That was very educational and fun. Thanks to Carl for the great hospitality, yet again.
We started off by setting the system up and establishing a baseline from which to begin evaluating the ICs. We used JPS SC3 speaker cables, with Aluminata jumpers. Then someone said should the SCs connect to the bass posts or mit/tweets? So we experimented and found that whichever got the direct SC connection sounded better than the other. So luckily we had two pair of SC3 speakercables on hand, so we biwired, and BAM it was awesome. Everyone picked a track of their favorite music from Carl's network drive. We played this playlist over and over through the night.
We started with Reality ICs. 2 pair from source to pre and pre to amp. I did not like the sound of these. They will first and they were already playing when I got there, so it was not due to let down from expensive cables. They obscured a lot of information, colored the tone and sucked the life out of my test track, which was Jupiter Quartet playing Ravel Quartet #2, Vivace.
On to the JPS Ultraconductor 2 ICs. 2 pair. This was very good. Moderate clarity, but typical JPS shock absorber silent spaces and control. Amazing performance for the money. I think this is the first time I've heard these, I'm considering buying them. Not as good at soundstaging or tonal transparency or magical bloom as some others to follow, but good honest cable delivered satisfying music.
Next was Grover SX. Classic Grover Huffman sound. Very articulate, especially in the upper frequencies. Good bass. A feeling of added energy makes for an exciting presentation. A slight metallic tonal coloration in the 3-5kHz region, which I have grown accustomed to with my own Grover SCdots and Graphite S. I recognized it from home and got to hear what my music sounds like without that coloration when listening to the other cables. Overall a decent cable. Later we informally listened to my 2 pair of SCdot and some preferred those to the newest SX ICs.
Audio Techni? 2 pair. These were warm and soft, a drastic change from Grovers. I liked it, reminded me of a Single ended tube amp, or vintage paper drivers. It was relaxed, comfortable, very musical, balanced frequency response, overall happy sound. Mild, not fast or extended, but inviting and rewarding for long listening. I can't remember the details about tone, some commented that they were boring. Good for acoustic music, maybe less so for electronic or amplified music with an edge, which was mostly what was used for test tracks.
JPS Superconductor Q. 2 pair. Nice wire, typical JPS house sound, quiet, controlled, detailed. More revealling than the Ultra2. But something was not as centered and comfortable as the ultra or SC3 which felt more satisfying whole pieces. I think I would go for Ultra before Q, but a friend has Q and I liked them on his system. Gotta do that comparison agains sometime on my own system.
JPS SuperConductor 3. 2 pair. Boss Daddy. The Shit. Obvious winner. It was a "Well, there you go..." moment when they first started. Unlimited resolution, yet never harsh. Musically balanced, rich thick tone, bass impact and volume, glistening highs, natural tone and air on strings, only wire that was truly accurate tone on snare drum rolls. Intense presentation of the music seems to be pleasing to everyone, but it's the opposite of the gentle comfortable Audio Techni that I liked so much. It is more audiophile/high performance that serves the music well, but you better be ready for the ride. If my memory serves me correctly, Aluminata gives all this performance clarity and intensity, but somehow the smoothness and comfort are added, especially with the Aluminata speaker wire. I haven't ever compared an all Aluminata rig with all SC3, that would be interesting to do someday too. The one time I heard all Aluminata I had no idea what I was hearing so I did not appreciate the details. I just knew I loved the way everything sounded.
Then we took out an SC3 from source to pre and replaced with Audience Au24. Softer than SC3, similar detail, less bass. I can't remember much. The sound of the other SC3 from pre to amp was still showing through.
Then we put back the winner, JPS SC3 ICs to prepare for the USB wire shootout. Started with Cryoparts Axis $700 model. We had been listening to that all afternoon so far. Then switched to Reality tweaked USB cable, big difference from the Axis, but not in a favorable direction. It was confused and smeared sound. I could not make head or tails of it. I did not analyze the sound in detail. Then folllowed a stock POS USB cable. I thought it sounded sligtly better than the Reality tweaked cable, but not by much, maybe just a little more coherent. Putting the Axis back in cleaned everything up and brought back the music.
Pizza was delish. Thanks Carl.
Back down to the lab for PC comparo. I don't remember much from this. My favorites were the JPS Power AC+ and the Black Sands Silver Ref. V. The Black Sands was gentler, allowed more midrange detail to be perceived. But the JPS had that JPS controlled clarity edge. It's a matter of taste here. For once I was glad to hear a product I own at one of these comparisons hold its own. I was sitting front row off center, so I could only judge dynamics tone and overall presentation, not soundstaging. Some others commented that the JPS had an advantage in staging. Grover had the Grover house sound as expected, like the ICs and speaker cables there is consistent bump in upper midrange/low treble. I noticed the increase in energy and reacted positively to it. On Kaplan Rhodium, bass was big and round, not as controlled and precise as BSA or especially JPS, but a fun sound I would like to spend more time with Kaplan.
We stuck in the Running Springs Jaco before the preamp only. And tried some cables on it too, which require 20A IEC connector. The VH Audio was the winner with 2nd place to Black Sands and 3rd place to Mongoose (Monsoon?, or something like that.)
Then we stuck in Grover's new (SX?) speaker wires. The silver leads were long enough to use them as jumpers between speaker binding posts. Big improvement over the last two Grover SCs. It was more relaxed, more tonally accurate, musically balanced and still retained the Grover excitement and clarity. The treble bump was lessened. I would like to compare it with an all JPS UltraConductor2 set in same price range. JPS SC3 in biwire mode was untouchable in comparison, but that costs at least 15x more.
Then we played Sols latest i60 integrated amp. I thought it sounded very good. I liked the added detail it brought over the Mac which sounds somewhat veiled on my music. Sibilants were still a little too bright but the bad stuff is gone now with new output devices. Adding the Belles tube preamp before the i60 as was used with the Mac smoothed out the sibilance and was very nice sound. But it still sounded a little strained on the hungry Piegas, compared to Mac. So we brought down Carl's Era 5 bookshelfs. Still mid 80s sensitivity like Piegas, but more manageable and made a nice collaboration. More changes are on tap for this amp, including replacing the output devices again, with three pair per channel to increase headroom dramatically, as well as some parts quality upgrades, like film caps and power resistors.
After that everyone started peeling off, it was 9pm on a weeknight. After a while it was me and Carl, digging some jazzy vinyl, chatting up the night. Overall a great satisfying G2G for me, great to see everyone and share some laughs, good food and good music (at the end.)
I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Already looking forward to the next g2g.
Rich