[Pez]

#archieved from HD#

*warning if spelling is bad or things don't flow very well with this post it is because I didn't proof read or re-read at all  )

After months and months of waiting I have finally found time to sit down and write the long awaited cable review. This will be a long one so sit get comfy.

Ok first off the let me tell you the concept behind this review. What I wanted to accomplish with this review is to find the absolute best interconnect period. I wasn't looking for the best under $200 or within a given budget, but it most of the cables I tried fit into the sub $500 range.

Ok now for a little background I am a cable freak. I have tried more cables than I wish to list here. What I commonly find is that cables make a huge difference. I know there are a lot of people that think that cables don't make a difference. To them I say, I acknowledge that your objections exist I know it's hard to believe that something inside the audio chain could possibly cause any difference in sound let alone the big difference cables actually do make. If the preceeding sentence appears to be addressed to the reader in any way know that it's going to be alright and that not everbody is capable of accepting reality, these people are called "delusional" "out of touch" or "ignorant". You'll live.  To everyone else please do not take any of this as absolute truth or objective measurement. You must try these cables in your own system to see if they are to your liking. I don't want to hear any naysayers accusing me of not fair and warning people that this is indeed my opinion and does not represent the opinions of the manufacturers involved, any political party, Harmonicdiscord or its subsidiaries

Contenders
As stated before the cables are the best that I could find. I pretty much called the manufacturers and said "send me the best interconnect you know how to make" so without further adeiu the contenders. All *main* contenders were one meter pairs. The main contenders will be the only cables reviewed either because they were the only cables that were a meter in length and if they passed my "acid test" All cables were tested over an extended period of time and statements made will be general impressions, I will not use specific passages from songs to describe their sound.

*Zu Varial*

*Mapleshade's Clearview Excalibur* w/ plus upgrade

*Bolder Nitro*

*Bolder Nitro* w/ bybee+cryo upgrade

*Empirical audio unshielded Holophonic* (unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to audition the new perfect crystal holophonics)

Cardas Neutral reference: not reviewed because it exceeded length standard.

Audio Magic ribbon ICs: not reviewed due being discountinued and not sounding good.  

Cat Cables Concertcats: not reviewed because exceeded length and I didn't have time to listen to them enough.

Harmonic tech Truthlinks: Not reviewed due to vomit inducing qualities.

Tranparent cables Musiclinks: Good, but out of their league among this bunch. also incorrect length.

All tests were done mainly in my system, but were also conducted in Tyson's system and Mike's system.

Associated equipment:
My system:
Source: Sony XA-777ES sacd/cd player
Pre-amp nOrh ACA pre-amp, AI pre-amp (Tysons in my system), Radii MNP-02 pre-amp
Active Crossover: ART 310 variable crossover
Amplification: nOrh le-amps, Radii DPP-105 tube amp, QSC DCA 1222 amp
Speakers: VMPS 626R mains w/ soundcoat, 2 VMPS standard sub w/ soundcoat
Cabling: KimberKables KKSV 2002 special edition speaker cables, Kimber Heros, Kimber Toniks, Bolder Bybee'd type 2s, regualr type 2s, Type 2 power cords, cross connect speaker cable (for subs)
Note: Crossover was set to 80 hz.

Mike's system:
Source: Marantz CD-67SE w/LClock as transport
DAC: Modified ART DI/O
Pre-amp: Transcendent Grounded Grid w/Auricaps and DACT attenuator
Amplification: Custom 100W PP tube amps based on Bruce Rozenblit’s SC150 design, Stratos stereo amp
Speakers: Vandersteen 3A Signature speakers augmented by two Vandersteen 2WQ subs.
Note: Amps were high passed using single pole Auricap filter at 80hz.

Tyson's system:
Source: nOrh CD-1 as transport
DAC: modified DIO
Pre-amp: Marsh pre-amp, Audible Illusions preamp
Amplification: Dual mono stratos
Speakers: VMPS RM40s

Zu Varial

Looks/construction: The Varial follows the Zu crews Kimber Kable heritage with a fancy metal V accentuating it's design. It looks very professional, the only problem is they can scratch the back of equipment if pushed back behind a rack. With the relative stiffness of the cable and the death grip of the connectors the Varial is a very user unfriendly cable. I would suggest that those interested in the Varial ask the Zu guys to not include the big cumbersome metal "V" on their order, that is unless you are buying the Varial for it's cool factor.  Other than that the construction of the Varials is top notch, no worries here.

The Sound: The Varials were a nightmare to break in. It took me well over 250 hours to get them to sound decent (I say well over meaning much more than 250 hours) I have never experienced a cable that takes this long to break-in. As a matter of fact I have had speakers break-in quicker than these boys. After break-in I listened to them for extended periods of time in many different sessions on my system, Tyson's, and Mikes and they had pretty consistent results across the board. What I found was that the Varials in comparison to the rest of the posse lacked treble refinement. I found that much of the air and treble definition was blurred across the soundstage. I found that the Varials sounded superb on female vocals. They really filled in the harmonics of the upper register a lent a bit of sweetness, again to female vocals.

Male vocals were another story. I thought that the Varials sounding overblown with male vocals. For instance you've heard the phrase "the camera adds 10 pounds" well the Varials added about 50. I believe this phenomon was due to two things, a slight overbloat in low midrange in addition to a "looser" focused soundstage and image. With passages that were very busy the Varials tended to have a higher noise floor and tendency to mush all the goings on within the performance. While I felt the Varials offer a much needed improvement over the Oxyfuels they still left a lot to be desired.  

Clearview Excalibur plus

Looks/construction: The Excalibur is probably the oddest cable I have ever encountered in my entire life. A foil thin ribbon of copper wraped in a celophane dielectric, if you can call it that  . I like the uniqueness of this particular cable and fresh approach to design. What I do not like is the ease in which this cable can be bent, disfigured, and yes even damaged. I feel that especially for those of us who change cables more than underwear this cable can be way to fragile. When considering this cable also consider the very real possibility of destroying it if snagged. Another note be careful when tightening the locking barrels of these bad boys I almost twisted a nice little fold into the cable when I wasn't paying attention (is it obvious yet that I do not like how flimsy these cables are?)

The sound: What can I say about the sound that would not be completely in contrast with their construction? The sound of these was wonderful! Great midrange, full warm. The bass was a tad... um bloated yet still very believable and very well integrated. I thought the highs were very clean, but not quite as focused as some of the other competitors. I believe it was this phenomenom that lead to a slightly looser focus on the soundstage and imaging. Not to say they lacked focus, because they always remained within a certain parameter, but didn't make things sound like it was existing within a defined area. I honestly was taken aback by these black sheep cables performance, but honestly the construction is a big reason that I personally shall not own these cables.

Bolder Nitro

Looks and construction: Wow! Neon! pretty hip looking cable. Flexible, good tight connection verging on a tad too tight. Not a whole lot of complaints except for the virgin white shrink wrap used on the source end gets dirty easy. If you can't tell by now there just ain't any pleasing me  . Anyway very well made I never felt worried about damaging either the cable or my equipment.

The sound: The Nitros were by far the most dynamically impactful cables of the bunch. I have yet to hear better extension or tighter response all in one package. The Nitros really excel at the extremes, it is their specialty. I couldn't believe the image clarity, detail, and focus they presented. I heard much of the grit commonly associated with "digital sound" being swept away as if much of what we have been told about digital (not all) is either myth or complete bullshit. Although the Nitros do everything very well I found the midrange lacked a bit of body. Although all the sound was there in the mids, it just wasn't full enough for my tastes. Not to say this is a damning quality, just one that someone switching from the Bolder Type 2's to the Nitros may be taken aback by. In comparison to the Type 2's the Nitros were definately more accurate and focused. Overall the Nitros definately had great toe tapping qualities to them.

Bolder Bybee cryo Nitro

(no need to comment on construction as it is identical to the Nitro, but with a big bybee in the middle)

The sound: to make it short and sweet the B,C-Nitros were in many ways a completely different creature than the standard Nitros. The one "weakness" (I use the term loosely) of the Nitro being a slightly lean midrange is completely gone with the B,C-Nitros. Plus they have very clean and smooth highs. One thing that suprised me is that the bass was as Kablamo! as the regular Nitros, but was still quite nice and full, still well within the bounds of what I would call top-notch performance. Over all awesome!

Empirical Audio Holophonics

Looks and construction: Very well made, almost science fiction looking interconnect. I think someone said it looked like the flailing arms of the robot in "Lost in space" very good discriptor of these. I liked the flexibility and lightness of the cable. Easy to handle, but not quite to my aesthitics taste.

Sound: I thought the Empiricals were the most pleasing or polite sounding cable in the bunch. Very laid back and "sweet" sounding. The midrange was very palpable and well in balance. I found the bass a little soft and without that special punch in comparison to the Ntiros, but not lacking. The highs were smooth and laid back without being rolled off. I believe the cleanliness of the highs of both the Nitros and the Holophonics can largely be attributed to the Bullet plugs both designs utilize. On paper they have lower capacitance are fundamentally better, but sonically they both had the cleaniest treble. The Empiricals were definately on the top of the heap.

I don't like to do this and I think the reader should take the following with a grain of salt as this is my opinion and may or may not be the same results you might have, but here is how I would stack these cables up.

1st place: Bolder Bybee'd cryo Nitros. Best cable I have heard hands down. I'm always listening and of course they can be de-throned by another, but until I hear a cable I like more they hold the top spot by no small margin of victory.

2nd place: This is actually a two way tie oddly enough  Empirical Holophonic and the Bolder Nitro. Both are incredible cables, each had their strong suits and weak suits. The most consistant results were definately achieved through the Holophonics, but the Nitros overall were without a doubt more Ballsy cables.

3rd place: Clearview Excalibur. Wonderful sound while not quite enough to convince me it is in the same class as the 2nd place cables. I was pleasantly suprised by their sound, but appalled by their fragility. They definately are worth looking into, but use a light touch.

4th place: Zu Varial. Unfortunately there really wasn't a whole lot about the way these cables sounded that attracted me. While having good female vocals, I felt they just didn't work with my ears.


Again all cables were auditioned in all three systems with many many different types of equipment (with the exception of the Clearviews which were only auditioned on my system and Tysons) I do want to remind you that this is my opinion and you should only buy cables after auditioning them, never buy based off of leap of faith or some yokel with too much time posting on the internet. Tyson and Mike should chime in with a few comments of their own. Thanks for reading and happy listening.

[Tyson]

Since this review, I've purchased my own set of Bybee'd Nitro's, and they are worth every penny I spent on them.  Great stuff.

I differ from Jason in the 2nd place.  I really liked the Holophonics and I would have them as just edging out the regular Nitro's for 2nd place.  Other than that we're pretty much in agreement.

[sac1973]

pez where did you get your nitros?

[Pez]

Bolder Cables they have a forum here.  Check it out.

[2channelguy]

Pez, thanks for the review. You sure sound like a man who knows his interconnects. I went and looked at your fist place winner and well...   that's more than I paid for my whole system.  

So I want to ask you, what do you think about Signal Cabel's Analog 2. I know, problably not much. But like I said, my system right now consists of a Denon DCM-370, an NAD C-340, and a pair of Polk audio Monitor 2's from the early 90's. Right now I'm using a pair of Monster interconnects.

So I guess my question is, should I even bother buying a 50 dollar pair of cables or should I just wait till I can afford something better?

Thanks!

Oh, and hello all... this is my first post here.  

[2channelguy]

Thanks!

I'll look into those.  

[Pez]

Sorry for the late (actually probably too late) response here, but perhaps I could suggest a few good cheap cables.  I really think that the Kimber Kable Toniks are great cables. I know they're about $100, but hey, if you don't wnat to go the DIY route then go for these. The best option is to spend $25 more and get the Bolder M-80s.  These are the best "budget" cable I have heard. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for, in this case you get more than you pay for  

[oneobgyn]

I can't believe you left out the two finest cables made:

For interconnect: Nordost Valhalla--on order for my system
                         Tara Labs--The Zero @ $12.5K for length from 0.6 to 2 meters--presently in my system and is beyond description

For speaker cable: Nordost Valhalla-on order for my system
                            Tara Labs--The Omega

[Pez]

Sorry  

[oneobgyn]

I am presently A/B'ing these two cables which are arguably the 2 finest made. I have owned everything in the Tara line and can say that The Zero is an amazing IC as is The Omega for speaker cable. Many however feel that Valhalla is the pentultimate cable for IC and speaker at a whole lot less money than Tara.
You can get a look at the awesome tara cable in my gear at

http://homepage.mac.com/imacdoyou86/PhotoAlbum11.html
 
a visit to their web sites is also helpful

http://www.taralabs.com
http://www.nordost.com

[Pez]

It is likely that these are great cables. At their respective prices they'd better be.  I honestly would say give the Bolder Bybee'd Cryo'd Silver bullet Nitros a try. They are the best I have heard. I have not heard the Valhallas or the Tara zeros, but lets just say I have heard many cables costing way more than they're worth and they don't get more expensive than that.  

BTW how are the Grand Slams in general. I have heard them before and was less than impressed, Honestly they may as well have been hooked up to a boom box as the listening room and front end equipment was less than good.

[oneobgyn]

They are without question the finest speakers I have owned and I can say that I have owned them all over the last 30 years. My next investment however is Dave Wilson's soon to be released X-2 Alexandrias at $125K (presumably the last speaker purchase I will make). As for Valhallas the editor of Absolute Audio says they are the finest cables made.

[BWentler]

Has anyone had experience with Marigo Audio Labs cables?

I'm using their MR 8.8/9.0 Reference interconnects and V4.0 Reference speaker cables.  I found them to beat the Tara Labs AIR 1 & RMS interconnect cables that I had.  I would like to check my reality with someone elses option of their cables.

Later.....

[JoeM]

When speaking of cables, one must put things into perspective.  Should a $3300 IC out perform a $400 IC?  You bet your buns it should.  Why bring Valhalla into this thread?  The Bybee Nitro retails for around $600 depending on connectors and length of course.  The Empirical Audio Holophonic PC for around $400.  Very recently I had occasion to compare Holophonic to the Bybee Nitro and came to a different conclusion than PEZ, preferring standard Holophonic IMS.  Both are excellent cables to be sure.  I also had occasion to listen to Valhalla sometime ago for a brief period prior to purchasing Empirical cables.  Was it better than Holophonic?  Probably, but not by a mile.  I felt no compulsion to take out a second mortgage to finance a Valhalla purchase.  More recently I borrowed a top of the line MIT IC that retails for $3500.  Again it bettered Holophonic in many ways, but by small enough margins that I feel in no way deprived.  So, those who choose to spend mega $$$ on cabling have my blessing, I'll just upgrade to Holophonic PC without the slightest second guess.

[oneobgyn]

The reason I brought Valahalla into this thread is because the topic is "cable review-No punches pulled".
By the way for you to say that Holophonic PC is in the same league as Valhalla can't be so. Harry Pearson the Editor of Absolute Audio says that Valhall is simply the best speaker cable and interconnect made. I am selling my Tara Labs The Zero IC and The Omega speaker cable for these Valhallas. I have done the comparison and honestly there is no comparison. The Zero by the way has an MSRP of $12,500 for a length from 0.6 to 2 meters. I never thought there was anything as good until I heard Valhalla

[JoeM]

Did I say Holophonic is in the same league?  The point I was trying to make was that Holophonic is good enough that I do not feel the need to pay those ridiculous prices for cable.  Oh, and btw, IMO Holophonic is not that far off, I don't care what HP says.  Frankly, Mr. Pearson, way back when, reviewed the original VPI JMW10 tonearm and gave it a 5 star rating.  Went on and on about its greartest.  Well, I purchased that tonearm, and it was one of the biggest mistakes I've made.  Slow, muddy and dark was its sound.  Luckily for me, VPI was good enough to modify it and improve it substantially enough that I could live with it for two years until I upgraded to the much better 10.5.  Actually, Mr. Pearson changed his tune a few issues later and dropped the rating to 2 stars.  In an even later issue he describes the same JMW10 as dark and muddy.  Reviewers certainly have their place, and they do occasional inform us, but I pefer using my own ears to come to conclusions.  Have you heard Holophonic in your system?  Seems you're discounting it based solely on one opinion of another extremely expensive cable.  Try it for yourself, it comes with a 30 day money back, and then report on your personal comparison of the two.  It would be of interest to all of us.

[audioengr]

By the way for you to say that Holophonic PC is in the same league as Valhalla can't be so. Harry Pearson the Editor of Absolute Audio says that Valhalla is simply the best speaker cable and interconnect made.

Joe is not the only customer of EA Holophonic-PC to compare them with Valhallas and send back the Valhallas.  BTW - Harry has not heard the Holophonic-PC's yet.

[KCI-JohnP]

Great cable review.  I was wondering if you have had a chance the review the Kimber Hero's?  Seem like a nice cable for the price.  Thanks for the great review.


oneobgyn,
Why is it that you seem to invariably slip in how expensive your equipment is? I have seen quite a few of your posts on other forums and it seems in every one of them you make a point of stating how much your speakers cost, your cables, etc.    Not trying to flame you here, just think you could use a little more etiquettte in your posts.  As they say, it's not polite to reveal "How much you paid" unless asked.

They are without question the finest speakers I have owned and I can say that I have owned them all over the last 30 years. My next investment however is Dave Wilson's soon to be released X-2 Alexandrias at $125K (presumably the last speaker purchase I will make). As for Valhallas the editor of Absolute Audio says they are the finest cables made.

[Pez]

Great cable review.  I was wondering if you have had a chance the review the Kimber Hero's?  Seem like a nice cable for the price.  Thanks for the great review.

As a matter of fact I own a pair of Hero's that I got to make myself at Kimber Kables That was a neat experience.  Anyway the Hero is a GREAT cable. They lie somewhere between the performance of the Harmonic techs and the Cardas neutral reference..... Now that I think of it the Neutral reference really didn't do a whole lot mare than the Kimber Hero did.  I think for the money I like many of the cables reviewed better than the Kimbers, but if you want a cable that does no wrong the Hero's are a sure fire.

Other cables you may want to consider in the same price range are the Bolder M-80 which I find to be more vivacious sounding and top to bottom "tighter" and DIYCAbles FAT one if you can DIY then these are probably a great cable based off of a Jon Risch design that I am intimately familiar with sonically (the design not these particular cables), they tend to have a very lush midrangy sound while having a soft top and bottom end, kind of like you would hear with a tube amp, but ultimately lacking in detail and refinment.  Any way it may be a little more expensive in the long run, but try as many IC's as you can within your price range. Many times you'd be suprised at how much synergy plays a role in what works in your system.

[KCI-JohnP]

Pez,
   Thanks for the advice, I'm on my way to Bolder's site right after I finish typing this!  I just found this forum and have never heard of Bolder but from what I've already read here, seems they make some great cables.  Once again, thanks for the help.

ps-love pez candy!!