Tara Labs RSC Air 3: First impressions
Oct 26, 2001 at 1:56 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 14
mcbiff

mcbiff

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I received my new ICs today and hooked them up hoping to get a great big increase in sound quality. And what did I get?
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.
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An incredible increase in sound quality!

Compared to the VdH D102MKIIIs I had before these things were improved:
  1. Soundstage

    This is the biggest improvement, instead of mostly left/right-imaging I'm getting a whole spectrum all around my head. This is hard to explain in words, but let's just say it's BIGGER for now.
    smily_headphones1.gif
  2. Detail

    Detail reproduction is way better, but at the same time these cables gave a welcome smoothening (is that a word) to the sometimes harsh treble I experienced before. Pretty strange to have both more detail and less harshness, but hey, I'm not complaining.
    smily_headphones1.gif
  3. Midrange

    Certain midrange details were somewhat etchy and harsh before, these cables totally removed that problem. Examples of tracks that highlight this are for instance track 2 on Mark Knopfler - Sailing to Philadelphia. Before the vocals in the beginning would really sound unsmooth whereas now they're totally natural.
  4. Instrument separation

    This goes along with the improved soundstage/detail, but I had to mention it anyway. It's pretty much incredible, I can place any instrument at an exact location on the soundstage.

Well, that's it for my first impressions. Any questions?

EDIT: Big thanks to jude for helping me decide on these ICs. I owe you one, man.
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Oct 26, 2001 at 3:44 PM Post #2 of 14
mcbiff,

Congratulations on the new cables! I'm glad they worked out, man. As you know, I have the RSC Reference Gen 2's, and find them to work very well in my rig, and so an excellent value. The RSC Air3's you've got are supposed to be quite a bit better than my RSC Reference Gen 2's, so it's not at all surprising to me that they absolutely rock.

Again, congrats! Please keep us posted as any new opinions develop.
 
Oct 26, 2001 at 4:24 PM Post #3 of 14
Quote:

Originally posted by jude
mcbiff,

Congratulations on the new cables! I'm glad they worked out, man. As you know, I have the RSC Reference Gen 2's, and find them to work very well in my rig, and so an excellent value. The RSC Air3's you've got are supposed to be quite a bit better than my RSC Reference Gen 2's, so it's not at all surprising to me that they absolutely rock.

Again, congrats! Please keep us posted as any new opinions develop.


I will keep you posted. I must say that they are excellent value, especially used. The ones I got are as close to mint as they can get, the RCAs are still all shiny and new-looking. So to get them at half price off is truly a steal. Though I still paid 75% of the US retail price thanks to our lousy Swedish currency. Oh well.

How's it going with your cable auditioning BTW? Too bad you didn't get the Air3s along with the Air1s and Air2s, I could've seen just how much better they would be.
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Oct 29, 2001 at 10:12 PM Post #4 of 14
Alright, the more I listen the more I realize there's something magical about these ICs. Right now for instance I'm enjoying Guns n' Roses - November Rain (MFSL), and I swear there's something there I didn't hear before. The sound is all around me and everything is so natural. I find it hard to believe that it could get better than this, but at the same time I think it's very cool that a pair of wires can totally change the sound of one's equpiment.

I urge everyone reading this to at least try a pair of decent ICs and see for yourselves, you're really missing out on something if you don't.

Enough of my ranting, get back to whatever you were doing.
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Oct 30, 2001 at 6:42 PM Post #5 of 14
Yes, ICs can make a big difference. I've got the Jazz 4s in my system now and they sound pretty good. I went back to my MIT 330s and right away I felt something was not quite right. I went back to the Jazz 4s and now everything is right again.
 
Oct 30, 2001 at 7:29 PM Post #6 of 14
Quote:

Originally posted by acidtripwow
Yes, ICs can make a big difference. I've got the Jazz 4s in my system now and they sound pretty good. I went back to my MIT 330s and right away I felt something was not quite right. I went back to the Jazz 4s and now everything is right again.


acid,

What are Jazz 4's?
 
Nov 23, 2001 at 12:56 PM Post #9 of 14
My setup is similar to Mcbiff, except for the CDP and IC.

My original intention is to get the Tara Lab RSC Air 3 as well. However, it seemed to be much more difficult as I have imagined. I ended up buying the AudioNote AN-V silver cable.

The combination seemed okay. I will keep you posted after I have run in the cable.

BTW, it could be interesting to try out Tara Lab? Perhaps I can swap my IC with Mcbiff's Tara Lab and see if which is more suitable for our setup.

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Nov 23, 2001 at 1:13 PM Post #11 of 14
I got mine from Audio-consult in Copenhagen (I think it is the same place u bought your Sudgen).

It actually cost 2500 Danish Kroners. But the guy offered to sell at 2000 if I pay cash. And obviously, I chose the latter.

I was told that I can claim back the tax-free (25%) from him when I leave Sweden. Of course, I have to get the invoice stamped at the custom.

I worked in Karlskrona.
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Nov 24, 2001 at 2:19 AM Post #14 of 14
I had a similar euphoria-like experience when I bought my RSC Prime Generation II IC's. I burned them in for about 48 hours and I was simply amazed at the clarity, detail, soundstage and musicality of my Rotel RCC 945 CDP....and I believe mine are the Budget cable! It was certainly a worthwhile and fantastic investment. Congrat's. Tara Labs simply kicks butt.
 
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