[ai0tron]

Well, I just got the audioquest corals from jude. Thanks to him for mailing them priority rather than the standard fair and packing the cables safely within. So far the sound is good. I will be comparing them to my bettercables interconnects for the next couple of days.

My initial impressions:

Compared to my bettercables they are less tubey, less rich, and less open in the midrange. However, the treble frequencies are more extended and more natural. The bass is much tighter and more musical. I realize now that the bettercables would give solid state a tubey sound and tubes a VERY tubey sound. This tubeyness I seem to have fallen in love with. We will see if the audioquest cables can earn a place above my bettercables. Keep in mind that the bettercables retail for a mere $40 and the audioquest corals go for about $130 (I paid $90). So far it seems to be a question of accuracy over enjoyment factor. I really enjoy the bettercables rich open mids but their disturbing lack of highs makes for limited listening choices and a piano thats so sweet the temptation to turn it up is almost unbearable... This tends to make my ears ring after about 10 minutes of listening. The audioquest cables having much more extended highs that make me turn the volume down a bit but the mids just don't have that magical quality they do with the bettercables... So I will go listen and compare.

 

[jude]

ai0tron,

I'm glad you received the Corals, man. I'm sort of surprised by your initial impressions (but certainly not doubting you), and this may be an example of how different components can work in different systems in varying ways.

I sure hope they work into your system a little better. Let us know how things go.

-- Jude --

 

[chych]

Tell me, does that silver serpent do anything to s/pdif transmissions?

 

[ai0tron]

Compared to the radioshack digital cables I own the silver serpent bettercables present a much more complete picture of the audio spectrum. I recommend them highly. They don't do anything "wrong". They simply do not affect the signal in any way that I can tell. Finding something that does this in the realm of analog interconnects has proven much more difficult. I am tempted to buy another silver serpent and hook them up as my analog RCA interconnects and see what happens then. I tried this with my radioshack digital coax cables and it sounded decent although kind of thin.

Back to the corals versus bettercables RCA debate.

The corals are also not as dynamic. The timing of the instruments seems off. The soundstage is off slightly somehow... it could be that my perception is being messed up by the added info in the highs. Maybe I need more time to adjust. It is simply uncanny how dynamic and rich the midrange of the bettercables is... and how utterly perfect the rythm and pacing is. But the complete lack of highs is such a bother when listening to classical music. Especially the cello. I realize how artificial the sound of the bettercables RCA is sort of the way grados are very forward basically colored in the mids. But the aspect of dynacism... IS that color?? I dont think so. They give individual notes so much weight... BUT It looks like I am liking the audioquests better for classical simply because of the more extended highs, yet at the same time they arent bright like kimber pbj's. Sadly though my search goes on for the best interconnect for my needs. I expect that bettercables will release an upgrade to the current cable since they did so for the digital coax in the form of the silver serpent. Until then it look slike it's the audioquest by a hair. The audioquests are better than the PBJ's unquestionably and they have an overall better balanced sound compared to the bettercables RCA. But those midrange dynamics are just not gripping enough. It's kind of boring. They really do have good treble performance though and on that basis they win. Much less strained sounding when compared to the bettercables.

I have a feeling that unless I prepare myself to shell out some seious cash I am going to end up with a big box of interconnects that just don't cut it somehow.