I have read and re-read this thread many times the last month or so. I can relate to Brainwater's concern here of outrageous claims.
One mistake many of us make is that we judge a single component solely on how it works with the rest of one system. It is very clear when any product is lacking resolution or the soundstage instantly collapses but tonality differences are a different story. If there is suddenly a big shift in tonality, i.e., a peak or valley in the frequency response, perhaps this one component has uncovered a problem elsewhere in our system?
I'd like to know the meaning of Rch10's comment that networked cables are less focused than non-networked cables. Does this imply a grainy sound, or lack of pin-point imaging, or what? Is this indeed the cable's fault? I have not experienced this at all with the MIT 350 Proline Ref or Evo series nor the Transparent Ultra. But both of these have somewhat of a lean midrange and the Ultra a definite lack of definition and resolution on the top. Is this what you mean by focus? This sure sounds a lot like the Cardas Golden Cross and Harmonic Tech One as well, and these have no network box.
If there is one thing I have tried a hundred times besides line stages, it is ICs from the line stage to the amp. And I can count on both hands the cables out there that have NOT destroyed much of the 3-dimensionality of the performance .... and amazingly enough, MIT and Transparent are in this group .... as are NBS, K-S, and oh my, the Purist. I too ran with the Cardas Golden Cross for a long time but it masked so much of the detail on the top due to its severely exaggerated midrange warmth. The NBS Signature alone was a huge step in the right direction. Unfortunately most of these cables have frequency extension issues which calls into play other compromises but at least they get the fundamental aspect of the musical performance.
If KMiller5's Transparent cables were Ultras or lower in the line, I have no doubt the Transparent was preferred to the K-S in that system. The K-S would reveal all sorts of issues here that the Transparent cables mask due to Transparents rolled off top-end and mediocre resolution.
As I have covered in another A'gon thread earlier this week, Joe Kubala was at my home and one by one, he replaced my cables with the Emotion series. If there was ever a colored, overly warm system out there, it has been mine, and Art and JD can attest to this. But the K-S Emotion cables ruthlessly showed the weaknesses in all the cables they were replacing. To say these are some of the most revealing and resolving cables out there would be an understatement. For the first time I could hear room boundaries within the recording very clearly. Lyrics were more clear and the bass lines had rhythm associated to a musician rather than simply low frequency tones. People - this is the sign of an awesome cable!
It makes no sense to even consider such a product if you have not resolved other issues elsewhere. And as I learned, the power conditioner absolutely had to be done first to appreciate the resolution capabilities in the system that the K-S brought to the forefront like my cables had not.
Since Joe Kubala left all but the spkr cables and 2 power cords, I have had the opportunity to play with the K-S cables in my system for two nights now. One of these is a 10m Emotion IC from the Aesthetix Callisto Sig to the CAT JL-3 Sig amps. But I also took delivery of a 10m Purist Dominus Rev B for this link.
I have been running the Dominus for nearly 48 hours straight, CDP on repeat and the amps off during the night. I was told this would be required to get the Dominus settled down. I did cheat and listen to it the first night I hooked it up to make sure all was fine. And indeed it was muffled with not so good treble coverage as I was told would be the case when I first laid out this cable. But I knew something special was to come when I heard the explosive dynamics for just a minute or so.
With both cables laid out in the room and plugged into the Callisto, there is very minimal cable movement to plug one set or the other into the CAT amps. And I have discovered it is not necessary to power the amps off to swap cables. I just wish the Dominus's RCA connectors had ground connection first before hot like the K-S cable.
Coming off the MIT 350 EVO cable, each of these cables is a huge step forward but for very different reasons. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Emotion is the more accurate cable in terms of frequency response across the entire band. There is no frequency range that stands out. This is a statement product in my opinion in this regard. There is a most incredible naturalness to this product. Never is it fatiguing and never does it leave you wonder what is going on in the musical performance. Loads and loads of subtle queues that were before absent in the performance come in with extreme clarity and definition.
And then there is the Purist Dominus. Guido - I have found the cable of your dreams! This is an incredibly emotional cable...it almost brings tears to one's eyes. When you hear piano notes, it is absolutely beautiful. There is so much texture and overtones to the sound. For an expert who would know the differences from one piano to another or one pianist to another, this could easily be discerned with the Dominus. It conveys the body of the instrument like absolutely nothing that has crossed my path. The harmonic overtones are stunning. This alone makes this cable also a statement product. And as much as the K-S brought on a bass line beyond the MIT 350 EVO, the Dominus takes this to an even greater degree. There is so much more power and low-end authority without the boominess so often associated to such gains. JD will go nuts trying to nail everything down in my room that is now rattling like never before!
After several piano tracks, I tried some Carly Simon music, one of my wife's CDs, and the Dominus brought on such an awesome realism to her in the room. And did I forget to mention that this cable is Vi Vi Vi Vi.......vid? Wow, you want dynamics, it's all here.
And then a return to the K-S Emotion. Everything is back to a more laid back and oh so smooth but never boring presentation. All the music is still there but portrayed in a very different manner. There is a wee bit more sparkle to the highest percussion sounds that float in space just a little longer with the Emotion than the Dominus B. I can see why JD loves this cable so much as I do too. But in all honesty, my mind kept telling me to return to the Dominus. And once I did, the huge smile returned. JD, this is a must hear!
And Rgs92, if the Emotion left the Dominus B in the dust, your system was obviously not capable to hear the incredible qualities brought on by the Dominus.
My hat is off to the Kubala-Sosna Emotion cables. Without my front-end all loaded up with the Emotion cables, the differences between the Emotion and Dominus ICs would not have been so vivid and clear. JD is going to kill me here, but to slightly alter a quote I heard early this week, the K-S Emotion IC cable from the Callisto Sig to the CATs is more resolving but the Dominus B is more involving. They are both absolutely phenomenol products and it entirely comes down to personal taste once the rest of the system's nasties have been addressed. Until this is done, cables for the most part are simply going to mask or compliment issues elsewhere in the system.
In just a few days, I have heard two cables that transform my system like no cable change has done in over 5 years when I changed from Cardas Golden Cross and SilverAudio to NBS Statement.
Art, we need to get together again, at my place and yours while I still have many of these K-S Emotion cables. I would love to hear the Stereovox one more time.
John
