Cardas Audio cables

[microstrip]

I used Cardas Clear and then Beyond Clear for many years as my phono cable. Beyond Clear is an excellent cable, no doubt about it. I've moved on to the Tara Zero Evolution and Masterbuilt Ultras but these are at progressively higher price points as well. The Tara phono is a slightly more neutral cable than the Beyond Clear but i suspect that is more due to its rhodium connectors as opposed to Tara's good ol' fashioned gold plated copper connectors. The Tara does offer it's novel ground station technology as part of the package and whether it accounts for its stunning sound staging, I cannot say. Tara is a favorite of many such as Fremer precisely because of it's beautiful neutrality and remarkable holographic sound-staging (I swear the images go wider than almost anything else I've tried). They are also among the very lowest capacitance cables out there but I do not know the inductance values. There is little to say about the Masterbuilt Ultras that hasn't already been said, except to say that I thought they were disappointing with their stock Furutech rhodium connectors. However, when I switched to custom Furutech gold-plated copper XLR connectors for the Ultras, they became my reference standard. (In fact I am ordering a single ended pair of Ultras shortly with WBT connectors for my single ended phono stage that I anticipate will be equally compelling.) Suffice it to a say, I simply don't understand why anyone sees any value in rhodium terminations but YMMV. In summary, you can't go wrong with Beyond Clear, but if you can find a good pair of Tara Zero Evos at the right price, you will be delighted. The MB Ultras are stellar and accordingly uber-priced, but I think the Taras are remarkable and frankly, the better value. I've also been through many of the "networked cables" many years ago and think they are all slightly colored by comparison to any of the other 3 mentioned.

Did you use the Beyond Clear in other positions in your system and the matching speaker cables? Although I sometimes mix cable brands in the long run I return to complete systems of the same brand.

 

[marty]

Francisco
I have not used Beyond Clear elsewhere. I have used other Cardas products such as their PCs to good effect in the past, but it's not what I use now. I'm not necessarily a believer in one brand "loom" cabling. Cables are generally all tone controls of sorts. Sometimes I've chosen one brand or another to fit the desired attributes of a particular application. In general, it's always desirable to use something as neutral as possible, but I've also heard several systems where the overall system balance was enhanced using certain brands in specific locations. For some time, I've been using Masterbuilt Ultra interconnects and speaker cables and I suspect that won't change anytime soon. (I was a non-believer in MB at first, until I wasn't!) But I'm not a fan of their USB (I prefer the Stealth-T select) and I love the Tara Zero Evo phono so again, it's application specific in some cases.
Marty

 

[Ron Resnick]

Very interesting, Marty. Thank you for reporting!

 

[microstrip]

Francisco
I have not used Beyond Clear elsewhere. I have used other Cardas products such as their PCs to good effect in the past, but it's not what I use now. I'm not necessarily a believer in one brand "loom" cabling. Cables are generally all tone controls of sorts. (...)
Marty

Thanks Marty - I was particularly interested in the speaker cable. IMHO cables are much more than tone controls, they have an embedded sound signature that transcends tone, and many times different brands conflict between them. Surely the analog phono cable can easily be an exception - there is variation and dominance enough in the vinyl analog sources to overcome any rules. In my system I use mainly the Crystal Dreamline for the phono and tonearm.

 

[Kcin]

I used Cardas Clear and then Beyond Clear for many years as my phono cable. Beyond Clear is an excellent cable, no doubt about it. I've moved on to the Tara Zero Evolution and Masterbuilt Ultras but these are at progressively higher price points as well. The Tara phono is a slightly more neutral cable than the Beyond Clear but i suspect that is more due to its rhodium connectors as opposed to Tara's good ol' fashioned gold plated copper connectors. The Tara does offer it's novel ground station technology as part of the package and whether it accounts for its stunning sound staging, I cannot say. Tara is a favorite of many such as Fremer precisely because of it's beautiful neutrality and remarkable holographic sound-staging (I swear the images go wider than almost anything else I've tried). They are also among the very lowest capacitance cables out there but I do not know the inductance values. There is little to say about the Masterbuilt Ultras that hasn't already been said, except to say that I thought they were disappointing with their stock Furutech rhodium connectors. However, when I switched to custom Furutech gold-plated copper XLR connectors for the Ultras, they became my reference standard. (In fact I am ordering a single ended pair of Ultras shortly with WBT connectors for my single ended phono stage that I anticipate will be equally compelling.) Suffice it to a say, I simply don't understand why anyone sees any value in rhodium terminations but YMMV. In summary, you can't go wrong with Beyond Clear, but if you can find a good pair of Tara Zero Evos at the right price, you will be delighted. The MB Ultras are stellar and accordingly uber-priced, but I think the Taras are remarkable and frankly, the better value. I've also been through many of the "networked cables" many years ago and think they are all slightly colored by comparison to any of the other 3 mentioned.

You make an interesting point about image width. I am very sensitive to this as to how a system portrays this aspect of reproduction. I will agree that many systems are, let's say , squeezed in.. but then other exaggerate an instrument like the saxophone for example.

Cables can play into this and I believe the density of tone also plays a role which can be a subset of the cable's ability to portray image size. You'd never know unless you experimented with various cables..

 

[Ron Resnick]

. . . You'd never know unless you experimented with various cables..

Jim White of Aesthetix, for one, does not believe in the “whole loom” concept. He believes that for each of us there is a sonically ideal cable between any two given components, but that there’s no way to predict that optimal cable in advance, unfortunately. He believes that one must experiment with different cables between each and every pair of components.

 

[microstrip]

Jim White of Aesthetix, for one, does not believe in the “whole loom” concept. He believes that for each of us there is a sonically ideal cable between any two given components, but that there’s no way to predict that optimal cable in advance, unfortunately. He believes that one must experiment with different cables between each and every pair of components.

The whole loom concept is not a dogma, it is more a methodology to get a good result in a decent time with a decent number of experiences. Considering that any change can overcome all the previous results we risk never getting a good result with single brand and model cable optimization. Does Jim White suggest an order for cable evaluation?

BTW, surely it is personnel - I hate spending my time listening to cables.

 

[Lagonda]

You have a good chance of achieving excellent results if you know the cable your speakers/equipment was voiced/wired with. MBL use Wireworld, Von Schweickert use Masterbuilt, Gryphon use their own
brand. Somewhat room dependent
of course

 

[Ron Resnick]

You have a good chance of achieving excellent results if you know the cable your speakers/equipment was voiced/wired with.

. . .

Why do you think this is true? What is the theory behind this belief, considering this does not account for different components, or the particular input and output impedances of different pairs of components, or the lengths of speaker cables or interconnects needed in a particular system, or the audiophile’s personal sonic preferences?

 

[marty]

Thanks Marty - I was particularly interested in the speaker cable. IMHO cables are much more than tone controls, they have an embedded sound signature that transcends tone, and many times different brands conflict between them. Surely the analog phono cable can easily be an exception - there is variation and dominance enough in the vinyl analog sources to overcome any rules. In my system I use mainly the Crystal Dreamline for the phono and tonearm.

I always wanted to check out Crystal cable but never had an opportunity. Seems mostly an EU centric product or perhaps I just have not seen many out there in systems I am familiar with. I always found the relationship of Crystal to Siltech a curious one. Siltech makes darned good cable which also made me curious to see what Crystal was all about. but hey, there are just so many products out there to try. Honestly, once you find a combo of stuff that is sonically satisfactory (MB/Tara have done that for me presently) it's easy to cry "no mas", or you might wind up listening to far more gear at the expense of listening to music as audiophiles are often want to do. Too much time doing that when I was younger!

 

[Sablon Audio]

Marty, they are married. Mr Siltech’s wife makes Crystal cable.

 

[Lagonda]

Why do you think this is true? What is the theory behind this belief, considering this does not account for different components, or the particular input and output impedances of different pairs of components, or the lengths of speaker cables or interconnects needed in a particular system, or the audiophile’s personal sonic preferences?

If cables to some degree are tone
controls, it makes sense to copy
the original “settings”. Easier done
if the manufacturers make complete
systems of coarse

 

[tima]

From time spent evaluating cables for the purpose of review, assessing their performance and coming to an understanding of a cable's native or inherent sound, I believe in using a full loom or as much of a loom as the manufacturer is willing to provide.

Trying to assess the sonic performance of a single cable by inserting it into an existing system strikes me as about as cogent as assessing Bridgestone Blizzak snow tires by mounting one on a car otherwise shod with Pirelli Sottozeroes. Sure, something will be different, but not in a usefully describable way to anyone interested in Blizzaks. I am convinced only a full loom of signal cables or power cords, or ideally both from a single manufacturer, offers the best context for evaluation and description to others.

Does a loom bring homogenization? Yes, in one sense, but its not necessarily a bad one. No different than room acoustics or quality of electricity. In the end, your system overall is the great homgenizer.

Can you achieve satisfaction with a mix n match different wires for each component to component interface - well sure, it's up to you. It does require a lot of time. Maybe a single new wire A sounds one way, but if you change a different wire B between two other components, wire A may yield a different character to your system. You can find yourself 'tuning' indefinitely. That may be a viable approach if it's what you want to do.

 

[tima]

Cables as 'tone controls'? It's the last thing I want. Why buy a bunch of expensive components then try 'adjusting' their sound with cables? Heck why not buy the cables first then buy the components.

 

[Lagonda]

Cables as 'tone controls'? It's the last thing I want. Why buy a bunch of expensive components then try 'adjusting' their sound with cables? Heck why not buy the cables first then buy the components.

I am advocating getting as close to
the “loom” used for voicing as possible. To take the tone control part out of the equation.

 

[tima]

I am advocating getting as close to
the “loom” used for voicing as possible. To take the tone control part out of the equation.

There you go.

 

[marty]

Marty, they are married. Mr Siltech’s wife makes Crystal cable.

Thanks. Yes I knew that. That's part of why i said it's a curious relationship. Did each have their own company and then they got married, or did they marry and then develop separate companies?

 

[Sablon Audio]

Crystal is a spin off from Siltech activities and their site suggests they were already married.

 

[caesar]

Gentlemen,
A contrarian opinion. I have recently heard the Cardas top of the line aes digital cable ($600) from my dcs bridge to a half a dozen DACs in several of my systems.

I found the sound warm/ syrupy. Guys who like the soft dsd digital or running an underpowered tube amp with a hard to drive speaker will probably like Cardas.

But I found Cardas lacking transparency and dynamics of the top stealth, norDist Valhalla 2, and even a 10 year old $600 transparent aes cable. YMMV!!!

I hope this description can save someone who is not looking for validation some precious time and money.

 

[Rocoa]

Gentlemen,
A contrarian opinion. I have recently heard the Cardas top of the line aes digital cable ($600) from my dcs bridge to a half a dozen DACs in several of my systems.

I found the sound warm/ syrupy. Guys who like the soft dsd digital or running an underpowered tube amp with a hard to drive speaker will probably like Cardas.

But I found Cardas lacking transparency and dynamics of the top stealth, norDist Valhalla 2, and even a 10 year old $600 transparent aes cable. YMMV!!!

I hope this description can save someone who is not looking for validation some precious time and money.

Hello,

I used to use Cardas cables since I tried them 25 years ago and I know all this products dirung this time.
Yes, the digital cables and USB cables are not the better ones compared with others mainstream brands.
But the Clear series speaker cables and interconnects are superb for audiophiles-music lovers that looking for enjoy music in their systems.
IMHO the resolution and TIMING combined with inherent musicality is unparalleled with the right solid state devices. With tubes not so much....

Regards.