Review: KLEI gZero10 Interconnect


Category: Cables

More of the same!
After eight months of thoroughly enjoying the KLEI gZero6 IC’s I became tempted to see if there is a significant improvement in their next model up, the gZero10 IC’s. Having been so besotted by the sheer value for money and performance of the gZero6’s, could the 10s be really worth the extra money?
If you go by looks alone you would say NO. They look exactly the same as the 6s other than the use of Absolute Harmony RCA’s in place of the Pure Harmony RCA’s on the 6s. Oh, and the little tag near the end of the RCA’s now reads Essence gZer0 10 instead of Essence gZero 6. Maybe the money has gone into improvements in sound rather than looks? Could this be a case of substance over style? Now that would make quite a change.
Burned in, I allowed the cables another few hours of settling in before doing any serious listening.
Now the heading of this little review says, ‘More of the same!’ That could of course be damning with faint praise. But that’s not what I meant.
More of the same means more of the qualities that the 6’s exhibited. An even more quiet background as music flows out of an even darker silence; more articulate and propulsive bass; more clarity and purity throughout the midrange and cleaner and more extended high frequencies. The imaging places the singers and instruments in an even more realistic three dimensional world, surrounded by more air and space.
Here we have even more resolution and transparency but still maintaining all the musicality we crave rather than the sterility that many super transparent cables create.
Now this all might sound like a night and day difference between the gZero10’s and their cheaper stablemate the gZero6’s. That’s not true. The gZero6’s are superb cables and what the 10’s do is give just some ‘more’ of the same. They are kindred spirits and you can tell that they come from the same family, just one is slightly more grown up and more mature.
Whether you think the extra money they cost is worth it, only you can tell. For my part they make a worthwhile improvement over the gZero6’s and I am willing to spend the extra money. And I did.
Highly recommended!

Please note: I have no commercial interest in KLEI.

Associated gear
Ayon CD5s with Burson OPamp Upgrade
Vitus RI-100 Integrated
Magico S1
KLEI gZero6 Speaker Cables
Lessloss Original Power Cables
padre_power

Showing 8 responses by yping

Willewonka, very impressive review. I have been saving and I am nearly ready to get the gZero20 ICs. Perfect timing :)

After reading those reviews I am very much looking forward to getting them... very impressive :)

It looks like even the gZero2 ICs are exceptional ICs and good value but the gZero20 ICs will replace my gZero6 ICs :)
Interesting! The gZero6 ICs I have are wonderful and very nice ICs but it sounds like really good timing for me :)
Willewonka, what KLEI gZero ICs are you currently using and why do you like them...
Padre_power, I have the gZero6 ICs and it sounds like the gZero10 ICs are definitely worth the extra money but as I only need one pair of ICs I have, as such, essentially decided to upgrade to the gZero20 ICs, for my next pair of ICs. I haven't done this yet but I will soon :)

Williewonka, I must say that the KLEI gZero ICs have been wonderful in my system. I now have the gZero6 ICs, gZero2D IC (digital/spdif), and the gZero6 SCs. They are very natural, very highly resolving, and very analogue sounding... very nice :)

The other thing that I find interesting is that our audio systems are all very different yet we are hearing very, very similar results. This is very confidence inspiring for me and the main reason that I am looking at the gZero20 ICs :)

Thank you for your posts, they have been very helpful :)
Willewonka, thanks and pretty amazing and yes that is my experience with the gZero6 ICs/SCs and gZero2D spdif IC that I use on my squeezebox. Makes the squeezebox sound very analogue which I found and find quite amazing :)

That is the reason that I am going to replace my gZero6 ICs with gZero20 ICs and use the gZero6 ICs elsewhere ... looking forward to it :)
Ad010685, I have the old gZero6 ICs and gZero6 SCs and I find them both to be fabulous although I plan to get the gZero20 ICs (pretty soon actually). Actually, I guess, to get the gZero20 ICs must mean that I am extremely impressed with the old gZero6 ICs, and it would appear that from reading about the recently updated gZero range that the new gZero2 ICs are nearly as good as my old gZero6 ICs which I find to be exceptional and very musical... hope that is helpful :)

It would appear that you can't go wrong with any of the gZero ICs or the gZero SCs and simply depends on your budget :)
Hey Willewonka, I have been able to borrow some gZero10 ICs to listen too, and wow, they sound wonderful! Beautifully balanced and wonderfully detailed. I have been listening to all my CD's again like they are new CD's. I wasn't expecting that much of an improvement over my older gZero6 ICs which I believe have been upgraded but wow, lovely, beautiful, and lets listen to another CD, are the words that are still lingering in my ears :)