Steve Ash
The AMAZING NEW ŚAKRA
INTERCONNECT: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Serguei Timachev of Stealth Audio has just achieved another milestone in high end audio with his new flagship
interconnect: the helium filled Sakra. This new design is truly in a class of one;
I’m making this statement based on my last reference
interconnect - the legendary Stealth Indra. I am truly amazed that the new Sakra has the ability to
outperform - actually, outclass and overshadow the Indra, one of the finest interconnects on the high end market today. Read all the glowing reviews from all audiophile circles since 2004 and you will have to
agree. But Alas,! the batan has just been passed from Indra to the amazing new Sakra.
The designer of Stealth Audio has pulled even further ahead of the high end audiophile competition with his marvelous new cable.
So why is this cable so good you might ask?: It’s simply about this cable’s ability to take you to sonic heaven in short
order. The minute your brain begins to process the music Sakra lets through, you immediately know how special this new cable is. Music you don’t even like and
normally uninspiring has now caught your attention just for the pure organic emotion this cable is capable of delivering! Sakra is a wonderful musical garden of textured detail.
Actually, Sakra and Indra do have a few similar sonic characteristics: both become invisible, leaving no sonic
signature, and are devoid of any colorations, are fantastically resolute and
transparent, and even share the same amorphous wire conductors, but after this Indra is outclassed by Sakra. Did you read that audiophile
kiddies?: I Just said one of the top three interconnects in the world has just been outclassed. Long live the new king Sakra interconnect at Stealth
Audio. I’m now very pleased and privileged to tell you why this new Sakra is so special.
1.Large musical foundation: As a reference headphone listener I am very keenly aware when a cable change affects size and depth of the soundstage between my
ears:! Indra’s musical foundation was large; but with the Sakra,
it's simply HUGE ! The soundstage is deep, wide and three dimensional
like no other I’ve ever heard; even eclipsing the Indra. By a
large margin, in fact; I was even able to drop the output capacitance
of my OTL tube amp. to 50 mf and keep the bass extension… - always a good thing.
2. Fluid and detailed presentation: I had 800+ hours on my Indra
when I installed the new Sakra interconnect, and to my utter amazement Sakra sounded more broken in in it’s first hour than the Indra did with over 800
hours. I also immediately noticed that Sakra sounded fuller and with less edge when played loud. Sakra presents with no harshness or glare even when playing your system very loud and has much less listening fatigue than Indra by a good
margin. Loud and slam become fun again with the Sakra interconnect in your system because listening fatigue is reduced. Initially I thought Serguei had sent me a pre- broken in cable but I found out that just wasn’t the case.
Later, after 300 hours of break in, I learned that the Sakra
benefits from it’s own break in time as well, but - once
again - the SAKRA ON IT’S FIRST DAY SOUNDED MORE REFINED AND SMOOTHER THAN INDRA EVER SOUNDED EVEN WITH 800+ HOURS OF BREAK IN
TIME: Sakra was just more organic and musical from day one.!
Also, Because Sakra sounded so good from the first minutes I was then fooled for a while into thinking this already wonderful cable needed no break in at all and really couldn’t get any
better: boy was I wrong! The amazing thing about Sakra is, over
time, it tends to add more texture to all the layers of complex musical detail it presents
initially. Sakra also has the ability to unveil musical layers of
smooth, fluid, textured detail that not even Indra can match and because of this, one is easily encouraged to fall in love with his classical music all over again.
3. Resolution : Sakra and Indra are both fantastically resolute interconnects in their own right, but Sakra outclasses even Indra with a larger, deeper, more textured bottom
end. Sakra’s bottom end will slam with more authority and less
fatigue: while having just as much focus and control as Indra. I’ve used many types of interconnects in my systems over the
years: (silver gold copper) and none comes close to matching top to bottom resolution like the
Sakra. Sakra presents the top end with shimmering clarity and focus, devoid of brightness or glare,
and absolutely neutral without any
coloration. The Sakra becomes invisible just like the Indra, but presents top to bottom with a smother and more organic feel, Period!
The cable guru at Stealth Audio: What more can be said about Serguei Timachev, founder and cable designer at Stealth Audio. This man and his cutting edge cable designs has been the main topic of to many audiophile articles to
count, and yes, Serguei is a big dog in the audiophile kingdom and for many good reasons: yet, Serguei takes the time for the Joe nobody in audiophile world like me. Some may
perceive this man as elitiest of all, but the Serguei I know has answered my every phone
call, given me countless hours of advise about my own system,
custom built cable for me, and bettered my system with his products and advise in to many ways to mention here. I love and respect this man because he hasn't put his credentials above his core love to be the cutting edge best at what he does so
well. In conclusion, I would just like to say that I don’t go to many audio shows and I don’t have a lot of audiophile
friends, but don’t feel sorry for me!: all one audiophile really needs in a lifetime is one Serguei!..
Steve 4-20-2009
My System :
Headphones: AKG K-1000- silver cabled and highly modified.
Sennheiser HD-600 soon to be HD-800.
Cables: Sakra interconnect, Sakra internal hook up wire for headphone
amp. Power cables: homemade- Stealth solid silver a.c. and solid silver i.e.c.s , Stealth silver wire. Solid silver runs for custom made H.D.M.I cable
Amplifer: custom made and highly modified single end class A stereo O.T.L. headphone amp. Tubes: 2-WESTERN 417A, 2-TUNGSOL 6080 Sakra internal hook up wire.
Source unit: Marantz bd-8002 highly modified blue ray player.
Audio Consulting silver inter stage transformers
Audiocom ultra digital clock-power supply.
Silver wired,fuse and filtering bypassed
Epson 1080UB Projector… Al
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