Purist Audio vs. Synergistic Research ICs

I you can only afford Aqueous, the similarly priced SR will give you more bang for the buck. However, if you can afford a little more (for the Venustas) you will have the best cable value in audio IMO.

I was considering SR, Transparent, and Straightwire Virtuoso, when I wandered into the Purist room one year at CES. I'd never heard of Purist and thought they were demoing a terrific sounding speaker (Eben) until informed they made cable ;-) Back home, I'd been trying to make a decision on a new expensive tonearm cable, when I spied the fattest TA cable I'd ever seen (a Venustas) on Jim Aud's (Purist's owner) TT at the show, and wound up buying it ("it's already broken in" he said!) I paid $650 (less than half of retail) and when I got it home, I totally freaked out! Subsequently I recabled my whole system with Venustas.

The one thing Purist does better than anybody (and everyone who uses them will agree) is low noise floor. No cable has a blacker background (and that includes Siltech and Stereovox) As far as tonal balance goes, it is of course system dependent. But I have a neutral and articulate system (electostats, driven by tubes, of course ;-) and the Purist cabling (including power cords) has maintained that system neutrality for me, while revealing more detail and stable image. Their speaker cables have very low capacitance, which is important for driving most speakers but particularly for electrostats.

Synergistic, and even more so, Transparent, have a bit more, oh, I guess you'd call it "sparkle" (and with my system, I don't need any more of that! but you might ;-) however you will pay for it with some background hash (which you'll never notice, unless you A-B them against Purist cables.) I'm quite sure this is due to Purist's outstanding (if somewhat bulky) mechanical shielding (Ferox).

Whatever you decide, at this level of 'sophisticated cable design' I'd recommend you stick with the same make and model of cable throughout your system.
.

I listened to Venustas in my system before purchasing Synergistic. To my ears, in my system, the Purist gives a more "middle of the hall" presentation, whereas the SR line yields more of a 1st or 2nd row presentation. I didn't find the Purist noise floor to be any better than that of the SR cabling.

I use Purist Venustas and I like them for the black background Nsgarch
describes, and for their slightly rich midrange. I also use other brands, which
I like equally but for different reasons. I once tried Venustas speaker cabling,
and it was handily beaten by cabling costing less than $400 for a run half as
long. It really wasn't even close.

The Venustas do *appear* to have a lower noise floor, but I believe what is
missing may be some room ambience and high frequency information. This
was particularly true in my speaker cable comparison in which the Venustas
sounded closed-in and the other brand allowed the music to expand and
breathe. It would explain why Fplanner2000 describes the Venustas as
having a mid hall presentation and the SR as the first or second row.

Now, it could also be that the SR cables have a touch more hash which
accentuates the mids and highs, and brings the presentation closer. It's hard
to say for certain.

What is certain, is that we all hear cabling uniquely for many reasons, and that
our perceptions are very likely to be ours alone.

No "hash", just well-balanced musical presentation.

Nsgarch,
I agree the Purist Audio cables are very quite however I have never heard my system sound so quite as when it is entirely wired with SR Tesla cables (ic's, sc's and pc's). In fact this is how I would address Tesla's amazing detail. It comes from pitch-black backgrounds. In other words in the total absence of noise you hear inner detail and micro dynamics that you were not previously aware of.

In regard to sound staging and image placement I do not find any consistent perspective (front row, middle hall or in the nose bleed seats). Instead I hear my system change (sometimes dramatically) from CD to CD where some tracks sound small and intimate as if I am sitting in front of a performer. On some CD's I hear huge sound fields that extend past the walls of my room.

I seem to remember a review that explained this pretty well. If I can find it I will provide a link.

Anyway the best way to hear all of this is to audition different cables in your system and then decide.