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Digital Cable : Copper, Solid Core, Unshielded

I find this recipe having the best of copper tonality and speed of silver. I am very rigid about using copper cables simply because I am tired of trying out Silver cables which sound dry to my ears. I do not intend to experiment more in that direction. Copper is good enough.

I am looking for a digital cable. I have recently realized that proper PRAT can make music extremely enjoyble and also that PRAT is one of the most neglected aspects among the things we consider important in our system.
Most of the times we ask for smooth natural tonality, extension, soundstaging, layering etc...it is rare that we see PRAT in the list and even if it is there, it is mostly down below. Unsurprisingly many systems lack PRAT (including mine). We can argue that we still enjoy our music well, but believe me, we do not know what we are missing till we hear it. Recently a friend of mine got his power cord over to my place. This friend is an out and out PRAT guy. Everything that he selects for his system has to have good PRAT factor as a first thing. I always knew this power cord would also have some of that factor...but the change was not subtle at all. Tonally my existing power cord was no less (in fact a tad better), imaging, staging everything was on par between these cords but the kind of musicality the extra pace and Rhythm brought in was amazing. Inserting my old cord made things pretty boring. I could not believe that the same trusted power cord which I was loving 30 minutes back is sounding boring to my ears now. My friend gave me another such example when he removed my Interconnect and placed in an Anti IC and there was a similar improvement (less pronounced than the power cord though). Forgive my rambling here. I wanted to make a point here. I think PRAT is one of the top most important things in Audio.

Having used different varieties of ICs in the recent past, I have realised that Unshielded cables in general have this property of presenting music as if it were flowing on a smooth and fast express highway without any restriction. There is a natural open-ness combined with Speed.
Combine this with solid core conductor and you can actually attain a very clean transparent sound which is liquid, fast, open and tonally natural.
This is not a formula that works with every such design. For me it did not work with Tara Labs RSC Master Gen.
But if done well, this looks like a very good recipe.

I am trying to figure if you guys can recommend digital cables based on this kind of design. "Unshielded Solid Core Copper".
I have one in mind, Digital Anti IC.
pani
pani OP
1,219 posts
 
Al,
Technically, I cannot talk much.
But there is some reason that I have written this post.
I have only learnt through observations and experiments. I would jot down some illustrations:

1. I have heard the Ridge Street Audio Poima Rv2 analog and digital interconnects. They are both made from silver (I guess similar conductors) and they both sounded similar. Somewhat dry with some silvery haze.

2. I also had a pair of ASI liveline analog interconnects.
They are a mix of many metals (Copper, Silver, Gold etc). For those who do not know, ASI uses the exact same interconnect for both their analog and digital offering.
So I have heard them as analog IC as well used them as digital IC. Both of them clearly sounded as if cut from the same sonic cloth. Very detailed, live, somewhat forward with a sparkling top end. It was too hot for my taste.

3. I have also heard the Yamamura Millenium 5000 and 6000 analog and digital interconnects. These are made of high purity copper. Undoubtedly they have a very similar sound signature between their analog and digital ICs.
A very enchanting mid range with the most natural vocals, a tad rounded in the bass and smooth airy highs, with a huge soundstage presentation.

In all the above cases the digital and analog ICs were made up of same/similar material and they sounded almost alike. At least the signature sound was almost the same.

I dont deny there can be ICs which may sound very different in their digital and analog avatars but if I have to take a blind guess (without listening), I would vote for the fact that they would sound alike.
earflappin
87 posts
 
One of the challenges of trying to categorize how cables sound is that when we listen to cables we are listening to our entire system, including the signature of the room. Therefore, when one describes a cable as being too bright or forward, it could well be that cable is actually more neutral than one that is less bright. In other words, the more neutral the cable the more you hear the weaknesses or strengths of your system.

I have a very high resolution system and I found the Liveline cables to be fantastic as they are so neutral they let the strenghts of my system to come through uncolored.
pani OP
1,219 posts
 
Did you find ASI to present a slightly forward soundstage ?
earflappin
87 posts
 
Pani, can you define what you mean by "forward"? Thanks.
pani OP
1,219 posts
 
Forward meaning, the images are upfront, it is closer to you than you would expect. Such a presentation can excite for the initial period but it never allows you to relax. Every system has a default soundstage perspective, from there on cables can either make it more laidback or upfront, the livelines did the later. It is a great tweak for a system which is a bit too laidback.
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