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Synergistic Research Thunderbolt Active SE Cable

Posted by Mercman (A) on June 25, 2012 at 07:45:50

About 2 weeks ago I learned that Synergistic Research had announced a new product; a Thunderbolt cable with their Active Shielding called Thunderbolt Active SE. I contacted Ted Denney at Synergistic and told him I was using a Promise Pegasus 4TB Thunderbolt drive for my music library. One week later, Ted sent me an advanced prototype cable for evaluation that will be the final production model. This was arranged through my Synergistic Research dealer.

Current Thunderbolt cables use a Gennum transceiver at each end and copper cable in between. Synergistic Research adds active shielding with two additional connectors at one end. One is for the power supply called a Mini Power Coupler that is supplied with the cable. The other connector is for the Enigma Tuning Bullets that fine tune the sound of the cable. The cable comes with Grey and Silver bullets and an additional Black bullet is also available as an option. I preferred the sound of the Grey Bullet in my system.

As with other Synergistic Research Active Shield cables, a break-in period is necessary to obtain the best sonic results. Ted recommended about 100 hours for the Thunderbolt Active SE to open up. This merely requires that you leave the computer and drive on for about 4 days. I noticed a significant improvement in sound quality after several days of use.

One of the most striking sonic characteristics of the Thunderbolt Active SE is a drop in the noise floor of recorded music. There was a greater sense of immediacy and detail with this cable. Less grain and a greater ease to the sound was heard compared to the Apple Thunderbolt cable. Previous recordings that were somewhat small sounding were now exhibiting a wider and deeper soundstage. Better definition in the bass was also heard.

I reviewed what I had written recently about the Synergistic Tranquility Base, and found that I was documenting many of the previous findings I heard with the Base. This is not surprising given that similar voicing of the products was probably performed.

I decided that I would enlist the aid of my wife for double blind testing using HRx Reference Recordings Brasileiro Soul / Reinaldo Brahn 176.4/24. Given that the Promise Pegasus can handle two Thunderbolt cables for multiple drives, unmounting the drive and connecting a different cable made testing quite easy. Both my wife and I had no difficulty picking out the Synergistic cable from the Apple.

I have to admit that I entered this testing with a good deal of skepticism. I even used double blind listening trials; a first for me. The best compliment I can attribute to this cable is that I will not be returning the Synergistic Research Thunderbolt SE to my dealer. It’s just that good.

Cost: $800 for 2 meter cable

Additional music used in evaluation:

Lang Lang / Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto 3 176.4/24
Mel Torme Swings Shubert Alley 192/24
Alison Krauss & Union Station-Live 176.4/24 (Ripped SACD DSD Recording)
The Smashing Pumpkins / Oceania 96/24
Peter Dijkstra / Netherland Chamber Choir / Bach Motets 192/24

Early MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Quad Core i7, 16 GB RAM, OCZ Vertex 3 SSD for OS. OSX Lion using Direct Mode/Integer Beta Audirvana Plus 1.3.9.3. Wavelength Crimson HS Silver/Denominator.

• http://www.synergisticresearch.com/featured/new-category-dig   (Open in New Window)

Edits: 06/25/12

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