Cardas Audio cables

microstrip

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Although the first name I associate with audio cables is Monster Cable, immediately after I think about Cardas. Unfortunately it has not been distributed in my country since long, and my last experience with them was with a full loom of Cardas Golden Reference, that I enjoyed for many years with Audio Research electronics and still keep for a secondary system.

My curiosity is knowing about how the Cardas top line Beyond speaker and line cables sonically compare with known cables such as Valhalla2, Shunyata Sigma or Transparent Reference XL cables.

BTW, one or the reasons I respect Cardas is because of their technical open mind - they list the inductance and capacitance of their cables, as well as materials and accurate dimensions.
 
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MJB

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Great question. Most of my cabling is Shunyata (Sigmas, Alphas and Anacondas). I've received very positive recommendations on the Cardas Clear Beyond - specially the phono cables.

Anyone?
 
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Rocoa

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BTW, one or the reasons I respect Cardas is because of their technical open mind - they list the inductance and capacitance of their cables, as well as materials and accurate dimensions.

+1
I've been using Cardas cables since near 30 years ago in my main audio system. When the Clear went on the market I replace Golden Cross for them. I've tried a lot of brands in the meantime.
The Clear series are more neutral and dynamics with a flat response frecuency compared with old ones. Change Clear for Clear beyond was another improvemente in soundstage.
I'm a Cardas guy but I I recognize that in certain systems they don't work as well as others.
 
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assessor43

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Whats the difference between the Cardas Clear and the new Clear Beyond? I always thought the Clear was fantastic.
 

Marcus

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My curiosity is knowing about how the Cardas top line Beyond speaker and line cables sonically compare with known cables such as Valhalla2, Shunyata Sigma or Transparent Reference XL cables.
I'm using Cardas cables for more than 25 years. Started with Cross, then bought Golden Cross (never liked Golden Reference), then Clear and now I'm on Clear Beyond exclusively. Before Cardas I was on Transparent Audio Reference. Sold them all, bought Cardas GC and never looked back.

I already wrote somewhere on this forum that IME, Clear Beyond interconnect is the best cable Cardas has ever build. It is better than Clear Beyond speaker cable and much better than the Clear Beyond power cord. It has everything I appreciate and need from a cable. First and most important, it sounds natural, has right tonality, is beautifully coherent from top to bottom, clean and clear. I could easily name a lot of cables that have "better " this or that but none of them sounds so right to me and that includes Nordost Odin2 and Transparent Audio Reference XL Gen.5 which I recently tried in my system.
 
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tima

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I'm using Cardas cables for more than 25 years. Started with Cross, then bought Golden Cross (never liked Golden Reference), then Clear and now I'm on Clear Beyond exclusively. Before Cardas I was on Transparent Audio Reference. Sold them all, bought Cardas GC and never looked back.

I already wrote somewhere on this forum that IME, Clear Beyond interconnect is the best cable Cardas has ever build. It is better than Clear Beyond speaker cable and much better than the Clear Beyond power cord. It has everything I appreciate and need from a cable. First and most important, it sounds natural, has right tonality, is beautifully coherent from top to bottom, clean and clear. I could easily name a lot of cables that have "better " this or that but none of them sounds so right to me and that includes Nordost Odin2 and Transparent Audio Reference XL Gen.5 which I recently tried in my system.

We probably talked about this - did you have Franc put Cardas Clear Beyond in your 4Point?
 

Marcus

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No, AFAIK there is no Clear Beyond for tonearms, only Clear which came with the 4Point14. Think I would upgrade to Clear Beyond if this option becomes available but Kondo is also so good...
 
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MJB

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I recently ordered a Clear Beyond Phono cable - RCA to RCA connectors.
 

Marcus

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RCA to RCA is not what I’m talking about. I have a tonearm cable from the cartridge pins to the phono stage in one piece.
 

kodomo

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I use Cardas Clear XLR interconnects from my pre to my amps and from my dac to pre . I use Clear RCA from phono to pre. My 4 point tonearm has Cardas clear cabling as well. I have not tried clear beyond as I think Clear is very well balanced. I do not want to add or subtract something. How do you think beyond improves?

ps. I use Shunyata power cords for all my system. Sigma and Alpha NR and HC
 
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Marcus

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l have not tried clear beyond as I think Clear is very well balanced. I do not want to add or subtract something. How do you think beyond improves.
Don’t worry. Clear Beyond is well balanced too just on a higher level.
 
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MJB

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Just received the Cardas Clear Beyond (CCB) yesterday. This phono connector replaced the VPI phono cable.

While the CCB is not broken in yet, the amount of information and music I’m hearing far exceeds the VPI Cable. Wider stage, more focus, more detail and more controlled bottom end.

I will post more impressions as the cable settles in.
 

MJB

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Haven’t compared Clear with Clear Beyond. Clear Beyond doesn‘t sound “warm” to me.
 

kodomo

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Cardas Clear XLR interconnects are not warm in my experience. They are very neutral and extended. They are also ultra low capacitance cables so no rolloffs either like some of the cables.
 
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bazelio

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Even the Fremer needle drops of the 4 point wiring options showed the Cardas Clear character I have heard before. I may demo the Clear Beyond RCA interconnect out of curiosity.
 

Ron Resnick

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Kcin

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I now run Clear Beyond from from my Io to the amps and from my ,new to me , digital front end Roon Nucleus and BDA3. Previously I ran Valhalla V2.

The Clear Beyond is the first Cardas product I liked and actually competes with the likes of other state of the art cables IMO. It is very articulate with a great sense of space and just the right degree of body.

Cardas cables of the past were, IMO, just too fuzzy and warm to me . Clear BTW is neutral with good extension- people say it is subtle between the the Clear and Clear Beyond . I disagree.

As good as the Clear is I can't listen to Clear after having Clear Beyond in the mix.

Its expensive- however, worth pursuing IMO. Easy enough to get a demo as most dealers will loan you a pair.

Break in is critical . I tried an out of the box pair and they were compressed and shrunken in presentation. They were returned to the dealer and he ran them on a tuner for a month. Then the magic happened.

When I received the specific length I ordered I burned them in on my cable cooker for at least 3-4 days then let them settle before they came to life.

Of course, your personal priorities and system biases will prevail as in any cable selection, that is, YMMV and all that.
 
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marty

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My curiosity is knowing about how the Cardas top line Beyond speaker and line cables sonically compare with known cables such as Valhalla2, Shunyata Sigma or Transparent Reference XL cables.

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.
 
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