Stealth Cables CWS Speaker Cables
Stealth Cables CWS Speaker Cables
USER REVIEWS
[Jun 21, 2003]
Michael D
AudioPhile
Strength:
Very neutral mids. No grain or harshness in the highs. Tight well defined bass, without bloat. Meshes well with the mids and high. Does not call attention to itself in any way.
Weakness:
I do not like reviewers who state "none" because everything has a weakness. However, I have yet to find one. I I ever do, I will update this! I use a pair of Stealth CWS AES between my Theta DAC and Krell integrated. It took me a while to significantly upgrade my cables because of the cost of doing so, and because I had already spent a bundle on well respected and reviewed cables. Unsolicited advise from others about how good the Stealths are convinced me to give a pair a try. When I first hooked up the Stealth CWS, I thought "nice, but not spectacular" and left them in the system playing. I did not pull out all of my test CDs and try to analyze the cables, I just listened to music. Over the next 3 months, I thought my system was sounding particularily good, but did not attribute it to anything specific. For fun I swapped out the Stealth CWS on night for my previous AES cables - a pair of Apogee AES. I put on a recently acquired (but now well worn) CD which I had only heard through the Stealth cables. The Apogees, which I always thought sounded reasonably well balanced, were harsh and almost unlistenable. I nearly lept out of my seat screaming. I momentarily thought I had put on the wrong CD. I listened to many other CDs for the remainder of the night trying to be objective about my previously well tolerated cables. I found I was turning down the volume further and further on each CD from the harshness. It was not an enjoyable night. Back in to the system went the Stealth CWS. Much better. No more harshness. Much less grain. Nice tight bass. Up went the volume. I could listen again without getting tired of my system. The music was much more enjoyable. I did not realize how good of a cable this was until I took it out of my system. What I thought had been a good purchase turns out to be an excellent purchase. The Stealths are why my system sounds so good to me again. My mind immediately went into Audiophile mode. How can I upgrade my two digital cables to Stealth? Could I slip the purchases past my wife by claiming they were repairs... Maybe I could poor cheap wine into good wine bottles for a while until the cables had paid for themselves... Maybe our kids could go without lunch at school a couple of times per week... I am surprised by how much these cables make music sound good and do not appear to impart their own sonic signature. That is a rare thing to say about any piece of audio equipment. Associated equipment: Digital system Genesis VI speaker Krell 300i Theta Pro basic IIIa/TLC Pioneer Elite transport Stealth/Audioquest/DH Labs/Apogee Similar Products Used: Audioquest (various models), Apogee digital, DH Labs, DIY silver interconnects |
[Feb 28, 2003]
SoundsGr8toMe
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
The CWS simply let more of the "music" through!
Weakness:
None considering their price. Greetings reader! This being my first ever writing of a review, I'm forced to recall one of the first rules of written communication. And that is, "Tell'em what you're gonna tell'em!" Well, what I'm gonna tell you is, that Stealth makes flat-out GREAT products! ....and IMnsHO, they are also a GREAT value! My experience, & qualifications for making the aforementioned statement: I'm a 54 year young audio enthusiast who's been fortunate to have some pretty good equipment over the 34 years I've been enjoying this hobby/addiction. My current system (it changes regularly) is a Sony SACD ModWright modified 333es player, EVS Ultimate Attenuators (passive-pre), BAT VK-60 power amp, and Tyler Acoustic Linnbrook Monitors. To be sure, I find a bit of a parallel between trying to explain my experiences with listening to music, AND tasting & enjoying good wine. ....and I've enjoyed visiting & sharing with very knowledgable people (with impressive credentials) in both fields. And my experiences (hearing & tasting) in both areas always seem to be in line with the "experts". I seem to be able to pick the "better" Cabernet from a group of six, and also the "better" speaker from a similar number of models. So my point of ths rambling is, I'm pretty comfortable in making the statement that I've got a pretty good palate as well as pretty good ears. And can tell the difference between, what most aware folks would agree are, "higher quality" vs "lower quality". However, that being said, what I don't and CAN'T do, is to pick the wonderful flowing descriptives that you see/read in so many reviews. (I remember a wine described as, reminding the writer of "freshly starched linen sheets flapping in a summer breeze") I'm sure you've read some similarly toned words describing the listening experience! Well, sorry....I don't have the words! Can't find them.....don't want to... Not my style. What I will tell you though is that my style is to cut to the BOTTOM LINE. And that is that ALL the products I've used by STEALTH, have sounded noticibly BETTER than other like-priced products from other cable makers. I realize this is a review for the Stealth CWS and my "general" comment is especially applicable to this model. I've done A-B comparisons with other interconnects that cost up to $700 and the CWS was simply BETTER sounding. More "stuff" was there in the music! You can hear details (guitar strings squeeking from fingers sliding across them, cymballs with clarity, etc) that are not obvious with other similar priced cables I've had. And that is what I mean by being a good VALUE. ALL Stealth products that I've used, (ETS-get the optional silver rca's, CWS, M7 interconnects, Varidig Digital, FR & UR speaker cables) have noticibly outperformed every other like-priced product that I've tried! My other components have changed a good bit over the last couple of years (amps= BAT vk200, Coda 11.5, Mark Levinson 23.5, Clayton S40, Clayton M100 monoblocks, Aragon 8008BB) just to name a few. And I wont't even go into how many different CD Players and speakers I've had. But, some time back, I discovered that I've not been able to find better performance for the price (VALUE) than the products in the Stealth line. They are a keeper! Sounds almost like I'm sellin'em....but I'm not. I'm just telling you about'em! Hope your musical experiences are good too! Happy Listening!!! Similar Products Used: XLO, Kimber, Cardas, Music Metre, Tara Labs, Vampire, Transparent, Nordost, AudioQuest, MIT, DH Labs. |
[Sep 05, 2002]
Scubadaddy123
AudioPhile
Strength:
Detail, Clarity, & DEEP Bass!
Weakness:
could be too harsh in a lower end system. I have owned and used many great I/Cs. Cardas Golden Reference, Golden Cross, Golden Hexlink 5Cs, Wireworld Gold Eclpise, Silver Eclipse, Harmonic Technology Pro-Silway MkIIs....and many others. I need to put a good word in on these GREAT sounding cables. Of all the I/Cs I've used, these Stealth CWS are by far the best value and sound for the money, bar none! You get incredible resolution and detail in this silver cable, but you must ensure that you are using components 'worthy' of this high end of a cable before inserting them into your system for they will reveal all the inadequacies in any of your upstream components. So in conclusion, if you can find a pair of these for sale, I would jump all over them as you will never be able to find this kind of sound out of a $200 I/C anywhere else! Similar Products Used: Cardas Golden Reference, Golden Cross, Golden Hexlink 5Cs, Wireworld Gold Eclpise, Silver Eclipse, Harmonic Technology Pro-Silway MkIIs....and many others. |
[May 23, 2002]
golfnutt
AudioPhile
Strength:
Quality, quality, quality, at a very reasonable price plus the friendly prompt customer serivce.
Weakness:
Absolutely NONE!!!!!!!!!!!! Unbelieveable quality at this price. I have used all of the expensive cables during my 20 year audio hobby and can honestly testify that you absolutely can not buy a better cable at this point than teh Stealth CWS. I have replaced all cables in both my audio and HT set with these and the sound is both amazing and enjoyable. Much more open, better imaging, wider soundstage with tighter bass. You can not go wrong here folks, trust me. Also the folks at Interlink are great to work with on upgrades and any questions or problems you may have. Similar Products Used: HT, Cardas, Transparent, Audioquest. |
[May 22, 2002]
tom_nice
AudioPhile
Strength:
Focus, overall neutrality, bass definition
Weakness:
none In my Quad ESL 63 system, Stealth CWC was the uncontested low noise floor champion, even when up against other Stealth cables like CWS. Ultimately, I preferred the overall presentation of CWS--I guess I can't resist the silkiness of silver and what it does for upper mids and highs. But whenever I switched back to CWC, the lovely purity of this Litz wire design made me wonder if CWS were really the better choice. An experiment I did with the CWC and CWS wires--kindly supplied for this purpose by the Stealth designer--was revealing both about these wires and about a competitor, Kimber AGSS, which is often used in so-called "deluxe" versions like Sam Tellig's favorite Purist Sound Systems Model 500 passive preamp and the Sonic Frontiers upgrade for their SFCD-1. I had built two identical passive preamps around Shallco ladder stepped attenuators, Holco resistors, Kimber Ultraconnect RCA's and 6" lengths of Kimber AGSS. I replaced the AGSS in one by Litz copper wire as used in Stealth CWS and in the other by the 32 gauge silver as used in Stealth CWC. In each case, the sonic improvement was immediately obvious and huge! No one could have disagreed. As to which Stealth wire was better--well, that was much harder to say. I preferred one on some recordings and the other on others, and my wife felt the same way. In each case, it was easy to make a choice--it just wasn't always the same choice. Of course there's a lot more to an interconnect design than just the wire employed. But it's equally true that the wire is a crucial factor, if not the only one. It's hard to believe how many prestigious cables, at least those of a few years back, fail on this score. Not to leave Kimber as the only target of my criticism here, I should mention that I used AudioQuest Diamonds for some years. They too no longer come close to competing with the Stealth cables that I my two systems feature now. Similar Products Used: Kimber KCAG and AGSS, Audioquest Diamond |
[May 22, 2002]
marian
AudioPhile
Strength:
Looks cool,sounds great.
Weakness:
None for this price. Exellent cable All around.Great focus,resolution and clarity;more deeper soundstage.When I replace CWS over my favorite VDH-102,like somebody took film from my speakers. Similar Products Used: Audioquest Opal,Quartz,Ruby,Nordost,VDH,IXOS,Analysis Plus and many more... |
[May 21, 2002]
steveT
Audio Enthusiast
Strength:
Excellent entry cable, reasonably priced especially considering what you would spend to match it's sound.
Weakness:
The rest of Sergui's line! His cables just keep getting better and better as you ascend the ladder! These cables are absolutely fabulous for the price. Soundstage is wide tonality fantastic. I have failed to have the problems with midrange drop outs as discussed above, and find these cables very quite but to me the are slightly more colored than the M7's which I have switched to. On my current system I found them a bit too bassy for my liking. Since no one else has described this it is probably just my preference. I do continue to use them in my office system since they help it sound better than it is. Anyway if you do try them, and find them to not be just what you are looking for Sergui will swap them out for you. Similar Products Used: Too many to mention. I got rid of all my other cables, need I say more? |
[May 14, 2002]
Peter
AudioPhile
The speaker, interconnects and power cables have made a major improvement to the sound, in particular with the speaker cables. The soundstage is wider and deeper and the instruments are clearly defined in that space. On one recording, Coltrane and Adderley are on the right and always seemed to be in the same place. Actually the tenor sax is to the right of the alto and I can hear clearly the difference in the 2 saxes. In complex chamber music, the different voices can be clearly differentiated! the timbre of instruments is better, dynamics are improved - all much closer to the real thing! I am very pleased that Tom "insisted" that I try Sergei''s cables. They are great, look good and are well made... Thanks a lot. Peter. |
[May 13, 2002]
GaryS
AudioPhile
Strength:
Detail, clarity.
Weakness:
Not exactly a weakness, but the CWS is so detailed that it exposes the grunginess in noisy electronics. A very detailed sounding cable, excellent for audiophile systems. Awesome clarity. Very much brings out what''s there, both music and and also noise. Hence, it''s also somewhat unforgiving with most mid-fi electronics... but for higher-end systems, the CWS is a splendid cable and an excellent value. |
[May 12, 2002]
Choo BP
AudioPhile
Strength:
Clarity, fast transient, openness, quietness, and tight bass.
Weakness:
None I have been experimenting with cables for sometime. When I replaced my Monster Cable M-1000 series interconnect cables with the Stealth CWS, I was amazed at the difference. The CWS sounded extremely clear with lots of ''bloom''. Tightness and clarity in the bass also improved and transient is much faster. Had since started to use other Stealth cables in my HiFi system including the CWC interconnnects, S/PDIF Finelink Mk II and Varidig S/PDIF digital interconnects and the PC speaker cables. The contribution to my system''s overall sound is astounding! A million thanks to Serguei of Interlink House. Similar Products Used: Stealth CWC RCA interconnect cables Stealth S/PDIF Finelink Mk II digital Stealth Varidig S/PDIF digital Stealth Premier Copper speaker cables |