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anyone compare grover UR to VHaudio pulsar? - Page 2

post #16 of 21
9/21/05 at 12:00am
euclid,

great impressions, I agree for the most part your impressions on the pulsars, however i will respectfully disagree with you on the Grovers about the low end. I think there is great extension that is firm and offers a great foundation, and while the midbass is not as full as the pulsars, it doesn't get in the way of hearing the real low low bass, play some pipe organ bach cantatas as an example.

The silver bullets will help in evening out the midbass, and there is a better sense of low end extension, you also gain a bit more headroom so things dont sound as closed in. However, the pulsar gold's never sounded closed in to me, a very spacious sound with plenty of headroom, but a very filling bass.

Burn in those pulsars more, you will hear the biggest improvement in phase performance and transient speed. That is a solid FEP dialectric and it really needs to be broken in for the sound to open up, I am excited for you in that you seem to have positive impressions of the pulsars unbroken in, and that dialectric is so tough, just wait and see what you hear when you break it in!

Keep up with the impressions, I enjoy them and please don't take my comments offensively, but rather as polite and objective professional discourse about audio
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post #17 of 21
9/21/05 at 2:13am
Thread Starter 
no offense taken at all, i wrote a lengthy post but i deleted it and will err on the side of caution.

its entirely possible i will make source upgrade and that alone will bring the grovers into the sweet spot i am currently hoping for with the pulsars. if thats the case the pulsars might be driven over the edge and become very sloppy sounding with too much lowend entirely. silver bullet pulsars are nearly 100$ more expensive than the grovers so if it does come down to auditioning a set it will be a somewaht unfair comparison.

for now i will keep(and use) both the grovers and the gold pulsars, after a few more weeks of burn in and hopefully a significant source upgrade ill post some more impressions here.

thanks for all who have taken the time to read my long posts. i would not recommend buying the pulsars without having the grovers to compair to and vice versa. they are both good and each have stong suits which can flip flop from recording to recording. each builder offers money back gurantee, so depending on the music either could be the better choice given a certain amp or headphones or source. im sure system synergy is playiong a big part in my impressions.
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post #18 of 21
9/21/05 at 10:25am
Hi Euclid, give the Grovers a chance to burn-in, around the 100 hour mark they are beginning to get broken in. I also respectfully disagree regarding the observation that the Grovers are "distant"-sounding. I never found that to be the case in my system anyway. Soundstaging is one of my own hot-buttons, and if there's one thing I can't stand it's a "distant" or foggy sound. One of the main strengths of the Grovers to me was their immediacy and clarity. At least that's what I was reacting to.

Cables are one of the most system-dependent components I can think of, so it's not really that surprising that two people with different rigs can hear them differently, I certainly don't presume to challenge your results or your hearing, I'm sure for you they sound exactly as you describe. I do agree somewhat that the bottom on the Grovers is not as "fat" as it is with some other cables, but I do feel the extension is there. While bass extension and frequency response is there, and bass sound certainly appears to be in balance with the rest of Grovers frequency response, I agree bass *volume* is not as pronounced as with some other cables. Which begs the question, are the Grovers simply more neutral and honest or are they missing a bit of desired bass firmness that other cables may be "adding" artificially? To me, that's an unanswerable philosophical question. In any event, cables are great precisely because they can be swapped to season your particular set-up to taste.

All I can say is don't give up on them until they've reached at least 100 hours. I have some of the new Grover UR4s I'm burning in, and will see how they do, I haven't had much time recently to do much listening. Cheers.
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post #19 of 21
9/21/05 at 4:14pm
euclid,

please when you burn in more come back and leave more impressions, they are good and helpful, and also don't feel the need to delete or edit any of your post or to be careful, your opinion is valued here and is just fine the way it is, Im glad there is another person who can validly compare the two cables at hands, because i truly feel those are 2 of the best cables out there for great prices.
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post #20 of 21
9/21/05 at 5:26pm
Thread Starter 
i appreciate the replies

im buring in both sets of cables and my powercords 24/7 for about a week and then i will post some more impressions.

my ears could use the vacation anyway.
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post #21 of 21
10/5/05 at 8:35pm
Thread Starter 
latest update is i let the ur4 and pulsars burn-in nonstop for a week, total they have over 100 hours each, but i didnt notice a significant change in either.

in the meantime grover contacted me and suggested i try the newest revision, which is still called ur4, but actually says grover u4 on the heatshrink.
ive had these ur4(+) for about a week. i can say they easily sound much better than the original ur4. not only is the bass better but the highs are more airy and the soundstage is not noticably in front anymore, presentation is no longer distant.

with this in mind i can say i also easily prefer these new ur4 to the vhaudio pulsars, which i still prefer to the original ur4.

compared to the ur4+ the pulsars sound somewhat sloppy and the high frequency is just not there, it sounds like im walking in a forest of lowend and i can barly see through the canopy to the sky above (where the highs fly around). the ur4 places me up in the highs, EXTREMELY MUSICAL, the seperation is still incredible but it has more dimension now. ur4+ definately has less bass extension than pulsar but as i said originally i felt the pulsars were about 10% bloated on the bass as it is (i now feel they are around 30% bass heavy).

the new ur4 sounds very very close to being perfectly balanced in the frequency range, i feel the ur4+ is only 10% lean on the bass, the bass is more punchy and very good in comparison to the original ur4 which (i stick to my story) is way too lean, in percentages i'd say the original ur4 bass is rolled off 40%.

the new ur4 doesnt sound flat or distant anymore. the vocals are present and tonally *perfect* for what i imagine to be real life, and the rest of the dynamic range is incredible, highs are not harsh, mids are not colored. everything sounds very natural but not sterile.

i feel the pulsar and grover now have a very similar soundstage and dimension, but the pulsars obscure much of the upper detail that really brings the music to life in the new ur4.

i am not going to audition a set of pulsars with silver bullets, after asking chris venhaus and from what ive read in reviews, they dont change the overal presentation of the pulsar, only tighten it up and bring in more upper mids. i am happy with the new grover and my current gold pulsars are going back for a refund. i will say honestly that this new grover revision is 50% better than the last ur4, and if you dont have the newest ur4 then get it.

if the silver pulsar sounded like this new ur4 i would not have hesitated to keep them over the gold pulsar even at the $230 price. the fact that the grovers are still only $140 makes these even more of a no-brainer, they are really good now, not just for the price.

edit: i have all three sets of interconnects in my posession at the moment, if youd like more specific comparison for a specific genre of music let me know and ill see if i can help, at the end of the week i am sending the orignal grovers and the pulsars back.

ian

edit: my impressions of the grovers changed alot after i upgraded my source and i wrote i lengthy post about the difference, im trying to keep all this info together for search purposes. enjoy

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=141536
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