[jtcf]

Hi, my name's Terry and I'm a recovering cable junkie.Dave was kind enough to send along a pair of D1s,the DSR OCC silver ribbons,and a D4 digital cable to keep me from getting the shakes while waiting for the D4s and D5s to come my way.I'm so glad he did now!So much for expectation bias....The D4s and D5s were not a good fit at all.Totally unexpected.I tried them together,moved them around,paired each of them up with the D1s,DSRs,and a few others I have around.Nope.They weren't overly analytical like some folks reported,but so neutral and uncolored that I found them bland.Could be a mismatch with my speaker cables possibly,Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval 8!?But those DSRs!Holy Moly!Just outstanding.The dimensionality,the timbre,the tone,the detail is pretty close to perfect.In combination with the D4 digital cable and Analysis Plus Crystal Solo (copper) ics I found synergy.The D1 is no slouch either,not quite the detail and dimension of the DSR but it's richer and really is wonderful with acoustic music, and female vocals are to die for.I almost want one to swap in when I'm in the mood for Joni Mitchell,Shawn Colvin,etc.
Last night after running the system on repeat down low all afternoon I listened to 'Ecomium' a tribute album to Led Zeppelin with just the D4 digital cable and my regular cables in place.Excellent.Today I swapped in the DSR again just to make sure that it was truly the magic combo and not just one of those nights where everything sounds perfect,then the next day I'm wondering what the heck happened!?But there it was again - tone,timbre,dimension.The DSRs must be mine!Probably the D4 digital also,a friend convinced me to try his fave next week so I'll indulge him.Many thanks to Dave for encouraging me give these cables a try.I'll get these back to you right after Christmas and place an order asap.

My system:
Cambridge CXC transport
Tubadour lll dac
LTA MicroZotl2 pre
Aric Audio Transcend Push Pull amp
Tekton Impact Monitors
4  SVS subwoofers
GIK acoustic treatments
Music is acoustic and electric rock,blues,folk

[DaveC113]

Thanks for posting Terry!

I'm glad you got to compare, it's interesting to me where the D4 or D5 vs the DSR is working out as far as synergy and preference. There isn't a massive difference in the composition of the wire in the D4 vs DSR, so far the attributes of the ribbon vs round wire seem to be more of a factor. The round wire creates more of a focused stage with a lot of "air" in between the images while the DSR is larger in both stage and image size. It seems like tubes negate some of these differences though. Well, I'll have more folks try out the DSR vs the D4 and as more data comes in it'll be interesting to see what happens.

This is why I offer different choices, and the D4, D5 and DSR are really all top end UPOCC silver cables with different presentations. 

And of course the D1 is a very good cable, I think it's warmth is a good match for it's price point as it'll be a bit more forgiving. It's certainly possible to remove some warmth via high voltage conditioning but I'm not sure I want to.  

[RDavidson]

Just adding $.02 here.
To be honest, when I very first heard my system with D4's I felt like my system lost bounce or excitement. The D4's are indeed neutral. I wasn't sure I liked what I heard. BUT, after playing some familiar recordings over the course of a couple of days or so I realized my previous IC's were exaggerating the highs quite a bit and the lows somewhat as well. It was like my system had been EQ'd and I had gotten used to the unnatural presentation. Even more apparent was that my previous IC's were blurring low level details horribly. The lesson here : Be sure to give Dave's cables enough time in your system. Listen intently and don't let first impressions be your only impressions. The D4's are easily the best I've owned and won't be going anywhere...unless Dave somehow makes something significantly better and maintains the thru-the-roof value.

Oh...and happy holidays everyone.

[jtcf]

@RDavidson I agree that the D4s are neutral,uncolored,and accurate.Plus they have that 'ZenWave dimensionality'.You have a valid point that I should have given them an extra day or so to be fair.But those darn DSRs....now it's too late and I need them.

[RDavidson]

@jtcf What works for you and makes you happy is all that's truly important. Your setup is very nice and I'm sure there's something the DSR's are doing that "clicks" for you. Enjoy!

[jtcf]

Just got my DSRs today and right out of the box(best packing job ever!) they are fabulous.I put on some CCR while I was painting kitchen cupboards to start the break in process and I had to stop several times and turn it up a little more because John Fogerty and company was sounding WAY better than usual.The SQ of that CD is not great but the famous dimension and timbre of Zen Wave was already working it's magic.I'm sincerely thrilled with it.