Don W
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I needed a new set of speaker cables to go with the Mini-Torri and ERRs I recently got. When I bought the Taboo/MG944 setup I got a set of Decware Zen Styx silver cables. At the time they were $250 for 10 a ft. set. Today the same cables are going for $450. Apparently, the increase is due to the rising price of silver, something Decware has no control over. While these are really nice cables, I still have a difficult time paying that much for cables.
So I started looking around and found a set of used PS Audio eXtreeme Plus on EBay which I ended up "winning" for under $100. Wow are they huge! And heavy. And to my mind ugly. I'm not that impressed with the sound they deliver either. They tend to darken things a bit and don't have the quickness that the Decware cables have. At least that is my subjective experience of them...
Then a couple weeks ago I stumbled on a review of Paul Speltz's "Anti-Cable" which compared them favorably to cables costing 10 or 100 times as much. A set runs $10 per foot, and that includes termination with either spades or bananas. I thought for that money I could try them and if I didn't like them oh well. So I ordered a set. I can only say these are the polar opposite of the PS Audio cables. They are very thin and light weight and are a kind of metalic red color. One cable basically consists of two solid core 12 gauge wires twisted around each other. The wires are coated with a very thin "dielectric" which gives them their red color. (According to their creater, it is the minimal dielectric that gives these cables their edge over traditionally made cables which have far more dielectric surrounding them.) Interestingly, these cables are uni-directional. That is, one end is supposed to be connected to speakers, and the other end to the amp.
Well, I got my set of Anti-Cables in yesterday and I have to say I am impressed. Not only are they physically polor opposite of the PS Audio cables, they are opposite sonically as well. They bring a quality of lightness or airyness to the music. And they have a quickness which is palatable. The music seems to be running down hill in a way, always just a pico-second ahead of the beat. I have to admit I might be immagining these qualities - that maybe the lightness of the physical cables makes a subconscious suggestion that the music is lighter as well. (I am something of a sceptic when it comes to sonic differences in cabling and such, or you could say I'm a reluctant believer....) But even so, these cables are beautiful. And after all, it is our subjective experience which we actually live with.
How do they compare to the Decware cables? Well, I could say they seem more open and airy than the Decwares. But less forgiving. The Decwares are very, very smooth. The anti-cables not quite so much. Both cables seem fast but the anti-cables maybe just a little faster. With neither cable do I have the feeling that either highs or lows or mids are being lost or rounded off in any way (as opposed to the PS Audios which definitely round off the highs and make the lows seem kind of muddy.)
I've ended up pairing the Anti-Cables with the Mini-Torri and the Decwares with the Taboo. A few reasons: The Taboo is more transparent and less forgiving than the Mini-Torri, especially when used without the CSP2+, so it doesn't need any help in this department from the cables. Also, I find the Mini-Torri to be a bit on the dark side when compared to the Taboo. Highs are not as strong or pronounced. This might be the price for the big punch that they deliver in the low end. The Anti-Cables seem to help liven up the Mini-Torri where as the Decwares are more neutral in their delivery.
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Decware: Taboo, CSP2+, Mini-Torii, MG944, ERR, Zen Styx, DSR-II interconnects, DHC-1 power cables. Other: Audeze LCD-3 w/ Q cables, EE Mini-Max DAC Plus, Audio-gd SA-1 DAC, Audio-gd DI-DSP USB to Coaxial converter. Homemade PC with JRiver Media Center.
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