Long interconnect ..
Cemil Gandur -- Mon, 06/30/2008 - 16:33
I need some advice to hook up an ARC Ref 3 with a 610 T amp. After having blown the house on these 2 awesome units, a Tara Labs Zero is out!
The interconnect will be about 4 meters. Speakers are Magico Mini 2, hooked up with Kimber Select.
Any ideas / suggestions at a not-too-obscene price (half obscene will do :))?
Thanks
Balanced or single-ended?
Sorry .. balanced :)
Kubala-Sosna Emotions is the way to go.
My experience is that in both the Tara Labs and Nordost lines, as you go down in price you keep the same basic flavor and simply lose a very very slight amount of purity etc. This is probably true for others as well, I just don't have experience with them.
If you like Tara, take a look and then price the ISM On Board 0.8 and The One.
I've been playing with the few available cables that I have. Between Ref 3 and 610T, I managed to compare a Shunyatta interconnect to my Heimdal, and preferred the Shunyatta.
I tried also changing cables between the Meitner DAC and the Ref 3. I tried the Shunyatta, Heimdal, Transparent Reference (all balanced) and as a benchmark, my Kimber Select single-ended. As a complete surprise, the Kimber came way short - it didn't help that I got much less volume with the Kimber, but it seems to me that the balanced connectors on the DAC6e / Ref-3 are probably much better than the single-ended ones. Unfortunately, I do not have the same cable in both single-ended and balanced versions to prove my theory. Does anyone have any experience with this?
As far as the balanced cables are concerned, the Shunyatta was worst in this configuration, with the Transparent the clear 'best' cable, and the Heimdal in the middle. I borrowed another Transparent and will be testing that in both DAC -> preamp and preamp -> amp. I'll also be getting a Valhalla over the weekend to test - I think that's probably closer in price to the Transparent than my Heimdal.
Tried the local K-S dealer, but he doesn't have any cables in stock; he says "soon" .. Trying to find someone locally that stocks Tara Labs.
Any comments about the Transparent range?
Thanks
Spent the day today testing the Valhallas against the Transparent Refs.
The Transparents have a deeper and louder bass and they seem to have more 'air' around the instruments - although I am not sure if it is an artifact. The Valhallas have absolutely gorgeous highs and seem to let more low level detail through. However, they also sound more lean and are more distant in their presentation.
The ideal cable would be a cross between the two .. *sigh*
Tomorrow, I'll be testing a pair of balanced Kimber Selects.
I also found that I hate testing cables!
Transparent put on an interesting demo at the last CES, comparing the sound of their new models with the same-priced previous models. The improvement was striking. They claim that their mid-priced cables now outperform their previous flagship models. It's worth an audition.
Well, I borrowed a pair of Kimber Selects balanced (1130) and threw that in the mix and spent all Sunday listening to the 3 cables.
It was soon apparent, that in the context of my system (Magicos, ARC Ref3/610T, Meitner transport/DAC6e), the Valhalla was not fitting as well as the others. The bass got a bit lost, some of the presentation was distant laid back. It made the most beautiful sounds out of cymbals, but I tend to listen to a bit more than cymbals :)
It was a real toss-up between the Kimber and the Transparent Reference. I tended to prefer the Kimber on the more rock/funk type of tracks and the Transparent on the more jazzy types, with a total draw on some tracks.
Interesting observations on the cable comparisons. It can be frustrating to like one cable on one type of music and another cable on different music. You should also audition the MIT MA; it's expensive, but not as expensive as the Oracle MA, which is, in my experience, the state of the art. Oracle MA and MA share many of the same qualities. If I didn't have Oracle MA in my system, I'd be listening to MA.
Thanks Robert.
Any idea on how the MIT would compare to the Transparents? They're pretty much the same design philosophy, and I think share the same roots?
I've never had Transparent in my system, so I can't say how they compare.
Well, the dealer gave me a killer deal on the Transparents (since I am buying the Ref 3/610T at the same time) and I've gone for the Reference XL with their new technology (MM2).
Be sure to post your thoughts on the Transparent cable after the system settles in.
Will do.
Dealer said it will take around another 10 days for delivery, which in reality will be about 3 weeks I think :)
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