CrystalConnect Art Series Da Vinci - Best Cables of 2020

[CKKeung]

2022 at the earliest....

 

[thedudeabides]

This thread highlights the perils of purchasing very expensive wire. In a year or two, there will always be something better (reference Crystal Cable DaVinci much better than Ultimate Dream) and the buyer takes a significant loss on their initial investment. The expense one pays to have the latest / greatest, new and improved comes at a very steep price.

In 2019, a 1M pair of Ultimate Dream IC's MSRP cost is $21K and 2.5M pair of speaker cables cost $47K.

 

[Ron Resnick]

In a year or two, there will always be something better (reference Crystal Cable DaVinci much better than Ultimate Dream) and the buyer takes a significant loss on their initial investment.

Unless you hear with your own ears that the newer cable actually sounds better to you, what does it matter what the marketing copy says?

 

[thedudeabides]

Sure Ron. I agree. But there are many manufacturers that come out with an updated new and improved and a segment of folks in this hi end market who will buy it because of the marketing hype (or a dealer recommendation) versus a personal audition to determine if it is better or not. And what does that do to the resale of their then SOTA cable (or whatever piece of hardware) that they purchased a year or two ago? Maybe some folks don't care but for me, the long term value of a significant investment is, IMHO, somewhat questionable. But if you can afford it, who am I to judge.

 

[Cellcbern]

I have tried all the cable brands and could say that at a certain level, it is not so much about the overall flavour of the cable, but each seems to have a characteristic house sound and the mre of the brand or model scales up or synergises with their chracteristic strengths.

I have encountered my share of cables which has an bigger wow factor once you plug them in and strongly colour the whole spectrum.

I hear the Argentos and Vertere not sounding spectacular at all compared to more coloured brands. Dalby was only limited to my lan cable.

However, what i find is that with each brand, once you identified what they do magically well, other higly rated cables just cannot compare in that partular area which they do so exceptionally well at.

This strength can be easily be upset, or even negated with another highly acclaimed cable.

By much testing, in more than one system, i do easily identfy the area of strenght coming through and is replicated in a totally different and unfamiliar system.

From a properly balanced sounding base point, matching is just so extremely critical, in which 1 wrong cables can totally negate the area of strength of another cable or the entire presenation of a carefully balanced setup.

I had been testing the Vertere house sound and the Argentos which are both unspectular meaning relatively neutral or odourless otherwise.

The Vertere excels in the midband naturalness with a touch of warmth. The Argentos shines more at the overall clarity and extremes.

I love both for their characteristic strengths, but unable to get the strengths of both by introducing both together which is the perfect presentation for me of each, if it can be acheived together.

But unfortunately, together they subtract from each individuals strengths and their star strength being drowned out.

I do not know if it is acheivable to seek whether with tweaks or a finding the holy grail cable , the pristine clarity, openess and extension of what the Argento cables with the natural midband or the Vertere.

Even the compenent footers work synergistically with certain brand of cables and elevate on their core strengths.

The Argentos work stunning well with Wellfloat isolations and Vertere with the Arya footers. otherwise in a reverse configuration, become a mitigating band aid application.

Synergy is just so fragile even with top rated cables and accessories.

I hope to be able to hear the new Crystal Da Vinci's but guess they are far and few.

Suggest you listen to Hemingway Audio Z-Core cables - best I've ever heard at any price.

 

[justubes]

Hi,

Thanks, was recommended to me and have heard good things.

However, the distrubution looks exceeding limited outside the U.S, even Korea, when i visited 2-3years back wanting to visit the Company and audition the cables were not successful.

At their asking prices, difficult to buy blindly and would almost be impossible to resell should they not work out as their is zero presence of the brand where i am.

The only reviewers online have since more up to the Esprit cables which replace the Hemingways.

Could you please elaborate on their strong points or characteristics?

I was told their sound signature excels more mid and highs with a less full bass and very uncoloured characteristics.

Rgds

 

[nirodha]

Hi,

Thanks, was recommended to me and have heard good things.

However, the distrubution looks exceeding limited outside the U.S, even Korea, when i visited 2-3years back wanting to visit the Company and audition the cables were not successful.

At their asking prices, difficult to buy blindly and would almost be impossible to resell should they not work out as their is zero presence of the brand where i am.

The only reviewers online have since more up to the Esprit cables which replace the Hemingways.

Could you please elaborate on their strong points or characteristics?

I was told their sound signature excels more mid and highs with a less full bass and very uncoloured characteristics.

Rgds

A review(er) is a nice starting point. Nothing more. I see the attraction of wanting something that is not available to you but.. it is a dangerous path. Unless you have money to burn.

 

[Cellcbern]

Hi,

Thanks, was recommended to me and have heard good things.

However, the distrubution looks exceeding limited outside the U.S, even Korea, when i visited 2-3years back wanting to visit the Company and audition the cables were not successful.

At their asking prices, difficult to buy blindly and would almost be impossible to resell should they not work out as their is zero presence of the brand where i am.

The only reviewers online have since more up to the Esprit cables which replace the Hemingways.

Could you please elaborate on their strong points or characteristics?

I was told their sound signature excels more mid and highs with a less full bass and very uncoloured characteristics.

Rgds

Hemingway cables remain the reference for the editor and several reviewers at Stereo Times, who have called them the world's best. I found a demo Hemingway Z-Core Beta AC cable at Audiogon for a reasonable price and tried it (in place of Verastarr Grand Illusion cables) from the wall to my Bybee Stealth Power Purifier, and to my modified Pathos TT amp. It was transformative at both locations. If you've listened to and/or read the reviews of Verastarr Grand Illusion cables you know that they excell at transient purity and dynamics. The Hemingway bettered them. The bass matched the Verastarr in depth and heft but was more articulate. More importantly addition of this one AC cable increased my system's clarity and the purity and naturalness of tone and timbre dramatically. The improvement in piano tone on good recordings was astounding. For the first time in my 40+ years as an audiophile there are times when I can be fooled into thinking that I am hearing live piano in the room. I don't know why Hemingway cables are so hard to find, and I could not afford to pay retail price for a full loom, but I will be on the lookout for used/demo examples. I have listened to individual cables and a full loom of some of Hemingway's earlier series cables and thought they were outstanding but don't rememeber being blown away like I am by just one of the current "Z-Core" cables.

FYI:
-https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2019...ipodes-cec-sound-application-t-h-e-show-2019/
-https://audioexotics.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/13004/skogrand-and-usb-cables (scroll down to last entry)

 

[Addicted to hifi]

Disclaimer :
Although the title of this thread is Best Cable of 2020, that's my personal view only and YMMV.


In fact Crystal cables are all along not my cup of tea. In the past I considered them too finesse/civilized.
However both Siltech and Crystal have a lot of changes during the recent several years.
- Edwin & Gabi Rijnveld had sold their companies more than 2 years ago to a German investment.
- Gabi has retired but Edwin and their son Viktor are still working for the company.
- Crystal now has a new name of CrystalConnect.

Edwin & Viktor introducing the new CrystalConnect Art Series in this video :

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=3508046369262013

I thought CrystalConnect's new ideas should bring new performance so when the Art Series Da Vinci cables arrived in HK, I immediately went for audition at the Hiendy Club of hiendy.com which was doing a review for the Art Series.
Here are photos taken when I auditioned the Da Vinci for the first time there :

View attachment 72825
View attachment 72826
View attachment 72827

There were a xlr interconnect, a speaker wire and a power cable.
I was awed by their performance despite that the audition was brief.

Luckily Betta, a good audiophile friend of mine is a good friend of the CrystalConnect HK dealer.
We decided to borrow their xlr ic and power cable for home-trial.
And to bring them to home-visit friends and poison them!

Here are the cables we borrowed :

View attachment 72828
View attachment 72829

What a beautiful system and cables.

 

[Stereophonic]

I agree with CK. Ive had Triple Crown and now have Da Vinci. Triple Crown has tremendous bass and tremendous treble but it wears u down and u soon fatigue of it. The DaVinci is the most natural top to bottom cable ive ever had - plus its the quietest cable ever ever heard.

Currently testing DaVinci Power Cable.
Great synergy with my Siltech TC.
TC works better in my Dac than DaVinci and viceversa on preamp… Both very similar, TC getting more bass and organic sound with sweeter highs. More musical than DV in the Dac.
In preamp, TAD C600, DV has more bass foundation than TC with better focus and resolution.
Esprit Gaia, my current preamp cable, doesn’t go so deep but has better timbre and soundstage is better presented. It keeps better music tension and decays are better.
DV has less decay and darker silences.
In this level, i can’t say which one is better.
Each cable sounds very different depending of the position, but synergy between Siltech and Crystal is very interesting.
At this level, very difficult to get a right conclusion with other opinions.
Listening is mandatory.
I see DV as a great cable for power hungry components. It has enough energy by itself.
I’ll wait to receive top Esprit cable, L’Esprit, to see what happens…

 

[LL21]

Congrats. Having auditioned Siltech Triple Crown, I have a small idea of what you are listening to. Not heard the DV (only the Absolute Dream which I suspect are very, very different). Enjoy and look forward to reading more.

 

[Stereophonic]

Power cables has a lot of impact in sound.
They are blood’s sound.
It is impossible to imagine how each one can sound in each component. Mixing them is an art and a hard work of testing… Better cables you have, more difficult to get right balance…

 

[CKKeung]

Currently testing DaVinci Power Cable.
Great synergy with my Siltech TC.
TC works better in my Dac than DaVinci and viceversa on preamp… Both very similar, TC getting more bass and organic sound with sweeter highs. More musical than DV in the Dac.
In preamp, TAD C600, DV has more bass foundation than TC with better focus and resolution.
Esprit Gaia, my current preamp cable, doesn’t go so deep but has better timbre and soundstage is better presented. It keeps better music tension and decays are better.
DV has less decay and darker silences.
In this level, i can’t say which one is better.
Each cable sounds very different depending of the position, but synergy between Siltech and Crystal is very interesting.
At this level, very difficult to get a right conclusion with other opinions.
Listening is mandatory.
I see DV as a great cable for power hungry components. It has enough energy by itself.
I’ll wait to receive top Esprit cable, L’Esprit, to see what happens…
View attachment 87022

Thanks Stereophonic for sharing!
For cables so expensive, home-trial is almost a must!

BTW the current talk of the town for super-cables in Hong Kong is the Odin Gold.
I attended the following gathering and also home-visited TLi :



I think that the best powercord config may be mixing and matching Odin Gold and CableConnect DaVinci within a system.
They can complement each another.


IMHO Siltech TripleCrown is now bettered by Odin Gold.
We audiophiles in HK are eagerly waiting for Siltech to launch a new series of flagship cables.

 

[Stereophonic]

Thanks Stereophonic for sharing!
IMHO Siltech TripleCrown is now bettered by Odin Gold.
We audiophiles in HK are eagerly waiting for Siltech to launch a new series of flagship cables.

You are welcome.
Sure new Odin Gold will be amazing.
Until i know, Siltech is going to upgrade G7 cables to G9.
Triple Crown seems to be still untouchable…
We have seen it with new Network cables…
Classic one already G9 and Crown still monocrystal…

 

[skids929]

You can get similar performance from Zenwave's cables to Crystal and Siltech for alot less money. They all buy from Neotech to their own spec of course.

 

[audioblazer]

You can get similar performance from Zenwave's cables to Crystal and Siltech for alot less money. They all buy from Neotech to their own spec of course.

In that case, Belden may be as good or better. Lol