Transparent Audio: Gen 6 Announcement

[PeterA]

Thanks for clarifying.

So , 72K for 1980s technology in a carbon fiber shell.

The irony is that many cables are far less expensive and more transparent than Transparent.

That may all be true. Perhaps this is not so related, but I just paid good money for a turntable from the mid-1980s and it has done nothing but go up in value since then. It sounded great then, and it sounds great now.

There are all sorts of different sounding cables out there, some better than others, and it depends a lot on preference. I would not simply denigrate technology from the 1980s. If the technology is bad then it is bad, but some things haven’t changed much over time and they can still compete with what is available now.

 

[Mdp632]

That may all be true. Perhaps this is not so related, but I just paid good money for a turntable from the mid-1980s and it has done nothing but go up in value since then. It sounded great then, and it sounds great now.

There are all sorts of different sounding cables out there, some better than others, and it depends a lot on preference. I would not simply denigrate technology from the 1980s. If the technology is bad then it is bad, but some things haven’t changed much over time and they can still compete with what is available now.

Oh, not trying to denigrate any brands or technology. Just responding to @ack 's prior post on the context and history between MIT and Transparent and thier respective network cable technologies.

At these prices, it would be nice if they were more Transparent (no pun intended ) with their customers and the audio community as whole.

Everyone knows about their relationship to Wilson. But, outside of a financial one, what is the technology that makes it lucrative for Wilson to stick with Transparent over the decades?

Vintage cabling may be "natural" and "musical" but, 40 years later and at these prices we must talk state of the art.

By that I mean low distortion and signal purity. Think Shunyata Sigma, Nordost Odin V2 , AudioQuest Dragon etc..

To name of their competitors flagships whose retail prices are far lower than Magnum Opus.

Interesting also that many of the big names in high fi reviewing who are Wilson Audio owners and enthusiasts.

You never see Transparent cabling listed in their home systems.

 

[Karen Sumner]

One of the dumbest announcements that I have seen from Transparent, who also has no lead engineer anymore

One should be a little suspicious of a company who purports to improve the SQ of their cable products using the "MQA digital streaming". Maybe it's just me, but I always thought the best reference was live music. MQA is hardly an aspirational choice for product development. Color me jaded since I went down the rabbit hole of sequential upgrades with networked MIT cables for years. All those manufacturer claims about how those new iterations advanced the state of the art were really mostly marketing hype. The louder Brisson proclaimed "nirvana" was achieved with every iteration, the deeper that rabbit hole became. Recall there were so many iterations available, even MIT had to create artificial sourcing between web based sales and dealer sales for what were essentially similar or identical cables in different cosmetic packages. I'm not critiquing the performance of Transparent or MIT cables, but I am circumspect about "transformational" upgrades using networked technologies that are now over 20 years old.

The best reference is live music. Unfortunately over the past year, that has been a truly rare experience which I hope will change soon. MQA is just one tool. We have a large collection of digital and analog masters of live performances we have attended, and a large LP and reel-to-reel tape collection. I think MQA is particularly appreciated by classical music lovers because the phase is correct. To my ear, the portrayal of acoustic instruments in concert hall space is more lifelike than standard digital sources. SACD has also been around for years, and it is, I think, a much under appreciated digital medium that also happens to be phase correct.

Technology is a continuum that doesn't stand still regardless of the source of the original kernel of thought.

 

[Karen Sumner]

Karen must want a new Rolls Royce.....

Ha!

 

[microstrip]

I am sure that Lloyd and many WBF readers and members that are Transparent owners regret that a thread concerning future products on what many people consider some of the best cables in the industry turns in the usual bashing on high cost and network cables.

I am very happy to debate audio issues with people that know about the products that are being presented and systems using these products, knowing that we have very different preferences, but can't see the point on denigrating products without proper knowledge of current editions.

 

[Karen Sumner]

Oh, not trying to denigrate any brands or technology. Just responding to @ack 's prior post on the context and history between MIT and Transparent and thier respective network cable technologies.

At these prices, it would be nice if they were more Transparent (no pun intended ) with their customers and the audio community as whole.

Everyone knows about their relationship to Wilson. But, outside of a financial one, what is the technology that makes it lucrative for Wilson to stick with Transparent over the decades?

Vintage cabling may be "natural" and "musical" but, 40 years later and at these prices we must talking state of the art.

By that I mean low distortion and signal purity. Think Shunyata Sigma, Nordost Odin V2 , AudioQuest Dragon etc..

To name of their competitors flagships whose retail prices are far lower than Magnum Opus.

Interesting also that many of the big names in high fi reviewing who are Wilson Audio owners and enthusiasts.

You never see Transparent cabling listed in thier home systems.

Jacob Heilbrunn uses MAGNUM OPUS with his WAMMs. Most reviewers change their components around a lot. If I thought that we could work with other reviewers who would take the time to get their cables recalibrated every time he or she reviewed a new component, I might be more interested in helping them get the best out of their reference systems. At the end of the day, what most reviewers say about a component is typically not very valuable in terms of deciding whether a product is right for your system and tastes — particularly when they tell you in the next issue that they have discovered something that's so much better than what they wrote about last month — and it's a lot cheaper! That's very disappointing after you have already forked out the money for what the reviewer recommended last month, and it didn't really create "magic" anyway. If listening to music and really enjoying it is your goal, then putting together a wonderful system and improving it over time is the best way to go. Transparent is here for the sole purpose of helping our dealers and customers build wonderful systems and improve them over time, and we align with fellow manufacturers who have a similar philosophy.

 

[Mdp632]

I am sure that Lloyd and many WBF readers and members that are Transparent owners regret that a thread concerning future products on what many people consider some of the best cables in the industry turns in the usual bashing on high cost and network cables.

I am very happy to debate audio issues with people that know about the products that are being presented and systems using these products, knowing that we have very different preferences, but can't see the point on denigrating products without proper knowledge of current editions.

Agree with you. But, outside of "tweaks" I don't believe there has been a subject that causes more debates in high-audio than cabling. Specifically, Network Cabling/Interfaces.

Transparent isn't alone in this. MIT has also had their share of critics and skeptics. Some of which have posted in this thread.

 

[Karen Sumner]

Dave, I'm curious about that too...

Josh was a part of our design team for quite a few years. He is now the owner of Rockport Technologies, and Transparent, Rockport and Josh are very good industry friends. We have several new people on our design team, and they were responsible for developing the network and mechanical stability improvements that define Generation 6.

 

[Karen Sumner]

Very interesting timing, in my case, as I am parting with my ARC Ref components and Wilson speakers. I have been exposed to Transparent by the Wilson, Dag, ARC dealer in Seattle and I liked the way the cables sounded in my system. I find the press release a little odd in mentioning only those brands which, imho, might lead people to believe the cables are designed for those components, less so for all systems. I hope their component stash is larger than those mentioned.

I suppose I will get a chance soon enough to hear my existing cables on completely different electronics and multiple speakers. Investing in my new gear means that, for a time, I’ll use the cables I have (though I will send back a pair of interconnects and speaker cables for ‘recalibration’ to work optimally with the Pilium.)

I had a small group over the other night for a listening finale with my ARC & Wilsons... end of an era! I mentioned reading how some folks would strongly disagree with using a networked cable on a horn (e.g. Diesis). I think it would be foolish to agree with that comment before taking time to hear for myself. It will be an interesting summer, burning in a lot of new gear and then spending time to get acquainted with everything.

We look forward to seeing you through your system changes with a recalibration.

 

[Karen Sumner]

Isn't hi-fi history that Transparent purchased Bruce Brisson's original patents.

Later Brisson went on to found MIT and develop his own technologies that are exclusive to MIT.

For example, Poles of Articulation.

MIT and Transparent have no engineering similarities today.

Btw, MIT's Flagship AAC 268 rev2 retail for over 100k US MSRP currently.

Transparent did not buy patents from MIT. Transparent has never had any engineering similarities with MIT other than the fact that there are network modules on both brands.

 

[Karen Sumner]

Actually Karen Sumner worked for MIT before starting Transparent Cable. I don't know if there was any financial transactions between the two but MIT was around first and I believe Karen was Bruce's sales representative. I know she also had represented some electronics back then as well.
Bruce Brisson was or is, sorry don't know today, the owner and designer of the products from MIT. I worked with both of them back in NYC during my Lyric days.

As far as I remember the legal issues between MIT and the new Transparent came down to one used series wiring and one used parallel wiring...

There were no legal issues between Transparent and MIT.

 

[Karen Sumner]

Anybody wants to actually hear these?

At the end of April, Transparent will be publishing a list of dealers on their website who either have or will soon have Generation 6 Transparent Cables linking a variety of systems at different performance levels — www.transparentcable.com

 

[marty]

@Karen Sumner.
It's rare that we have contributions from true high end "legacy" folks such as yourself on this forum. Your posts (and good sense of humor) are welcome as we can all surely benefit from being better informed and educated. You've been around long enough to know that you can never satisfy the grinches any more than you can get them to agree on your new car color but that shouldn't stop you from trying!

 

[Ron Resnick]

Welcome to WBF, Karen!

Thank you very kindly for responding to comments and questions here!

 

[LL21]

I am very pleased to see that Karen has very kindly taken the time to write here. Thank you for taking the time! As a big fan of your company's cables going back 13 or more [consecutive] years, I have found TA to be one of those names where the piece goes in...and that element is 'done'. No fussing, changing, fretting or regrets. In fact over 13 years, we have only ever done 2 true major upgrades with TA cables because they were truly that satisfying...most recently to Opus Gen 5 a few years ago.

TA goes along with names in our system like Zanden, Gryphon, Robert Koda (after 20 consecutive years of CJ preamps), Sablon and Wilson + Velodyne which have each been part of the system for 10 - 20 years on average each. And in no small part, this is due (in addition to pure quality) to the service, reliability and interaction with a number of your team including Brad O'Toole, Paul Sandquist, David Schultz, Amy Farwell and others who are first class professionals.

BTW, I am told that our factory refurbished XLFs may have been yours or your company's! They have been completely looked over by the Wilson factory and then polished/repainted to match our living room (GT Silver). Not sure if this is true, but that is the legend/rumor anyway. If true...please let us know when you are done with your XVXs! All the best.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I am very pleased to see that Karen has very kindly taken the time to write here. Thank you for taking the time! As a big fan of your company's cables going back 13 or more [consecutive] years, I have found TA to be one of those names where the piece goes in...and that element is 'done'. No fussing, changing, fretting or regrets. In fact over 13 years, we have only ever done 2 true major upgrades with TA cables because they were truly that satisfying...most recently to Opus Gen 5 a few years ago.

TA goes along with names in our system like Zanden, Gryphon, Robert Koda (after 20 consecutive years of CJ preamps), Sablon and Wilson + Velodyne which have each been part of the system for 10 - 20 years on average each. And in no small part, this is due (in addition to pure quality) to the service, reliability and interaction with a number of your team including Brad O'Toole, Paul Sandquist, David Schultz, Amy Farwell and others who are first class professionals.

+1

 

[Karen Sumner]

I am very pleased to see that Karen has very kindly taken the time to write here. Thank you for taking the time! As a big fan of your company's cables going back 13 or more [consecutive] years, I have found TA to be one of those names where the piece goes in...and that element is 'done'. No fussing, changing, fretting or regrets. In fact over 13 years, we have only ever done 2 true major upgrades with TA cables because they were truly that satisfying...most recently to Opus Gen 5 a few years ago.

TA goes along with names in our system like Zanden, Gryphon, Robert Koda (after 20 consecutive years of CJ preamps), Sablon and Wilson + Velodyne which have each been part of the system for 10 - 20 years on average each. And in no small part, this is due (in addition to pure quality) to the service, reliability and interaction with a number of your team including Brad O'Toole, Paul Sandquist, David Schultz, Amy Farwell and others who are first class professionals.

BTW, I am told that our factory refurbished XLFs may have been yours or your company's! They have been completely looked over by the Wilson factory and then polished/repainted to match our living room (GT Silver). Not sure if this is true, but that is the legend/rumor anyway. If true...please let us know when you are done with your XVXs! All the best.

Thank you LL21 and Ron! Our original XLFs in my home sound studio were painted Almondine (a deep red/black with metal flecking). If you have them, they certainly have provenance because they were responsible for helping us design Generation 5 and Generation 6 until we got XVXs to finish the job. We have 2 RPG-designed sound studios - one at the Transparent facility and one at my home. Transparent central is getting a set of XVXs next week to replace their black metallic XLFs which will soon be on the way to Wilson for refurbishment.

 

[Karen Sumner]

Quantum is the Latin word for amount and, in modern understanding, means the smallest possible discrete unit of any physical property, such as energy or matter.

 

[LL21]

Thank you LL21 and Ron! Our original XLFs in my home sound studio were painted Almondine (a deep red/black with metal flecking). If you have them, they certainly have provenance because they were responsible for helping us design Generation 5 and Generation 6 until we got XVXs to finish the job. We have 2 RPG-designed sound studios - one at the Transparent facility and one at my home. Transparent central is getting a set of XVXs next week to replace their black metallic XLFs which will soon be on the way to Wilson for refurbishment.

Provenance indeed! What a great story. Thank you. Best wishes with the launch of Gen 6.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Gentlemen,

If you wish to make snarky, obnoxious comments about price based solely on prejudice and assumption, and in the absence of any personal experience with the product or even the data points of people with personal experience with the product, please feel free to do so . . . on Audiogon.

Thank you.