Acoustic Zen vs Synergistic Research

I guess I am one of those that prefers AZ over SR Tesla..

AZ = more body, better for human vocal

SR Tesla = more transparent, spacious, better for instruments

I'm a sucker for human vocal, so I settle on AZ

Try the AZ double barrel. You can find it for less than $1000. For me it is alot better than Satori. Robert Lee told me that he adds some silver to both high and low runs (it's not just a satori over a hologram). The low frequency portion is 8 gauge which may or may not be an advantage to you. YMMV - Jim

I compared Synergistic Tesla Acoustic Ref with the AZ Satori Shotgun, and found the Synergistic somewhat better balanced and more accurate overall. That said, however, I found the AZ to be an extremely fine sounding cable, with an excellent sense of imaging and a nice fullness to the sound. My only minor quibble was that in my system, I found the lower midrange/mid-upper bass region to be just a tad too much, to the extent that double basses seemingly sounded undistinguishable from lower registers of cellos. Albeit, different tastes for different folks. I could easily live with either of these two top quality cables.

It would be interesting to compare AZ Absolute to SR Tesla cables. Absolute shows the traits Audiophile1 writes SR cables have.