For those that prefer the sleeve of the Silvergarde, you can order the 17.3awg fusion also as sleeved cable.
So far, I'm really liking the sound of this cable. The closest comparison I can make is with my S3 that I use with my HEK SE which I can use with my Susvara with some cheap 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapters I bought on Amazon (so this may not be a fair comparison at all since I do not know the sonic impact of the adapters). All that being said, I do find the detail and imaging to be superior with this new cable. It's cliche to say that a veil is lfited, but that's a lot what it seems like - it's like seeing something through a pane of glass that isn't clean, everything just a bit fuzzier and then once you clean it, everything is just more clearly defined.
The other thing that I really like so far about this cable is the additional body and warmth. Not warmth from rolloff on the top per se. Cymbals seemed to still have the same amount of sparkle (I'm old my my hearing is rolled off anyway). Even though I've really come to enjoy my HEK's and now esp. my Susvara, I originally came from an LCD-4 which obviously has a very different tonal balance than the Hifiman HPs and for my bias, a touch more warmth is welcome and pleasing.
The additional clarity/detail and solidity all add up to better soundstaging, transporting me to a location. Treveor refered to this as the "presence" you get with his higher gauge cables.
I've done a handful of cable comparisons that I've posted in this thread in the past and I have always wondered though if the benefits are due to the cable just sounding a little louder knowing that something louder will sound better (when I do my listening comparisons, I don't adjust the volume at all, I only swap the cable. There are other methodologies I could use to compare (volume match with pink noise, long term listening), but out of practicality/simplicity, I just do the cable swap).
All of this being said and based on what I am hearing so far, I will likely change my S4 orders to the 17.3awg for my Susvara (if this were for my LCD-4, I'm not sure what I would do). Trevor did say the pricing is a bit higher than S4 (I didn't get details yet).
I've done a handful of cable comparisons that I've posted in this thread in the past and I have always wondered though if the benefits are due to the cable just sounding a little louder knowing that something louder will sound better (when I do my listening comparisons, I don't adjust the volume at all, I only swap the cable. There are other methodologies I could use to compare (volume match with pink noise, long term listening), but out of practicality/simplicity, I just do the cable swap).
There is a bit of a question of sleeving. Beauty of course is in the eye of the beholder. I don't really like the aesthetic of these cables with the transparent sleeving...unfortunately, it reminds me of transparent lamp cord (sorry!). One "issue" though with sleeved cables is that you have no way of knowing what cable is inside. I think Trevor said he introduced new sleeves just for S4. Knowing what cable is inside is not a concern if you buy from Trevor directly, but only as a caveat emptor to those who buy used.
Also, when talking cable upgrades, I also always give my caveat, that these changes are relatively small. If you're still sorting out the rest of your audio chain, cables wouldn't be the first thing I would recommend, but it is something to ultimately extract the most out of your system IMO.