Bogdan Gold/Silver Spirit IC is back!

[HugoFreire]

...and with a great promotional price!
Here's the Audiogon link for it.

[DarkAngel]

I got 3ft pair of the new Bogdan Gold/Silver Spirits recently at the introduction price to see how they compare to my original all Silver Spirits which have stayed in my collection for many years now. There are some changes:
Gold (plated?) wire used for ground wire
Eichman bullet RCA has metal exterior shell and gold center RCA pin
Center wood spacer/vibration damping device is now round in shape

Otherwise same ultra simple Spirit design, bare coiled wire in hollow teflon tubes using plastic Eichman RCAs, no sheilding or insullation give cable its unique sound. The good news is GSS model is much cheaper now vs original model Hirsch did review on and cheaper than original SS. I basically agree with Hirsch's original findings that GSS retains all the detail and incredible transparancy of SS while improving sound with additional tonal richness and body, a win win situation.

I have taken advantage of Ben Bogdan's upgrade offer and sent my SS in to upgrade to GSS for only $80, great deal IMO (like Grover's upgrade offer) I will add some more comments as time allows and perhaps some photos, Ben Bogdan has current add for these at Audiogon so contact him there.......even better performance at lower prices than before, I love it!
Bogdan GSS Photo

[DarkAngel]

I got an old pair of Bogdan Spirits upgraded to Gold/Silver, only change is to replace one silver wire with gold wire, keeps the silver Eichmann RCAs and square wood spacer......so it is really a hybrid and different from brand new Gold/Silver with Gold Eichman RCAs and round wood spacer. I think the best sound is had with a brand new BGS cables, but cost much more than modest charge for upgrade of old cables.

Someone asked me what sounds different after cable burn in.......I use the Fry Kleaner cable conditioner to cook cables for 3-4 days before listening, this tends to refine sound and make more coherent, removes some small rough edges like sifting flour through sifter, I never really listen to any cable before being "cooked" now.

Anyway I've been doing this for all cables for long time and some vendors use same/similar device to condition new cables prior to shipping.

[sbulack]

What comparisons can you make between the Bogdan GSS and the Grover UR line of cables? I've been quite a happy UR listener for a year now. I have just received the U6., and am amazed at the improvements that Grover has been able to achieve over the original UR. How does the performance of the BGSS compare to these?

[RnB180]

whoa. those are some of the coolest looking interconnects I have ever seen. seriously.

[DarkAngel]

Originally Posted by sbulack

What comparisons can you make between the Bogdan GSS and the Grover UR line of cables? I've been quite a happy UR listener for a year now. I have just received the U6., and am amazed at the improvements that Grover has been able to achieve over the original UR. How does the performance of the BGSS compare to these?

Bogdan GSS has lowest capacitance of any IC measured I have seen posted, this gives them a sound similar to a planar speaker......fast ultra detailed and airy, diaphanous and etherial which in certain systems will sound fabulous. The Grover has more weight and fullness to sound plus cable is more flexible and easier to use, plus cheaper......these do not replace Grovers newest designs as you can see I still own both since they offer tremendous sound quality at very low price points.

[sbulack]

Originally Posted by DarkAngel

... this gives them a sound similar to a planar speaker......fast ultra detailed and airy, diaphanous and etherial ...

airy, diaphanous and ethereal ... no wonder they are called the Gold Silver Spirit. I love your description of their sound. Those words convey an ambience befitting your avatar. It sounds as though a pair of BGSS could well contribute generously to the beauty and transporting quality of the soundscape in which I immerse myself nightly. Many thanks.

I can't believe how fast I received a pair of the BGSS after I'd ordered them. I am burning them in now (by listening to music through them). What I can say already is that, very much like the Grover UR's, the BGSS delivers such a lifelike and thoroughly involving sound that the price for which they are being offered on Audiogon is an act of generosity on the part of Bodgan Audio. I'll post more about what I am hearing when these cables have had more time to settle into my rig and I've had time to assess their performance in their settled state.

Listening to my favorite music using the BGSS is an experience best described as sublime. It reminds me a LOT of a few tastes I've had of Remy Martin Louis Treize Grande Champagne Cognac. The instant the Louis Treize hits the tongue, it sublimes directly into the vapor phase, and the glorious vapors permeate the entire head, imparting the most wonderful complex of sensations and nuances. The sound through the BGSS is much as though the essence of everything that I love about the music were going into the vapor phase, and the vapors are just permeating my entire head yielding their fullness and nuances in the most involving and satisfying ways. Using an entirely Dynamic Headphone setup, what I'm hearing sounds exactly like every description of a synergistically accessorized Electrostatic setup I've ever read. I don't own an electrostat setup, and have only had a few short opportunities to hear one, so I'm not trying to actually say that this sounds like an electrostat setup. Just that what I'm hearing sounds like how I've imagined an electrostat setup to sound from all the descriptions of that listening experience I've read on Head-Fi.

The Grover original UR and U6. deliver the details, complexities and nuances of the music, but, using the Cognac tasting simile above, with the Grover, the fine qualities of the music can be felt and touched more (the weight and temperature of the Cognac can be felt in the mouth and throat, so to speak) - less sublime and more tangible - but no less satisfying. A listening experience that I had with the Grover U6 exemplifies this: on the "Eternal Odyssey" track (#12) of Delerium's album Chimera, the prelude is the sound of heavy raindrops falling languidly on flagstones. Because of the visceral nature of the Grover sound, the sound triggered associative tactile and olfactory memories, and I actually felt the coolness of the moisture in the air and smelled the flagstones. Less sublime, but just as transporting a listening experience. A kind of listening experience which complements the BGSS experience so gorgeously. I think it would be a disservice to both cables and to the audio community to run Grover vs Bogdan threads, trying to decide who stomps who. They are both very fine listening instruments which can be used complementarily in a most enriching way.

I'm just so glad that I've got another amp on its way, so that I don't have to choose between the BGSS and the Grover U6. I'll be able to pair up the BGSS and Grover with the amp that I find each to best synergize with and be able to easily enjoy the best that each has to offer. Again, very much like the Grover UR line, for the price that the BGSS is currently being offered on Audiogon, it is a wonderful act of generosity on the part of its creator. I don't think any of us know, at this point, for how long Bogdan Audio will be in this giving vein. These cables originally sold for three times their current price. I would not have bought them at their original higher price, but folks who did pay that much for them would be getting good value for their money, IMO.

Please take all of these thoughts of mine in the category of my initial impressions and preview. I'll need to allow more time to pass before I'll be able to adequately observe and describe what I'm hearing - which is incredible. When I started into headphone audio very modestly about four years ago, I never thought that I'd get to listen to sounds as awe-instilling and soul-refreshing as the ones that I get to enjoy on a daily basis today. You know it's good when you repeatedly put a CD on to listen to a portion of one song, and the next event that you are consciously aware of is the long silence when the CD has finished.

[sbulack]

My final impressions of the Bogdan Gold Silver Spirit? With more use, the cable has continued to deliver the vapor phase delectibility that I savored about it immediately, AND the sound developed with the addition of more body, for an overall more real, live sound for orchestral or acoustic music, while always retaining its capability to deliver the heady, vaporous, diaphanous quality for music like the Cocteau Twins or Love Spirals Downwards. I like the sound I'm getting through this cable more than ever. And don't worry about my Grover UR6. It's getting plenty of use and appreciation in my parallel rig - where the sonic qualities are more synergistic with its more earthy and full-bodied presentation of the sound. I still can't believe that SO much quality is put into both of these cables at SUCH an affordable cost. It is an act of generosity on the part of the sonic artists who create them. So, to Ben and Grover, many thanks.

[DarkAngel]

Originally Posted by sbulack

My final impressions of the Bogdan Gold Silver Spirit? With more use, the cable has continued to deliver the vapor phase delectibility that I savored about it immediately, AND the sound developed with the addition of more body, for an overall more real, live sound for orchestral or acoustic music, while always retaining its capability to deliver the heady, vaporous, diaphanous quality for music like the Cocteau Twins or Love Spirals Downwards. I like the sound I'm getting through this cable more than ever. And don't worry about my Grover UR6.

I have upgraded to Grover UR8 since my first posts which has raised the sound quality level vs UR6, but same basic analogy holds:
Bogdan GSS - Planar speaker, fast airy etherial
Grover UR8 - Cone speaker, full natural earthy

These are the only two ICs I use currently and have sold all others, great thing is both are very reasonable cost.

[Riboge]

The original gold silver spirit had a solid gold wire. The current version uses a gold-plated wire instead. Ben Bogdan explained this to me when I asked how he could sell a cable once going for $590 now for $190. He says the new version sounds identical to the old. I ordered a pair of balanced Spirits to use with the balanced mpx3 that will arrive next week and eagerly await the qualities of sound described when I am able to listen to them. I told him I thought he should clarify about these two versions in his Audigon listing. I suspected that many would be 'misled' as it seems they were from this thread. I told him I thought he should brag about finding a way to offer equal quality for a much lower price rather than obscuring the difference.