I just got done with an all-morning listening session, switching between the DD, D2, D1, and my current Sweet Spot Reveal cables (made by Sonny here on Audiocircle). The SSR bested Morrow Audio level 2 and AntiCable interconnects to give you all more common points of reference. I'd say the strengths of the SSR are plenty of body and tonal nuances/shading that make music really come alive in my system, with enough detail and microdynamics to clearly separate instruments and make them seem real and emotional.
The D1 was pretty good, had about the same tonal balance as the SSR, which is good, but smeared sounds a bit more and didn't quite get there in resolution or microdynamics.
I found the DD and D2 to have significantly more separation of instruments and, delineation of vocals, etc than the SSR. The SSR's had a bit less clearly spatially defined vocals, and music with a lot of instruments smeared together just a bit compared with these two.
However, I found the D2 to be a little too tonally white washed and tipped up compared with the SSR. It was a bit tipped up compared with the D1 as well. I found it articulate in terms of detail, but lost a significant amount of engagement with the music when using the D2. I just couldn't connect with the raw emotion of the performance. I also found it tipped up a bit tonally, and not at all something I need in my system.
The DD seemed not quite to equal the SSR in the area of tonal shading and emotional engagement. However, I think what I was hearing was that the slight smearing of the SSR was probably contributing to a bit more body and tonal shadings - probably an artificial effect. This made a few songs more engaging with the SSR, but on the whole probably isn't something to embrace. On the DD, I heard enough of the tonal shading that I was still really connecting emotionally, but increased delineation of instruments on complex pieces and increased delineation/localization of voices and instruments on smaller group performances. I also thought the tonal balance was just right on the DD. These characteristics are similar to what I experienced going all-silver with my internal speaker cabling to go along with my silver speaker cables.
I'm going back and forth about whether to order two sets of DD, or to send my SSR's back to Tuan (Sonny) to swap the cheapo connectors out for high end Furutechs, one of each, or both. There's only one set of DD on the tour, so it would be great to hear what a full run of them would do in my system.
Thanks for the ability to try these out in my home, Dave! The only way to really listen to cables is to be able to swap them in and out in real-time in your own system with music you know well.
My system:
Tekton Lore speakers (fully upgraded crossovers, all-silver internal wiring), Clear Day shotgun speaker cables (high gauge silver)
Mac Mini source (2010, Audirvana, tweaks to operating system, SSD, 8BG RAM),
dB Audio Tranquility DAC (with latest gold-level upgrade),
TRL Dude preamp,
NCore 400 monoblock amps (with top level Cardas XLR to RCA adapter for RCA input),
dual subs in distributed array and with EQ for fairly flat bass down to 20Hz at listening position.
Significant GIK room treatment (absorption on front wall and tritraps to the ceiling in the corners, diffusion at first reflection points)