Review: Jade Audio Pure Solid Gold Interconnect

I ordered a Jade Audio Pure Solid Gold digital cable with Furutech Rhodium XLR connectors. Just enough cable for a snug fit between my CD-transport and d/a converter. The gold cable is quite expensive, so it must be good, right? No, it isn't. It's plain awesome! So, what's the secret recipe? Let me tell you:

My tube amplifier was all powered up and ready to go. No need for a pre-amplifier. I stick with a passive attenuator; the purest signal.

The Jade Audio with chunky Furutech connectors oozes quality. It's quite stiff, so I had to carefully knead it in the right shape. I advise anyone who uses these cables to take extra care and treat these - as Jade Audio states in their brochure - with respect! I let the digital cable settle in for a few hours.

Then with everything ready to go, and my pile of reference CDs in front of me, the listening session could begin!

I started with Jennifer Warnes' 20th Anniversary release of "Famous Blue Raincoat". Familiar tracks suddenly took on a new dimension. "Ballad of the runaway horse" sounded different. It was as if I added a new component. The bass was tight, clear and deep without becoming muddy. There was plenty of space around the instruments and Jennifer's voice cut like lightening through a dark cloud. The midrange sounded magical and those highs portrayed in a way I had never heard before, not even with the most expensive equipment! The duet "Joan Of Arc" with Leonard Cohen is always a must-hear for audiophiles. Those bells. I wanted to hear those bells. But wait a minute! What had happened to those bells? I restarted the track and then realised that that is the way the bells should sound! I was very impressed.

The listening continued with Marianne Faithfull's newest "Easy Come, Easy Go". The title track is just amazing and what was clearly heard was the way Marianne pronounces her words. That special accent of hers was clearly revealed. Extraordinary!

Mary Couglan's "The House Of Ill Repute" faired extremely well too. The track "Pornography" just drew me into the music, no sharp edges, I could pinpoint the position of the musicians. Unbelievable!

As if that wasn't enough, I decided to grab some classical CDs. Saint-Saëns's "Organ Symphony" sounded just like the vinyl record. Lots of space around the instruments and the organ going very deep. You can guess by now I was very stunned by this cable's capability of portraying music the way it was intended to sound. Confirmation was "Gounod's Faust and Bizet's Carmen". Simply magnificent. There just aren't enough words to describe the potential of this digital cable.

The more CDs I put on, the hotter the equipment became and the better the music sounded. All these differences were possible just by adding the Jade Audio Pure Solid Gold digital cable. That's quite an achievement!

After the listening:

While everything was still warmed up, I hooked up my other CD-player again. What I had always encountered as pretty good sound from my system, now sounded thin and disembodied in comparison. It took me a few days to get used to it again.

Verdict:

You owe it to yourself to at least audition the Jade Audio cables. You can pick the Vermeil, the Hybrid, but the Pure Solid Gold is my favourite! Now if you'll excuse me, I have the Jade Audio's cable hooked up in my main system. Happy Listening!

Question:

Did anyone experience this transformation in his or her system too? If so, please share with the Audiogon society. My compliments to J.D., the designer and owner of Jade Audio. He's a real genius!

Associated gear
Quicksilver Audio tube amplifier with NOS GE 6L6 tubes, Audio Synthesis Passion passive attenuator, Audio Synthesis Transcend Decade CD-transport and DAX-2 d/a converter, TDL Chiltern loudspeakers.

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