Review: Stealth Audio Cables Varidig Sextet Reference Interconnect


Category: Cables

For the last two years my reference digital cable has been the very fine Artistic Audio Vacuum reference. Before, I made this cable my reference in my system I had audtioned the following digital cables: 1)Nordost Valhalla 2)Acoustic Zen MC2=Zen 3)Transparent Audio Labs Reference 4)Goldmund Lineal digital reference. They all were quite good, but I thought the Artistic Audio Vacuum reference was superior in the following area's: 1)More transparent with more details offered in a very natural way. 2) More extension both on the top and bottom. 3)A bigger soundstage with more air around the individual players. 4) Lastly, timbres were very natural sounding. All cables in my system sound the best when ended with BNC connectors. One of my "Golden Eared" audiophile friends informed that he thought that the new Stealth Varidig Sextet was a great step up sonicly from the Artistic Arts Vacuum cable. My digital front end pieces are the same as his, so this lead to audtioning the Stealth cable. Thanks Brian! Stealth Audio Cables is famous/infamous for there highly aclaimed Indra IC's. They are hideously expensive at $5750.00 for a one meter pair! The Varidig Sextet is Stealth's attempt to build a digital reference that would match the sonic level of the Indra IC's. Well, I have never audtioned a pair of Indra's in my system, so I don't know if they succeeded in that area, but this new cable is great on its own merit. The only technical note I want to share is that Stealth believes that this cable is built on a similar concept compared with DACS that "stack" several DAC chips for upsampling the bit stream. If you have questions regarding technical information like what type of metal is used, shielding materials, Cryogenic treatment, Etc., please go to their website: www. stealthaudiocables.com for a full explanation. ON TO THE SONICS. Everything I described regarding the Artistic Arts Vacuum cable was improved across the board. A bigger and more refined soundstage with more precise laying/more air around the different players. More air on top with a great improvement in the dynamics/realism of the bottom end. However the last three sonic virtues were not just an improvement, but a qualitive shift: 1) There doesnot seem to be a noisefloor, black got "blacker", it seems that the music just floats out of the background. 2) All timbres, to my ears sound more real and refined in an "organic/natural" way. 3) The last qualitive difference might be a composite of the first two, that my system has even a higher degree of what I describe as "liquidity/easyness" without losing dynamics or details along the way. Well, I hope that this somewhat convey's the beauty of this cable. However, I want to be very clear that I'm not claiming or stating that this cable is the "BEST" in the world, but ranks with some of the finest reference digital cables today, based on my personnal taste and synergy with my system. If you own reference digital pieces I would recommend you audtion this cable and see if it brings your system to another level like it did mine. Finally, it's not cheap at $2400.00, but I believe it is worth the money based on its performance.
teajay

Showing 6 responses by teajay

Well, as some of you know, I have at least posted on a few occasions my criticism, and hopefully good natured, pokes at the founding father of the SixMoons website,the guru Mr. Ebaen. I find his long-winded, mystical, mumbo-jumbo writing style very entertaining, but not very enlightening. However, today he posted his take on the Stealth Sextet on his SixMoons website, which totally agreed with my GON review, posted before his, I want you to know, this proves three things (ALL OF THIS IS AN ATTEMPT AT HUMOR) : 1) I am not a accusing Mr. Ebaen of plagiarism, but having the sense/taste to agree with my findings. 2)That of course, my review was much more precise and readable then his. 3) Finally, he has come to his senses to agree with this skeptic regarding the subjective beauty of this cable. I never thought Mr. Ebaen and I would have so much in common. Maybe, in a past reincarnation I was him or he was me, na I don't think so, but we with both heard the same effects of this cable in two different systems.
Kuzibri, I was having a wonderful conversation with my friend Nelly from Audio federation regarding my auditioning of the Stealth Sextet, when she mentioned that another good friend that lived in Europe, had just e-mailed her a note about the sextet. Nelly said that individual loved the cable and he had literally auditioned all digital cables known to humankind. Could it be that she was referring to you? If so, its really a small world and if not its an interesting quiescence, either way,thanks for sharing and nice to make your acquaintance here on the GON. I read your excellent review, and yes our ears', on radically different systems, came to the same conclusion regarding this wonderful cable
Kana813, to the best of my knowledge neither my DAC or transport are transformer coupled. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. Now, onto Unclejeff's question/comment regarding if the Stealth Sextet can really be that much better then the Acoustic Zen MC2 to merit the tremendous price difference between the two cables. I could go into a long preface regarding "the law of diminishing returns" or "what price do you put on subjective pleasure" or "how do you justify large expenditures for small increments of sonic improvements", but I won't, the short answer is YES. The Acoustic Zen is a wonderful sounding cable and quite reasonable priced, however the Stealth Sextet is just not a significant improvement but drastic qualitative shift towards analog like liquidity/musicality without a loss of details and slam. It's really that much better/different then any other cable I have heard in my system, therefore its worth its cost.
Richards, thanks for sharing your experience/opinion about the Sextet. I now have gotten information from about six different people, who are extremely enthralled with what this cable did in their systems. What I find interesting is all of us use very different digital front ends and have radically different overall systems, yet the Stealth Sextet still provides the same "magic" to all our ears'.
Rja, I'm glad that you to have found the Sextet really adds something special to one's overall system. Would you be nice enough to share what digital pieces, along with rest of your gear, you have in your system. I'm always interested in how different pieces go together to create system synergy. So far, it seems that what ever digital pieces are connected by the Sextet are only/totally influenced in a significant postive way. I'll thank you in advance.
Yesterday, one of my dear audiophile buddies asked if I would bring over my Stealth Sextet cable so he could compare its performance towards a TARA Labs digital reference cable that he had in for audtioning.

We were both shocked on how much better the Sextet was compared to the TARA Labs reference cable. Across the entire sonic spectrum ( timbres-layering in the sound stage-air around players-transparency-microdetails-decay trails-speed-natural musicality) the Sextet totally and completely out performed the TARA Labs reference cable.

The TARA Labs cable retails for $6900.00 vs $2700.00 for the Stealthy Sextet! Well, I guess you can figure out which cable my friend sent back and which he ordered later that day. I still have not heard a better digital cable then the Sextet and I have heard a bunch more since my original review. Without being nasty towards TARA Labs, this is a pretty rotten sounding cable for an awful lot of money.