Thanks. The decision is made. I’ve purchased the Albedo. Presently, I only have one interconnect and their PCs to my amps, but I’m absolutely amazed! The rest of my loom should be here in the next 60 days or so. Can’t wait!
Our Move From Sigma to Omega on the Shunyata Everest
- Thread starter Audire
- Start date
You should add the Altaira. Really lowered the noise floor on my system and I was already using reference level conditioners.
Before I had my butt kicked by this Covid, I was auditioning a bunch of cables, power, speaker and interconnects.
So this is a short and sweet analysis of what I ran with. My current system consists of all Transparent (although older generation) speaker & IC and Shunyata PC's.
First were Alex Technologies Pure Power Labs cables - Excellent cables, especially a great value considering their MSRP is half of Shunyata's. Also, they are very nicely designed and look quite elegant. They sound much better than my old Transparent. Very dynamic and room filling music. Unfortunately, during these trials, I was interrupted on almost a daily basis with lighning storms, so I turned all my equipment off and unplugged everything.
Second were Shunyata Research Speaker (Sigmas, I have the Alphas but haven't tried them yet) Alpha XLR IC and I upped my Alpha PC on my Horizon to a Sigma. Definately another step up. Very Clean, Clear and Concise (3 C's) It took 3 days for the speaker cables to settle down, but when they did, WOWSA! I did prefer the Shunyata over the Pure Power Labs, but they are double the cost. So YMMV.
Third are a set of Albedo Monolith (Reference?) speaker cables which I just plugged in today and I have 3 things to say about them:
1. TAKE
2. MY
3. MONEY!!!!!
So this is a short and sweet analysis of what I ran with. My current system consists of all Transparent (although older generation) speaker & IC and Shunyata PC's.
First were Alex Technologies Pure Power Labs cables - Excellent cables, especially a great value considering their MSRP is half of Shunyata's. Also, they are very nicely designed and look quite elegant. They sound much better than my old Transparent. Very dynamic and room filling music. Unfortunately, during these trials, I was interrupted on almost a daily basis with lighning storms, so I turned all my equipment off and unplugged everything.
Second were Shunyata Research Speaker (Sigmas, I have the Alphas but haven't tried them yet) Alpha XLR IC and I upped my Alpha PC on my Horizon to a Sigma. Definately another step up. Very Clean, Clear and Concise (3 C's) It took 3 days for the speaker cables to settle down, but when they did, WOWSA! I did prefer the Shunyata over the Pure Power Labs, but they are double the cost. So YMMV.
Third are a set of Albedo Monolith (Reference?) speaker cables which I just plugged in today and I have 3 things to say about them:
1. TAKE
2. MY
3. MONEY!!!!!
We had a similar journey. We tried many cables. And we enjoyed many of them - thought they were my end game cables. But our search ended with Albedo.
Warning, once you hear Albedo you can’t unhear them.
Can anyone describe what the Albedo cables do different than the other cables and which exact models you compared?
Their website is a little bit sparse with information and dated and I‘m wondering what different technology is behind those cables as there are not many reviews out there either. Also what are the prices of the different PC, interconnects and speaker cables?
Their website is a little bit sparse with information and dated and I‘m wondering what different technology is behind those cables as there are not many reviews out there either. Also what are the prices of the different PC, interconnects and speaker cables?
Thanks to Tony at Ellington HiFi, I am auditioning a set of the Albedo Monolith Reference Silver Monocrystal speaker cables.
He also sent me (via Richard & Cassandra at Shunyata) some Shunyata Research speaker cables, power cables (on my Horizon DAC going from Alpha V2 NR to Sigma V2 NR or Omega QR-s) and Sigma/Alpha Interconnects to compare them to my current old Transparent IC & speaker cables. Third, I had a set of cables from TRUE POWER LAB (Metal Crystal Technology) from the fine folks at Alex Sound.
The Alex Sound TRUE POWER LAB cables are IMO, the best bang for the buck. They have a full dynamic sound overall and definitely surpassed my Transparent cables. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to spend a lot of time listening to them as we had a lot of electrical storms during the couple weeks that I had the cables, so every evening instead of listening to music, I had to unplug everything. I do have whole home surge protection and power conditioners, but the only way to be sure we don't get hit is to unplug everything! As an overall best of the bunch, these cables would certainly be in my system since they are really good AND affordable. They make sense and the cables are beautiful too!
The Shunyata Sigma V2 Speaker cables are the most expensive but were the cleanest, most precise and detailed of the bunch. It took 3 days of running the cables before they settled down. When I first listened to them, they sounded awful, to the point that I called Richard at Shunyata and asked WTF? He said to let them play because they never hear the complaint that I had, these Sigma speaker cables sounded VERY bright and somewhat dull out of the box. Fast forward 3 days and I am trying to figure how to pay for them! They REALLY came up to the plate and hit a game winning bases loaded walk-off HR. I honestly was going to move to the west coast and steal me a pair! (Just kidding) That is, until I heard the Albedo speaker cables. I tried to do as little as possible not to disturb the packaging protecting the Shunyata cables, so I don't have good pictures of them, just a couple of the ends, but you get the idea as they look just like their power cables.
Wow! Last to arrive are the Albedo Monolith Reference speaker cables. They literally filled and enveloped the entire room with a sound that felt you were right there at a concert. It is very hard to describe since they sound so much different than any of the others. And that was only after running them for one day. Total immersion the likes I have never felt. The Albedo cables come individually, each cable has a separate individual left and right channel cable and a separate cable for Red & Black, each cable is an entire separate run. So there are a total of 4 cables. And to add the frosting on top, they cost LESS than the Shunyata Research Sigma V2 cables. I still have a set of Shunyata Research Alpha V2 speaker cables that I haven't tried since this Covid has kicked my butt!
I was wondering, since these cables are hereby contaminated, they must give me a huge discount or just leave them here
Again, the sound is in the listener's ear. I would be quite happy with ANY of these cables and I was really considering the Shunyata Sigma V2 speaker cables until the Albedo's arrived last.
Audire (Joe) said it best, once you hear Albedo, you cannot unhear them!
I am NOT a professional audio journalist and I love to listen to music, as it is the last remaining hobby that I have.
And I do not get any professional accommodations
Your ears may hear things differently than mine.
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