TG 688 compared to Volex 17604

[Solude]

I posted my initial impressions of the TG 688 in an earlier post after about 200 hours of burn in plus whatever the original owner had on it. The cable is very well built and again reaffirmed that PCs make a pretty drastic difference in the resulting sound.

Since then I have purchased Volex 17604 PCs for my entire room. The Volex is fairly sleeper looking. Simply a larger 'normal' looking PC but internally quite special.

The TG 688 is $350US direct from TG Audio and the Volex 17604 is $5.52US from Carlton-Bates. NOTE: Buy 5! I didn't notice the handling fee for orders under $25US and bought 4

So instead of a 5th PC I got a brand new handling fee

I've also gotten a Monster AVS2000 since the last review and will be comparing it to 'the wall' later.

On with the review...

Comparison method is simple. The PC not being tested powers my monitor until it swaps in for comparison to keep it 'hot'. A playlist is made consisting of 4 songs each played twice. On the first pass I listen, on the seciond I take notes. Then the PC is swapped and the process is repeated. So all in all I listen to the same 4 songs, 4 times.

The jist of it is in my system, with my preferences the Volex easily is my preferred PC over the TG 688.

The TG 688 has a very clean sound. The bottom end is filled in quite nicely, something I really like, but its overly smooth character creates an unnatural bloom effect in all music. On Holly Cole - I Told Him That My Dog Wouldn't Run it turns the sadness into romance, destroying the effort put into conveying the 'proper' feeling. But the real loss is most apparent in Van Halen - Doin' Time where individual percussion blends into almost chords with no sense of space of their own. The skinning and decay is totally lost as the PC just can't keep up. It is pretty dramatic and completely unexpected at this price point. Also the TG 688 somehow managed to be louder than the Volex, measuring ~1dB louder at the same 'step' on my Reference. Odd.

The Volex is quite a treat though. Though less clean than the TG 688 it is much clearer and has incredible speed. Low level retrieval is excellent as is spatial information. Its bottom end is better than stock 'throw in' PCs but not the TG 688's equal. The bass present though is tight, well controlled with no smearing or bloom. Emotion is presented as intended and dynamics are the best I've heard of the PCs I've tried in house.

Here are my listening notes:

tg vs. volex

hc - i told him

volex: full sound, good buildup, clear, good start/stop, sadness conveyed, engaging, well layered piano

tg: cleaner but not clearer, extended banjo build up, rounding of sound, romantic, loss of start/stop control, pleasant with good foundation


apc - blue @70dB calib, TG ~1dB louder...

volex: cymbals recessed at intro, good foundation, bbbb vibe, involving, good low level retrieval, main song well integrated

tg: cymbals recessed at intro, solid bottom end, bbbb vibe, good impact, smooth edging towards bloom, good low level retrieval, engaging


srv - pipeline

volex: good low level retrieval, minorly bass light otherwise integrated, good prat, engaging, background fill in, good speed in bass line

tg: cleaner but less clarity, more solid bottom end, excellent prat, engaging, loss of bass line speed, unnatural due to smoothing


vh - doin time

volex: ok blackground, integrated intro, down low, excellent separation, timbre spot on, shimmer til held, skinning good

tg: poorer blackground, reinforced bottom end, integrated but slow, drops low, severe loss of clarity, smoothing character really suffers

Off to lunch and a movie, I'll fill in the blanks when I get back.

 

[markl]

Thanks for the write-up, Solude.

Couple observations. I seem to like exactly what you don't like about the TG688

(though I think your description is fairly accurate, I mainly disagree with your evaluation of some of the traits we both seem to hear).

On my system, the TG 688 is not slow (at all) as you found on yours. 688 is one of the faster cables in the 14-cord shoot-out I did. If you think the 688 is slightly slow, I would advise staying far away from the PS Audio cords, now there's a slooooooooooooooooooooooooooow cable!

WRT to "bloom" you mention, I have a hard time relating to that as a "bad" thing. I like a full, complete, rich sound with foundation and clarity, as opposed to a thin, lean sound. To me, it's more "musical" and natural. For me, music should be allowed/enabled to bloom. I don't have those Volex cords to compare, but I do have the Jellyfish/Quail which is likely very similar. Yes, it's a fine cord, but as you point out, it's grainy-er and yes, thinner-sounding. IMO, it's not that the 688 is "bloomy" so much as the Jellyfish/Quail is just "thinner". My perspective is that the 688 just allows more music through than the Jellyfish/quail, and is therefore more transparent and accurate. There's just more "there" there.

Also, IMO, the "smoothness" you detect seems to me to be a function of the overall cleanliness of the cable (as you noted elsewhere). Because it's relatively grain free, you don't get those unnatural serrated edges or added "texture" that isn't on the recording. Again, I see that as a positive. But I can also note that the 688 is far from the smoothest of the 14 cords I reviewed. I would say, if you found the 688 too clean and smooth, stay away from the Wolff Silver/carbon.

That one would freak you out...

It's almost uncannily clean.

Cheers.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Thanks for the input Solude. Great reading as usual.

What made you decide upon the 17604 over the other PCs? I'm looking at their site and there are a ton of PCs by Volex, and without photos they seem quite similar. Wattage ratings were different, but that's about it.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

BTW, I am running the TG 688 on my dual-Opteron computer rig to really burn it in and keep it in use while I await the cabling and such to arrive to complete my rig once again.

 

[Solude]

I like the fullness of the 688 but with its reduced speed things tend to blend into one event instead of many smaller ones. Its really hard to find music to nail it down though. It is nearly unnoticable in APC-Blue but severely crippling in VH-Doin Time. I think the more stripped down the music the easier it is to notice.

The TG 688 is however still much faster than the XLO Reference2 I tried first. Esh that thing stunk!

The Volex is not thin though. Its macro dynamics are quite a bit wider than the 688 and the added clarity along with better frequency extention really makes for an immersive sound. The 688 combination of bloom and slowness did however create a sense of compression as things that should be plucky, ie banjo in HC-I Told Him..., were pleasant and had no bite.

But on different material the differences are much smaller. I've been doing these so much lately I've stumbled across a handful of really good 'stress test' tunes.

I use Holly Cole for bite and emotional correctness
A Perfect Circle for low bass extention and tone
Stevie Ray Vaughan for low level detail and bass speed
Van Halen for percussion accuracy, sound staging, decay and layering

Been able to find many faults I would have otherwise missed with this playlist.

 

[Solude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ServinginEcuador What made you decide upon the 17604 over the other PCs?

Between the Volex options I wanted 14AWG, shielded, straight cord with both ends, in the ballpark of 5ft... 17604 was it.

I may look into getting the 17504 which is the unshielded version but frankly I'm happy so, its Senn cable time

Word is that the Volex is really just a fabbed Belden, so for $5.52 in a sleeper sealed package, its quite a bargain.

But as always PCs are about system synergy and goals. I want more bottom end weight but not willing take a loss elsewhere to get there so the Volex stays and the TG goes

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Solude,

Do you have an extra cable you could send to MarkL to try out? It'd be worth a shot to see what he thinks about it.

 

[kontai69]

Out of curiosity, what color is the Volex 17604 outer sleeving (black, off-white, etc.)? Also, is it Teflon insulated? Thanks for any info.

 

[Solude]

Sadly me shipping the cable across the border would cost more than simply buying the cable

Looking over Mark's system, assuming its up to date, may explain some of the 'same observation, different result' issue. My Tri-Vista 21 and Senn 650 are pretty warm and laid back to begin with. It may simply be a case of the TG 688 pushing it further into the realm of syrop. But his Sony ES and R10 might do well with a good filling in and smoothing out. Having heard neither I'm just guessing. Can't remember if it was the R10 or Qualia that had incredible speed but came across a little light weight compared to the Senn 650.

But by impressions on the forum, the 688 and the Sony SA5000 would be a delightful combo. Or the Benchmark DAC1 even. Guess what I'm driving at is the 688 is smooth with a solid bottom end... if your rig is bordering on shouty or bass light, the 688 would really turn it around.

 

[Solude]

The Volex is black, looks exactly like every power cord you get with an equipment purchase except that its thicker.

Volex doesn't release any data about their cables so I have no idea about the material used. Relying purely on sound for this comparison since info on the TG 688 is limited at best as well

 

[kontai69]

Thanks for the info, Solude. I wish I came across this thread before I ordered the bare wires to make my own VH Audio Flavor 1 and 2 PCs.
Since Volex is so cheap, I might buy it just to compare.

On my GS-1 amp, I'm currently using some el cheapo unshielded 14g wire that came with my 500W Parts Express subwoofer amp. I actually like the sound of it better than the 10g Signal Cable Magic Power PC which I've found to roll off the treble a little too much.

 

[Solude]

Note to anyone interested in the Volex... buy from Carlton-Bates. Mouser is 2x the price!

 

[Jon L]

As I keep saying, the Volex tends to be much less colored than many "audiophile" cords. In other words, lots of audiophile cords are hopelessly, and criminally colored, especially at some seriously $$$$$ prices.

Volex does have a fine layer of grit and grain and doesn't sound squeaky clean like some other cords, but there's no obvious frequency peaks or valleys, no overblown midbass, no over-smooth upper-midrange, etc.

I don't have experience with 688, but I used to have previous TG cords, such as HSR-i squared, and despite its many virtues, including clean, fast, airy sound, I did feel it scrubbed off a bit too much texture from music. I know this was happening and that it wasn't "dead neutral transparent" in texture, b/c other good cords did preserve the texture.

One could certainly do much worse than Volex. A dab of Walker Audio Extreme SST can go a long way here...

 

[Solude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon L Volex does have a fine layer of grit and grain and doesn't sound squeaky clean like some other cords, but there's no obvious frequency peaks or valleys, no overblown midbass, no over-smooth upper-midrange, etc.

Quite right. The grit and grain is a good measure less than stock 'throw ins' though so its still a win to me or at least good enough to move on to another part of my system and drive my wife crazy with talk about that instead

NOTE: Even more so in my rig that has a pretty low grain factor to begin with.

 

[markl]

I have received word that Bob Crump has passed away over the Thanksgiving holiday. He was a class act, a very nice guy in my (limited) dealings with him. Rest in peace, and thanks for the fine cables.

I suspect this means his cable business is finished, as I'm certain it was a one-man operation, and he made them all himself. Probably only way to get his cables now will be on the used market.