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In Reply to: As I'm shopping xlr IC's I see a lot of pre-owned posted by ArdRi on March 5, 2007 at 16:30:07:
Well, the Neutral Reference ICs have been around awhile, don't look splashy, and cost less than most of the "big guns." But they are made well, look ok, and are considered mid-priced. I ended up choosing them after months of effort and auditioning various (usually more expensive) brands. IMO, they did not positively excel in any area (other than tonal purity perhaps) over many other cables.They do not seem to have any sonic fireworks, or any other character that will stand out. They seem to perform fine in every area, however. And maybe, asides from longevity, looks, and price, is their problem. Sonically, they will not add or remove bass, extend or round off treble, or add sonic holography to a flat system. At the same time, they do not have the best soundstage I have heard, the most midrange resolution, or the utmost transparency. To be fair, however, all but one of the cables I tried in my system that seemed to better the Cardas in one or more of these areas had problems in other areas (IMO).
The Cardas NR was not the best in all parameters (again, IMO) in my system, but they added no problems either. They were good, affordable for me at the time, so I bought them. But they are not going to do magical things for a system that isn't magical on its own.
Follow Ups:
these are the main goals i have for the system.I could go for the Golden Reference if they can deliver on these points. I believe these are at the top of their line,right? I've seen a few 1 meter pairs around $500 i think.Oddly enough though I am close enough to Boston, The so called "Hub of the Universe" I don't know more than one place from which i might be able to take cables on home demo which is of course the optimal way of going about cable shopping.
The PAD Venustas were quite impressive, though quite a bit more expensive than even Cardas Golden Reference. They were very quiet, extremely resolved in the midrange, smooth, and their soundstaging was downright spooky. They had a very profound effect on my system. However, the Cardas Neutral Reference had a nice effect on my system too (though less impressive) compared to the previous cables, which were no slouches IMO. I guess it's a matter of what you are looking for, the system, and the room.Ultimately, I felt the Venustas, though quite wonderful, were in fact adding colorations (but how can a wire add such strong colorations?), and the system sounded more natural with the Cardas anyway. And the Neutral Reference was much cheaper. That was with my current system in the living room.
But you could do as JimL suggested and use the Cable Company lending library: they are usually good folks. You may have to wait awhile to get what you want to audition (they may already be out to someone), but it may be a good way to audition many different cables. Almost free too, if you ultimately buy the cables from them. There are other cables that may satisfy your requirements without getting rich guy only expensive:
Nirvana SX-LTD
Zu Varial or Gede
PS Audio TranscendentAll of these, much like the Cardas, will sound better after they have been in the system a while. You could also check out the AudioQuest Active (battery) shielded ICs. At any rate, good luck and good listening.
I ought probably not.I have a pair of 1.5M Nordost Tyr's running right now making the Moody Blues sound better than ever.... this pair will clock in a tad below $2,000.00. I have two pairs of Siletch's here too.I'll get to those over the next couple of days.Thanks for your input in this quest.
You could always try the Cable Company - they have a "lending library" of cables that you can try for a fee, which can be applied to your purchase. I haven't used them in years but I thought it was a good idea then, and I still think so.
my listening room a while back and they helped me with ideas for speaker placement and room acoustics.If the fee isn't more than a few dollars after shipping I'd go for it. Thanks.
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Tin-eared audiofool and obsessed landscape fotografer.
http://community.webshots.com/user/jeffreybehr
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