Tara, Audience, and some high end cables

So, after a few auditions, and after owning Audience 24 and High Fidelity CT-1e ICs, I have come to the conclusion that Audience cables provide the best VFM. I will be upgrading my signal cables to 24SE (already have the speaker, and ICs are just 24, not SE). They also have Low, Medium, and High power cords for digital, pre, and power which I have not demoed.

Generally the cost in GBP seems to be around 400 for signal and power cords, 650 for speaker.

The Tara Labs is my favorite power cord so far, but I was lucky to get one used at a good price (retail over $5k), the price used usually is around 1500 (GG once tried to help me get one at 1200, though the other guy didn't drop his price - thanks for that, GG, as a return favor, here is a tip from me...try the Lampi and the mooks :music.

So, I managed to source one Tara recently and it makes a big positive difference. But am not planning to get more now, too expensive. I will get the Audience.

Also the main characteristic of Audience is that they are very transparent, natural, neutral, fast, etc. Once you listen to the Audience, other cables will sound colored. Even without comparing, my first reaction on listening to the Audience was that this is natural. I have demoed Kubala Elation, Zensati uber-expensives, Audioquest K2, Crystal, Siltech Ruby Crown (retail 20k) and others before, they all do something to the sound.

My recommendation is, unless someone has a lot of dough to get the 20k retail cords which sell for 4k used (Jorma Prime, Tara Grandmaster, Siltech Ruby Crown which are all known to trump Odin), try Audience 24 or even better 24SEs used in the medium range.

If it helps, I also tried the Shun Mook interconnect and power cable but didn't like those. However one guy said he prefers them to his 18k Tara

Agree with you that Audience cables are GREAT! I'm using Au24e interconnects and speaker cables. Unfortunately, they have been jacking up their retail prices over the past few years. I would have considered upgrading to their SE version, but, IMHO, $220 per cable (plus shipping) just to get the upgraded RCA connectors isn't worth it.

Is that all it is?

bonzo said:

Is that all it is?

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That's just the price for upgrading (re-terminating) Au24e cables that you already own to Au24SE. The retail price for new Au24SE interconnects is much higher, depending on length. 1 meter Au24SE interconnects now retail for $1190 (USD), though can occasionally get demo's for less.

Used are around 650

Hi Kedar,

Have you ever listened to the Shunyata Research line?

Wire is a very tough item since it is one part of overall system synergy. What may sound "neutral" to you may sound "colored" to another person.

Best advice IMHO. Work with the Cable Company aka Fatwyre to audition each product in your own system. They have a massive selection.

GG

Hi GG, for portable components such as cables, Lampi, mooks, I normally take them around to local audiophile buddies and check for consistency. The neutrality and naturalness is a consistent factor. I also confirmed this with with the impressions of others who own/owned it.

Regarding Shunyata, no, not available here, but then the price of Shunyata falls in that more expensive than Audience but not Jorma Prime/Tara Grandmaster/Siltech Ruby/Stage 3 Kraken category. From chatting with Shunyata owners, their best product seems to be the Triton v2 and the Alpha digital power cable.

Gordon Gray said:

Hi Kedar,

Have you ever listened to the Shunyata Research line?

Wire is a very tough item since it is one part of overall system synergy. What may sound "neutral" to you may sound "colored" to another person.

Best advice IMHO. Work with the Cable Company aka Fatwyre to audition each product in your own system. They have a massive selection.

GG

Click to expand...

Exactly true, also IMO they are the most subjective part of any system as they can only color the sound in one way or another, so personal preference is a major factor. I prefer the cables by Audioquest to similarly priced Nordost. IME all cables from a single manufacturer have a "house sound" that you may prefer. The only other components with this level of subjectivity are all of them~.

Not true. Read my reply. The Audience neutrality is consistent across systems and ears.

Ps: I have tried the audioquest k2 speaker cables, 16k for 2m. They were colored. Enhanced midrange at cost of other stuff. Also tried a lower priced interconnect. And owned their diamond usb which I sold off because it added a fake sheen to the highs to give the impression of details, while the total dac usb has more body and lower end. Again this was consistent across systems and ears. I also tried the audioquest 2k spdif which was good, but colored.

Kedar,

I think we can agree to again disagree.

"Best", meaning neutral in this case, is one of those words I always try to avoid.

GG

I didn't say best. That was best value for money, which is not best. I did say neutral, which is what it's known for.

There can be no best in cables

Okay. Whatever my friend.

Best value for the money is a "best" to me.