Audioquest/Acoustic Zen/Analysis Plus?

All i can say here is "sheesh". One guy says Brand A is warm, the other says it is slightly lean and the third says it is over-rated. Nothing against any of these folks as they are sharing their opinion and experiences, but how is someone to draw any type of conclusion from suggestions like this? You really have to try cabling in your system to see how you like it. That is, unless one person has tried that cabling in multiple systems and has found it to bring consistent results with it each time OR someone has the same exact componentry being used. Otherwise, it is strictly hit or miss. Sean
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I agree Sean, the ideal method is to try the cable in your system but that is not always easy to arrange and I think it is best to have an idea of what to expect.

I think my comment about AZ being warm is conservative, I have heard it (specifically Satori, Hologram, WOW, Mat Ref and Mat Ref II) in 2 different systems and made many changes to my setup when I owned it. In general I think AZ cables are warm and smooth and if that sounds good to Adiorio he may want to arrange an audition. I know there are exceptions but typicaly I think cables have a sonic signature that is fairly consistant.

BTW I am guessing Adiorio does not need to be told to audition the cables and also probably knows there could be different results than the other responses.

Philojet: I actually thought that the AZ WOWs were "hot" in my system. I went from those to the AZ Matrix REf MK-2s (more refined, but still "hot"), and, finally, to the Nordost Red Dawns. YOO-REEK-AH. It was all about speed, I guess. The RDs let my Cary 308 CDP, VTL Pre, and Rogue 88 amp do their thing.

Yes, Sean, is right: try it for yourself. If you mix gear like I do, you need to tweak a lot, but, if you're patient, you're gonig to find something that works.

Sean: I just got a laugh tonight along the lines you bring up. I recently picked up a pair of IC's I'd never heard previously for auditioning, and this evening I went to audioreview.com just to see what other listeners were thinking. All over the map! And very few with a similar take to mine. Just shows to go ya...

P.S. - This sort of seemingly random variability in reporting on cable sonics *could* be interpreted as supporting 'objectivist' claims that the perceived sonic differences between wires reside primarily inside our heads.

Zaikes: My thoughts on cable performance are that each cable acts as an impedance transformer between the components it is linking together. Since each component has their own input / output impedance, various levels of reactance, various levels of stability, etc... there is no telling what you'll end up with. This is why there are so many variances from system to system using the same cables. On top of that, using the same cable at different lengths can do much the same thing i.e. alter the impedances that the signal sees. Sean
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