[DaveC113]

Here's pics of a pair of D4 XLRs using Furutech CF series connectors.

Group 1 cables are on the way to mikeeastman, poseidonsvoice will write up a review later, but has told me the D3 XLR beat his VH Audio Symmetry XLR cable at half the cost.    The D4 is a significant step up from the D3 but is less forgiving.

[guf]

i'm enjoying group 2's set and happy to get them on the way to the next person. it's gonna be hard to do with out so I paypal'd you to get a set of the d3s.

[DaveC113]

Some pics of the new D4 Single Ended ICs, they are truly amazing cables... the D4 cables exceeded my expectations by quite a bit. 

[DaveC113]

OK, Cables are being shipped to seikosha and Ozark Tom.

Hopefully we will hear some reviews from folks who have heard them soon (hint, hint  )

[dpatters]

OK, Cables are being shipped to seikosha and Ozark Tom.

Hopefully we will hear some reviews from folks who have heard them soon (hint, hint  )

I'm not part of the cable tour and I haven't tried a lot of brands of cable but I thought I would share my thoughts on the D3 interconnect. I purchased a D3 IC to go between my DAC and preamp.  It replaced a Level 3 anticable. I thought the anticable sounded a little bright and a little bit lean compared to the D3 cable. The D3 was more resolving and yet had  a "more meat on the bones" sound.  The communication with Dave was really great and I intend to buy a 2 meter D3 XLR to go between my preamp and mono blocks.

Don P.

[jonbee]

The D3 was more resolving and yet had  a "more meat on the bones" sound.
Don P.

That's how I hear it, too. Best of both worlds- clarity, definition and solid image weight- a rarity. I now use a balanced D3 pair on my main rig and unbalanced DDs on my office system, and I couldn't be more pleased with the sound I'm getting.
I was using Dave's 14 ga. speaker cables in my main rig until I moved things around and the 8 ft. pair no longer fit. Similar sound to D3s, and an even bigger bargain, IMO. I needn't add, but I will- as always, cable results are very system specific.

[genjamon]

Ok, guys, I've been holding out on about six months worth of trial impressions from Dave's cables.  It's time for a big brain-dump.  Hold on tight.

Current setup:  Mac Mini - Lampizator level 5 - TRL Dude preamp - Job 225 amp - Tekton Lore speakers (with dual distributed subs with active EQ to create a pretty even and fullrange in-room bass response) - full front wall of absorption, diffusion at first reflections

Alright, I gave my impressions way back last fall at hearing the DD and D2 interconnects.  I can't remember if I also commented on the D3's in comparison.  Upshot is that back then, I liked the DD's better than the D3's in my system.  The DD's were full bodied, nearly as detailed as the D3's, and just had the right overall tonality.  In comparison, D3's were more detailed and nuanced, but just sounded thinner and not as full bodied, and didn't have the "magic" that contributed to greater overall realism in my system.

Then came January and I upgraded DACs from the Tranquility SE to the Lampizator.  I had a hunch it was worth hearing the D3's again, even though the DD's were sounding great.  I got a couple trial pair of D3's about a month ago and played around with a bunch of different combinations.  What I ended up with were D3's from DAC to preamp, and DD from preamp to amp.  I got more spatial definition and soundstage by a large margin, but kept the richness of tone/body that I liked about the DD. 

Then I finally splurged for the Audio Magic super fuse for the Job amp.  Holy crap, that amp changed character quite a bit from being relatively lean (although wonderfully fast and articulate) to being very richly toneful.  Suddenly, the full loom of D3's didn't shift the tone too lean or high for me, and the full loom of D3 had a very slight edge in detail without losing magic (although just very slightly).

Ok, now last week I got the trial pair of D4's.  Put the in place of the D3's between DAC and preamp (I have always found this position to be more sensitive to cable changes than from preamp to amp).  Holy shit!!!!       

And now I am 

I haven't had them out of the system since I put them in.  I had intended to AB and play around with various combinations.  Sorry guys, these things are absolute winners.  I don't care that they cost a fortune.  I can only characterize what I'm hearing as a significant qualitative change.  What I mean by that is to distinguish it from a quantitative change.  A quantitative change is more of this or that.  More imaging, spatial cues, whatever.  More high frequencies.  Better bass or PRAT.  Better, more, less, of whatever audiophile characteristic you want to mention.

In those senses, I don't find the D4 to be revolutionary, more evolutionary from the D3.  There IS better instrument separation, to a degree, but just a good solid step forward.  Pretty much the same tone.  Dave had been suggesting it would be ruthless, and I was worried about it being brighter than the D3.  I have notice no such thing in my system.

But there's something completely new that I am hearing - the "qualitative" change.  I have never heard this kind of realism before in my system, and I really can't remember having heard it in any other system either.  It's definitely still within the realm of what cable changes can provide, so keep that in mind.  It's not going to fundamentally transform any system.  However, there are "layers" gone between system and listener that truly change the listening experience itself.  Like TOTALLY connecting with the musician/artist.  There's a humanity to vocals that transcends the performance.  Not just additional details, but details in the right context to have exceptional PRAT and so forth.

Ok, all that sounds totally jumbled and incoherent to me as I write it and as I try to conjure words for the emotional/aesthetic experience of the change.  Suffice it to say that things amped up a LOT in terms of my emotional engagement with the music.  This is much more than the previous differences between D2 to DD to D3.  In an engineering sense, I'm sure it's easily explanable as a lower noise floor or something, but all I'm saying is that at this level of my system performance, taking this kind of an emotional leap of greater connection to the music was totally unexpected.  I honestly thought I was further down the line of diminishing returns than that. 

I have ordered two pairs.  No hesitation.  I sent the DD's back after the tour visit last fall.  It took me several weeks to finally give in and order two pair of those.  I'm not making that mistake again.  The D4's are the real deal, and if you can afford them, and if your system is clean and high end enough, I can't recommend them enough. 

But make sure your system is up to the task.  I don't think these D4's would have been the right ticket at all with the Tranquility SE still in the chain.  I think the DD's were just right for that DAC in my system with my speakers and their characteristics.  So, the usual caveats apply, YMMV, etc...

Rock on, Dave!!!

[genjamon]

Oh yeah, and I also went from a trial pair of Dave's 20 gauge speaker cables last January, which really improved on my former Clear Day silver cables by a significant margin in spatiality and naturalness.  Then I bought a 14 gauge pair and sent back the trial 20 gauge pair.  I'll be damned if the 14 gauge didn't have a smidge better separation/resolution and naturalness than the 20 gauge did in my system.  Total winner there for the price as well 

[DaveC113]

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback everyone! 

I was surprised when I built the final version of the D4s, and really have to give credit to Neotech for making me, arguably, the best wire in the world right now. The D4s are not inexpensive cables but are still a good 3-5x less than comparable cables, if any actually exist.

I also have some thoughts on the D4 from a customer in Malaysia, his cables are the XLRs pictured above.



Hi Dave,

I have listened to D4 sometimes and extremely happy with its performance.

Pardon the cliché but it is really "day and night" difference compare to my existing cables like Wywire gold rca and lessloss rca.

I agree with what you said the sound is very accurate, but I wanna add it can give more details yet not sounding analytical or excessive airy.

Background is supper quiet and for the first time my McIntosh 275 tube amp can play so musical with good decays and quietness.

Also the phase and timing are spot on, and sound stage is rock solid and not wobbly, so it can handle all kinds of music very well.

Beside audiophile cd, I also listen to latest Justin Timberlake and Brianna albums which D4 is performing with flying colors.

Dire Straits' "Money for nothing" guitar opening is very mesmerizing and realistic, full of kick and not distorted.

I think the greatest asset of D4 is it can portray the nuances of music very well which makes you draw into them naturally and continue the whole album until it finishes.

So I think D4 still got a lot of potentials and it is other weakest links in my playback system needs further to improve. It gives me the feeling that I don't need to chase another 'superstar' cable anymore, this is the strongest endorsement that I felt.

[genjamon]

Yeah, I want to ride on some of the guy from Malaysia's comments as well.  I have also found that poor quality recordings sound as good as they could with the D4 in my system.  It brings out the best of everything I've listened to thus far.

[DaveC113]

One more comment on the D4 interconnects and 14 gauge speaker cables:


"...I think you have every right to be enthusiastic about your D4's.  They are still burning it, but I will say that they are definitely staying.  I really don't have any urge to search more - these are it.
 
The D4s and the speaker cables - the best combination I have used.  Will probably be selling off all my Kimber, Auditorium, Loyalty, and Clear Day cables.  I'm thinking of replacing my other cables in my other smaller system with your more affordable ICs.  It's definitely good stuff.
 
Keep up the great work."

[genjamon]

I just wanted to provide one more update.  Dave's quick, and I received the two pair of D4's I purchased from him in today's mail.  I hooked them right up, and without any burn-in the second pair has removed another veil and has resolved a few remaining passages of songs that were still a bit muddled with too much going on, too much reverb, and so forth blurring the resolution of what was going on.  In one of my favorite albums (Cat Power - Jukebox), the second song has always mystified me a bit.  The vocals and snare drum always seemed to lack the resolution, imaging, and "snap" that they should, and that other tracks on the album do have.  I always thought it was some kind of dynamic limiting or compression in the mixing/mastering process.  When I just listened to it again, I found out that there's actually quite a bit of reverb going on with the vocals and snare on that track!  I can hear the initial attack of the vocals/snare and the reverb/acoustic echoes of these notes/vocals now as clearly distinct and fully resolved.  Great, great stuff!!!

Full, rich tone, with full resolution - total connection with the music! 

My entire body had goosebumps and I had tears involuntarily flowing listening to San Jacinto on Peter Gabriel's New Blood album...  That's certainly never happened before. 

[goskers]

That Peter Gabriel song should be really good at drawing emotion.  Can't say I've had to hand someone a facial tissue yet .

I have a new goal.

[genjamon]

It sounded damn-good when you introduced me to that song, but you might recall there being a bit of bite on my system when his voice really crescendos in the middle.  Well, you can forget about that now.  Just clean and clear and rich and dimensional.

Ok, so the tears might have also had something to do with my still being semi-delirious from a 67 mile bike ride in 4 hours this morning in fairly heavy wind, but I've been tired when listening before, and it usually just means I fall asleep...   

[goskers]

You could have referenced allergies or excessive scotch/tequila 

I should soon know if the same result will transpire for me. 

[mikeeastman]

I want to thank Dave for the chance to audition his cables. Unfortunately the synergy wasn't quiet right with my system, which consist of a moded Mac Mini, exaSound ex20 dac, Ric Shultz moded Ncore 400 dual mono , Serenity Acoustic Super 7s and GR servo sub, Spatial XLR ICs and dyi HT cOz  8 stranded silver wire speaker cables, with Electra tube connectors and bare wire ends. My system has very nice tight bass, just a slight leanness in the mids and the very slightest edge on the hi end. The D3 XLR were close to my Spatail XLRs but they added a slight  bit more edge to the hi end and the bass was a little bit boomy. The speaker cable  added more edge to the hi end and made the bass boomy with a noticeable loss of transient attack.


  Mike

[genjamon]

Interesting update, Mike.  Out of curiosity, what kind of amplification/preamp are you using with that system?  Interesting to me, because in a way it validates my own initial experiences with the D3 and that led to me to go with the DD over it last fall.  Some systems that might have a tendency to go bright or lean might not prefer the D3, it seems.

[DaveC113]

Thanks for the report Mike! There is no perfect component for every system and every listener, and I don't expect it. Both good and not-so-good feedback help a lot in determining where to recommend my cables. While I do have a 30 day trial period, it is better to get people the right cables for their systems in the first place... of course you have to try to be sure in the end though.

In any case, a system that "leans" one way or the other usually needs gear that compliments it. In your system it is likely the DD IC cable would be a great match and not the D3, which is much closer to neutral. In fact that is why the DD cable exists. The DD also is very resolving for a "laid-back" cable but cannot quite equal the ability of the D3 to resolve detail...

The only thing I don't understand is the speaker cables' reaction with the bass. This NEVER happens in speakers with simple or no crossovers, or speakers that have relatively high efficiency... the results are less predictable with more complicated speakers. USUALLY, the reaction is the exact opposite that you experienced... bass gets much tighter and more accurate with transients much better defined and tone is much more accurate as well... they usually get rid of all the warm, smooth, mushy sound regular copper cables tend to have. I am thinking that many speakers need quantity over quality, so a very low resistance, heavy gauge cable seems to work better. I'm not sure upocc copper or the litz design of my cables is any advantage with these kind of speakers.

[mikeeastman]

 genjamon,I corrected my post, added amp I forgot. I use dac as a pre.

Dave my speaker are efficient, I was also surprised by the bass as the speaker cable are only suppling signal to the hi and mids drivers.

[DaveC113]

Dave my speaker are efficient, I was also surprised by the bass as the speaker cable are only suppling signal to the hi and mids drivers.

Ah, the addition of the NCores... IME class D amps always throw a bit of uncertainty into the mix as they react very strongly and unpredictably to other gear in the system. One of my friends and customers has been dealing with a system with NCores and Abbeys, went through lots of different cables and gear with very odd results (this is an understatement!). I think NCores have the potential to work wonderfully and they are GREAT amplifiers, but getting synergy right with these amps can be very difficult and the results are not predictable at all. My friend ended up trying an old Pioneer receiver that blew away the NCores in his system.  I think the issue was with the Abbey's crossover network and the fact that Geddes does not "believe in" boutique parts so the crossovers are comprised of less expensive parts including iron core inductors on the lows. The NCores react very strongly to this while the Pioneer receiver does not, and this is how David killed Goliath...     Oh also, the source was an Auralic Vega > Bent TapX preamp, so source was pretty much "as good as it gets" for a system under 6 figures.

Personally, I had a tripath amp years ago and noticed the same kinds of issues. It reacted VERY strongly to cabling, way more than my SET amp, and to the point where cabling and other things that should be more "secondary" issues became of primary importance.

If you are getting good results with your NCores then that is excellent and as I said, they have a lot of potential in the right system. I have heard NCore amps sound AMAZING. But if you feel your system is lean and a little edgy in the highs, I can almost guarantee it's the NCores. I heard the Serenity 7s with the Dodd amps at RMAF and couldn't say I noticed anything along the lines you describe, but with the driver compliment in those speakers I am not surprised they can lean that way...