Quick impression of Nirvana speaker cables and IC's

smwick · « **on:** 5 May 2011, 09:04 am »

I purchased the Nirvana speaker cable,IC's and speedfreak cable recently. I have the Speaker cable and IC's hooked up and about 20 hours on them. Thats not much time but I'm strarting to hear some good results. Whats most aparent so far is the bottom end extension. It almost sounds like different speakers. They are also starting to open up some as well. I will give an update after more time on them as well as when I receive my AVA gear. Even at this point they are much better than the Bluejeans speaker cable and IC's that I have had for a couple years.

gnars · « **Reply #1 on:** 8 Jun 2011, 10:41 am »

Like to hear your update on the cables.

mcgarick · « **Reply #2 on:** 8 Jun 2011, 01:41 pm »

I just ordered a pair of 12' Nirvana cables and I will post my findings too.
I've got a Virtue and a Wyred for Sound ST-250 amp to hook them up too.

I can't wait!

Rclark · « **Reply #3 on:** 8 Jun 2011, 10:12 pm »

I think when I order my aes/ebu cable I might like to also try some interconnects. I like the Mac Ultra silver that I have now, but they are my only ICs and I hear nothing but awesome stuff about nirvana cables.

smwick · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 Jun 2011, 05:37 am »

Quote from: gnars on 8 Jun 2011, 10:41 am

Like to hear your update on the cables.

I really like these cables. They made a huge improvement with my Rega gear. Now I have all AVA gear and it sounds absolutely awesome. I can't switch out the speaker cables for comparison because I had to use the banana plugs from the Bluejean cables. But I couldn't be happier with the cables. I don't know if it was the AVA gear or the speed freak cable that needed some time to start sounding great, but after a few days things really improved. I highly recommend the Virtue Audio cables.

OzarkTom · « **Reply #5 on:** 12 Jun 2011, 04:16 pm »

I have just hooked my Nirvana speaker cables this weekend, finally. How many hours of break-in do they need? And another question, are these directional?

I will post the results soon.

Jason T · « **Reply #6 on:** 13 Jun 2011, 11:44 pm »

about 100 hours should do it.

they are not technically directional but I always tell people to run the flow of electricity in the same direction of the writing on the cable jacket.

OzarkTom · « **Reply #7 on:** 14 Jun 2011, 12:43 pm »

I did find a negative, or I guess it was a positive on the Nirvana speaker cables last night. Out of the bag, these are more revealing than the Blue Jeans and the Kimber 8TC I have sitting around. I first thought the electromic harshness I was hearing were the cables not being broken in. It turned out that I still had the battery charger hooked up to the battery.

Suddenly the subtle difference of using the battery charger while listening became very obvious. I cannot use it at all. These cables are very revealing. Now to get those 100 hours on them.

JDarby - Stereomojo.com · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Jun 2011, 04:16 pm »

You might want to read our review of Seth's cables. The reviewer ended up buying them and replacing more expensive cables.

http://www.stereomojo.com/Virtue%20Audio%20Nirvana%20Cables%20Review/VIRTUEAUDIOCABLESREVIEW.htm

OzarkTom · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Jun 2011, 09:23 pm »

I am very sorry Seth and Stereomojo, for I was a big Skeptic on the Virtue cables and that review. I have had the Sensation and Piano for over a year now, but I could not make myself try the Virtue cables. I figured two items like the amp and Piano was so great, but surely not the cables too. Since I only have the speaker wires now, I must order the other cables. I am now a believer.

About the only thing I can add to the ^^^Stereomojo review^^^ on the speaker wires is that these cables look like a million dollars. Well, maybe not quite like a million$, but at least as good as those high k$ cables that you always see at the audio shows.

Jason has done very well at constucting these Nirvanas. Jason, I need some inerconnects and a digital cable now.

WC · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Jun 2011, 12:30 am »

I guess I am still kind of skeptical. I know that audiophiles can spend a lot of money on interconnects and speaker cables, but I even think that the Virtue cables are expensive although you can spend much more. Maybe I am being frugal, but I am at the stage of upgrading components because they will most likely make a bigger improvement in SQ than the cables. My current speaker runs are 50 feet, so upgrading would not be cheap.

virtue · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Jun 2011, 04:53 am »

Hehe... yeah, I count myself as a skeptic on cables myself. But let me qualify that.

I used to think they didn't matter at all. That was bone-headed. They matter. They do. Do they matter more than caps or PSU in an amplifier? Probably not. In fact, if you're looking for a night-and-day sonic change, don't expect it to come from cables.

The key is to find something that has the character you're looking for at a price that does not fill you with regrets. Ours are smooth but not mushy. That's sort of our signature sound. They also use no more or less copper than is required, for judiciously through clever design (note: copper prices are ridiculous and our T-Copper binding posts, see Madisound, now cost a ton to make).

We sold virtually NO cables for two years and then thanks to Jason's hard work providing excellent customer service and filling exotic, custom requirements, we started selling a lot of them.

Are our cables overpriced? I don't know. What I do know is that it costs around $25,000 to make and import a set of cables like ours if you buy the MOQ. Ours are not an off-the-shelf design and you can't just go and cut a bunch from rolls in somebody's warehouse.

Let's just say that you sell the cable for 3x what it costs including termination and overhead. Your cables need to be an unmitigated success and you need to sell $25,000 worth before you start making a nckel profit. When you think about boutique audio this way it starts to explain why people charge a boat-load for custom cable.

If you're buying "off-the-shelf" cable from an AV supply company, by the foot, you can probably save a lot of money. The trick is simply to convince yourself that it's as good. Sometimes it is but often what you find is that big manufacturers cut corners because when you do huge productions every nickel adds up.

I don't know if we've made enough money to build more cables when the existing inventory runs out but hopefully we've made a lot of people happy and not broken anyone's bank.

It sounds like folks are really appreciating the cables and the love is growing. Thank you for the reviews and testimonials!

Jason T · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Jun 2011, 08:35 pm »

Quote from: WC on 19 Jun 2011, 12:30 am

I guess I am still kind of skeptical. I know that audiophiles can spend a lot of money on interconnects and speaker cables, but I even think that the Virtue cables are expensive although you can spend much more. Maybe I am being frugal, but I am at the stage of upgrading components because they will most likely make a bigger improvement in SQ than the cables. My current speaker runs are 50 feet, so upgrading would not be cheap.

I to was a skeptic for many years and still believe some of the high gloss crap about cables to be snake oil, ours are a fairly simple proven design thats been around for some time.

our cables also carry the 30 days money back guarantee.

Rclark · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Jun 2011, 08:15 pm »

won't be ready to order for a few weeks. I've got other stuff in the pipeline, but I will want some of this Virtue goodness.

virtue · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 Jun 2011, 08:52 pm »

WC,

Check out Markertek for some good bulk cable.

http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Bulk-Wire-Cable/Speaker-Wire-Cable-Bulk/Mogami-Wire-Cable-Corp.xhtml
We use Mogami signal wire inside our amps.

The Canare stuff doesn't have the best quality insulation but it's proably more than adequate for most!
http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Bulk-Wire-Cable/Speaker-Wire-Cable-Bulk/Canare-Corporation-Of-America/4S8-BLACK200M.xhtml

Seth

WC · « **Reply #15 on:** 20 Jun 2011, 09:05 pm »

Seth,

I already have the speaker cable. Which is a lot cheaper than buying new cables.

It is 12 gauge wire, unsheilded, with clear plastic insulation. I mainly just need to put proper ends on it. Current speakers would need pins, future will need spades or bananas, so I just have them as bare ends right now.

virtue · « **Reply #16 on:** 20 Jun 2011, 09:32 pm »

Bare ends are great. If you need some nice spades send me a private PM. Our spades really require a good tool to crimp but a hammer will work in a pinch. I can send you some, free no problem.

WC · « **Reply #17 on:** 21 Jun 2011, 12:51 am »

Seth,

Maybe you could throw some in with a THREE or DAC order. How does that sound?

virtue · « **Reply #18 on:** 23 Jun 2011, 01:51 am »

If you need spades, just PM me. I sent a bunch to zman who sent them back. They're stamped Virtue and I think he was too proud, haha

Anyway, just holler - no big deal I'll send them out.

PHamm · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 Jul 2011, 05:29 pm »

Jason recently sent me some Nirvana cables, so I thought I should revive this thread by reporting on how they are going. Perhaps my experience may help others to consider giving the cables a go. I asked Jason about trying some Nirvana speaker cables because I had managed to damage the ones I had been using for a couple of years by installing some new banana plugs that turned out to be awful sounding and horribly constructed (don't ask!). Fixing my existing cables would cost almost as much as a new set of Nirvanas, so I thought this was an opportunity to try the Nirvanas, which had interested me for a while. (Incidentally, I will not name these other speaker cables because (a) I still think they are excellent cables and (b) I did not do any kind of proper comparison and so naming names just seems plain unfair. The price differential, however, is substantial. My existing cables probably cost something like six times as much as the Nirvanas.)

The Nirvana cables took a while to arrive, but when they did I was a bit surprised by their look and feel--in a good way. They are much more substantial in thickness and weight than my existing speaker cables and I really like the white finish, which is much less conspicuous in my room than the black covering of my old cables. The downside of this heft is that I found the Nirvanas rather awkward to attach to my Sensation amp. It took a bit of effort to get the spades under the propeller posts, but when I did the latter tightened up nicely and they seem to hold the cables firmly.

On first listen, I wondered if I had made a horrible mistake in going with the Nirvanas. They sounded woolly and the volume of the music was much lower than normal for the 11 o'clock setting on my amp. I had given the cables a chance to lie straight after being coiled up for shipping and had cleaned the connectors with Kontak (which I do for all new cables), but they obviously needed time to burn in. The cables began to loosen up after a couple of days running the Isotek system enhancer disk on repeat. Detail improved and volume began to return to normal. However, it also seemed the cables were creating a rather flat, two-dimensional soundstage, with very little realistic depth. Further burn-in has definitely improved this latter problem, to the point where I am no longer conscious of it as an issue. So, are the Nirvana speaker cables as good as my old cables? Frankly, I don't know, but they are certainly in the same ballpark and I intend to keep them.

Jason also sent me a pair of Nirvana interconnects. I wasn't sure what to do with them, so I put them aside while I burned in the speaker cables. As I became increasingly comfortable with the speaker cables, I noticed my system was recovering its former detail, but it was also sounding a little artificial and 'hi-fi'. In other words, it was making extended listening sessions a chore, not a pleasure. This prompted me to try the Nirvana interconnects in place of my Grover Huffman SXs. I must admit I didn't have very high hopes because the Huffmans are highly regarded interconnects and had done me well for the past 18 months or so. I also wasn't looking forward to plunging back into the burn-in process. However, I had nothing to lose and made the swap. It has now been several days since the swap and I have pushed things as hard I could to burn the cables in as quickly as possible. Much to my surprise, I like the Nirvana interconnects and plan to keep them in my system. There still seems to be plenty of detail, but a slight sheen of high-frequency energy seems to have been removed, creating a more musical balance. Again, are these interconnects better than the Grover Huffman SXs? Frankly, I don't think there is any universal answer to this question. In my system and in my room, the Nirvana interconnects simply play better with the Nirvana speaker cables than the Huffmans do, but other ears in other systems might make a very different choice.

OK, so what is the take-away here? As you will have gathered, I have become increasingly doubtful of absolute black and white judgements on cables ('X is better than Y') because all judgements are so system-dependent. As a result, I still think my previous speaker cables and my Grover Huffman SXs are excellent cables. However, I want to report that I have been really surprised and impressed by Jason's Virtue Nirvana cables. I went into this hoping the speaker cables might be a reasonable substitute for my existing cables, but without much thought about the Nirvana interconnects at all. I have found that Jason's Virtue Nirvana speaker and interconnect cables are both really good and that they work well together, allowing me to displace cables which cost a lot more and which I have used and liked for about 18 months. The point here is that Jason's Virtue Nirvana cables should not be ignored because they cost less and attract less attention than better known cables which cost quite a lot more. If you are looking for some new cables, give the Nirvanas a try--you just might find them to be a very pleasant surprise.