Jena cables

I did a direct and extensive comparison of the Valhalla and the Jena Labs Symphony interconnects a few months ago. I found the Symphony to be the equal of the Valhalla in every way; and better in a few ways, e.g. more natural body on acoustic instruments and vocals, better high and low-end extension, slightly fuller bass - without bloat - and, significantly, a much quieter background. I lost no information with the Symphony vis a vis the Valhalla, and I am convinced the Symphony is equally transparent (and less colored). I bought the Symphony cables, but not because of the price. My system consists of G&D Ultimate transport, latest Dodson DAC, CTC Blowtorch preamp, Jeff Rowland Model 10 amplifier, and Rockport Antares loudspeakers. I am presently using Silversmith speaker cables and use David Elrod power cords on everything. Hope this helps a little bit.

Many thanks. Quite illuminating. What are the Silversmith cables?

Tekunda - I'm curious as to whether you have compared the Jena Symphony interconnects directly to the Valhalla ICs, meaning in the same system, under the same conditions, etc. I mean no offense at all. It's just that the last I knew you had not heard the Jena cables.

Gladstone - I'm not sure what you mean: "what are the Silversmith cables?" They are speaker cables from Silversmith Audio. I preferred these to the Jena Labs Valkrye speaker cables, but preferred the Jena Symphony interconnects to the Silversmith (and others). You might want to check out www.silversmithaudio.com Good luck.

I lived with Valhalla for about 6 weeks and thought they were incredible.The best sounding cables I'd had in my system.Fast, detailed, transparent, did I mention fast? I subsequently demo'd the Jena Symphony and Pathfinder. In my system, the Jena's did did everything the Valhalla did, PRAT, speed, detail, transparency, but in addition rendered instruments with more body, had more extended highs and a more natural sounding bass. Going back to the Valhalla, they seemed a tad threadbare and lean, the absence of body obtained with the Jena's was quite noticeable. I found the background to be blacker with the Jena's also. But the thing that struck me most was the ease of presentation with the Jena's, it was a more musically natural ,easy sound. Kinda like the headroom increased. I don't know how else to describe it. I found these characteristics with both the Symphony's and Pathfinder, albeit to a greater degree with the latter, which I purchased, along with the Twin-19 SC's. I've not heard the Valkyres. If I had been budget restrained, I would still have purchased the Jena's (Symphony), in my system it bested the Valhalla.