No manipulating effects on the sound at all, at least to the human ear.

Not exactly cheap, so they need to be taken into consideration when the budget is set.

The main attention on these pages is paid to sources, amps and speakers. Naturally. Naturally? A simple fact of physics is, that a signal sent from A to B will be degraded when it reaches B. Outside the world of quantum mechanics, there is no exception to this rule. Translated into audio terms this means, that between CD/Record and what comes out of your speakers, a degrading effect takes place. All a set up can do, is try and keep that degrading to a minimum. And this is what makes cables such a big issue. To say this right away: I do no think that cables can right a wrong or have to be "matched". If your CD-player sounds hard, you do not need soft sounding cables. You need a new CD-player. If your amp is overemphasizing bass, same thing. And so on... Having had the set up of my dreams for about a year now, I still love it. Other than so many other writers on these pages, I do not think it is the best on earth. I do think that my CD-player (Densen 400 XS) is very, very good indeed, but there are others and a lot comes down to taste. Same thing about my amp (Pathos Classic One). At the price I have not really spotted an alternative for my musical tastes (Baroque, Calssical, acoustic Jazz, some Blues), but someone into different music might prefer all tubes or all mosfets. The Dynaudio C1 might be as good as it gets in bookshelf speakers, but someone else might prefer floorstanders, or, say, electrostats. What I do think is the best there is on earth, is my Goertz (Alphacore) cabeling. For the simple reason, that I fail to spot any degrading effect whatsoever. In fact, I fail to spot any effects on the sound! What goes in at one end, comes out at the other. As I said, pysically, that is impossible. But to my human ears, this is as close at it gets. These cables are among the few cables made on earth, that are truly based on a different principle of functioning. I cannot explain it better than Alphacore (Goertz) can, so just check out their site at www.alphacore.com I hope to be happy with my set up for 15 years or so. I had better be, it was very expensive by my standards and being a family man I do not think I could get away with a purchase like that a second time soon. But should I ever trade it in for something else, I will keep the cabeling. That way one thing will be guaranteed: Whatever components I get, they will sound their best. And what goes in at one end, will come out at the other.

Similar Products Used:

Find the 10 most often named cable manufacturers on these pages. I most probably habe auditioned their products at some point.