TL;DR - @kennyb123's experience and mine have been similar. QSA LANEDRI cables have brought readily-apparent improvements to perceived resolution, naturalness, and dimensionality across the board.
I am probably an oddity around these parts in that I have two complete audio systems smashed into one double-wide Salamander rack and a few extra pieces on the side.
General System Rundown
Like Ken, I have a Marantz receiver (SR8015) as the core of my home theater. Its internal multi-channel amplifier drives Atmos height channels, a B&W Nautilus HTM-1 center channel, Left and Right Surround channels, and sends line-level subwoofer data to a pair of SVS PC-4000 subwoofers and the main Left and Right signals to a McIntosh C47 stereo pre-amplifier in PASSTHRU mode for TV and Movies. (Whenever the Marantz is "on" it sends a 12v trigger to the McIntosh to put it into PASSTHRU mode on a certain input. When the 12v trigger is removed, the McIntosh reverts to its previous state and, if it was on, previous input and volume level). The TV is a recently acquired LG C2 OLED).
The McIntosh C47 is also used for 2ch listening (when the Marantz is turned off). Amplifiers are Hypex Nilai 500 diy monoblocks (currently fed by Delta v2 NR power cords). Left and Right channels for movies and music are the same pair of B&W Nautilus 803s. Speaker wires and analog signal wires are Wireworld Silver Eclipse 8 (RCA from Marantz to McIntosh, XLR from McIntosh to amplifiers).
My DAC, the Gustard x26 Pro, similarly uses Wireworld Silver Eclipse 8 XLR cables to send its analog output to the McIntosh C47. USB input is provided by a Phasure Lush^2 (I regard this cable as the single weakest link in my overall chain). Bits are fed by a DIY Extreme server that I built, which acquires said bits from internal storage (for PGGB'd music) or via the Internet.
My power foundation is a pair of Shunyata Purple Duplexes wired directly to the patch panel with 10/3 Romex. The neutral is shared, but the hot legs are run through separate 20A breakers. This used to make more sense but is largely moot as I only use one duplex to feed my Denali 6000/s v2 (top socket) and a Hydra Typhon with its Alpha HC umbilical plugged into the lower socket.
A Venom V16 power distributor provides extra outlets for Synergistic Research Tranquility Pods (one under each amplifier and one under the pre-amp; their grounding wires are daisy-chained together and then into the lower-right Purple Duplex outlet), a pair of SVS Subwoofers, the TV, the Apple TV 4K, the 4K Blu-ray player, a Mutec Ref10 SE120 (for the DAC), etc.
Before QSA LANEDRI (QL) Cables:
The Denali 6000/s v2 was fed by a Sigma XC v2 and provided power to:
- Two Hypex Nilai 500 amplifiers, each powered by a Delta v2 NR
- The McIntosh C47 pre was powered by a Sigma NR v1
- The Gustard X26 Pro DAC was powered by an Alpha NR v1
- The Venom V16 power distributor via a Delta v2 XC (see the stuff it powers above)
The DIY Taiko Extreme (which I call 'Taika') was connected to a
Synergistic Research Ethernet Switch UEF with a Wireworld Platinum Starlight Cat-8 Ethernet cable (and it was powered by the included Synergistic Foundation power cable). Upstream from that was a generic, braided Category 7 cable into a Sonore opticalModule (powered by an Uptone LPS-1) which in turn uses some cheap single-mode fiber with Finisar modules on either end to a cheap
10GTek SFP+Copper gigabit switch.
The Marantz was powered by a Nordost Blue Heaven.
Everything music-related that took a fuse had a Synergistic Purple fuse in it (amps, pre-amp, DAC, Switch) with the exception of the Mutec clock.
(It oddly takes two fuses on the power inlet and I haven't bothered to experiment with them yet).
After QSA LANEDRI Cables (my first order arrived on March 15):
- The Denali 6000/s v2 is fed by a
QL Gamma Infinity:
- The
McIntosh C47 is fed by a
QL Gamma Revelation:
- The
DIY Extreme music server is connected to the SR UEF Switch with
6m of QL Gamma Infinity LAN cable:
(QL Infinity LAN close up, gold logo shown)
This influx of awesome cables enabled me to:
- move the
Sigma v1 NR to the DAC (upgrade)
- move the
Alpha NR to the Marantz (BIG upgrade)
- move the
Wireworld Platinum Starlight Ethernet upstream (in between the opticalModule and the Synergistic Ethernet Switch UEF)
- move the
Blue Heaven and the
Sigma XC v2 to the 'for sale' box (hopefully to fund more QL cables... ) and set the generic Cat 7 cable aside.
(Left to right: Gamma Infinity, Sigma NR v1, Alpha NR v1, Delta v2 NR (x2), Gamma Revelation, Delta v2 XC)
(Ethernet Switch UEF on a Mutec on a Typhon).
Sonic Impressions
With just the Infinity Power and the LAN cable in play, with almost no burn-in time, I wrote to some friends,
"There have already been some brief OMGWTFBBQ?! moments, but there are also some times when crazy awesome takes a backseat to just plain crazy.
"The closest comparison I can draw would be if Carlos Kleiber was deep into a movement and was suddenly struck with an overwhelming need to use the restroom. Hurriedly, he calls over his freshman understudy — full of promise but woefully inexperienced — and hands them the baton… I know these cables are literally fresh off the boat and by all accounts much settling in is called for. More as things evolve."
Once I had time to upgrade the Pre-amplifier with the Gamma Revelation power cable (bumping lesser cables 'downstream' to the DAC and the Marantz, displacing their even-lesser cables...), I found the system vacillating between enticing and utterly unlistenable as the system adjusted to all of the power foundation changes.
A few days later, I wrote this:
"...I should never have put a single one of these stupidly good cables into my system...
(?°?°??? ???"
And then a few days after that:
"Gobsmacked" might be the right word.
On March 20th, afew days after the QL cables' arrival (on the 15th), I took receipt of a
Synergistic Master Fuse. I used it to upgrade the Purple fuse in the McIntosh C47. Ted Denney suggests that one of these fuses is good enough for most systems, and suggests it be used to upgrade either the Pre or the DAC. Since my Pre-amplifier is used in both Theater mode and in Music listening mode, it seemed the wiser choice.
(I should give a shoutout to Alfred Kainz of highend-electronics here -- he's my Synergistic dealer of choice and he's always taken excellent care of me).
After a few more days of running music (or movies and tv) through the system 24/7, I wrote this:
"The Master Fuse continues to settle in along with the rest and all I can say is that it has brought more refinement and clarity in just about every dimension. I can't set it all at the feet of the MF, of course, but before I put it in things were big and bold and kind of unchained, almost chaotic at times. The MF immediately brought everything back into focus at a cost of reduced size (initially), almost like the system inhaled. Since then, it's relaxed or exhaled a bit and what I'm getting is just additional layers of detail and depth."
In Conclusion
If I could characterize the changes that these 3 QL cables (and, to be fair, cable shuffling and the Master Fuse upgrade) have brought to my systems (plural), I would say:
- imaging expanded considerably in all directions, though primarily in
depth.
- a significant increase in apparent resolving power. more depth and naunce to textures and mental images I'm very familiar with.
- more weight and authority in the lower registers, but naturally
- more punch, slam, and explosiveness all around - macro and micro dynamics got a shot in the arm
- movie sound scores and instrumentalization has me marveling at just how organic things seem
- an overall sense of 'rightness' emerged
And
that last point (a sense of rightness) is the thing that impressed me most. I expect (even require) some mix of these from any cable upgrade -- perhaps every cable upgrade -- especially power cables. Time and time again I kept coming back to how right my system was beginning to sound.
As for the movies, I was surprised by how much improvement there has been overall in the sonic tapestry, but chiefly from how quiet and at-ease it is. From late-night low-volume TV viewing to full-scale theatrical-level blow-your-doors-off cinema,
the apparent ease and believability with which my theater has been operating is just marvelous.
As things have continued to settle (
I crested the 230 hour mark today on the QL cables, and 125 hours or so on the Master Fuse), I don't think I've ever heard either of my systems sounding more natural and more seamlessly integrated. The sound field is inviting, enveloping, and easy to listen to (or watch) for hours without listener fatigue.
As for the C2 OLED, I can't speak much to how it has evolved. I had barely acquired a week before the QSA cables arrived, so my brain is still getting used to what kind of images it was capable of throwing -- and I am still learning how to properly set it up (along with how to dial in its sources as well).
At this point I'm looking forward to what further improvements the next crop of QL cables will empower. I'm still deciding what those will be.
-jer
www.whatsbestforum.com
www.qsa-lanedri.com
