I installed the recommended cable set, broke them in, and began to listen. The improvements experienced were more than subtle nuances and were in fact quite dramatic. All the common words for describing the effects of good high-end cabling (neutral, dynamic, open, detail, rich in tone and harmonics ... etc.) can be used, but with new meaning.

After extended auditions through various moods and musical genre, I came to the conclusion that the Stealth cable set was a synergistic part of my system. There was no apparent sonic signature other than transparency. The new found "truth" from my cabling upgrade allowed me to discern effects of other system tweaks which used to have minor impact but now seem to be first order. I tweaked and adjusted, speaker placement, room acoustics, vibration control, and power conditioning over the course of a month. My system configuration was left relatively static for the following month as I enjoyed the dramatic improvements.

A Comparison of Stealth with Cardas & Transparent

While talking up the impact of Stealth cables I was offered an opportunity to contrast it to 2 other highly revered systems; Cardas Golden Reference, and Transparent Reference XL (Solid State). I auditioned these systems for 1 month each. I did not make an A/B comparison, but instead relied on my over-all impression following the audition period.

Current System:

• Proceed AVP (Processor/DAC)
• Proceed PMDT (Transport)
• Bryston 7BST (Mono Blocks)
• B&W Nautilus 802

• Golden Reference (XLR) Interconnects
• Golden Reference Bi-wire Speaker (8ft)
• Stealth Varidig AES/EBU Digital Interconnect

• BRXL SS (Balanced Reference XL Solid State) Interconnects
• RXL SS (Reference XL Solid State) Speaker (8ft)
• Stealth Varidig AES/EBU Digital Interconnect

• Cross-wrapped Silver (XLR) Interconnects
• Fine Ribbon Silver Speaker (6ft) - High frequency of Bi-wire
• Premier Copper Speaker ( 6ft) - Low frequency of Bi-wire
• Varidig AES/EBU Digital Interconnect

Both the Cardas Golden Reference and Transparent BRXL/RXL SS configurations sounded very good (as they should $$$). The differences between the 3 configurations is very subtle as are most things high-end. Still I did perceive a difference. The Cardas Golden Reference very closely matched the Stealth. Both are very neutral but the Stealth seems to be a little more full range, dynamic, and for lack of a more descriptive word, musical. The transparent BRXL/RXL SS was neutral, dynamic and articulate in the bottom-end. However it seemed to miss some of the openness in the high end.

All in all, I would have to say that I prefer the Stealth configuration over the Cardas Audio and Transparent Cable systems. It's not a common thing to say in the high-end audiophile world where sheer expense often determines your preference.

Even for those that may not agree with my preference, the differences are subtle and the Stealth was compared with cables at 2 to 10 times the price. Definitely worth a good long listen.

Conclusion:

I walked away from the auditioning experience knowing that the Stealth cable system not only had the best cost/performance ratio, but was also the best overall for my system. The end result is a very neutral system providing what I believe to be the best dynamics, tone, fullness, and detail my system is capable of. There is a focus and sound stage that is both realistic and very enjoyable. It seems to truly reflect the characteristics of the recording across a wide range of genre. Most importantly it does not sound like the components it is comprised of, but like music.

Eric Brooks