Grover Huffman GH RCA ZX+ cables vs...

Tubehead21,

When you state "I don't think the Huffmans and the Shunyatas would ever be cross-shopped ", I think you may be surprised that I am not the only Audiogon shopper who has "cross-shopped" from Huffman to Shunyata -- either directly or with intermediate steps. And if you shop wisely on Audiogon you can pick up some Shunyata cables for not much more than Huffman cables.

Please note I did mention earlier that Huffman cables offer good value at their price points. But your point is well made. Of course, the cost of the more expensive Shunyata cables is far higher than Huffman cables. But please note that Shunyata has recently cut the price of their cables substantially while improving their quality. An amazing feat in high end audio where price increases are usually expected.

Sts,

I believe that not everyone here will know who Sts is. IMO, it would have been appropriate for you to make a full disclosure before your recent post to let people know that you are the maker of Gabriel Gold cables.

Just checking in like I said I would. About a month in, and probably have about 100 hours on the ZX+s. I like what I'm hearing. The sound is lively, detailed, and very quick. There is definitely good a good sense of energy pulsing through the system that wasn't there before.

IMHO Shunyata haven't the clarity of my cables, and dismissing my cables via my price point shows price bias that isn't reflected in reality.
What makes a great cable is its ability to transport a signal without putting a signature over it. Most cables place sheen (cable caused distortion) over the signal this is why some use cables as tone controls. This is the wrong priority; you need a great cable to perfect the components in your system. Cables come first they are the limiting force. You can never overcome the limit an inferior cable imposes on a system.

I have compared Huffman ZX cables with literally dozens of other cables in A/B testing using all sonic parameters as a guide. The cables I have used for these comparisons are from Cardas, Mogami, Supra, Pangea, ASI Liveline, Kimber, Bybee, Furutech, Synergistic Research, Elrod and Shunyata.

After comparing many Shunyata cables with Huffman ZX cables there is no contest. Shunyata wins hands down -- across all parameters -- in my system and in other systems where I have heard them. This includes the parameters of detail, clarity and transparency. Huffman cables have a very definite signature -- a constricted sound stage and a sound that lacks fullness (harmonics). The result is SQ that lacks "naturalness", for want of a better word.

Huffman cables do not deliver "true to the recording" sound at all. They delivery what I would characterize as a "small" sound -- thin and constricted -- appropriate for less expensive systems, perhaps. To highlight these observations, if we are looking only at ribbon cables, if you compare the Huffman ribbon cables with Elrod ribbon cables (much more expensive, to be sure) it is very easy to confirm the same observations made (above) regarding Shunyata cables.