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Stealth Ultimate Ribbon versus XLO's Ref 2 type 5a and Pure Silver Sound's Sextet


Author: Eiichi Mimura

E-mail: emimura@mbk.sphere.ne.jp

So far I've tried three kind of speaker cables: XLO's Ref 2 type 5a, Pure Silver Sound's Sextet, and Stealth's Ultimate Ribbon (UR). XLO's bass range is tight, but XLO treble is rather harsh. I felt some artificial hardness in the upper region with XLO. So I switched to Pure Silver Sound. They are a lot cheaper than XLO, but the sound quality is much better than XLO's. I was quite content with them until I heard STERALTH UR. The UR are simply a different class of cables. Even before any burn-in, they sounded better than XLO or SSS. The UR are the smoothest sounding cables I've ever heard. They removed all unpleasant edginess from the treble range. Yet, the UR extensions of upper and lower frequencies are superb too. I can hear fundamental more clearly than before. Their resolution is excellent too. I can hear the very tiny tinkling of the triangle more distinctly than ever. One thing I like a lot about UR is they achieve the superb resolution and excellent extension without artificially stressed any range at all. To sum up, UR has the most natural, yet the most lovely sound which I find too hard to resist. I'm looking forward to receiving the UR jumpers for my Wilson Audio's System 5.1 speakers which I recently ordered.

My AV system:

  • CD Transport Wadia WT 2000S;
  • DVD Player Pioneer DV-S9;
  • LD Player Pioneer HLD-X9;
  • DDC Perpetual Technologies P-1A;
  • DAC Stellavox ST2;
  • Pre Mark Levinson 380SL;
  • AV Pre EAD Theater Master Signature;
  • Power amplification:
    • Goldmund Mimesis 9.5(Front);
    • Goldmund Mimesis 8.5(Rear)
  • Speakers:
    • Wilson Audio System 5.1(Front),
    • Wilson Audio Watch Surround(Rear);
    • Monitor Audio ASW 110 (subwoofer);
  • Analog interconencts:
    • Music Metre Silver (XLR)
    • Harmonic Technology Truth-Link (RCA);
    • Music Metre Silver;
    • Pure Silver Sound Qaurtet;
    • Stealth CWS;
  • Ditigal cables:
    • Music Metre Fidelus Digital Cable;
    • Stealth Varidig digital cable;
    • Harmonic Technology Cyber Link Platinum'
  • AC Power cords:
    • Purist Audio Design AC-Proteus;
    • Siltech SPO 12 EMC Filtered AC Cable Stealth FAC;
    • Synergistic Research AC Master Coupler;
    • Goldmund Power Cable;
    • Harmonic Technology Pro-AC11;
  • Speaker cables:
    • Stealth Ultimate Ribbon Speaker Cable (Main SP);
    • Pure Silver Sound Sextet (Jumper);
    • Analysis Plus Oval Theater 14(Rear SP)

Eiichi Mimura, Tokyo, Japan. emimura@mbk.sphere.ne.jp