The Entry Level 2021, A New Set Up

The Entry Level Set Up

It's been a while since my last article, but it doesn't mean I have not been busy. If you've been following my restoration of a pair of  Acoustic Research M6 Holographic Tower Speakers, link here if you wanna read: http://hifi-unlimited.blogspot.com/2020/09/another-classic-restoration-acoustic.html

A buddy of mine have been rather keen to take it up for use as a simple system to relax in his bed room. However, he is an everyday guy with up to date everyday needs, meaning he wants to wireless stream music & remote control the system from his smart phone, plays MP3 music files on a USB stick and the occasional CD, if he is in the mood for sound decent sound quality. His needs are more of a practicality & connectivity, with absolute sound quality being less of a priority. i.e, he is not strictly dyed in the wool audiophile, but rather someone who wants decent sound quality, but with connectivity of a modern lifestyle system. And yes, he has provided a budget for me to work on too!

I set about studying the features he needs and the available components that will meet his requirements. but yet still providing high enough quality sound, while meeting his budgetary concerns.

Teac PD 650-B CD Player With USB Input

After going through the products that meet the budget, and lifestyle vs sound requirements, I have decided to start the set up with a CD player c/w front panel USB input for MP3 convenience, which lead me to the Teac PD 650-B model with see here. Retailing at just MYR 1380/unit, it's quite possibly the cheapest CD player with USB input and hifi brand credibility. After all, Teac used to make many good studio grade components. 

The plastic finished front panel still looks & feels solidly built, despite it's humble price tag. The satin black finished unit still looks & feels very decent to touch. The weight is not too heavy of course, but enough not to make it feel cheap. The central CD drawer design ejects in & out smoothly and all front panel buttons work with an reassuring "click".  The unit comes with a basic plastic remote for convenience too.

  

Yamaha R-N602 Receiver

The next star in this system line up is the amplifier, the heart of any self respecting hifi system, or in this case rather, a receiver, which in these days seems to be making a comeback of sorts. This Yamaha R-N602 is handsome, with pseudo classic looks that is functional and well built at one go. The Yamaha comes with all the modern feature that any audiophile or otherwise could want in a receiver. It has built in wifi, which could be wireless or wired, USB input for smart phone connection or just for playing MP3 music files, and it even connects to your smart phone via Bluetooth. Last but not least, once wifi is set up & connected, one can down load Yamaha's Musicast  app to your smart phone to access the Yamaha receiver wireless. Musicast app can be used as a remote control function or, play music flies stored on your smart phone. As a bonus, the receiver also come with FM/AM tuner.

The Yamaha receiver is rated at 80W RMS power output and the internal bits, such as beefy EI transformer for power supply, and over size heatsinks tells me the hardware is serious stuff! There are multiple RCA inputs at the back and the amp section can drive 2 pairs of speaker at once if required. 

Acoustic Research M6 Holographic Tower Speakers

The speaker in this system is my recently restored Acoustic Research M6 Holographic Tower Speakers. These are considered pinnacle of 90's speaker design and frankly, it still sounds pretty darn good today. Tonal balance is on the rich side of things, and the speaker is capable of projecting a big open sound space that is very transparent, yet managing to sound musical. With a built in sub woofer at the bottom cabinet, a nice weighty, low bass is there to anchor the music. This is an efficient speaker design and the Yamaha's 80W RMS feels comfortable pushing this speaker to it's fullest potential.

Ancillary items used in setting up this system includes a pair of Cardas Hexlink 5C RCA cable, a pair of Belden speaker cables, and a Weiduka AC2.2 power bar for power conditioning. Setting up the simple 3 component system was easy as A,B,C!

  

Once hooked up, the overall sound of this system was high musical of the foot tapping kind. I played The Best Of Yazoo CD from the Teac CD player and I was dancing to the music. Yazoo's blend of punk pop fusion music is synthesizer heavy and can sound distractingly jaunty and tiring in the wrong system, but here it actually sounded very nice. The near neutral tone with just a tinge of warmness from the Yamaha saved the day. Now, how did I tell who was doing what sound wise?

You see, both the Yamaha & the Teac allows USB input, and that is where the similarity and sound differentiation can be easily identified. When playing some of my old Canto pop music on MP3 via the USB stick, I first plugged in to the Teac CD player and then do the same via the USB input of the Yamaha  receiver. From the Teac, the sound was as per described earlier as playing CD, only less details and resolution, and maybe just a tad higher noise floor(white hash basically). However the same USB stick played via Yamaha, the sound turned even more musical, more danceable, and those MP3 files gained an analog like texture which to my ears are more sympathetic to the low res files. I also managed to stream music to the Yamaha from my smart phone and got very good results as well, with no signal drop of or anything as such.

I find it highly satisfying being able to enjoy music from an entry level system, costing even less than most of those high end cables that audiophiles prized. With the latest crop of budget hifi products on offer as represented here, I see a glimmer of hope for an industry coping with changes of modern life style. Lovely indeed! And lastly, after setting up this system in my buddies house, he sent me a thank you note, saying he was very satisfied with the sound of the system and will be so until he hit the jackpot, then he will consider an upgrade! 

For this project, I did all my shopping at Style Laser in Kuala Lumpur, a cash & carry outlet. 

My Humble CAS, Asus Tinker Board & Teac UD-501 DAC

Asus Tinker Board in it's most basic form

I first experienced CAS in 2010 and quickly adapted to it with excitement back in 2011 in the form of Bryston BDP-1 & DAC-1 combo. It's now more than 10 years since, and at one point, even before I started my hifi sabbatical in 2016, I had already given up on CAS. Somehow, I still prefer physical medium for my emotional connection to music. While the conveniences of CAS and sound quality can be highly achieved indeed, I somehow still have a preference for physical medium when it come to music. Something that you can hold in hands just feels more real. Should you feel otherwise, then to each his own. I am not one who likes to argue and get stressed over hifi matters.

I have also since learned not buy packaged music streamers & DAC sets such as the above mentioned Bryston duo. As technology moves too fast, and so does the rate of depreciation. It's a killer blow, never mind the sound!

Then a buddy of mine, Simon introduced me to this dinky little CPU called Asus Tinker Board, which is the equivalent of the Raspberry Pi CPU. Coupled to Volumio Music Player interface app on one's smart phone, it's an easy & cheap solution to music streaming. Simon says the Asus Tinker Board can be used as a HTPC too, but with different set up & interface app. Now, who wants to play a game of Simon says?

Power supply goes in from side, unused HDMI output, and all other USB inputs/outputs & LAN from the back. Note the blue/black Oelbach USB cable which connects to the Teac UD-501 DAC

Simon had the Asus Tinker Board set up in a small plastic casing with window top. The Asus allows 4 USB input/output, and 1 LAN input. On the side, it has a Type B Micro USB power connector, and HDMI output. The Asus can be powered from any Android phone 5V power supply with the above mentioned connector. While any old Android phone power supply or charger will do the job, the Asus does sound a whole lot better when powered by a 1.2 Ampere, 5V  linear power supply. There are now plenty of such power supply to choose from, mostly China of origin. I got mine from a Asus users group buy sometime back.

The good part about using the Asus Tinker Board or any Raspberry Pi CPU as streamer is that it will adapt to any music storage resolution formats such as WAV, FLAC, or DSD at no extra cost. The only question is, can your DAC process it? With this, I took the opportunity to pick up a used unit of Teac UD-501 DAC, which can do all the resolution format available today, and for a half sized hifi component, it also has XLR analog outputs, which are definitely my preferred connection. Back in 2014, when this unit first became available, I had a go with it and really liked it. A few years later today, the latest Teac UD-505 DAC model revision still bears much functionality and design cues based upon the UD-501.  

The whole CAS set up from left: Teac UD-501 DAC, Multi USB Input, 5V Linear Power Supply(bottom) & Asus Tinker Board(Top) 

I used USB Type A to Type B cable from Oelbach to connect between the Asus & the Teac. With the overall tonal neutrality of the Teac DAC, it was actually the music file ripping quality doing the talking most of the time. The system was totally transparent & highly revealing of the rip quality. Using Cardas Neutral Reference XLR cable from Teac DAC to pre-amp, I did gain back some of that much needed warmth to make some of those busy sounding hi-res audio just bearable. 

For me this very cheap(costing less than MYR3000, excluding cables!) & cheerful CAS set up is all I have to continue with convenience music,or when I just need some back ground music.

Music Carrier Of The Future? Part 2.

Go to http://cardas.com/ to find out more about these hi rez recordings available in USB format.

After digging around, I've found that Cardas has started selling USB format hi rez pre-loaded music content.(ML, now you can sell your hi rez music content in this format?) This is trully the start of a new dawn.

Is the rest of the music industry ready to join the new digital format in hi rez?

Why am I so excited about the USB as a music carrier?

Just hang on a bit more to find out soon........

KLIAV 2010 - Hi-Way Laser

Hi-Way Laser will cover both home theatre and hifi in KLIAV2010.

On the home theatre front, you'll get the see the best of projection technology from Vivitek and Mitsubishi,

and get to hear the best cinema sound that MK Sound System has to offer with its top range, the MK150 THX system.

On the hifi front, Hi-Way Laser will be showcasing Ayre's digital, the QB-9 DAC and top of the line KX-R pre-amp and the MX-R monoblocks which had impressed us greatly recently.

QB-9 DACKX-R Pre-amp

MX-R Monoblock

Loudspeakers featured will be from ATC and Canton.

They will all be strung together with cables from Cardas and Kimble Kable.

Hi-Way Laser will also be holding a number of special offers with discounts up to 50% during the show, check out their announcement banner on the right side.

What can be better at the show than finding your next upgrade at a great price from Hi-Way Laser?

Cap Wars. RCA Caps Shoot Out. Cardas vs Telos vs Generic.

Un used RCA inputs and outputs on all our hifi equipment acts like a mini antenna for picking up stray RFI and EMI interference. Or so it seems, as it has been a source of endless online debates from the camps of objectivist and subjectivist. Between those who swear by the sonic results they heard and others who seemed indifferent. I referred the subject matter to my very good friend Felix, whose pair of ears, I consider most golden amongst the gold standard. Felix was help full enough to show me the way and how to measure for the minute differences when an RCA cap is inserted on to an un used RCA input/output. We found that the measured difference was just like 0.002 - 0.004mv(miliwatts) less conductivity within an RCA when covered by a cap instead of being left exposed. The million dollar question raised, by the objectivist among my audiophile buddies is, can we hear the said milliwatt difference in measurement? Are our ears really that sensitive? Or are we just being psycho acoustic?

I can't answer any of those questions, all I know is that there is a measure able difference, and I could hear the difference. That alone is all the proof I need, psycho acoustic or otherwise! For everyone else, I cannot help to make up your mind on your behalf, so you'll just need to try it, and decide for yourself .
Top: Telos gold(left) and platinum(right).
Bottom: Cardas(left) and nickel coated generic caps(right).
Telos on top row, note teflon insulation. Cardas(bottom left) and nickel coated generic(bottom right) caps does not have insulation. Note the similar design but the sound is not even closely related.

The Telos RCA caps were all the rage in the last 2 years or so. It caused a stir not only between the objectivist and subjectivist, but also amongst Cardas and Telos camps! We got many request for a shoot out but we never quite managed to do so, not until now that is. Now that Hi-Way Laser is the local dealer for Cardas, I managed to borrow a few from Kenny for the purpose of this interesting shoot out. Not only did I get the RCA caps but I also got the XLR male/female sets as well. And just for comparison's sake, I also threw in some generic nickel plated caps of China origin, I think. It's gonna be a wild ride from here on.

Since I have some Telos Platinum and Gold RCA caps already in use on my system, swapping them with the Cardas and generic caps was easy enough. However, to my very pleasant surprise, I have found that all 4 types of RCA caps gave different sonic cues, but they all did one thing sure, which is lowering the system's noise floor considerably. I hereby give you the subtle sonic characters brought about by the use of the 4 different RCA caps.
Cardas XLR caps on the left, vs Telos gold XLR caps on the right. Top view.

Bottom, note the Telos XLR caps has teflon insulation. Cardas on the left does without insulation.

First up is the generic nickel coated RCA caps. These caps are the cheapest one could find and they do bring down the noise floor of your system if all the un-used RCA input/outputs are covered. However, the lowered noise floor does come at a price. The sound takes a turn towards the darker end of the tonal palette, this is good for balancing overly bright or forward sounding systems. On more tonally balanced systems, the darkened effect also seemed to rob away some of the high frequency sheen, and "air". Transparency also drops a few notches if one uses too many of these. Use them only on RCA tape loops or monitor outs.

Next is the Telos gold RCA caps. Compared to the nickel coated generic caps, the Telos gold caps will also reduce noise floor, however, instead of darkening the sound field, they tend to highlight high frequency details and tonal contrast of the music. These are supremely musical caps to use, and I like them best used on the un used output RCAs of sources. Like my CD player has a variety of coax and other outputs and inputs which I do not use. The Telos gold caps are excellent for that purpose.

Following the Telos gold, is the Telos platinum RCA caps. These platinum coated caps are constructed the very same way as the gold caps, except the different finishing coating used. Sound wise, the Telos platinum RCA goes even further than the gold caps. The use of the platinum coated caps bring out even the lowest level of resolution buried within the musical mix. You can say they are most transparent among this group. However, when used in greater quantities, or should I say too many pairs employed, can result in the music take on an analytical quality. I had found it best to used the Telos platinum caps in the un used RCA inputs of the pre amp section.

Lastly, is the originator of RCA caps, from the Cardas stable. Visually, the Cardas RCA caps looks very similar to the generic nickel coated ones, but upon closer inspection, the material feels subjectively more dense and the finishing coating is of higher quality, on top of that, the Cardas "shell" logo is proudly silk screened on top, for a distinguished appearance. Noise floor reduction aside, I found the sound of the Cardas RCA caps to be the most balanced of the lot. It hasn't the darkness or the tendency for brightness, or an overly analytically quality. The mids seemed to take on more body and presence with the Cardas caps, which is excellent in the context of my system. The down side is however, if one should over use them, the Cardas RCA caps have a tendency to harden the high mid frequency range, which causes shouty mid range with some recordings. I like the Cardas best when used on the un used RCA outputs of my pre amp.
Top: All Telos gold and platinum caps used. Bottom: All Cardas caps used.

My Pass Labs X2.5 pre amp has lots RCA and XLR exposed jacks to cover. That allows me to have infinite RCA/XLR caps tweak options. Perfect for the hifi tweek geek.

The above sonic description of the RCA caps are also applicable to their XLR male/female counter parts. However, due to the inherent superior noise canceling properties of the XLR topology, the degree of effectiveness on gets from capping the un used inputs and outputs seems reduced compared to RCAs, making them offering less value for the money, dollar(or Ringgit if you wish) to sound wise. They do however work if one does wanna go the whole nine yards, like me. Telos offer XLR caps in choices of gold or platinum finishing, while Cardas offers only a standard finishing.
The Cardas caps prices. XLR male/female = RM$149/pair. RCA = RM$25/each.

My conclusion is that all the RCA/XLR caps have their pros and cons when it comes to sonic characteristics. All suffered from the same weakness, is that when too many of the same is used, it tends to over accentuate certain sonic attributes to the extreme which tips the balance towards negativity. Too much of a good thing? I don't know for sure.

What I am very sure is that I got the best results from playing around, with a few pairs of each. In other words, mix & match for best results. For example, I've found the Telos caps to promote high frequency details and when combined with the generic caps which tends to have a darkening effect on tonality, to create an effect of tonal shading and to add dynamic contrast for sculpting the sound stage. Throw in the Cardas to bring out the mid range slightly for some vocal presence enhancement and a more credible 3D staging and imaging illusion can be achieved.

Some of my friends also pointed out that they prefer to leave either the input exposed or just cap the outputs on the pre amp, for a more natural sound. In the context of their system, they felt capping all the un used inputs and outputs resulting in a sound stage that seems un naturally micro managed.

With that, I'd like to point out that your findings, based on the context of your system, may not agree with my conclusion above. I do think however, it's worth the patience and effort trying out to mix & match the RCA caps for best results.

Lastly, the usual YMMV caveat applies to this tweak. Go on and have some fun!

Also do read Odiosleuth's original review of the Telos caps dated 14th May 2009 for a refresher and pricing details. Click "Telos" on our right side bar to see it.

Cardas is sold by Hi-Way Laser, contact Kenny, tel: 019-2813399

Telos is sold by C&O Enterprise, contact John Sin, tel: 012-5269313

By George, You Lift Me Up! Cardas Nocthed Myrtle Wood Blocks.

The Cardas notched Myrtle wood blocks. The review samples are the single notched ones. Double notched blocks are also available from Hi-Way Laser.

Odiosleuth was sufficiently impressed with the Cardas Myrtle wood blocks, when he tested them a few months ago, that he made them a permanent part of his system. He also secretly told me that he felt no serious audiophile should not be without a few wood blocks, just like RCA caps or isolation cones/balls as part of his/her hifi tweaking arsenal. I did not take his statement seriously, that is until now.

George Cardas is a famous man in the high end audio circles, not because he invented the Golden Ratio theory. The Golden Ratio principle was first known to be used by the Egyptians to build burial chambers for their kings inside the pyramids(does that explain why their mummified bodies are so well preserved?). No, George Cardas was not even the first person to explore the Golden Ratio application in audio reproduction. That courtesy goes to BBC, when they first developed all those LS series speakers, like 3/5A, 4/2 or 5/9 models in the 1960's. Apparently all those speaker's wooden cabinets were sized according to the principles of Golden Ratio. Can my good friend Jo Ki, the famed Malaysian LS 3/5A curator, confirm this bit?
A close up shot of the Cardas wood block. It's sized as per the "Golden" ratio, but with a notched cut in to the top for cable resting. Note the laser etched Cardas logo.

George Cardas decide incorporate the Golden Ratio principle from his earliest audio products and hifi set up theories back then in the 1980's when it was almost forgotten by most in the high end dom. That gave his products the edge to market success and that very principle is still mentioned, along with a few other newer innovations on his latest products available today.

The notched Myrtle wood blocks are used to lift cables(especially speaker cables), off the ground, offering promised sound quality enhancement. In my previous experiment with Shunyata Dark field Elevators, a product of the same function, I found my Siltech Classic 25th Anniversary 330L speaker cables did not like being lifted off the ground with it. I bought the Shunyata Dark field review samples and used it to lift my 4m long Cardas Golden Presence XLR inter connects instead(is it coincidence or irony? Your call here. He! He!).
That's how it works! My Siltech Classic 25th Anniversary 330L speaker cable resting on the Cardas notched Myrtle wood blocks.

I started with the Cardas notched Myrtle wood blocks lifting up the same Siltech speaker cables as mentioned above, using 3 pcs aside. I found the Siltech to more readily accept the Cardas than it did the Shunyata. I felt reason being that just to re cap, the Shunyata was too intrusive in it's sound character to the overall system's. Whilst the noise floor was brought down, it did on the whole harden the sonic signature of the system some what, in the process removing most of the organic sound qualities that my system had.
Who tha bad? Cardas vs Shunyata!

The Cardas was better in that respect, while not exactly as quiet as the Shunyata, it's sonic character was more subtle overall too. And what did the Cardas bring to the sonic table, it did not detract from the overall system sound. I found my already organic sound to benefited a bit more when playing female vocals. I played Lily Chen's Song Of Love CD, I felt her voice was subjectively sweeter, with better density, plus a more focus mouth(if you're in to that vocal porn kinda thang) with the Cardas under the speaker cable. I thought I was imagining things, but I wasn't. I know because I did try to take out and put the Cardas back in for few times while listening to that same Lily Chen CD. Acoustic instruments like violins, cello and piano gained a little more wood to it's instrument sound. It's like the Cardas gave a very mild mid range "lift"(pun very much intended!) to the overall musical sound of my system.
Lily Chen sings, Song Of Love. Lily is singing sweeter than usual with the Cardas wood blocks in my system.

But in the end I just felt the result with the Cardas was more like adding a pinch of MSG to what was a very nice dish on the table. I moved the Cardas notched Myrtle wood blocks to under my Pass Labs pre amp and phono stage for some further experimentation. This time, I truly understood Odiosleuth's statement, mentioned much earlier on my opening paragraph. The Cardas used like the standard Myrtle wood block under my pre amp and phono stage(3 pcs under each component) produced just the right, subtle amount of taste enhancer as in the case of a very well prepared dish on the table. Only this time, it was more like adding a pinch of salt and pepper which, while enhances the overall flavour of the dish, yet never intrusive by the way of leaving an after taste just like MSG does(makes one feel very thirsty after food).
The Cardas wood blocks under my Pass Labs X2.5 and XOno phono stage. Here picture with 4 blocks under the pre amp. One should try using between 3 or 4 blocks for that subtle differences, which ever you'll end up preferring all boils down to personal choice. See how that notch helps to place the wood blocks?

I've decided to leave the Cardas notched Myrtle wood blocks underneath my Pass Labs pre amp and phono stage for good and they are not going back to Hi-Way Laser any time soon. By the way, they cost RM$55/pc. A cheap worthy hifi tweak, by any count.

Cardas is sold by Hi-Way Laser, contact Kenny, tel no: 03 78738325.

Clarity Defined - Cardas Clear Interconnects and Loudspeaker Cables

I listened to Cardas' cables in my system on one occasion in the past, that was probably more than a year ago. I had the Cardas Golden Reference loudspeaker cables in my system for a few weeks. The Golden Reference gave a sound that was easy on the ears, the pacing was easygoing, the tonal balance was pretty much on the warmish side, which many would take as the signature of Cardas' cable range. I thought they would be pretty suitable to balance out the hard and cold digital sound that many a system suffer from.

Fast forward to now, Cardas has come up with a new flagship range, called 'Clear'. Hi-Way Laser generously loaned us both the interconnects (XLR, RM11,990 for 1.5m) and loudspeaker cables (RM22,299 for 3m) for evaluation over a few weeks.

Cardas Clear Interconnects

Cardas Clear Loudspeaker Cables

While they are the new top dog, Cardas kept to a down-to-earth design - no flamboyance, no gimmicks. The interconnects and the speaker cables come in the same rather-non-descriptive blue jacket. And both of them came in simple zip-lock plastic bags, which can be off-putting when one is spending a 5-figure sum. This is one area that Cardas should just spend a few more bucks to improve upon, I think. Well, packaging wise, getting the Cardas cables definitely was not like unwrapping a Christmas present, so to speak. :-)

Ok, those were my grouses about their looks - but looks are just that, looks. I like the XLR connectors on the interconnects and the spades on the speaker cables. The XLR connectors are different from the usual run-of-the-mill Neutriks, they are chunky and lock securely. The spades are thicker than usual, they are robust and inspired confidence. I understand that these are Cardas' proprietary design, more interestingly, the cables and the terminations are crimped together under high pressure, such that they become like one continuous piece of metal, rather than being soldered together. This should improve signal transmission.

XLR connectors on the interconnects

Spades on the loudspeaker cables

I listened to the Cardas Clear Interconnects in my system first, putting then between my digital frontend and my pre-amp. Big E had generously burnt-in the cables beforehand, and the interconnects' performance settled down in my system after a few hours of use.

The Clear Interconnects' positive traits became apparent after just a short listen. George Cardas was right on the money when he named his cables 'Clear'. The interconnects afforded my system with a wide open clarity that I rarely experienced. The soundstage especially, opened up and became wider; each individual image became more focused, better defined, this was achieved by throwing away the fat in the sound and fuzziness at the image edges. The space in between the images was either dead silent or filled with ambiance cues, whichever was appropriate from the recording. I did not hear the amount of warmth that was Cardas' trait in its previous offerings. There was still a minute trace of warmth, to be sure, which lent a slightly forgiving quality to the cables, but the Cardas Clear sounded very much neutral to my ears.

At the end of the day, matching was still the key with the Cardas Clear interconnects. I feel that to get the best of the interconnects, your system should already has some natural warmth and some good body, then the Clear interconnects will let you know how good your system sounds; if your system is a little cold or a little threadbare, the neutrality of the Clear interconnects will expose it for what it is.

Encouraged by the interconnects' results, I moved on to put in the Cardas Clear loudspeaker cables. My, my, I found the Cardas Clear loudspeaker cables hit square in the middle of two excellent cables that I heard recently - on one hand the Clear speaker cables had quite a large measure of the energetic and dynamic nature of the JPS Superconductor 3 which I currently use, on the other hand they moved towards the Siltech Classic Anniversary 770L in term of silkiness and smoothness.

No, the Cardas Clear did not equal the Siltech in these areas of refinement, for that you have to add about RM10k to the price. However, when the Cardas was compared to the JPS, the latter sounded relatively untidy. Well, that probably was how it should be, the Cardas also added RM10k or so to the price of the JPS, sitting smack in-between the JPS and Siltech.

The Cardas Clear loudspeaker cables have the same virtues of the interconnects, just much more so than the interconnects, such was my observation from my listening tests. The Clear loudspeaker cables conjured up an even wider and deeper soundstage. The soundstage's dimensionality was easy to discern due to the clean sound where there was no noise or any 'dirtiness' to obscure the very fine details. Complexity in the music was easily unravelled. Image focus and delineation was first rate.

Take a classical orchestral track, I could hear the orchestra's sections 'spread' in front of me, with each instrument section nicely defined and focused. Take solo piano music (George Winston's Autumn), as the music moved from the lower register upwards, i could hear the acoustic source of the notes moved from left to right as on a keyboard, note by note, a great testament to the definition and staging capability of the Clear. The piano notes were also rendered with incredible details and excellent harmonic structure.

Through the Clear loudspeaker cables, bass had solidity and punch. Midrange had body and a certain creaminess on vocal, which I found very appealing. Ella Fitzgerald, for example, could just about melt every listener's heart. Highs were smooth and had certain silkiness and shine. The warmth that I heard in Cardas' Golden Reference was almost completely gone. What took its place was excellent transparency and honesty.

At the end of the day, I found both the Clear interconnects and speaker cables excellent representations of the high end cable creed, though, in my opinion, the speaker cables' performance was just ahead of the interconnects', in my system at least.

'Clear' - definitely an appropriate name for Cardas' new cable range.

Cardas is available from Hi-Way Laser. Contact Kenny 03-7873.8325; 019-281.3399 .

By George, What's Cooking?

Do you smell something burning? I can "clear"...ly smell it!

Just a bit of teasing on a boring weekend. Guess what's coming up soon? Stay tuned for Odiosleuth's report.

Here's a little clue!

Wonder Wood? - Cardas Golden Cuboid

The Cardas Golden Cuboid is an unassuming looking piece of rectangular solid wood. Its only distinguishing mark is the Cardas nautilus logo engraved on it. It comes in 2 sizes - 0.618"x1" x 1.618" and 1" x 1.618" x 2.618" (I'll just call them 'small' and 'big'). Those in the know will instantly recognize the golden ratio applied in the measurements immediately, i.e., 1 to1.618 (read wikipedia for more on the golden ratio if you are interested).

The big & small Golden Cuboids contrasted for size with a ballpoint pen

Cardas' advocacy is that the golden ratio dampens resonance. In fact it also advocates speaker placement and hifi room dimensions based on the golden ratio, you can read more on their website. The Cardas Golden Cuboid is made from myrtle wood, a rare American hardwood according to Cardas. Ayre also offers their own version, apparently sourced from Cardas too.

Now, I believe some of you who see the picture of these wood blocks would think, "Why should I pay for them, I can fashion them myself." Hmmm... that should be interesting, I wonder too whether wood blocks made from local hardwood such as chengal would have a similar or better effect than myrtle. However, I am the lazy kind, at RM32 per piece for the big Golden Cuboid and RM23 for the small one , I would spend my leisure time listening to music rather than on wood cutting. I tried my hands many years ago trying to saw chengal for some diy carpentry, it was no walk in the park really, I gave up. :-) However, some might want to apply the dimensions to, say, mdf, which is easy to work with, I'd love to hear your result here.

These myrtle wood blocks are to be used as support, like cones, under your components, three as a set. Do they have any effect in my system? Yes, certainly. I'll describe it later. The effect of the Cardas Golden Cuboids is, let's say, not day and night in my system, though clearly discernible and, more importantly, musically significant. Please keep this in mind when you read on, I'd suggest you add the word 'slightly' in front of my every description of their sonic effects. :-)

I also wonder whether my finite elemente signature rack has reduced much of the resonance problem in my system, such that the myrtle blocks have less to do, so this may very much be a 'you mileage may vary' kind of scenario.

I first tried a trio of the small ones under my Ayre C-5xeMP universal player. On first listen, I blurted out a disbelieving 'huh?'. After a few more tracks, a quite surprised 'wow' (ok, this is a 'wow', not a 'WOW', but it is a wow nonetheless :-) ). The sound became calmer and more stable, the images better defined. I could hear more low level details in the music, more pronounced were the nuances in vocals - breathing, control, vibrato, etc.. I was listening to my favourite tracks, 'Shenandoah' and 'India Song', from Youn Sun Nah's album "Voyage", I got pulled into the music more readily than before and there were more toe curling moments. It worked also on 'bigger' music - with the Chinese drum troupe track "Poem for Chinese drum" from Hugo's "The Dreams of Chinese Butterfly" CD, the drum beats were more solidly felt, and the atmosphere was also more readily apparent.

Cardas Golden Cuboid under the Ayre C-5xeMP

I was a skeptic, but I am now sold. I was thinking why should a RM26k player need a few wood blocks to improve its performance. Well, I don't know, but for the price of the small Cardas Golden Cuboids, I am not going to complain too loudly. I think the performance on their equipment is what gotten Ayre into having their own myrtle wood blocks too. I still need to emphasize that the effect was not night and day, like I said earlier, but it was an improvement significant enough to me personally. And for that kind of price, I think they are punching way above their weight.

After longer listening over a few days, during which I took them out and put them back twice, I still liked what I heard, so there they shall stay under the Ayre.

Over time I got a better understanding of the effect of the Cardas Golden Cuboids. They seem to also take away some brightness or some shine from the highs, you can look at it either way, depending on your existing system balance. There may also be a slight lift on the mid-bass. See whether such characteristics would benefit you. But be a little careful if your system is already on the warmish or slightly dark side. If you have some brightness in your system that you need to cure, I think you should definitely check out the Cardas Golden Cuboids.

For my next experiment, I moved to my Shunyata Hydra 8 powerline conditioner. Putting a trio of the small Golden Cuboids under it did not seem to have any effect. It could be that the Hydra 8 was sitting on the bottom shelf of my finite elemente rack, an already hefty chunk of solid wood, which is also sitting on 4 pieces of finite elemente cerapuc. Or possibly too that the Hydra 8 was a passive component, so it was less affected by resonance.

Then, I wanted to try the big Cardas Golden Cuboids under my monoblocks, but their chassis were raised too tall by the feet to fit the big cuboids under. I could lay the blocks on their sides instead of laying them flat to lift the monoblocks, but thought against it. It would not be stable and I was afraid the monoblocks would come 'crashing down' on the floor. :-)

So, instead, I decided to swap the small Golden Cuboids under the Ayre with the big ones. Well, there was a difference. The effects I described with the small Golden Cuboids were still there, and now there was an even more enhanced sense of control and stability to the sound. For my personal taste, I preferred the slightly more lively presentation with the small Golden Cuboids. However, this result showed that the big Golden Cuboids had a greater effect, if your system needed greater resonance control, the big ones might be a better bet.

The last item left for me now was to try the Golden Cuboids on my pre-amp. My Pass Labs X2.5 was sitting on 3 finite elemente Ceraballs, which were more than 5 times dearer than the Cardas Golden Cuboids. I liked the Ceraballs' effects on the X2.5, they opened up the sound, rendered a bigger soundstage and improved focus and resolution, music flowed better too. Changing the Ceraballs to Golden Cuboids pulled the sound the other direction, it became slightly more warmish, soundstage was less grand but felt more intimate, resolution was not as good though. However, comparing the Cardas Golden Cuboids underneath or having the pre-amp sitting directly on the rack, I still preferred to have the Cuboids under the pre-amp.

finite elemente Ceraballs and the small Cardas Golden Cuboids

Horses for courses, these results seem to show. I tried the Ceraballs on the Ayre player before the Cardas Golden Cuboids came. The Ceraballs expanded the soundstage and sharpened the imaging, but I lost some solidity in the sound, it became slightly diffused. So I preferred to have the Ayre placed directly on the rack. When the Golden Cuboids came along, I preferred to have the Ayre put on top of them. Whereas with the Pass Labs pre-amp I much preferred the Ceraballs to the Golden Cuboids.

I said before that tweaks to me are like flavourings in cooking, like a dab of soy sauce in your porridge, or a pinch of salt in your stir fry. Without them, you may not get the right flavour, the key is to use the right kind and the right amount.

On Cardas' website, they also showed notched version of the Golden Cuboids, these are meant as cable lifters (to lift your cables off the floor), Hi-Way Laser did not bring in the cable-lifter version, but these wood blocks could conceivably be used for this purpose too (which offers a cheaper alternative to Shunyata's Darkfield that I am using). I did not have the time to check it out, but you can.

The Cardas Golden Cuboids aren't that expensive, you can get a pack of six in a nice black velvet pouch and share the fun with your hifi buddies! I am keeping them myself. :-)

Cardas is available from Hi-Way Laser. Contact Kenny 03-7873.8325; 019-281.3399 .

Second Listen of a Reference

This is an old post of ours in the blog we previously contributed to.

I finally felt that my system's sound settled down enough a few days ago to insert the Cardas Golden Reference speaker cables which Panzer passed to me. They replaced the Transparent Audio Musicwave Ultra in my system. The Transparent cables also form the basis of comparison in my listening sessions.

The Golden Reference was heavy, probably due to a high amount of metal in its construction. However it was flexible enough, so its routing & installation was not too difficult, but Iike Panzer's experience I had to tighten the amp/speaker terminals more, otherwise its weight would pull the cable loose over time.

I of course have heard/read about Cardas, it being one of the longer serving companies in the hifi cable arena, but I never had any of their cables in my system before, so this was my first experience with Cardas.

The most common comment I heard about Cardas was that their cables were warm sounding. This was borne out in my experience too. This sense of warmth made listening with the Golden Reference an easy experience.

In addition to this warmth, the Golden Reference also sounded natural, voices and instruments were delivered with good timbre. The Golden Reference brought to play a broad sweep of sound with great density and air, the sound simply filled up the front portion of my listening room. Within this soundscape, there was a sense of energy giving it a certain 'yang'/sunny quality. There were a lot of details to savour - these cables did let through a great deal of information.

The Golden Reference's treble coupled to my speakers' silk dome tweeters was smooth and civilized - matching, I believe, is important, incisiveness and explicitness are not what the Golden Reference is about, but if your system needs a slightly gentler hand in this area (say, taming a bright or rough treble), the Golden Reference will be your panacea.

Despite these qualities, there was one more that overrides them all - its musicality. Every time I switched on my system, I would continue listening on for long hours, the Golden Reference made listening a pleasurable experience, so much so that I found it difficult to pull myself away.

And I bet it is this quality that will capture many hearts.

Posted by hifikaki 9 February '09

Cardas Golden Reference Speaker Cable.

This is an old post of ours in the blog we previously contributed to.

The Cardas Golden Reference, together with the Nordost Vahalla, are literally the some of the longest surviving reference cables used by reviewers all over the world. I have been very curious how the Cardas Golden Reference would do within the context of my humble system.

As some readers would know by now, I usually look in to the performance of major 5 qualities when cable testing.

1) Transparency

2) Bandwidth

3) Tonal Balance

4) Transmission to Noise Ratio

5) Coherence of Presentation

The pair I got was a demo sample, 3 meter long each, fitted with spades both ends. I plug the non-directional Cardas Golden Reference speaker cable between the Pass Aleph 0 and the Audio Physic Spark. A minor gripe about those chunky Cardas spades, the spade legs could perhaps be just a little bit longer, as it tends to slip out of the amp's speaker terminal, no matter how firmly I grip and finger thighten them!

The sound that greeted me was one of very transparent, yet on the warmish side of neutrality, but the cables sounded unbroken in, the music flow was somewhat uneven, and some sibilance were noticeable on the high mids. I removed the pair of cables from my system, hook them up to my kable kooker for 36 hours. And the final post cooked results are noted below.

This Cardas is one of the most transparent cables ever plugged in to my system. Minor and low level information is presented very convincingly, without appearing to try too hard. The bandwidth range of the cable is superb, with surprisingly good extension in both the the bottom and top octaves of the frequency extremes. Again, at first heard initially the cable can sound a little on the warm side of neutral, but there are no mid range blooms here and the sibilance heard earlier is now no more. This is a somewhat dark sounding cable, with lush smooth but never syrupy highs, mids sound very open and make vocals very convincing "there". The bass is deep and well controlled. The post cooked cable also allowed music to flow thru more freely. Transmission quality is excellent as this cable sounds much louder, yet quieter than my own present reference in use, the Straightwire Maestro II. In the overall presentation, I can only mark down an area where within the sound stage width is beyond the two speakers , but the layering within the stage depth is a little shut in, again comparing to my own cable in use.

The Cardas Golden Reference belongs to the ol' skool cable design, being extremely heavy built, with garden hose diameter thickness. I read in recent forum discussions that newer cable designs are moving towards lighter build, using purer material alloys for a faster transient response qualities. Time has being kind to the Cardas so far as it has managed to stay relevant as a reference for so long. Kudos to it's tried and trusted longevity factor!

Can't go wrong with this truly "Reference" grade cable.

Cardas is sold by Hi-Way Laser, tel: 019-2813399

Posted by Panzer 31 January '09