[sachu]

I happen to live in the same town that the Jena Labs cables are made and yet till today i had stayed away from trying them.

Today I borrowed a bunch of Interconnects from the local hifi shop including
LAT IC-300 Signature
VDH Orchid
Jena Labs Symphony.

I have my Grover Huffman SC interconnects to compare them against.

Thus far I have done preliminary auditions of the LAT and the Jena.

First up was the LAT. I could hear more body to the music especially int he mids(seems to be heavily concentrated here) and very good bass, but the grovers beat them on overall clarity. During complex passages the LAT seems to stumble and muck things up.

I moved on to the Jena labs cable.
This is a 1200$ pair of interconnects and boy did they make a difference. They make my Grover cables sound like they have some echo or something.

The best way i can define the Jena is, very very smoth in its presentation.
It is laid back but god the detail level. I am hearing things I was not on either the Grovers or the LAT.
They do however feel like they lack some richness to the music. But sound dead neutral.
THis is only from a short 5-10 mins listen of the 3 cables.

I plan to do more listening and post more impressions later.

Wondering if anyone here has given the Jena cables a try?

 

[cafe zeenuts]

Are the wire in the Jena Labs Symphony the same as the JENA Ultra-Wire that they sell for DIY use? If so, its possible to make the same IC at a lower cost...

 

[sachu]

Yes, I believe they are. I used to dismiss that off as voodoo whenever Yogi brought it up. But boy oh boy, they sure are great sounding in my system right now.

 

[sachu]

So is 340$ for a used pair of Jena labs Symphony a good price? These are 1.5m RCA cryo treated ones retailing at 1400$. The RCA plugs do show some wear however.

They just sound much nicer compared to the LATIC-300 signature or the Grover SC that i have here. The only problem area is a lack of richness compared to the other two..but it makes up for it in all the other areas.

 

[Currawong]

How did you find the VDH Orchid in comparison? I tend to find them to be fairly ruthless and accurate.

The problem with Jena Labs cables can be exemplified by a review of their high-end cables where the reviewer thought he was hearing things in the music he'd never heard before, but they were echos of the singers' voices caused by the reflections in the cables, which is a result of their multi-wire construction.

 

[sachu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif How did you find the VDH Orchid in comparison? I tend to find them to be fairly ruthless and accurate. The problem with Jena Labs cables can be exemplified by a review of their high-end cables where the reviewer thought he was hearing things in the music he'd never heard before, but they were echos of the singers' voices caused by the reflections in the cables, which is a result of their multi-wire construction.

The VDH orchid had a faulty connection on one of the channels. I didn't want to mess with it and will let the shop figure it out.

INteresting theory on the Jena labs.
The main thing that gets me on the Jena is it is neutral sounding, extremely transparent, it puts a spotlight on the micro details which none of the other cables do. I feel like they are near transparent in the signal chain.
I have another two days before i have to return them..guess will try and listen more closely to the reflections that the other reviewer claims.

 

[sachu]

wow..been going back and forth between the LAT, jena and the Grovers.
The mogami neutrik profi DIY ones are no competition to the others.


Jena v/s Grover
I was surprised at how well the Grovers did against the Jena. Considering i picked this pair up for 60$ shipped they sounded quite good. The sound signature is very different from the Jena and is very easily noticable. In fact that's the first thing that strikes to your ears. The midrange especially is just something else on the Jena. It sounds unadulterated. Excellent transparency. The Grovers had better weight in the midbass and better prat (when listening to Indian classical, the snap of the tabla and mrudangam was much better on the Grovers). The Jena was like a revelation with its infinite ability to bring out the micro details. It just pulls you in and steps out of the way. A very transparent cable.

Jena v/s LAT

Here, again the Jena has a unique sound signature while the LAT is similar to the Grover in sound signature.
The Jena beat the LAT all around except in the richess in the music, specifically the weight in the midbass region.The LAT just excelled there.
The jena just sounds so open and untethered. Very neutral sounding without any peaks across the spectrum.


LAT v/s Grover.

The LAT sounded better than the Grover in the mid bass region and in bringing out the details easily compared to the Grover SC. The Grover however beat it on soundstage and midrange.

In conclusion, I prefer the Grover SC over the LAT overall. The LAT has better resolution and detail but a smaller soundstage. The LAT also had the best bass impact among the cables.

The Grovers and the LAT had the edge over the Jena with a richer presentation.

I am seriously considering picking up the Jena for my main rig and upgrading to the latest Grover IC, the Grover SX by trading in the SC for 75$. Exchanged a couple of emails with Grover Huffman the last few days and he is confident the new SX will give the Jena a run for the money. Says it is more open and detailed.
The Jena is being offered for 340$ for the pair (they have it at 395, but will sell for 340 if i commit). Original retail for the 1.5m pair cryo treated cable is 1400$. Only gripe is that the connectors have seen wear. I suppose some contact cleaner ought to address the issue.

Oh and I tried the PS audio Power plus cable. I installed it on my DAC repalcing the stock IEC cord. I was disappointed with the effect it had. Lesser prat, duller, softer presentation . Didn't like it at all. Switching back to the stock IEC cord and everything was back to the way i like it. So for now my power situation is
wall socket -> MIT ZCord-> MIT Z Stabilizer mk2-> Transparent Power link Super(Amp), Standard IEC cord (DAC).

I love the Transparent cable. Great difference in the sound of the system.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sachu /img/forum/go_quote.gif The VDH orchid had a faulty connection on one of the channels. I didn't want to mess with it and will let the shop figure it out.

If you're using the RCAs, the single return (and shield on one end) is crimped (cold-welded), not soldered. I found that some people would, out of curiosity un-screw them and mess up the careful arrangement of the wires done by the factory.

 

[tom hankins]

I used the LATs for a couple years. They are good cables, but I replaced all of them with Audioquest Skys. However if you ever need a cable for a subwoofer, the LATs are the best I have heard at any price.

 

[skyline889]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif How did you find the VDH Orchid in comparison? I tend to find them to be fairly ruthless and accurate. The problem with Jena Labs cables can be exemplified by a review of their high-end cables where the reviewer thought he was hearing things in the music he'd never heard before, but they were echos of the singers' voices caused by the reflections in the cables, which is a result of their multi-wire construction.

Do you have a link to the review? There must have been something wrong with his system because what you're describing is impossible. Multi-wire braids have certain flaws in certain set-ups but they don't introduce echos.

 

[Currawong]

sardonicus

That's the review, which is rather a fun read actually. However, I've heard similar things when playing CDs, so I could well be mistaken, but there are a few reports on Audiogon of the same thing IIRC. I also don't understand how so much wire can physically fit inside the plugs, but I guess unless someone with crazy-deep pockets opens up the plug on a pair, we'll never know.