Acoustic Zen Absolute Copper vs. Cardas Clear interconnects

@dbt I didn’t compare them with Cardas Clear but the AZs couldn’t be beat by:

Audience AU24SX, Kimber KS1126, Analysis Plus Silver Apex, Nordost Tyr 1.

The cables that were a better fit for my system were Nordost Tyr 2. And this is an important point…better fit for my system.

The Absolute are resolving but warm sounding cables with great mids, delicate but extended highs and lots pf bass with very good texture top to bottom. There’s no harshness or sibilance with these cables and they don’t cause any fatigue.
But…it’s really system/room/listener dependent. I would probably not move on if it wasn’t for an amplifier upgrade that just resulted in a bit too much bottom end and required me to rebalance the sound.

One other note - I tried and found the Absolute speaker cables to be too dark sounding. But again that’s just my take on it in my system.
If you’re after sound with lots of meat on the bone without sacrificing resolution, the Absolute XLRs or RCAs will deliver.

@audphile1 I appreciate your impressions!  Sharing a comparison of several other cable brands and how the Absolute Copper interconnects sound in your system is good information.  

I am surprised the Absolute speaker cable was dark sounding in your system because it’s a hybrid cable and it seems like the silver would eliminate the dark sound?  Not so in your setup.  So, are you replacing the Acoustic Zen with Nordost Tyr 2 interconnects and speaker cables?  I will be trying the Absolute Copper interconnects at some point.

Thanks for your impressions and I hope you can get the new amp dialed in!

I have the Acoustic Zen Absolute Copper XLRs which I felt were an upgrade from Harmonic Technology Magic Link 2's.  I also have the AZ Absolute speaker cables which are great.  I didn't carefully compare them to anything else but my system certainly doesn't sound dark.

But you specifically asked about AES cables, and recently I bought a Shunyata Etron Python AES cable that simply trounced my Audioquest Coffee Coax cable in exactly the same setup just different connections.  And in talking with several people it seems the Shunyata digital cables are very well regarded in general.  I don't have any other expensive digital cables to compare to but if you are doing a serious comparison I would add the Shunyata's into the mix.

I did replace them with Tyr 2 XLRs. 
I’ll add that I tried the Absolute speaker cables when I had Martin Logan Montis speakers, not with my Wilson Sabrina. But the XLRs were replaced when I already had the Sabrinas. Once again, I didn’t replace them because they were bad but only because of the synergy with the new amps. 
I would encourage you to try the speaker cables and the XLRs to see how they sound in your system. Overall fantastic cables and I highly recommend them.