Veritas Cables a new brand that I found

Okay, Veritas has responded and I will post my observations and their response so we have both sides. They are a stand-up organizaion.

11/9/2024

Trial run of Veritas Argentum silver XLR cables on loan.

System: https://www.audiogon.com/systems/10635

A little background on me and my experiences and love of music; still practicing engineering full time after 43 years while passing through General Motors, BF Goodrich Aerospace, Eaton Corp., and Parker Hannifin and others, started drumming at 8 after 2 years of piano, owned a grand piano for a decade, own 2 drum kits, played in jazz bands, rock bands, polka band, big band groups, and played internationally one time as a teen.

The Veritas folks generously offered to loan me a pair to evaluate before deciding on a purchase. I decided to evaluate the Argentums after 4 days of Hagerman burn in (48 hours voltage method then 48 hours current method) without refreshing my memory with my current setup. I always keep notes on a 5x7 notebook and rattled off 3.5 pages on Friday night going through favorites within 4 different playlists. System is all digital served up by an Aurender X100L through a Shunyata Sigma USB to a Bricasti M1.

I won’t bore you with all the nitty gritty detail notes of each song. Learning what this cable is all about was quite a ride. I was taking a positive approach for all the tracks I now claim (in hindsight) to be the warm up songs. Carlos Mombelli and Dave Holland/Pepe Habichuela tracks were musically engaging, Guitar plucks were strong, soundstage was wide and came from the back wall. I wrote “everything is coming through.” Overhang and sustain of mallets and sticks on cymbals was very evident and realistic. Smooth sound with no silver wire etching.

I had to make sure I was considering all the parameters and then realized the bass was a little shy on Sunshine by The Neurotics. And then I wrote that the voices are not as clear as my Siltech Princesses on One Day Like This by Elbow. The male voice was front and center, but not as clear as I was used to.

I did not recognize at the time that I was on a roller coaster as I am getting more familiar with this cable and comparing to my memory of the Siltech. About this time I am beginning to note that the sound is continually making me feel like I am in the venue. The Siltechs put you in the studio. Hold that thought.

Miles Davis – The Man I Love had the trumpet front and center and tonally correct and the marimba being struck with the mallets was spot on. When I put on Banjo by Leonard Cohen, the soundstage was wide and the voices were very separate and well delineated. I wrote that the band is in the room with me.  Cohen’s – The Night in Santiago opens with a guitar and it was very clear and his voice was full throated (which is why I love his deep voice from his later years).

Esbjorn Svensson’s Believe, Beleft, Below track displayed nice brush work that made the snare sound realistic, the piano was realistic, and everyone was in the room. It was not half-baked stereophonic. I made a note that the female voice was “less sterile than the Siltech” with Old Note by Lisa O’Neill. This could go either way.

Etta James was in the venue and not coming from the speakers in Trust in Me. A little spooky, especially for decades old recording.

At this point in time I was formulating a negative view. While I was getting some interesting ambience, like the venue portrayal on many tracks, my gray matter was being pinged with several areas that bothered me:

• Were these cables noisy?
• Were they crowding some players in a way that made it somewhat of a sloppy presentation?
• Were the Siltechs too clinical and my paradigm locked in to that approach?
• Was the musicality of the Argentum a result of a different presentation that kept the individual instruments sacred but at the expense of the tidiness of the group playing as a unit?

So now that I was somewhat perplexed (using nice words here), I decided to pull out my most most highest greatest super-duper favorite tracks etched into my brain from a multitude of cable testing sessions. I wrote on my page that NOW I will get serious and truly test these cables. The previous 90 minutes was a warm-up. Call me a putz.

Joan of Arc by Leonard Cohen is my favorite track because it has his deep voice, the female solos floating over the top, soulful violin, and a lilting female chorus that just makes you want to sway back and forth (roll with me here). His voice lacked the solid bass he possesses and there was a mush of the instruments and voices. That wass not enjoyable in that monent. This track and the next few sealed my opinion.

Taylor by Jack Johnson starts out with his voice and guitar until the bass and drums kick in. The bass was boomy and the tune was incohesive. Brian Bromberg’s rendition of The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers has got to play deep and tight. The Argentum displayed realistic tone but the bass was not deep and room filling.

At this point in time I turned to a hard no on these cables.

I kept going anyway.

I literally wrote at the end of the Friday session: “Presents very realistically and I have to adjust. Will go back to Siltechs and repeat these tomorrow. Am I not used to “real”, am I too analytical?” This was after sampling Oscar Peterson’s Trio – You look Good to me where the instruments were realistic, but the tune was not gelling.

So, now it is the next day and I put the Siltechs back in and run through these last several tracks and all was right with the world again. Dead quiet background, every instrument and voice in its place, smooth and seamless presentation. Not clinical – whew! I would be proud to show off this presentation to a room full of critics and feel confident I would receive positive comments.

I really wanted the Argentum’s to be the Holy Grail. They did many things realistically and in a fun way. But as an engineer tends to do, we analyze and desire perfection. I rode the roller coaster up and down in my heavy desire to like the cables enough to own them. In some cases my own notes are deceptive because I wanted them to have attributes that I had felt the Siltech’s did not have.

So, in summary I would wrap my comments up by saying what I experienced while questioning my paradigm about the sound I am digging on a daily basis. The Argentums were light on bass, a little sloppy in bringing the band together as one, made some tunes sound disjointed while simultaneously bringing forward realistic instrument sounds. In some cases they were super fun in making the soundstage into the live venue and layering the sound front to back more than side to side.

All the normal caveats apply: my system, my ears, my paradigms, my experiences, expectations, and preferences, so YMMV.

Veritas congenial reply is next and they nailed it. I heard things they like about their own cable and I did not like things that were personally outside my desires.

 

Veritas reply to my pontification:

"

Hi Pete,

 

Thank you for taking the time to evaluate the cable and to put your thoughts into a cohesive write-up. While we obviously would have loved an over-the-top raving review, real life doesn't often work like that. And it's a testament to your character that you gave a fully considered, nuanced take on what you heard, for better or for worse.

 

It is interesting to note that some of the attributes we value most - a natural, non-analytical presentation, a lack of treble etch, a focus on layering and instrument separation - were things you identified yet didn't always resonate with. Also interesting is your mention of sounding more like live music in the venue versus the studio presentation - the live aspect is very much more to our preference, but that's going to be different for every listener. 

 

In the end, no arguments here, you seem to hear the cable similar to us in many ways (ok we might argue the bass aspect but different systems and all that) so it just seems like not an ideal match in terms of priorities. We still appreciate your perspective and hope it helps educate others in terms of what our cable does and what it doesn't do.

 

We'll get a prepaid label sent over to you later today so you can send the cable back at no charge. No rush, just throw it in the mail whenever you get a chance.

 

Thank you again for the opportunity and for taking the time to investigate a little brand like us.

 

Cheers!

Veritas Cables"

Note to self and maybe to others. I will note down on the sound of Veritas cables and how they may or may not change every 10 hours and see when they stop changing.

 

Also, Veritas has publicly stated their Argentum has fantastic synergy with the Aperta speaker cable. It’d be great to hear more on how each cable perform individual and also as a pair.

Powerful force above, please give me the strength to wait out for my Aperta cables.

Thanks the info on different small cable manufacturers. I suggest checking out the cables from Pine Tree Audio. A small manufacturer in Fitchburg, MA. They make reasonably priced cables with a choice of cool colors and lengths. They sell their items through their website and on eBay. Purchased a black and blue twist 2 foot USB cable. Looking at their Ethernet cable too.

@bugredmachine Thanks for taking the time to complete a very thorough review of the Argentum X interconnects. A very nice listening room and system you have there. For clarification purposes I was attempting to identify which specific interconnects you were making a comparison to. Is it the Siltech Crown Princess Interconnect? I found the Siltech website a bit overwhelming.