balthazar

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Price Paid:  $600.00 from vassagohifi

Summary:
I reviewed the G.R. together with all the Audioquest, some TaraLabs and 2 cables from Van Den Hul ( the Carbon model and their Gold Hybrid). In short the G.R. sounds neutral, fast and dynamic. It colours the sound much like Mark Levinson products do. Like a layer of beautifull sound is painted all over. The Audioquests paints the sound brilliant and beautifull. The Taralabs is more neutral, they don't paint. They sound in my opinion better, because the CD played, sounds more different, than the beforementioned cables. The magic cables in this test is the Van den Hul Carbon and Gold. The Carbon is very neutral and fast, with much nerve. But a little too dry for me. The Gold Hybrid is the most magical cable i've ever listened to. It is much faster than the fast Golden Reference. It revealed so incredible much from my CD's, that I was shocked! I have never imagined the old 44 kHz CD's contained that much information! If the advantage of the turntable community was the superior details and mikrotransients in the music, they have been beaten with this cable. All these details and shades of the soundstage this cable present - gives the music a nerve I have never experienced before, Even in my turntable days with Linn LP 12 etc...
Everytime I put a CD on, I am glued to the chair, kept in place by the Van den Hul Gold Hybrid's magic nerve. Try it and see if i'm wrong...

Strengths:
Fast, neutral and dynamic.

Weaknesses:
Colours the sound sweet.

Similar Products Used:
Audioquest, Taralabs, Supra DCT, Van den Hul

antero

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.60 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $500.00 from used

Summary:
For the money these cables go for on the used market, I think they offer a lot of value. Hence my high rating.

In my system they brought an overall richness and warmth to the sound with nice weight in the lows, They also brought some musicality and very nice transients compared to what I was using previously (which was in the same price range).

Overall though, in the BIG picture these cables unfortunately cannot compete with some reference cables ... and it shows in the retail price that the cardas golden reference earn. Compared to such cables, the golden reference sounds distorted in the highs and lows and really lacks the resolution required to turn a listening experience into the illusion of the real event. But they still manage very nice sound for the money.

And for that I will always be grateful.

Similar Products Used:
audioquest king cobra/ jaguar/cheetah;
monster sigma retro gold (the closest cable to cardas, 95% the same sound);
nordost valhalla;
kubala-sosna emotion.

jack201

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $700.00 from AV Driver

Summary:
When I first hooked up these expensive cables I almost cried. The sound was harsh and there was a terrible ringing. Then I remembered my dealer's warning. LONG BREAK-IN time. Off they went scattered about the house hooked up to each CD player set on repeat. So it went for a week non-stop.

Now slotted back in-between the Emmlabs DCC2 SE and the Lamm LL2 pre and headed to the Lamm M2.2 mblocks, the sound was now the way I like it. Broad, harmonically rich, dynamically unrestricted and with plenty of unforced detail. It now had a rythmic flow clearly at par with the Analysis Plus Solo-Crystals they replaced but with a little more refinement and the ability to portray hall sounds and reverb trails giving the illussion of more bloom.

The improvements were subtle but easily justifiable. I would recommend this for people who have settled in with their system synergies. These are neutral cables and will be no help to anyone wishing to tune his system's tonal palette.

Strengths:
I can stop thinking about cables because when broken in they just get out of the way.

Weaknesses:
I need a 10 meter run to reconfigure my equipment and I can't afford 10meters of this.

Similar Products Used:
Au24, AP Solo, Verbatim Signature

demos100

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.71 of 5, 7.00 votes

Price Paid:  $700.00 from local store

Summary:
First I own Golden Reference, Neutral Reference and Acoustic Zen Silver Reference cables all at 1m RCA terminated both sides. Cardas Golden and Neutral Reference have some things in common. Both have a rich sound, Neutral have a 'tubey' bold bass compared with Golden. Golden's bass is more accurate, tighter, the weight and present of bass is simply my reference at the moment. Detail, smoothness of upper frequencies, richness and purity of sound without sacrifice of analisys is something phenomenal for a cable. Its by far the best cable I ever had. Drums jump out full of air and leather, violins sounds magical (with Zens , too). Electric guitars are a speciality of Goldens. Neutral's high freqs are somewhat 'hard', not with Golden Ref. The strange is that Neutral is not analytical compared with Golden, you may found a strange 'blur' in textures and voices, the system loose immediancy points when I place Neutral back in. Golden had no problem with upper freqs, neither Zen had. Focus and imaging is something that Golden knows very very well with some added richness. Neutral is hard in upper reggions, mild and smooth in the middle, bloomy in the lows. Golden is clear like a glass, smooth/neutral upper band , huge and ultra precise soundstage with the 'right' amount of weight and attack. Systems will benefit from the cable without loosing something or having a character. If you are searching for the Ultimate in interconnect cables you find it. The best cable I ever own, tried in many systems, all react the same: Purity, king of detail, neutrallity, bass, speed without any faults.

Strengths:
The cable is pure Magic. Dont loose your time, buy Golden Reference interconnect instead of any other copper/silver interconnects its the King. Dont try Neutral reference instead of Golden. Golden is the top. Fits best in systems costing over 7000 USD. Likes solid-states . More neutral than neutral ref. faster , too. Classical music sounds magical. Rock guitars sounds there with you. Neutral is somewhat blur compared with top analisys of Golden.

Weaknesses:
I placed the other interconnects in my closet. All of them have some faults compared with Golden.

Similar Products Used:
Many.

elmura

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.13 of 5, 8.00 votes

Price Paid:  $500.00

Summary:
After using a number of different high-end interconnect designs from various manufacturers. This is now my reference. Bought in Australian dollars, I think it is a bargain. Build: Very thick cable with huge connectors. Writing on cable almost invisible. Non-directional. Solid Sound: Ultra clean and pure. No harshness. Lets high frequencies sparkle without the hard edges. Removes noise from the sound that I didn't think occured in the cable. Better low-level details. High definition. Smooth, natural tonality across the frequency spectrum. Have used the Cardas Golden Cross but this is much more natural and far more open.

Strengths:
Natural tonality. All frequencies shine equally. Eliminated digital noise from some recordings. More insight. More depth.

Weaknesses:
A little less perceived impact & speed than other designs.

Similar Products Used:
Elite DNA. Cardas Golden Cross. QED model?? Cardas Neutral Reference.