I just wanted to start out this post by saying that I'm not affiliated with Turnbull Audio in any way. I was just lucky enough to meet Nathan, who is a dealer local to me, and after some great discussions I was able to hear his cables in my system. What I heard was almost unbelievable so I wanted to share my impressions with you all!
System: Innuos Statement Nextgen -> Playback Designs MPD-8 with USB-X4 -> Constellation Stereo 1.0 -> Vienna Acoustics Concert Grand Reference
I've tried quite a few components in my system over the past few years - sources, DACs, amps, power conditioners, you name it - and I've made several changes along the way. I'm very familiar with the characteristics of my system so when I swap things in/out I have a good understanding of what they do. For those that haven't read my other threads, just FYI that I have tinnitus so I always listen at night at lower volumes and never open things up to higher dbs. So having a low noise floor and solid bass are extremely important to me.
And while my system isn't inexpensive, adding Turnbull Audio cables seems to be a bit of a relative mismatch due to their cost vs. my existing components. Honestly, I'm not sure if owning these would ever be a part of my journey. But since I enjoy this hobby and am always intrigued to listen and learn I jumped at the chance to try these out.
Cables auditioned were the Prestige XLRs going from the Playback DAC to the Constellation amp and a 20A Prestige power cable from my amp to the wall.
I'm going to cut to the chase here - I was absolutely stunned when I put these in. I don't want to be hyperbolic but if you had covered up my system so I couldn't see, and said you were doing some things that I didn't know about, based on what I heard I would have believed that you swapped out any or even all of my components. The difference was larger than any step I've ever taken including swapping out a DAC!
What I heard:
• Bass definition and shaping - I love bass and oh boy did this combo deliver. Bass went lower than I've ever heard on my speakers and it was so clearly articulated. Passages that had descending low bass notes were so well defined and easy to follow. I also used the word "shaping" because I heard bass in actual shapes that I hadn't before. One track has a bass hit that shot straight forward, as if out of something like a sonic t-shirt cannon. Another had bass that I could only describe as an oblong orb. Never experienced anything like that before.
• Black background and a clearer sense of space - pretty self explanatory but I have experienced several things that have created a quieter and blacker background before so I thought I knew what 'black' was. When I listened to these cables, it was like when I got my first OLED tv after having LCDs. Even the best LCDs can't reproduce perfect blacks and only when I experienced the true black of an OLED did I understand what I was missing. Same thing here. And because of that, instruments and voices had a much clearer sense of space in the horizontal plane.
• Effortless 3D sound - I know my setup doesn't excel in 3D space. Because of my room and how close my speakers are to the wall, I just can't reproduce what I've heard in large rooms with speakers pulled way out into the room. I've heard a cymbal decay forward and backward and I've heard a voice in a song trail off well into the distance in well setup rooms at shops before but never in my own system. Almost inexplicably, with these cables I was able to hear it for the first time in my setup. I also call it "effortless" because I've had other components do something similar-ish, but always calling attention to the sounds or effects. To the point it was almost distracting. With these cables, there was none of that. It all just sounded very organic, as if everything was happening just as it should.
• A center image so cohesive and solid I couldn't believe it - this is by far the most notable thing of all and, for me, the most important. Due to my room's vaulted ceiling, I have a very tiny and unforgiving sweet spot. I can't move my head almost at all without changing the sound dramatically. And if I move too far to the side, I will clearly hear an effect that I call 'breaking the plane'. It is as if I have physically moved through a barrier and I am clearly no longer in the center. When I had these cables in my system, I ended up moving my head around accidentally (as I'm usually trained to sit very still) and to my complete surprise the sound changed minimally if at all. I started moving my head further around - back and forth, side to side - and it was the same. Very little change. I was shocked and, frankly, perplexed! I also noticed that I was turning up the volume quite a bit higher than I normally listen with zero negative effects on my tinnitus. When I go to sleep after a long listening session, I almost always hear the ringing extra loud. But after a several hour listening session, I slept with no elevated ringing. Simply incredible.
I had a chance to ask Nathan about why this was because I just simply didn't understand. I'll spare you botching his technical explanation, but what it boils down to is superior noise rejection and everything being correctly in phase. He also believes that power is the foundation of everything and it's why he has "power refined" right on his boxes.
I still can't quite understand why just two cables made such a dramatic difference but many times experience exceeds knowledge. If you are at the level where you are considering Nordost Odin, Siltech Royal Triple Crown, Purist Diamond, Shunyata Omega, etc. I would strongly urge you to audition these. I'm not being glib when I'm saying that this was a transcendent moment for me and I just wanted to spread the word!
System: Innuos Statement Nextgen -> Playback Designs MPD-8 with USB-X4 -> Constellation Stereo 1.0 -> Vienna Acoustics Concert Grand Reference
I've tried quite a few components in my system over the past few years - sources, DACs, amps, power conditioners, you name it - and I've made several changes along the way. I'm very familiar with the characteristics of my system so when I swap things in/out I have a good understanding of what they do. For those that haven't read my other threads, just FYI that I have tinnitus so I always listen at night at lower volumes and never open things up to higher dbs. So having a low noise floor and solid bass are extremely important to me.
And while my system isn't inexpensive, adding Turnbull Audio cables seems to be a bit of a relative mismatch due to their cost vs. my existing components. Honestly, I'm not sure if owning these would ever be a part of my journey. But since I enjoy this hobby and am always intrigued to listen and learn I jumped at the chance to try these out.
Cables auditioned were the Prestige XLRs going from the Playback DAC to the Constellation amp and a 20A Prestige power cable from my amp to the wall.
I'm going to cut to the chase here - I was absolutely stunned when I put these in. I don't want to be hyperbolic but if you had covered up my system so I couldn't see, and said you were doing some things that I didn't know about, based on what I heard I would have believed that you swapped out any or even all of my components. The difference was larger than any step I've ever taken including swapping out a DAC!
What I heard:
• Bass definition and shaping - I love bass and oh boy did this combo deliver. Bass went lower than I've ever heard on my speakers and it was so clearly articulated. Passages that had descending low bass notes were so well defined and easy to follow. I also used the word "shaping" because I heard bass in actual shapes that I hadn't before. One track has a bass hit that shot straight forward, as if out of something like a sonic t-shirt cannon. Another had bass that I could only describe as an oblong orb. Never experienced anything like that before.
• Black background and a clearer sense of space - pretty self explanatory but I have experienced several things that have created a quieter and blacker background before so I thought I knew what 'black' was. When I listened to these cables, it was like when I got my first OLED tv after having LCDs. Even the best LCDs can't reproduce perfect blacks and only when I experienced the true black of an OLED did I understand what I was missing. Same thing here. And because of that, instruments and voices had a much clearer sense of space in the horizontal plane.
• Effortless 3D sound - I know my setup doesn't excel in 3D space. Because of my room and how close my speakers are to the wall, I just can't reproduce what I've heard in large rooms with speakers pulled way out into the room. I've heard a cymbal decay forward and backward and I've heard a voice in a song trail off well into the distance in well setup rooms at shops before but never in my own system. Almost inexplicably, with these cables I was able to hear it for the first time in my setup. I also call it "effortless" because I've had other components do something similar-ish, but always calling attention to the sounds or effects. To the point it was almost distracting. With these cables, there was none of that. It all just sounded very organic, as if everything was happening just as it should.
• A center image so cohesive and solid I couldn't believe it - this is by far the most notable thing of all and, for me, the most important. Due to my room's vaulted ceiling, I have a very tiny and unforgiving sweet spot. I can't move my head almost at all without changing the sound dramatically. And if I move too far to the side, I will clearly hear an effect that I call 'breaking the plane'. It is as if I have physically moved through a barrier and I am clearly no longer in the center. When I had these cables in my system, I ended up moving my head around accidentally (as I'm usually trained to sit very still) and to my complete surprise the sound changed minimally if at all. I started moving my head further around - back and forth, side to side - and it was the same. Very little change. I was shocked and, frankly, perplexed! I also noticed that I was turning up the volume quite a bit higher than I normally listen with zero negative effects on my tinnitus. When I go to sleep after a long listening session, I almost always hear the ringing extra loud. But after a several hour listening session, I slept with no elevated ringing. Simply incredible.
I had a chance to ask Nathan about why this was because I just simply didn't understand. I'll spare you botching his technical explanation, but what it boils down to is superior noise rejection and everything being correctly in phase. He also believes that power is the foundation of everything and it's why he has "power refined" right on his boxes.
I still can't quite understand why just two cables made such a dramatic difference but many times experience exceeds knowledge. If you are at the level where you are considering Nordost Odin, Siltech Royal Triple Crown, Purist Diamond, Shunyata Omega, etc. I would strongly urge you to audition these. I'm not being glib when I'm saying that this was a transcendent moment for me and I just wanted to spread the word!
