DarqueKnight
01-06-2008, 06:15 PM
Introduction
I have had excellent results with Audioquest’s DBS (dielectric bias system) interconnects and speaker cables [footnote 1]. I recently took advantage of a good deal offered on an 8 foot pair of AQ's top speaker cable, the Everest. When I asked the seller why he was selling and what didn't he like about the Everests, he just said that he was upgrading to more expensive Purist cables [footnote 2]. Ooookay.
The cables arrived to me in mint condition and, according to the previous owner, were only used for 150 hours. Due to his meticulous nature, the previous owner had sent the cables back to Audioquest for retermination prior to putting them up for sale. The original spades had some light scratches on them.:eek:
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/darqueknight88/ev-pr-isld6x4.jpg
Figure 1. These "budget" Audioquest Everest cables will have to do
until my money gets older...until my bank account grows up.
Cable Construction
The Everest speaker cables are identical to the Volcano cables except for the jacket color and the conductor metal. Both cables have an effective wire gauge of 9 AWG, but the Everests use pure silver conductors and the Volcanos use copper conductors. The conductor material accounts for a great disparity in price. An eight foot pair of Volcano cables retails for $3,300. An eight foot pair of Everest cables retails for $11,700 (over 3.5X the price of the Volcanos).
The Everest and the Volcano cables both feature the same signal integrity technologies such as "perfect surface" metal conductors, the dielectric bias system, "earth feature" geometry, spread spectrum technology, and conductive insulation.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/darqueknight88/ev-vol-flr-tl-ang6x4.jpg
Figure 2. Two DBS gladiators face off for cutthroat audio trials.
Evaluation Procedure
My standard qualitative and quantitative listening evaluation methods were used. The position of instruments and voices within the soundstage were noted on a chart. Notes were also made regarding the character of sounds within the soundstage. Volume levels were measured with an analog Radio Shack sound level meter and the preamp volume settings corresponding to a particular sound level were noted. Listening evaluations were made at an average sound pressure level of 85 dB-C, except for the times when low level resolution was being evaluated.
Listening notes were first recorded with the Volcano cables and then with the Everests. The last song listened to with the Volcanos was the first song listened to with the Everests.
I did not listen to the Everests with the DBS disconnected.
The Sound - Tickle Me Everest
I was unable to find a consumer or audio press review comparing the Volcanos and Everests. I didn't bother to call Audioquest to inquire about the differences between the two because I pretty much knew what the party line was going to be. After my listening and note taking session with the Volcanos, I swapped in the Everests and prepared for a grueling session of moving my 535 pound audio cabinet out from and in to the wall to swap cables back and forth. I also expected to take some licks from the law of diminishing returns; I just hoped that it wouldn't be a K.O. type of event.
I soon found that my concerns were for naught. There was no need for swapping cables back and forth. The Everests were clearly superior in every respect. The minute the music started playing through the Everests, I started smiling. Then I started grinning. Then I started giggling like Kevin Federline does on the day the child support checks arrive.:)
On Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" track from the "Time Out" SACD. I immediately noticed more musical detail, but I also heard more tape hiss from the analog master tape source. I expected the Everests to be louder, but they were not, neither subjectively or measurably. They were, however, fuller, richer, more detailed, and had a more expansive soundstage in all dimensions. Dave Brubeck's piano, which was 3 feet to the right of the right speaker center line with the Volcanos, was now 7 feet out. I imagine that I would have heard a similar expansion on the left side of the soundstage, but my left speaker is 3 feet from the side wall. Drum notes not only had more impact and articulation, but more complexity. There seemed to be smaller bass notes riding on top of larger bass notes, for lack of a better description. With acoustic bass notes, in addition to the string tones, the sound of notes reverberating inside the wood body of the bass was very clear and well defined.
How much do you have to spend before you hear everything there is on a disk? During this session I listened to music that I was very familiar with and had been listening to for years...and yet, I heard new sounds with each selection played. The experience was somewhat like being cured of color blindness. I was able to hear (see) all the images before, and I was able to hear (see) some of the colors, but I wasn't able to hear (see) all the colors and different shadings of colors that those images displayed.
On many songs, voice and instrument images were elevated 1 to 2 feet higher than their positions with the Volcanos. This was particularly true with drum kits, which sounded as if they had been placed on a stand one or two feet up from the floor. I found myself looking slightly upward at the players a lot more.
After I had had my fill of CD, HDCD, and SACD, I decided it was time to stop paying the penalty of lost information demanded by the sampling theorem. I kicked off my analog listening session with the "Bum's Cathedral" track from David Sanborn's excellent "Backstreet" LP. Previously, I had always heard Sanborn's saxophone with other instruments to the sides and rear of it. This time, I heard Sanborn's alto sax dead center with the drums behind him as he was encircled 360 degrees by a "bubble" of synthesizer sounds. I had never heard anything in front of him before. I popped in the Backstreet CD, which is of average recording quality, to hear if the synth sounds in front of Sanborn would be there. They were "hinted" at, but the CD provided nowhere near the immersive 3-D experience of the LP.
In summary, the Everest speaker cables provided the following performance benefits over the Volcano cables:
1. More powerful and articulate bass.
2. More clarity and detail throughout.
3. More harmonic richness: thicker, fuller, heavier images within the soundstage with much more harmonic overtones.
4. A taller, much wider, and deeper soundstage.
5. A greater sense of music flowing effortlessly from the images within the soundstage.
6. Much greater low level detail.
7. Giggles. The Volcanos made me smile and grin...but no giggles.
I have had the pleasure of listening to some superlative audio systems at audio salons and at manufacturer's premises. I don't recall that I have had this much fun at any of them. Of course, I didn't know as much about what to listen for back then.;)
Diminishing Returns
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/darqueknight88/ev-stl6x4.jpg
Figure 3. The winner...by a wide, wide margin.
As stated previously, the Everests are 3.5X the retail cost of the Volcanos. On the used market, Everests are 2.5X to 3X the cost of Volcanos. Quantitatively, the Everests were not 3X better in my audio system. The bass didn't hit 3X as hard. There wasn't 3X more musical detail obtained from source material. Subjectively, the substantially increased soundstaging and imaging properties, as well as increased musical detail, justified the extra investment in such good sound. The extra cost is especially justified when I consider that this cable trial result also had an unexpected benefit: I no longer need to continue shopping for a bigger, beefier power amp to "find my sound" [footnote 3]. Apparently, amp/cable synergy can achieve revelatory results. The Everest speaker cables turned out to be the missing piece of my audio puzzle.:)
Conclusion
I'm glad, and relieved, that upgrading all the core components in my two channel system is finished. I do plan to acquire one of Mr. Windfeld's wonder cartridges sometime this year [footnote 4]. I might upgrade my tonearm to the Graham B-44, but I am not yet convinced that this would be worthwhile endeavor...for someone with my modest interest in analog. From what I have read and from the dealers I have talked to, the amount of improvement you will hear from the B-44 is highly system dependent. Even in the best case scenario, the B-44 is not touted to be a "revelatory" experience over the 2.2 Deluxe.
We'll see.
--------------------------------------------------
[1] The interested reader can refer to my reviews of Volcano speaker cable (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59841), Niagara XLR interconnects (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?p=759629), Sky XLR interconnects (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61655), and LeoPard tonearm cable (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59845).
[2] A 3 meter pair of Purist Audio Design 20th Anniversary speaker cables has an MSRP of $22,500. Cheap by carriage trade standards.:)
[3] http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/darqueknight88/mad.gif But if I know you, you'll keep it in the back of your mind because you've got a jones for a Pass Labs X600.5.
[4] Ortofon MC Windfeld Cartridge (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?p=768144)
I have had excellent results with Audioquest’s DBS (dielectric bias system) interconnects and speaker cables [footnote 1]. I recently took advantage of a good deal offered on an 8 foot pair of AQ's top speaker cable, the Everest. When I asked the seller why he was selling and what didn't he like about the Everests, he just said that he was upgrading to more expensive Purist cables [footnote 2]. Ooookay.
The cables arrived to me in mint condition and, according to the previous owner, were only used for 150 hours. Due to his meticulous nature, the previous owner had sent the cables back to Audioquest for retermination prior to putting them up for sale. The original spades had some light scratches on them.:eek:
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/darqueknight88/ev-pr-isld6x4.jpg
Figure 1. These "budget" Audioquest Everest cables will have to do
until my money gets older...until my bank account grows up.
Cable Construction
The Everest speaker cables are identical to the Volcano cables except for the jacket color and the conductor metal. Both cables have an effective wire gauge of 9 AWG, but the Everests use pure silver conductors and the Volcanos use copper conductors. The conductor material accounts for a great disparity in price. An eight foot pair of Volcano cables retails for $3,300. An eight foot pair of Everest cables retails for $11,700 (over 3.5X the price of the Volcanos).
The Everest and the Volcano cables both feature the same signal integrity technologies such as "perfect surface" metal conductors, the dielectric bias system, "earth feature" geometry, spread spectrum technology, and conductive insulation.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/darqueknight88/ev-vol-flr-tl-ang6x4.jpg
Figure 2. Two DBS gladiators face off for cutthroat audio trials.
Evaluation Procedure
My standard qualitative and quantitative listening evaluation methods were used. The position of instruments and voices within the soundstage were noted on a chart. Notes were also made regarding the character of sounds within the soundstage. Volume levels were measured with an analog Radio Shack sound level meter and the preamp volume settings corresponding to a particular sound level were noted. Listening evaluations were made at an average sound pressure level of 85 dB-C, except for the times when low level resolution was being evaluated.
Listening notes were first recorded with the Volcano cables and then with the Everests. The last song listened to with the Volcanos was the first song listened to with the Everests.
I did not listen to the Everests with the DBS disconnected.
The Sound - Tickle Me Everest
I was unable to find a consumer or audio press review comparing the Volcanos and Everests. I didn't bother to call Audioquest to inquire about the differences between the two because I pretty much knew what the party line was going to be. After my listening and note taking session with the Volcanos, I swapped in the Everests and prepared for a grueling session of moving my 535 pound audio cabinet out from and in to the wall to swap cables back and forth. I also expected to take some licks from the law of diminishing returns; I just hoped that it wouldn't be a K.O. type of event.
I soon found that my concerns were for naught. There was no need for swapping cables back and forth. The Everests were clearly superior in every respect. The minute the music started playing through the Everests, I started smiling. Then I started grinning. Then I started giggling like Kevin Federline does on the day the child support checks arrive.:)
On Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" track from the "Time Out" SACD. I immediately noticed more musical detail, but I also heard more tape hiss from the analog master tape source. I expected the Everests to be louder, but they were not, neither subjectively or measurably. They were, however, fuller, richer, more detailed, and had a more expansive soundstage in all dimensions. Dave Brubeck's piano, which was 3 feet to the right of the right speaker center line with the Volcanos, was now 7 feet out. I imagine that I would have heard a similar expansion on the left side of the soundstage, but my left speaker is 3 feet from the side wall. Drum notes not only had more impact and articulation, but more complexity. There seemed to be smaller bass notes riding on top of larger bass notes, for lack of a better description. With acoustic bass notes, in addition to the string tones, the sound of notes reverberating inside the wood body of the bass was very clear and well defined.
How much do you have to spend before you hear everything there is on a disk? During this session I listened to music that I was very familiar with and had been listening to for years...and yet, I heard new sounds with each selection played. The experience was somewhat like being cured of color blindness. I was able to hear (see) all the images before, and I was able to hear (see) some of the colors, but I wasn't able to hear (see) all the colors and different shadings of colors that those images displayed.
On many songs, voice and instrument images were elevated 1 to 2 feet higher than their positions with the Volcanos. This was particularly true with drum kits, which sounded as if they had been placed on a stand one or two feet up from the floor. I found myself looking slightly upward at the players a lot more.
After I had had my fill of CD, HDCD, and SACD, I decided it was time to stop paying the penalty of lost information demanded by the sampling theorem. I kicked off my analog listening session with the "Bum's Cathedral" track from David Sanborn's excellent "Backstreet" LP. Previously, I had always heard Sanborn's saxophone with other instruments to the sides and rear of it. This time, I heard Sanborn's alto sax dead center with the drums behind him as he was encircled 360 degrees by a "bubble" of synthesizer sounds. I had never heard anything in front of him before. I popped in the Backstreet CD, which is of average recording quality, to hear if the synth sounds in front of Sanborn would be there. They were "hinted" at, but the CD provided nowhere near the immersive 3-D experience of the LP.
In summary, the Everest speaker cables provided the following performance benefits over the Volcano cables:
1. More powerful and articulate bass.
2. More clarity and detail throughout.
3. More harmonic richness: thicker, fuller, heavier images within the soundstage with much more harmonic overtones.
4. A taller, much wider, and deeper soundstage.
5. A greater sense of music flowing effortlessly from the images within the soundstage.
6. Much greater low level detail.
7. Giggles. The Volcanos made me smile and grin...but no giggles.
I have had the pleasure of listening to some superlative audio systems at audio salons and at manufacturer's premises. I don't recall that I have had this much fun at any of them. Of course, I didn't know as much about what to listen for back then.;)
Diminishing Returns
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/darqueknight88/ev-stl6x4.jpg
Figure 3. The winner...by a wide, wide margin.
As stated previously, the Everests are 3.5X the retail cost of the Volcanos. On the used market, Everests are 2.5X to 3X the cost of Volcanos. Quantitatively, the Everests were not 3X better in my audio system. The bass didn't hit 3X as hard. There wasn't 3X more musical detail obtained from source material. Subjectively, the substantially increased soundstaging and imaging properties, as well as increased musical detail, justified the extra investment in such good sound. The extra cost is especially justified when I consider that this cable trial result also had an unexpected benefit: I no longer need to continue shopping for a bigger, beefier power amp to "find my sound" [footnote 3]. Apparently, amp/cable synergy can achieve revelatory results. The Everest speaker cables turned out to be the missing piece of my audio puzzle.:)
Conclusion
I'm glad, and relieved, that upgrading all the core components in my two channel system is finished. I do plan to acquire one of Mr. Windfeld's wonder cartridges sometime this year [footnote 4]. I might upgrade my tonearm to the Graham B-44, but I am not yet convinced that this would be worthwhile endeavor...for someone with my modest interest in analog. From what I have read and from the dealers I have talked to, the amount of improvement you will hear from the B-44 is highly system dependent. Even in the best case scenario, the B-44 is not touted to be a "revelatory" experience over the 2.2 Deluxe.
We'll see.
--------------------------------------------------
[1] The interested reader can refer to my reviews of Volcano speaker cable (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59841), Niagara XLR interconnects (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?p=759629), Sky XLR interconnects (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61655), and LeoPard tonearm cable (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59845).
[2] A 3 meter pair of Purist Audio Design 20th Anniversary speaker cables has an MSRP of $22,500. Cheap by carriage trade standards.:)
[3] http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/darqueknight88/mad.gif But if I know you, you'll keep it in the back of your mind because you've got a jones for a Pass Labs X600.5.
[4] Ortofon MC Windfeld Cartridge (http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?p=768144)