deep bass, imaging precision and "air", deep soundstage, RF shielding, super sturdy construction.

RCA sleeves used to tighten down connections are unnecessary and must be removed for soundstage to truly open up. Cables are very stiff.

Bought this pair used. Wow. Dim the lights and dig deeeeeeeeep into the music. Best soundstaging improvement I have ever experienced with ANY equipment purchase, especially depth and an organic "thereness". I like high-quality acoustic and ambient recordings. Listening with eyes closed, I am pleasantly startled by unexpected sounds, voices, and instruments that "materialize" in thin air well outside my speakers and sometimes within a few feet of my listening seat.

I must say it again- the metal RCA sleeves used to tighten down the connections are unnecessary and MUST be removed for best soundstage. The connection without these sleeves is more than enough.

If other reviewers find faults in sound, I would suspect incompatibility with, or inferiority in, their associated equipment. I am using a run-of-the-mill CD/DVD player and know its sonic shortcomings well enough to NOT attribute my sonic problems to these cables (CD player makes soundstage a little low to the floor, limits depth somewhat, and makes sound harmonically thin).

Although I have not A/B tested these against $1000 per meter cables, I see no reason whatsoever to try. There is a world outside of our listening rooms, you know. These are "keepers".

Associated Equipment:

B&W DM603 S2's
Legacy High Current Amp (mfr'd by Coda)
Transparent MusicWave Plus speaker cables
Electronic Visionary Systems Nude Attenuators (These are purely passive "preamps"- one per channel- with a 2 inch signal path. As close to CD-straight-into-amp as you can get.)

Similar Products Used:

Transparent MusicLink Plus Interconnects

detail, transparent, natural...i hardly know they're there (and that's the point!)

stiff. very stiff

i admit, i was one of those reluctant chums who didn't think cables mattered. well, after upgrading to merlin vsm-m's, i saw how inadequate my existing cables were(see my review of the merlins also on this site). at the advice of bobby at merlin, i went after some bi-wire superconductors.

big difference.

what was clear is now defined. bass is much tighter & more tuneful, highs are detailed but not grainy (the difference in cybals was striking..splashy but not metallic). but what really told me was the timbre i was hearing. even with a modest digital front end (denon 560), a piano started to sound much more lifelike--i found myself at a jazz club recently comparing how piano sounded in my system to the live piano, and found little difference between the two. isn't that the point?

these cables are not going to correct upstream problems. they're very clear, so if you have problems upstream, you'll know it, and possibly regret JPS. but if you want neutrality & clarity, these would be hard to beat.

bobby at merlin highly recommends these for his speakers, and its obvious as to why.

Similar Products Used:

AQ type 4

Digital Coaxial cable - Incredible sound, soooo smooth.

none

This cable is incredible, so smooth that it removed all fatigue from the music that I was experiencing. The JPS cable left the Mids where there supposed to be, and were so clear and smooth - the bass is quick and accurate not muddy. The sound is so clear I couldn't believe it. This cable is a great investment. I also bought the Ultraconductor bi-wire speaker cables - they also are really great sounding, and blew away the Audioquest C4 I was using. It was a dramatic difference for both cables on my system. I would have never believed that cables varied so much, but they do. I was thinking of some system upgrades, but now I'm most content with the sound I'm hearing. Well, maybe a new amp would be nice.

tremendous value

a bit stiff, but manageable

Absolutely amazing performance. Simply the most 'real' experience I've had in my system. Excellent bass and a smooth upper band. Overall, entirely grain-free and lucid.
Some of the best bang-for-the-buck cable I've seen, and easily outperformed the other cables my local hifi shop so gracefully allowed me to demo (thanx Matt at Speaker Shop!), most of which were quite a bit more expensive.
One question to the New Zealander...did you even try the cables, or were you so obviously jaded to the performance of solid core (which makes you sound mighty biased, I might add)that it makes no difference? The concept in this search is to attempt to remain objective, not to allow past experiences to sway your opinion previous to the evaluation. Did it even occur to you that it's construction is only part of the story? How about what it's made of?
Sorry to vent on you, but I've found that one of the hardest things to deal with is the blatant 'sports team' mindset that seems to exist in everything about this industry. Tell me what you HEARD, not that you don't like the philosophy behind it's manufacture. It's ENTIRELY the ends justifying the means in this hobby.

Similar Products Used:

Nordost,AudioQuest,Kimber,MIT