| Model: | Golden Reference Speaker Cable | | Category: | Cable | | Suggested Retail Price: | $804 termination; $752/meter; +$216 internal biwire; +$276 internal triwire | | Description: | Speaker cable | | Manufacturer URL: | Cardas Audio |
My audiophile acquaintance, Jorge, has been living near Miami. I had reconnected with him, and had a conversation with him. It went something like this.
Jorge: I've got something to say, and you can quote me. You've got the [unholy trinity] of sex, drugs, and rock & roll covered. But that means [manufacturers] can't quote you or refer to your posts.
Me: Well, maybe I cover the sex and rock & roll, but drugs? That's not my area of expertise.
Jorge: Aw c'mon Lummy, audio is our drug of choice.
I do not know if audiophiles are hooked on the Cardas Golden Reference speaker cable, but now that my audio buddies and I have lived with various samples for a number of years, it's time to review it.
First, the popular porn part. You guys love clicking on links. The links are where the "good stuff" lies. But again, don't just look at the pictures. Do take the time to read the words, and absorb the music, history, insights, caveats, and details.
Speak Of The Devil
Vacation
Just Outside Of Normal
When The Blackbird Sings
Fundamental
Deep Red Shadows
Dreamland
Poets And Madmen
The Jazz Singer
Time Does Not Heal
Nights Are Forever
Attack Of The Killer B's
Let's go back to autumn 1989. I was a freshman at UC Santa Cruz. I was used to seeing individuals walk around naked. But one night, my roommate and I looked out the window, and saw a large group of naked students casually walking, marching, strolling, meandering, and traipsing by. There must have been dozens of these students. And since it was late at night, weren't they cold?
Well, I now know that most of those students came from the university's Porter College, then known for the arts. I heard that, it is now Porter tradition, during the night of the first real rains of the fall, to walk naked across campus.
The Cardas Golden Reference speaker cable is available in a variety of bananas, spades, and pins. Cardas have recently added, at additional cost, their new compression die forged spades. Just as I had not seen so many naked people at once, I haven't tried the Golden Reference with the forged spades. However, I can tell you that my audio friends bicker over the sonic differences between the standard connectors. My advice is, go with the connector which best matches your gear. For example, my Jeff Rowland 312 only accepts spades. But other amps have those plastic-encapsulated binding posts, which preclude the use of spades. So go with bananas. The Totem Arro and original Sonus Faber Concertino have binding posts whose rods are too thick for any spade. So go with bananas. ProAc loudspeakers have recessed Michell binding posts, which makes attaching spades difficult. So go with bananas. On some stand-mounted speakers, the cable dangles better, when you use spades.
My friend and classmate from middle school, Elias, went to UC Santa Barbara. One winter break, we were both at home in San Francisco. While watching a Chicago Bears game, Elias remarked, "Hey, doesn't UCSC stand for UC Snort Coke?"
I replied, "Like most schools, we may do lots of alcohol, pot, shrooms, and maybe ecstasy. But coke? I'm unaware of that."
For too many years, audiophiles have complained about the Golden Reference's color, which looks like the Chicago Bears. It isn't quite black. It isn't quite dark brown. It isn't quite blue. Well, the audiophiles are grossly unaware that the Golden Reference can be had (at no extra charge) with a white outer mesh. As the cable portion underneath the mesh is dark-colored, the overall product becomes, in room light, a light gray.
If you do venture out to UCSC's Porter College, you may come across a red, ribbon-like structure. When I was attending UCSC, this structure had no name. Colloquially, it was known as the "Flying IUD."
My friend Jacey has likened the Audio Dharma Cable Cooker to birth control. I'm not so sure how the Cooker's designer, Alan Kafton, feels about that. But anyway, Jacey added, "But jeezuz, birth control's no good, if you don't know how to use it."
If you have the single-wire Golden Reference, stop the Cooker after 4 days. If you have the internal bi-wire Golden Reference, I suggest 2 days of Cook time on the tweeter half, and 2 days of Cook time on woofer half. I over-Cooked one sample, and it required days of regular playing time, to reverse the effects of over-Cooking.
I cannot vouch for UCSC's other colleges. But while I was at Crown, the Resident Fellows (faculty members and their families who lived in the dorms) on selected Friday evenings would gather in the lounges, and host discussions about such topics as drug abuse, personal safety, date rape, peer pressure, stress, safe sex, and getting along with roommates.
I now know that my RFs purposefully singled out the shy, more introverted students, to use in skits. And that makes sense. The RFs did not need to use the students who were well-trained, and veterans at practicing personal responsibility.
I almost feel like a Resident Fellow, in professorially explaining that speaker cables come near the end of the audio chain. As such, speaker cables are at the mercy of the upstream components. Therefore, when you evaluate speaker cables, the upstream audio products better be of high quality. While it can be fun to stick Golden Reference on an inexpensive AV receiver, that is not going to help you properly evaluate the speaker cable.
Because my friends and I had several samples of Golden Reference over the past few years, we were able to throw a wide variety of gear at them. After cycling through electronics from Krell, Mark Levinson, and Simaudio, my friend Donald said one word: "competent."
Ouch! Taken out of context, that could be seen as damning with faint praise. But coming from Donald, "competent" is a positive remark. And I agree with him. There is nothing skewed, twisted, colored, or unprofessional about the Golden Reference. It just sits there, and lets most of the signal through intact. It was only through head-to-head comparisons with other speaker cables, were we able to pick apart the Golden Reference's sonics.
Kimber 4AG
Ideally, Led Zeppelin's "Going To California" should make me feel like I'm lying on UCSC's Great Meadow in the late afternoon sun. With its black background and bit of fizz overlaying the music, the Kimber 4AG reminds me of the girls who lived two dorm rooms down the hall from me. They strung up white Christmas lights. At night, with the curtains open, those Christmas lights "lit up" the room. If you can imagine "Going To California" playing in that room, that is what the AG sounds like.
The Golden Reference doesn't add any extra notes, but at the same time, it is relatively free from fizzies. So go back to the girls' dorm room during the day. Open the window. Let the natural sunlight in. That is the mood the Golden Reference recreates.
Kimber KS-3033
Cue up Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog." On both cables, there is equal musical weight. However, the KS-3033 adds a subtle bit of warmth, which blurs image outlines. Worse, the KS-3033 makes the music sound like it is tripping over itself, turning "Black Dog" into the plodding "Kashmir." Score one for the Golden Reference.
MIT Magnum M3.3bw
Take the CD jewel case or LP cover of Led Zeppelin's Zoso. Now turn it, so that it is parallel to the ground. This is akin to the soundstage, which the MIT Magnum M3.3bw is so adept at setting up. This soundstage depth, coupled with nicely differentiated image sizes, is what gives "When The Levee Breaks" room to breathe. It's like being able to see that the rainclouds extend beyond your view.
The Golden Reference better captures the bite and processing of the guitar, harmonica, vocal strains and inflections, and drum kit. It is more akin to sitting with Led Zep on the levee, while being somewhat oblivious to the rain. It is up to you to decide which cable (if any) gets you closer to the musical truth.
Nordost Valhalla
Audiophiles like to talk of "black backgrounds." The Nordost Valhalla does have decently black backgrounds. So when you look at the forest north of the UCSC campus, it's like the ground being fog-free. But the Valhalla imparts this "white cloud" coloration, which makes it seem as though a light fog is wafting through the trees.
Cue up Led Zeppelin's "Misty Mountain Hop." Now remove the Valhalla, and insert the Golden Reference. The backgrounds aren't as black. So when you look at the forest, perhaps the ground is dusty. However, the Golden Reference does not have that white cloud coloration. So you can see more of the the trees' crowns. You win some, you lose some.
Wireworld Platinum Eclipse
The Wireworld Platinum Eclipse has full treble extension, coupled with black backgrounds, blacker than the cables mentioned above. Compared to the urban Bay Area, the sylvan Santa Cruz has much darker skies. Thus, celestial objects are not only more apparent, you can better differentiate their shine, and variances in luminosity. Cue up Led Zeppelin's "The Battle Of Evermore." With the Platinum Eclipse, you may notice so much air and space above the mandolin and acoustic guitar. In terms of atmosphere, it's really like leaving the studio, and heading for Scotland.
With the Golden Reference, the sound is more "grounded." Robert Plant is firmly planted on earth, and it's as if he is singing to you and your room full of audiophiles. Again, you and your audiophiles may have to slug it out. Do you want to go space-tripping with the Platinum Eclipse? Or do you want bring back Led Zep with the Golden Reference?
XLO Signature 2 series
Now play Led Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll." The XLO Signature 2 will have a small edge in image outlines and transient speed. But the Golden Reference will have a small edge in image development. The cymbals which kick off the song are more visually 3-D via the Golden Reference. The Golden Reference better maintains instrumental timbre and texture, leaving the Signature 2 sounding somewhat dry. Both cables do a good job of capturing the song's crunch. The Signature 2 slightly better captures the snare drum's snap, but the Golden Reference slightly better projects the drums' power. You'll have an easier time choosing a condom, than deciding which speaker cable is "better."
Naturally, audiophiles want to know how the Golden Reference compares to the newer Clear speaker cable. As of this writing, I do not have enough experience with enough samples of the Clear. If I ever do live with more samples of Clear, perhaps I'll write a review of that product. If so, it is my responsibility as a reviewer to compare Clear to Golden Reference. But until and unless that happens, someone else here will have to make that comparison.
While living in the dorms, I had a meal plan, and ate in the dining halls. Now, when I entered college, I was a meat-and-rice kind of guy. I wouldn't go near things like veggies. But a funny thing happened. The dining halls used low-quality meats, and then proceeded to burn them beyond recognition. Even I, a meat lover, found the dining hall meats inedible. That forced me to try other foods, and get creative.
Normally, you increase your chances of musical success, by keeping the interconnects and speaker cables from the same brand. However, the Cardas Golden Reference speaker cable has enough neutrality (recall that Donald called it "competent"), that other brands of high-quality interconnects can be used upstream. In fact, the Golden Reference speaker cable shows that the matching and overrated Golden Reference interconnect (especially the balanced XLR) deviates from neutrality, sounds congested, and bloats the music. If you are going to use the Golden Reference speaker cable with Cardas interconnects, I recommend the Quadlink 5-C and Clear.
At UC Santa Cruz, walking around naked simply wasn't much of an issue. But in the fall of 1992, UC Berkeley's panties got in a bunch over one so-called Naked Guy. I had plenty of friends (including my future wife) at Cal. Some of them saw the Naked Guy go to class. He simply wore a backpack.
I remember the first time my friend Margaret (the same Margaret you've read about in my other reviews here on Audio Asylum) visited me at UC Santa Cruz. As we walked from the Baytree bookstore to my dorm, she said, "There's nobody here. So unlike crowded and congested Cal."
Because those were the drought years, it was a sunny Saturday afternoon in January. Margaret peered out my window, which overlooked the quad.
Margaret: Hey, there are naked people out there!
Me: Uh, they're just sunbathing.
Margaret: Um, no, one guy is sitting on a log, playing guitar. He ain't sunbathing.
Me: Maybe he...
Margaret: Hey! A nakey guy is kicking a hackeysack. And so is she! Wow, she's got a hairy snatch.
I assume that you have read all the links listed at the top of this review. If so, you will have seen that most of them cover the internally bi-wired version. Some of our bi-wired speakers included the B&W 805S; Martin Logan Aerius i, Vista, and Ethos; ProAc Response One SC; PSB Silver Stratus i; Revel M22; Totem Hawk, Model 1 Signature, Forest, The One, Mani-2 Signature. The internally bi-wired Golden Reference was not as good as the single-wire version plus jumper [we used quality jumpers from Nordost, Stereovox, Tara Labs, XLO, and Wireworld].
The internally bi-wired Golden Reference suffered losses in soundstage dimensions, body, inter-image distance, air above the stage, bass grip and power, and contrast between music and silence.
On the other side of the Santa Cruz mountains is Stanford University. Because of the student code of conduct, you can't parade around nude. So on hot days, sunbathing students wear bikinis or shorts. Yes, you could say that this is like the internally bi-wired Golden Reference. On the other hand, the single-wire Golden Reference + quality jumper is more akin to the clothing-optional UC Santa Cruz.
Again, because of the nonstandard binding posts, the original Sonus Faber Concertino cannot easily be used with a jumper. In this case, you have no choice; you must go with an internally bi-wired speaker cable. But if your bi-wireable speaker allows you a choice, be sure to try the Golden Reference speaker cable in both forms, before you commit to an order.
Because Cal was densely-populated, there was a big fuss over public nudity. Even the police had to shrug and say, "As long as it's not sexual, we can't arrest anyone." But from that brouhaha rose the Nude & Breast Freedom Parade. According to my audio friends in the East Bay hills, that parade takes place every year, in September. And these friends *say* they are too busy playing with cables and listening to music, to observe or participate in the parade...
-Lummy The Loch Monster
| Product Weakness: | its mass can put stress on amps, speakers, and binding posts; takes a while to undo over-Cooking | | Product Strengths: | available with a white outer mesh; does not *need* to be used with Cardas interconnects |
Associated Equipment for this Review:| Amplifier: | numerous | | Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | numerous | | Sources (CDP/Turntable): | numerous | | Speakers: | numerous | | Cables/Interconnects: | numerous | | Music Used (Genre/Selections): | rock, pop, R&B, dance, Hawaiian, show tunes, TV | | Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
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