bobbynob

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $215.00 from DVDT Inc.

Summary:
This review is for the current version (2004) of Straight Wire Virtuoso "R" interconnect. I paid $215 for a 0.5 meter pair with locking RCA connectors. I have tried a number of moderately-priced interconnects lately, including Kimber Hero, Bel, Kimber KCAG, Silver Audio Hyacinth, and TG Audio HSR. All of these left something to be desired in my system. A few weeks ago, a friend loaned me a very old version of Straight Wire Virtuoso Platinum. This turned out to be the best interconnect I had tried to date: very detailed and transparent, but just a tad too bright. I took a chance and ordered a new pair of Virtuoso "R". From the minute I tried it in my system, I knew this was the interconnect I had been looking for. Virtuoso R, in my system, seems perfectly neutral, with the best transparency and detail that I have experienced. Honestly, as hard as I try (and I am normally very critical of any faults I hear in cables) I can't find any thing to fault in Virtuoso R. My system for stereo listening now consists of the following, listed in order from sources to speakers: Rotel RCD-1072 CD player Sony C555ES SACD player Straight Wire Virtuoso R interconnects McCormack MAP-1 multichannel pre-amp TG Audio HSR interconnects Conrad Johnson Sonographe SA400 amp Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista speaker cables (bi-wired) B&W Matrix 802 Series 2 speakers (modified by disabling auto protect circuit, for better clarity)

Strengths:
Great clarity and realism. Very transparent and neutral. Excellent soundstage. Good locking RCA connectors

Weaknesses:
The locking connectors can be hard to lock and unlock if your equipment has closely-spaced connectors.

Similar Products Used:
Silver Audio Kimber Kable Bel TG Audio

Price Paid:  $360.00 from Moscow dealer

Summary:
When I connected the old Virtuoso Gold interconnect borrowed from a friend between the CAL CL-15 (both balanced and unbalanced) CD player and the Cary SL-15 integrated amp, I was astonished how detailed, warm and transparent the sound was and decided to order the new Virtuoso "R" modification. When compared to Virtuoso Gold, however, the Virtuoso R sounded harsh and colored from the start, but quite unexpectedly sounded very balanced and convincing with my old Dynaco CDV-1 CD player. Perhaps this cable will be a perfect match for some vacuum-tube CD players with muddly bass and poor resolution.

Strengths:
Excellent resolution and tight bass when used with an inexpensive vacuum-tube CD player.

Weaknesses:
Sounds colored and unnatural with some CD players like California Audio Labs CL-15.

Similar Products Used:
Esoteric Audio "Primus"; Straight Wire "Virtuoso Gold"; Monster Cable 1000 MKIII.

Summary:
Straightwire Virtuoso is my cable of choice and I use it throughtout my system. I do not find it bright at all, although it is true it does not roll-off anything in the treble. You hear your system and if the sound is bright, look elsewhere than these cables (but see the proviso below). There are cables that will soften and sweeten the sound, but generally they sound slow by comparison.

But there is one important proviso - take the outer shield off! The outer plastic shield is a disaster. With it on you will hear a grit and grain that adds a kind of crisp and crunchiness to everything. Take it off (just the transparent plastic outer, but not reversible I'm afraid) and this cable sounds fast, neutral and down-right gorgeous (but never lush). With the outer shield on I prefer other cables such as Magnan Vi, but without the shield it trounces the Magnans easily.

A dealer I have spoken to about this suggests the problem is electrostatic charges attracted by the cheap plastic outer, and so this effect may depend on your circumstances.

With the outer on, 3.5 stars, but with it off 5 stars.

Summary:
I owned the StraightWire Virtuoso Platinum for 3 years when I decided to try out some other cables. The difference was very obvious with virtually every other cable compared to the Virtuoso. The Virtuoso is clearly a bright cable with a forwardness and metalic sound in the highs that quickly leads to fatigue after you have experienced many other cables.
The AQ Diamond is clearly a more relaxed cable but it also robs the music of all the ambience and midrange bloom. The Transparent Ultra has a wonderful midrange but clearly has a rolled-off top end. It took the NBS Master, which is an extremely expensive cable, to get all of the resolution of the Virtuoso and the musical midrange of the Ultra. The NBS cable is clearly in another class compared to all of these. But after a week, I decided the NBS and the Transparent cables were just too expensive to purchase and so the Virtuoso went back in the system. But this experience made me realize that I could no longer live with the Virtuoso between my line stage and amplifier.

I discovered the Silver Audio cables, first the Silver Bullet 6, which is a far more musically enjoyable cable. And then the Cardas Golden Cross which takes on a whole new level in midrange magic with a slight compromise in resolution. And this year I tried the Silver Audio Appassionata which has a level of resolution only expected in the multi-thousand $$$ cables. After playing with these cables in various links of my system, I wasted no time selling the SW Virtuoso and AQ Diamond cables. The Silver Audio and Cardas Golden Cross cables together make a great match with my Linn/GradoSonata/ARC PH2/ARC LS5 II/ARC VT130/Magnepan 3.3R system.

For systems that do not have much of a high level of resolution or an extended top end, the Virtuoso might be a great match. But once you jump from the midfi to the true high end, the Virtuoso will most likely have you want to run for ear muffs or get an attenuator on your tweeters. This is clearly the brightest cable out there that I have heard and I have yet to hear another dealer out there say otherwise. Sort of a shame as this cable does so many other things impressively well.

As I would rate the Silver Audio SilverBullet 6.0 a 4 and that it is less $$ than the Virtuoso, I am tempted to give the Virtuoso a 2 in absolute high-end terms, but in the right system where top-end extension is softened, the Virtuoso would get a rating of 3. Probably a 2.5 would be a good compromise.

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Summary:
Only try these cables if you are willing to buy them. Resolution, soundstage depth/width, bass, and imaging are the best I have heard after trying many high end cables. I use both the balanced and single ended Virtuoso cables and I prefer the sound of the single ended cables(excellent connectors); especially to the amplifier. One warning...these cables are very revealing and if you own somewhat bright equipment that requires Audio Quest cables to round off the sound, look elsewhere. Good job Straight Wire for not altering the sound.