Transparent Reference XL or Nordost Valhalla

Herman, i couldn't agree more......after i reread my post i wished i had eliminated "at this level" in that sentence.

thanks for making that point.

Great advice guys, I really appreciate the input. I own a pair of B&W Nautilus 802.

Danny, the N802 would be on the lean side of neutral.....i would recommend auditioning the Valhalla before purchase. there might be other cable that would have a better balance in your system. if your source gear is "lean"....read "digital" sounding the balance might be strident or forward....it comes down to taste. in a vinyl system with a "rich" sounding cartridge it could be perfect.

be patient with the cable matching process for best results.

FWIW, I've tried the Valhalla with the Rowland 10 using WP6 speakers, and I did find the sound too lean, bordering on bright. Source was the Audiomeca Enkianthus DAC.

However, I love the Valhalla with Levinson (same source and speakers), which is darker sounding than the Rowland. So indeed, synergy (as well as personal taste) is very important.

I agree with Jacpii(along with what everyone else said), it really depends what you like in your sound, one man's lean is another's rich. Room interaction should be taken into consideration, if you have a bright room, room treatment is what I would do before I commit to a cable with a certain "voice", get the room sounding as good as you can and start feathering in the cables you want to try. I have seen pictures of Mike's system and he has some tube traps and I am sure a lot more stuff that I haven't seen, and more then a few people have told me that he has the best sounding system they have ever heard(people whom I trust in this hobby).

Mike- You know my buddy Don(the fellow who is on a quest to find new speakers-replacing his Verity's, I think you know him. He also runs the Tenor Mono's) well he and I may be planning a trip out to your neck of the woods, Jonathan has a lot of stuff he wants us to see. Which leads me to my cable question to you, he(Don) went and listened to some Kharma's- Grande Cermique's and he took his system with him, and didn't care for the sound with his Jena Valkyre cables, but when the Kharma cables were installed he felt it was much less lean, do you think that the Kharma cables are a "band-aid" so to speak for their speakers? Or is it possible that the Jena cables are lean sounding, thus mating poorly with the kharma's?

Thanks for any insight,
Tim