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Interconnect Cable Shoot Out

By Don Naples

 

Intro by Kevin Olson:

I want to thank Don for all his work on this event. He procured cables from vendors and manufacturers sometimes driving into Berkeley or San Francisco.  Don rearranged his system to facilitate the cable swaps. He tested his methods before the event and chose consequential music to facilitate us hearing differences.  Janet and Don are the most gracious hosts.  And thanks to Bruce Lamanna for helping Don.  We all had a great time. 

 

Don's Write-Up:

A balanced cable “Shoot Out” was held at my home in Healdsburg, CA on September 17^th and again on the 18^th, 2022.  There was a full house of about 15 people each day.

 

Initially it was planned as solely a vinyl event, but thanks to Jason Victor Serinus and Jim Austin, both of Stereophile Magazine, we changed the bulk of the event to digital playback. That was a good recommendation as we could not have played the same recordings repeatedly on vinyl without having severe deterioration to the record and sound. Jason also recommended I upgrade the USB cable I was using. The ones he suggested were not available on loan from the dealer so I chose two others.  From them I selected the Audience Au24 SE which was a nice upgrade compared to the original cable.

 

I was pleased that there was no single consensus and there were multiple “winners” depending on which category one chose. There were certainly some great value performers including cables from AudioQuest, Anti Cable and Kimber.

 

Several cables were selected as best, depending upon which person you asked. It became a difference of what listening preference one has. Those preferences were discussed so you could benefit from the point of view of that listener. An example was Alex defined what he meant by “texture” of the music he heard. The example given was two violinists playing together still allows one to hear the differences between the two instruments. Some cables allowed him to distinguish this more easily than others. My critical listening could not be done from my cable swapping position so I did my evaluations prior to and after the event. I too have listening preferences. Anne-Sophie Mutter, a favorite of mine, when playing Dvorak with Berliner Philharmoniker hits some incredibly high notes. Not all cables provide clarity of these notes. To stay with the tracks we compared at the event, if one listens to The Snow Maiden Dance of the Tumblers (Reference Recordings) it is busy and lots of dynamics and things to listen for but if you start at 2:08 and play to 2:28, how clearly do you hear the striking of the triangle notes. This is just one example of rather than trying to listen to a large section of a recording and remember all the nuances, selecting a small portion allows one to distinguish the playback difference more easily. When listening to Ray Brown “Summer Wind” - Live at LOA” track 2 “Real Blues” when the cell phone rings people laugh. (We listened to the DSD 64 recording) How clearly did you hear the phone ring? There is also a background of chatter. Some cables revealed this well and others did not. The leading edge of piano notes was also mentioned to distinguish the cables. These are just a few examples of how high resolution systems can discern even slight nuances. The cables can affect how well the system can do that. We spoke about stage width and depth and the Linkwitz LX-521.4 REF speakers, being dipoles, abound with that. It was demonstrated with the track from Best of Chesky Jazz & More Audiophile Tests, Vol. 2 Track 47.

 

Here is the list of cables we heard and the number assigned to them.

We used numbers to identify the cables rather than the brand and model.

 

Brand Model Cable *

AntiCables Level 5.3 8

Audience Front Row 2

AudioQuest Yukon 5

Cardas Clear Beyond 1

DH Labs Silver Sonic BL1 Series II9 (Not reviewed Day 2)

Furutech Evolution Audio II 12

Iconoclast ETPC 14 (Not reviewed Day 2 as all preferred #15 over #14)

Iconoclast OHNO 15

Kimber Cable Carbon 4

Refine Audio 10

Shunyata Research Venom X 11

Snake River Sig Series Mamushi 13

Transparent Audio Ultra 7

Voodoo Stradivarius 6

Wire World Platinum Eclipse 8 3

Nightengale Audio 17 (Day 2 only)

Zu Event 16 (Kevin’s – Day 1)

 

 

Attendee comments:

 

From Ori: 

“I liked the Cardas #1 the best and second place is a tie between the Kimber #4 and the unknown to me cable #10.  Like you said, what each one takes from this event is very subjective and I would not declare winners or losers. In fact, all cables were credible and fit for a decent system.  Also, your digital was not far behind the analog... Very revealing and musical.  I noticed the most differences with the jazz piece, which was dynamic and very clearly recorded. The classical piece had some value in assessing tone of string instruments. My seating positions did not let me judge soundstage well. A compromise in any large (and cheerful!) event.”

 

From Dennis:

“I thought there was no consensus on a clear winner, it did seem that many people were struck by the clarity of cable #10, the Refine Audio. I thought that it took a few listenings to get familiar enough with the recordings to figure out what to listen for.  It was interesting with the Ray Brown piece that some of the biggest differences in the cables were revealed by the extraneous, non-musical parts of the recording, the cell phone and audience laughter and chatter.  I would think the most lifelike reproduction of this stuff would also mean the most lifelike reproduction of the music, but I don’t think that was always the case.  So, as you say, it comes down to what your ears are tuned for. The distinctness of the triangle in the “Snow Maiden” was another key reference point.  Also, on “Real Blues” certain high notes of the piano could sound harsh with many cables (one listener called it “glassy”).  I realize now that it would have been helpful to have some of these key elements written on a grid, and be able to make notes as each cable was used.”

 

From Peter:

“I thought that the Audience Front Row was fairly neutral but a little lightweight in texture. I would like to hear the general consensus in comparison of the Cardas Clear (auditioned not the Clear/beyond) and the refined audio IC.”

 

From David:

“I enjoyed the event ... but heck, how hard it was to know A vs B when they were so great and so close IMHO. Is a jazz piano supposed to 'ring' on its highest peaks? That (rather listening for too much of it!) and Don's suggestion that the jazz audience mutterings were, for him, an indicator of the resolution/clarity properties of a cable were pretty much where my feelings 'landed' - guru-less, I'm afraid. My simple notes as we winged along to get through the samples appear to have me picking #1 over #4, i.e. "Cardas Clear Beyond" over "Kimber Carbon". My notes did have me as overhearing that #1 was the "Cardas" at the event so when I got home, I looked-up their product lines - how cruel to see that their 'kit' is way 'Beyond' anything I'd ever budget for! I ordered something that might be a Chinese knock-off of the "Cardas'. It'll be interesting to A/B the thing with the $20 balanced inter-connect I currently use - and am moderately ecstatic with its performance.  Happy Trials sans tribulations!”

From Dilshad:

“You could feel my opinion is biased but #17 Sounded best to me. Highlights: High frequency had more detail than all the other cables, lowest noise flow compared to all the other cables, upper frequency was more crisp, vivid, smooth, clearer and sounded the most natural compared to all other cables. Lower frequency was equally good, dimensional, tight and impactful. At least to me it stood out of the bunch.  Body, definition, outline and tone throughout the frequency sounded more real to life. Speed and pace was spot on. On Saturday when the volume was at a 140 if I am not mistaken, at a higher volume on most cables’ highs were bright, smudged and two dimensional, #17 was the only cable that had full control on the upper frequency. Sunday volume was mostly at 135 speakers sounded much tamer at this volume, #17 came down to the last three cables, I preferred #17.”

David:

“Nice event.  Don's system was impressive, as was his hospitality.  I also thought the musical selections were well chosen for discerning differences among the cables. My take-aways:

My clear favorite was the Cardas Clear Beyond.  It nicely balanced tone, detail and dynamics.  But at $4,000+, it ought to be good.

I thought the Audience Front Row was also very, very good.  My runner-up choice.

The Kimber Carbon was nice for the money.  The value leader in this shootout, I thought.  Hard to fault it.

Thanks for allowing me to comment.  Looking forward to the event write-up on the site.”

From Gordon:
"I attended the Sunday shootout. Sadly I arrived late so I can't give a proper response based on the scientific methods used to properly determine the various merits of each set of cables. I did manage to catch most of the event and wanted to report some of my observations.

4)   All in all I thought the cable shootout was great. I always learn something every time I attend. Big thanks to Don and his wife, Janet and Leslie for making all this happen."

From Eduardo:

From Kevin Chatfield (distributor of Nightingale):

The cable shootout was tons of fun!  A very unique event.  Here is my feedback.  #17 cable from Nightingale Audio was by far and away the standout.  There was so much more information presented than any of the other cables.  Much more than detail retrieval, the spatial presence is unparalleled.  Any instrument was easily identified and fully present among all the others.  The bass especially was so profoundly better than any of the other cables!  The bass response was punching all the way to the rear of the listening area, and none of the other cables came even close.   That alone was beyond extraordinary.   I have never heard any cable like this one.

Wrap Up:

There are many more cables that could be added for evaluation but I hope this event helped those in attendance to find brands and options to consider.

                          Don