Jadem6 . This is a great review and required more hard work and patience than most people imagine.
From the cables I've auditioned, I agree with many of your assessments on tonal color, resolution as well as "blackness, " or freedom of noise.
As you have already stated, system tonal balance, character of the listening environment as well as the speakers all effect what we pick for interconnect and speaker wire. Much is simply balancing the scales one way or the other to come up with the sound for our situation.
Listeners with fast transparent speakers like ( my ) Soundlab Ultimate, find the Purist to be a perfect balance. As you said, it is less bright than the Nordost and more revealing than the Cardas. I believe you have called this correctly on every count. Audiogoners that listen to some of your test pieces may be able to extrapolate what would work for them.
Your personal favorites were a good call and include many of the top cables available. I supposed I might swap the XLO or FIM for the Cardas for my own list, but were still in the same general category of great products.
It has been a long time since I auditioned Nordost, and a good friend of mine just chose the Valhalla for his Soundlab M1's. Between you and him, I plan on giving these another try.
From the cables I've auditioned, I agree with many of your assessments on tonal color, resolution as well as "blackness, " or freedom of noise.
As you have already stated, system tonal balance, character of the listening environment as well as the speakers all effect what we pick for interconnect and speaker wire. Much is simply balancing the scales one way or the other to come up with the sound for our situation.
Listeners with fast transparent speakers like ( my ) Soundlab Ultimate, find the Purist to be a perfect balance. As you said, it is less bright than the Nordost and more revealing than the Cardas. I believe you have called this correctly on every count. Audiogoners that listen to some of your test pieces may be able to extrapolate what would work for them.
Your personal favorites were a good call and include many of the top cables available. I supposed I might swap the XLO or FIM for the Cardas for my own list, but were still in the same general category of great products.
It has been a long time since I auditioned Nordost, and a good friend of mine just chose the Valhalla for his Soundlab M1's. Between you and him, I plan on giving these another try.