[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkAngel Grover UR4 Since Grover has returned from vacation he has developed a newer IC design, the Grover UR4. All I know is that is has more silver content and more variation of wire guages vs past UR designs, here are photos: UR4 -1 UR4 - 2 Also notice Grover is now ending the confusion of which model IC you own by marking next to his signature (Not sure why it says U4, perhaps not enough room?) I have cooked some for 48hrs on FryKleaner and will give serious listen today on stereo system (not headphones). This constant upgrading may seem confusing and a bit frustrating but remember Grover offers very good deal to upgrade old cables to newer models and charges low price for purchase of new cables.......

Do you know which RCA plugs he uses and whether he'd be willing to use something else for upcharge? i.e. Eichmann silvers, WBT Nextgen silvers, Xhadow?

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L Do you know which RCA plugs he uses and whether he'd be willing to use something else for upcharge? i.e. Eichmann silvers, WBT Nextgen silvers, Xhadow?

The Grover RCA's are deceptively simple looking, not sure where he gets them as I have never seen them on other cables. But I suspect the small size low mass RCA that maitains large contact area is the best sound Grover can find for his price point....also notice he wraps small band of material around RCA which you can see under the shrink wrap.

I have asked before about other RCAs, but he prefers his model. Keep in mind some of those you mention would be too expensive for ICs at this price point. If you purchase 4 of whatever RCAs you want and send them to Grover he might make a custom pair for you....who knows????? Send him an email:
groverhuffman@hotmail.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++

I did some listening and the UR4 advances Grovers design by greater % increase than any of the previous UR models for me, just to give some perspective of UR models:

UR1 - baseline, tremendous pereformance at price point
UR2 - no real improvement for my systems, warmer sound tone however
UR3 - 10% small but noticeable improvement over UR1
UR4 - 25% larger more pronounced overall improvement over UR1

I am trying to be somewhat conservative here because the UR1 establishes a very high base level performance at this price cable (and quite a bit higher) As people quickly find out it is very hard and often very expensive if you have a product that is say 80% of SOTA to move up small amout to 85% or 90% and that money can often be better spent on other areas of audio system besides cables........fortunately Grover gives great performance for the money.

My evauation process of cables and other audio gear involves only listening to a few different songs I have heard 100+ times, I know from memory any subtle detail or soundstage neuance.........the fine detail presentation and soundstage characteristics of UR4 are easliy the best Grover has acheived to date, all the enhancements flow naturally with no real weakness. All tonal ranges seem fairly balanced with enhanced detail throughout the total range, bass extends deep and controlled with nice detail, treble is extended and finely textured etc.

Those of you that have any Grover cables this is good time to upgrade old model because this is Grovers biggest step forward, not sure if ICs (even Grover) really can get significantly better at this price point. There are of course tweaks like FryKleaner & Cryo Processing........

I noticed that Chris VenHaus now offers upscale Symmetry ICs at $699 as next step up! The VH Pulsar was probably the most competitive IC to Grover at this price, but the UR4 should give Grover further edge over similar price competitiors.

 

[markl]

I took a sneak peak at my UR4s (about an hour this morning), I don't really have much time to listen in near future, may not get to a full eval for a while, too much going on. They still need burn-in, too. Quick impressions:

I agree with DA. This is one of the bigger advances I've heard in the Grover line. Here's how I'd rank them:

SR2 vs. UR1 (had directional arrows). Not a step up in my opinion, I actually preferred the SR2.

UR1 to UR2. Now we're talking! UR2s are marvelous and are the ones I wrote about at the start of this thread.

UR2 to UR3. At first I thought I detected a difference, but DBT-boys would be happy to know that after a while I wasn't sure I could reliably do it blind if I had to. *Maybe* a little warmer than UR2, *maybe* a bit more bass. Subtle upgrade or maybe sideways step to my ears.

UR3 to UR4. First off-the-cuff impression: equivalent to the step up between the SR2 and the UR2, which is a nice worth-while advance for me. This has a different sound to it, need time to fully identify what's going on, but so far I like it, I have a positive impression. Bass is definitely improved, that I can say for certain.

More to follow in a week or so, please bear with me.

 

[adhoc]

ugh - another upgrade??!

sigh, this really sucks for us overseas customers.

anyway, fwiw, grover has mentioned to me previously that his connectors are 'vintage nickel'. yes, this was told to me all the way back at UR1, but cosmetically the connectors appear to have not changed at all.

 

[recstar24]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkAngel I noticed that Chris VenHaus now offers upscale Symmetry ICs at $699 as next step up! The VH Pulsar was probably the most competitive IC to Grover at this price, but the UR4 should give Grover further edge over competitiors.

I actually had the wonderful opportunity of being a beta-tester for Chris' new symmetry connect before it came out. In my humble opinion, it was the closest thing to a "perfect" interconnect I had ever heard and was in a whole other league above the Grovers, but of course so is the price tag

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkAngel I did some listening and the UR4 advances Grovers design by greater % increase than any of the previous UR models for me, just to give some perspective of UR models: UR1 - baseline, tremendous performance at price point UR2 - no real improvement for my systems, warmer sound tone however UR3 - 10% small but noticeable improvement over UR1 UR4 - 25% larger more pronounced overall improvement over UR1 FryKleaner + Cryo Processing - 15% improvement over any untreated UR model (ie UR4 FryKleaned & Cryo increases to 40% improvement)

In case you are new reader to Grover cable threads and want some idea how these stack up for me against well known more expensive competition 2-3 years ago I owned/sold off all the following ICs which were eventually surpassed by Grover UR:

AZ Silver Reference
AZ Matrix
AP Solo Crystal
AP Silver Oval
HomeGrown Silver Lace
Cardas Golden Cross
Silver Audio Hyacinth

Now own only Wolff, Grover, Bogdan IC cables.....

 

[gpalmer]

DA, can you compare them to your memories of the AZ Silver Ref? I'm looking for cables for my mobile system right now.

 

[Audio Addict]

Has anyone else had a chance to listen to the new improved UR4s? I had upgraded my UR3 to UR4s but Grover contacted me last weekend and indicated he had another update and would I want to give them a try. How could I resist!!

I just received them yesterday and let them burn in for all of three hours before having to listen. My initial reaction is this is not just an incremental version upgrade, it is a substantial improvement. The timber of music and the soundstage have become real strengths of this cable. Obviously this is only an initial reaction and your mileage could easily vary.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gpalmer DA, can you compare them to your memories of the AZ Silver Ref? I'm looking for cables for my mobile system right now.

For a couple years the AZ Silver Ref was my "reference", it replaced several other silver cables I had collected at the time including:
HT ProSilway II
Silver Audio Hyacinth
HomeGrown Silver Lace

I found the AZ had a richer more natural musical sound other silver cables could not acheive while still preserving the speed and fine detail of silver. The AZ SR was very expensive and even at used Audiogon price of $400 was more than I have ever spent on single pair of ICs so could not envision buying multiple pairs to fully cable my two systems.

During the time Grover was going from SR II --> UR1 cables I previously considered Grover a nice alternative IC to save money in less critical applications. Later when doing some actual head to head comparisons between Grover UR and AZ Silver Ref I found no trade off and actually gave slight edge to Grover overall.......then add much cheaper price and smaller more flexible design and AZ was soon sold. So if you really like AZ SR then I see no reason why Grover UR4 would not also appeal to you, but everyone must make thier own decision on these things.

I got almost same price as I paid used for AZ SR, and proceeds purchased several pair of Grover ICs

 

[DeeJayBump]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audio Addict Has anyone else had a chance to listen to the new improved UR4s? I had upgraded my UR3 to UR4s but Grover contacted me last weekend and indicated he had another update

Audio Addict-

Are you saying that you previously had a pair of UR4, and now Grover has revised the UR cables for a FIFTH time?

Are your initial sonic impressions based on the UR4 or on a newer (fifth?) revision of these ICs?

 

[markl]

Quote:

I just received them yesterday and let them burn in for all of three hours before having to listen. My initial reaction is this is not just an incremental version upgrade, it is a substantial improvement. The timber of music and the soundstage have become real strengths of this cable. Obviously this is only an initial reaction and your mileage could easily vary.

I have to agree. After having had a little more time with the new UR4, I can confirm what I first heard in my initial impressions a couple weeks ago. This is definitely one of the biggest jumps in performance that I've detected in my system with my ears from a Grover upgrade. It's even more natural-sounding, and bass is definitely firmed up, the sound overall has more weight to it. Highs are shimmery and clean as could be. The tone of the cable through the middle is even more pleasing to the ear. Definition, resolution and detail seem improved slightly as well.

I think with some of Grover's upgrades, the incentive of going to the trouble and expense of sending it back to get it done, especially if it meant going without your music for a period of time, may not have been as strong as this. Then, on top of that, you have to go through the burn-in process again with the new cables, and all that can be an issue, especially if you were plenty satisfied with the Grovers you already had in the first place!

But I would say, that if you have an older UR, IMO, FWIW, it would be worth the disruption to get this particular upgrade. IMO, that's a strong endorsement, because I know that you know how hard and inconvenient all this cable-swapping can be, I think this one is good enough that it would outweigh all the fuss even for the most curmudgeonly. Yes, there is no doubt that Grover will shortly revise them again, that's just the way it works, so maybe in some cases, the best strategy after a while is to just stop reading Grover threads and just enjoy the Grovers you have!

They're all simply lovely cables, you can't go wrong with any of them, IMO.

Cheers!

 

[euclid]

grover contacted me and said he's going to send the newest revision, he originally told me that these were the ur4 but he said he has a newer version of the ur4 now.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl But I would say, that if you have an older UR, IMO, FWIW, it would be worth the disruption to get this particular upgrade. IMO, that's a strong endorsement, because I know that you know how hard and inconvenient all this cable-swapping can be, I think this one is good enough that it would outweigh all the fuss even for the most curmudgeonly. Yes, there is no doubt that Grover will shortly revise them again, that's just the way it works, so maybe in some cases, the best strategy after a while is to just stop reading Grover threads and just enjoy the Grovers you have! They're all simply lovely cables, you can't go wrong with any of them, IMO. Cheers!

Definitely owners of Grover UR1 & UR2 (or earlier) contact Grover about upgrade deal to UR4, you will not regret.

AA & Euclid are correct........
There is an even newer update of UR4 out now, just got email today from Grover to confirm but no details as to what exactly has changed

 

[elmoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl Exactly. And really, isn't that just about all you could ask of a cable?

No

I recently got some BMC Pinnacle Gold interconnects which made my music more warm, melodic and full. I absolutly love the way they color the sound

 

[bobeau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euclid grover contacted me and said he's going to send the newest revision, he originally told me that these were the ur4 but he said he has a newer version of the ur4 now.

Me too... and I didn't even buy the IC from him! I'm not sure if he saw the post in the classifieds or contacted the oringal owner and was forwarded my handle, but in any case he made the offer completely unsolicited. Wow.