Haoleb
10-05-2003, 11:47 PM
Well after cleaning up my room i decided to finally sit down and take the time to compare my cables. I used one cd, The mapleshade's music festival sampler, and the same few tracks, numbers 7,8,13 and heres what i came up with. By no means is it scientific or a final word in reviews. I kept the volume at the same level and had it so i changed out cables as fast as possible. less than a minute.
Cables in the lineup.
Clarity Labs "Foxfire"
Clarity Labs "Emberglow"
Radio Shack Gold series
and for fun, some cheap generic throw away type.
First the Foxfires vs RS golds.
The clarity labs foxfire seemed to have more find detail, brought out the nuances in the music more, i could hear the bass players fingers on the strings more detailed and sharp they were more airy and smooth than the rs golds were. No huge improvment over the rs golds, but some minor details that were noticable. It seemed as though the RS golds were louder, perhaps they were just brighter than the foxfires. Overall the foxfires were the winner, however i didint think that the sound improvements over the RS golds justfied the full price that they sell for.
Next the Foxfire's vs the Emberglows
Foxfire was again more smooth and airy of the two, they both had good detail and brought out the nuances in the music, however i still think the foxfires were smoother and more natural i guess you could say. On track 8 when the person was playing that metal triangle thing the foxfires sounded better and had more of a musical sound to the triangle while the emberglow lacked the more "musical" sound for a slightly more mettalic one. And the sandpaper blocks werent as detailed and didnt have as much resolution as the foxfires. Again, winner was foxfire, i liked the emberglows more than the rs golds but still no big shocker differences between any of the cables.
RS golds, Foxfire, Emberglow vs cheapies.
The cheapies actually surprised me here, i had expected them to sound worse than they did. The sandpaper blocks sounded nothing like the foxfire and emberglow and the rest of the music just wasnt as smooth or airy as the others but these werent as bad as i remeber them being. These were different ones than i had used before though. But its definetly worth the money to replace these with at least the Rs golds.
Well, thats all folks. Sorry if some of the terms i use to describe the sound seem a bit odd, there are soo many of them and sometimes i kina have to make up my own. Again, this is no professional review. And if you dont agree with it. great.
In a few words id say that between all the cables i didnt notice a huge improvement like some people notice, maybe its me, my equipment or the cables. i dont know. But i wasnt blown away with any one cable. i did however favor the foxfire out of them all because of its smooth airy and detailed sound which i like. Here are a few pictures. In all the listening took about 2 hours, constantly switching between all the cables, The one thing i DID like about the cheapies is that they are soo much easier to plug in and out than the rest.
IM looking forward to recieving the QED biwires for review, but im really having doubts that i will hear any differences between them and my Type 4's but that review will be posted as soon as i get them and have a chance to listen.<p>
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/fcaihifi/maplecd.JPG http://home.hawaii.rr.com/fcaihifi/shootout1.JPG
Cables in the lineup.
Clarity Labs "Foxfire"
Clarity Labs "Emberglow"
Radio Shack Gold series
and for fun, some cheap generic throw away type.
First the Foxfires vs RS golds.
The clarity labs foxfire seemed to have more find detail, brought out the nuances in the music more, i could hear the bass players fingers on the strings more detailed and sharp they were more airy and smooth than the rs golds were. No huge improvment over the rs golds, but some minor details that were noticable. It seemed as though the RS golds were louder, perhaps they were just brighter than the foxfires. Overall the foxfires were the winner, however i didint think that the sound improvements over the RS golds justfied the full price that they sell for.
Next the Foxfire's vs the Emberglows
Foxfire was again more smooth and airy of the two, they both had good detail and brought out the nuances in the music, however i still think the foxfires were smoother and more natural i guess you could say. On track 8 when the person was playing that metal triangle thing the foxfires sounded better and had more of a musical sound to the triangle while the emberglow lacked the more "musical" sound for a slightly more mettalic one. And the sandpaper blocks werent as detailed and didnt have as much resolution as the foxfires. Again, winner was foxfire, i liked the emberglows more than the rs golds but still no big shocker differences between any of the cables.
RS golds, Foxfire, Emberglow vs cheapies.
The cheapies actually surprised me here, i had expected them to sound worse than they did. The sandpaper blocks sounded nothing like the foxfire and emberglow and the rest of the music just wasnt as smooth or airy as the others but these werent as bad as i remeber them being. These were different ones than i had used before though. But its definetly worth the money to replace these with at least the Rs golds.
Well, thats all folks. Sorry if some of the terms i use to describe the sound seem a bit odd, there are soo many of them and sometimes i kina have to make up my own. Again, this is no professional review. And if you dont agree with it. great.
In a few words id say that between all the cables i didnt notice a huge improvement like some people notice, maybe its me, my equipment or the cables. i dont know. But i wasnt blown away with any one cable. i did however favor the foxfire out of them all because of its smooth airy and detailed sound which i like. Here are a few pictures. In all the listening took about 2 hours, constantly switching between all the cables, The one thing i DID like about the cheapies is that they are soo much easier to plug in and out than the rest.
IM looking forward to recieving the QED biwires for review, but im really having doubts that i will hear any differences between them and my Type 4's but that review will be posted as soon as i get them and have a chance to listen.<p>
http://home.hawaii.rr.com/fcaihifi/maplecd.JPG http://home.hawaii.rr.com/fcaihifi/shootout1.JPG