannot afford a $2,000 to $10,000 cable, and one would not make sense in my system.

What I have decided to do is buy very very high quality bulk cable and connectors, and build my own cables. I've spent several month accumulating the components, and will start construction in a couple of weeks. I can't afford a $2,000 Neotech power cable, but I can afford 2 meters of their bulk cable, split it in half, and put some IeGO connectors on it. We'll see how this experiment works out in the end.

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
263 posts
 

@vthokie83 there have been many who have done that, by all means part of this hobby is diy'ing and tinkering, so have fun with it. And who knows, maybe you will end up creating something special in the end that you can sell as a side business. I think @ozzy has some experience with this buying bulk silver cable etc., maybe he can chime in. 

vthokie83
643 posts
 

mclinnguy,

For me the exercise is to end up with some really nice cables, but also the assembly process, and ultimately to learn from the experience. The cable I'm starting out with is all highly reputable: Furutech, Neotech, Acoustic Revive, SAEC, Oyaide, RAMM, DHLabs, etc....from reputable US sources, but some purchased and shipped from Japan buy an Expat friend.

Copper is OCC, PCOCC, DUCC, Triple-C, Furutech nano, Oyaide 102 SSC; some silver plated, but mostly copper.

The same with connectors: RAMM, Oyaide, Furutech, IeGO, SonarQuest, Viborg. It should be fun, and maybe next year I can share some findings.

 

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