PAD Venustas

Has anyone compared the PAD Venustas or Aqueous to the Audience Au24 interconnects?

I currently own the Audience Au24 RCA interconnects and, because of an equipment upgrade, have the opportunity to move to an XLR cable. I really like the sound characteristics of the Au24...ultra smooth midrange, esp for female vocals, relaxed, smooth presentation, treble without etch or glare, wide soundstage, etc. If there was any improvement area in this cable, I would like to hear more micro-level detail (again, without etch or glare), and perhaps a stronger bass response.

After doing some research on Audiogon, it would appear that the Purist Audio Venustas might be a good match. Has anyone tried both the Audience AU24 AND the Purist Venustas and made a comparison? Should I go with the Venustas....? or should I move up to the XLR version of the Audience Au24?

I would appreciate anyone's comments or recommendations!

calgarian5355

I really like the sound characteristics of the Au24...ultra smooth midrange, esp for female vocals, relaxed, smooth presentation, treble without etch or glare, wide soundstage, etc.

I would say a couple of things. I've found with two components that I actually liked the music more with the RCAs than with the XLRs. They were the same cable, naturally, but both had the same effect of losing focus with the XLRs. YMMV, of course.

You obviously are a big fan of the AU24. I found them to be exactly as you describe, but within an hour I was really bored with the music. The Venustas have similar qualities--excellent bass as well--but in contrast to the AU24, I find the music to be enveloping and utterly engaging. My suggestion would be to pick up a used pair of Venustas, leave them in your system for 3-4 days (they may disappoint at first), and then go back to the AU24. Then you'll know which you prefer, and you could end up sticking with what you already have.

Best of luck!

I have been able to recently compare the Venustus against the Aqueous.
The Venustus has defintaly more bass but not tighter bass.
The Aqueous has more high end extension and better overall dynamics.
I prefer the Aqueous over the Venustus.
Funny, I tried the Aqueous early on from the Cable Co. and did not care for them, now they sound great!.
The first try, the set was probably not as burned in as the set I just tried.
In fact, when I tried them this time they did not sound so good in the midrange the first day but after a couple days they opened up.

I wonder though if 2 runs of Aqueous would be better still than a bi-wire set?