Zu Mobius vs. Moon Audio Silver Dragon for 650's?

[Asterix]

I know this has been discussed before, but I am making my cable purchase soon and want to confirm that I am making the right choice by going for the Moon Audio SD this time instead of the Zu Mobius. I prefer silver to copper whenever system synergy will allow it and I feel my amp is sufficiently warm for the silver cable, also I have heard the Zu is even brighter since it uses silver-plated copper.

 

[JaZZ]

It's impossible to tell which is more accurate or neutral, and I don't even have a clear preference for one of them in my system -- actually currently I prefer my modified Headphile Blacksilver to both (shortened to 1.25 m, silver wire soldered directly to the connectors). But my feeling is that the Zu sounds more natural and more spacious, while the Silver Dragon sounds bigger and closer. The SD also has a very dry characteristic and to my ears lacks brilliance and air with most recordings. In exchange it offers ultimate detail and «precision» and superior bass control. The Mobius' bass sounds slightly muddy or bloated in comparison. On the other hand its treble is the airiest and most brilliant of all the cables I've tried (except for my own magnet-wire cables) and IMO also the most natural. Despite the outstanding treble the Zu Mobius is slightly too dark in my setup, so the brighter Silver Dragon offers better sonic balance. I don't want to conceal that with two of my SD the right channel broke: the original as well as the exchange cable, in both cases near or even within the earpiece connector. In the second case I've repaired it myself -- had to slice the connector.

 

[Asterix]

Thank you. My experience in comparing copper/silver to silver interconnects also resulted in me finding silver to be more precise with better bass control. The interconnects I was testing were actually the BlackSilvers and I was comparing them to the BlackMax's. With these cables I did not experience dryness when going to the all-silver BlackSilver. There was actually a very nice rich harmonic kind of ring thing going on with the silver, while the copper just sounded over-bloated, too warm, undefined, and artificially colored. But the copper helped with a brighter (solid-state early 90's consumer junk) setup. So based on that experience I'm inclined to go with silver whenever possible. I also feel that my amp is very warm and overloading with so much rich mid and bass tones that the more silver, the better.

"The SD also has a very dry characteristic and to my ears lacks brilliance and air with most recordings."

is the only sentence that worries me a bit, but I have a hard time believing that a good quality all-silver cable with sound dry. Even cheaper silver cables have a rich harmonic ring and decay to my ears. It does color the treble a bit because of this but I like the colorful harmonics. The bass, with silver, always remains tight and deep. I love how silver brings out the lowest bass notes with ease and clarity. But maybe not all silver cables are equal, I haven't heard enough to say! And certainly, I hope that I do not have the same build quality issues that you did.


Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ It's impossible to tell which is more accurate or neutral, and I don't even have a clear preference for one of them in my system -- actually currently I prefer my modified Headphile Blacksilver to both (shortened to 1.25 m, silver wire soldered directly to the connectors). But my feeling is that the Zu sounds more natural and more spacious, while the Silver Dragon sounds bigger and closer. The SD also has a very dry characteristic and to my ears lacks brilliance and air with most recordings. In exchange it offers ultimate detail and «precision» and superior bass control. The Mobius' bass sounds slightly muddy or bloated in comparison. On the other hand its treble is the airiest and most brilliant of all the cables I've tried (except for my own magnet-wire cables) and IMO also the most natural. Despite the outstanding treble the Zu Mobius is slightly too dark in my setup, so the brighter Silver Dragon offers better sonic balance. I don't want to conceal that with two of my SD the right channel broke: the original as well as the exchange cable, in both cases near or even within the earpiece connector. In the second case I've repaired it myself -- had to slice the connector.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asterix The interconnects I was testing were actually the BlackSilvers and I was comparing them to the BlackMax's. With these cables I did not experience dryness when going to the all-silver BlackSilver.

My Zu Gede and Silver Dragon interconnects give a good impression of the corresponding headphone cables' impact on the sound, even 1:1 in the case of the SD. Obviously there are two versions of the Silver Dragon. I've made a substitute headphone cable as well as a pair of ICs out of my then extension cable after the first SD broke, to bridge the waiting time. I was surprised about the sonic difference between old and new Silver Dragon HP cable, which is also reflected by the interconnects (I've parallelly ordered a pair of them).

To make a long story short: I think your BlackSilver IC mirrors the corresponding headphone cable's sonic signature quite well, and I absolutely agree about your impression: it doesn't sound dry at all, rather liquid, so its sonic characteristic is quite different from the Silver Dragon -- which BTW maintains its sonic signature with each of my amps and sources.

 

[MikoLayer]

I agree SD sounded very "dry". what I noticed also was sibilance of highs and lack of midbass presence. Unfortunately, I never got to try the Zu's, but headphile silvers do sound much better than SD from what I noticed. And yeah, I gave SD's like 100+ of burn-in time on top of what the original owner did to it, so its not the burn-in problem either. But time and again I keep realsing I am more of a copper person than a silver. I really appreciate lush, rich mids of the DIY copper based cable, although at the end I prefer the headphile silver IC for smoothness and lack of midbass hump.

Can anyone suggest me a sub $150 smooth sounding copper based cable with good mids and without too much midbass hump?

 

[Asterix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikoLayer I agree SD sounded very "dry". what I noticed also was sibilance of highs and lack of midbass presence. Unfortunately, I never got to try the Zu's, but headphile silvers do sound much better than SD from what I noticed. And yeah, I gave SD's like 100+ of burn-in time on top of what the original owner did to it, so its not the burn-in problem either. But time and again I keep realsing I am more of a copper person than a silver. I really appreciate lush, rich mids of the DIY copper based cable, although at the end I prefer the headphile silver IC for smoothness and lack of midbass hump. Can anyone suggest me a sub $150 smooth sounding copper based cable with good mids and without too much midbass hump?

I'm slightly dissapointed to hear the SD sounds 'dry.' I just placed my order for the 10ft. SD because I realized that in my case detail and speed are the most important things I need. However it would be nice if the SD was not lesser than the Blacksilver in terms of SQ!

I didn't want to deal with splicing stock cords and all that and that's the only reason I avoided the Headphile upgrade cable.

 

[RnB180]

cant speaker for ZU, since I havent listened to them

but from my experience with silver plated copper, I never percieved to being brighter then silver, silver has a definately brashness in the top end more so then silver plated wire. Ive also percieved silver plated wire to have better bass response while pure silver wire seemed recessed.

btw, are you sure its silver plated wire in the zu cable? i think it say silver alloy, so it can just be sterling silver or something.

 

[nierika]

The Zu Mobius contains both silver and copper wire, not silver-plated copper wire.

 

[Asterix]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nierika The Zu Mobius contains both silver and copper wire, not silver-plated copper wire.

Oh! I was under a different impression from what I read before. Either way, my experience with silver/copper hybrid cables vs. pure silver cables was that I clearly preferred the pure silver, with it's lean sound, treble emphasis, and all.

 

[KZEE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asterix I'm slightly dissapointed to hear the SD sounds 'dry.' I just placed my order for the 10ft. SD because I realized that in my case detail and speed are the most important things I need.

I didn't find the the SD to sound dry at all, but I was using it with a tube amp. I did spend a little bit of time listening to the SD through a solid state amp, and to my ears the SD is a better match for SS than for tubes. The SD is a very smooth sounding cable with a wonderful midrange - especially with acoustic instruments - with lots of detail and tonal color, and I appreciated the lack of midrange hardness that I've heard in some other cables that I've auditioned, most notably the Cardas. Midrange dynamics were slighly lacking, and with some of my CD's the cable could be a bit thin sounding. Bass was plentiful and tuneful, but the treble was rolled off and there was a lack of air on the top end. There was much to like about the SD and I wanted to keep the cable, but the lack of top end air was a deal breaker for me, so I ended up returning it.

 

[TheLastDon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ I don't want to conceal that with two of my SD the right channel broke: the original as well as the exchange cable, in both cases near or even within the earpiece connector. In the second case I've repaired it myself -- had to slice the connector.

Damn, same thing happened to me. The right channel broke after a few weeks.

 

[RnB180]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nierika The Zu Mobius contains both silver and copper wire, not silver-plated copper wire.

tube rollers review of the zu senn cable states its silver plated copper.

 

[Asterix]

My Silver Dragon is coming Monday.

I'm almost 100% sure I will find it to be preferable to the Zu. I have never heard *any* copper cable that has satisfied my ears like even a cheap silver cable can do. For me, it's all about the detail.

I will find out Monday and I will post my review.

 

[Asterix]

It's very crisp, clear, clean, detailed, and yes, a little dry and lean. For me, it's very nice and better than the Zu which if I remember correctly, is a bit more lush and bloated sounding. There is neutrality and precision here that there was not present with the Zu.