Fast and exact

IMHO Small lost in deepth of the musical scene

I bought subj on eBay a year ago in 7m long pair. Was trim and reterminated with Homegrown Audio rhodium RCAs in a few 1-1.5m pairs for mine and my friend's needs. Fast, clear and amazing air sound. Sibillants are clear without mess, midrange and bass are very precisiosly. Highly recommended

Solid tight bass and clean and clear midrange

I paid for 70 buck at the local store for a pair of 0.5m XLO type 1 interconnect as they tried to clear up the old stock.
At first I just wanna give a shot since I wanna upgrade my interconnect. I was totally impressed when I hooked this cable up without burning it in. Man... the sound quality is completely different from what I had before. Without burning it in, I already can tell the different, the low becomes deeper and tighter without bommy. After burning it in for 2 days, the mid and high become warmer, cleaner and natural. Not as muddy and over bright as AR pro series interconnect that I had used for 9 months.

Here my system:
Denon 2700 receiver
Denon 360 cd player
AR 310 tower speaker
Bi-wire - low - Straight Wire Quatet's
Bi-wire - High- XLO Pro 650
Interconnect - XLO Type 1

I am completely happy with this cable for the price, performance and build quality. 5 stars all the ways!!!

Similar Products Used:

Acoutic Research Pro Series interconnect

Reference 2 series uses better RCAs

1) Does not have a neutral tonal balance. 2) No image depth. 3) Extremely long burn-in required [approx. six weeks] 4) Do not bend the cable!

For this review, I am talking about the Reference Series 2 single-ended interconnect.

I may seem stingy for giving this product "only" three stars, but the Ref 1A does fall quite a bit short of the best. So three stars it is.

Nevertheless, this is the bargain of mid-priced cables. For years, the best in this rice range was Kimber's KCAG. That cable will work wonders for 75% of you. But what if you need a cable that has a more powerful bass?

Enter the XLO Ref 1A. If you set the volume so that the mids are just right, you will have too much bass. If you optimize the volume so that the bass is just right, then you'll hear a lean midrange and treble. So, if you are the 25% who are lacking bass power, go with the Ref 1A over Kimber's KCAG.

The Ref 1A has razor sharp image outlines, but those images don't have any depth. Think of cardboard cut-outs or Hollywood facades. But on the other hand, the Ref 1A does not smear transients, and those images remain tightly focused, never wandering around.

In this price range, all other cables sound vague, murky, distorted, and/or slow. While the Ref 1A isn't a match for the super duper high-end cables, it is affordable ($330 for a one-meter pair). If you find Kimber's KCAG a bit too much over the top, XLO's Ref 1A is your alternative. And if you don't like the KCAG and the Ref 1A, then you better be prepared to spend a whole lot more!

Similar Products Used:

AQ everything; Kimber everything; Tara Labs ISM-3, The 2, and The One; XLO Signature 1.1

Incredible detail and tonal quality; very good imagine

Slightly accentuated upper midrange.

I have to recant a good portion of what I wrote previously, because I replaced my Monarchy 22B DAC with a Monarchy 33 Pre-amp/DAC, thereby removing a cable. I was able to have an all XLO listening circuit and the results were much different. The overall sound was much fuller and the details incredible. The shift in the upper midrange became much less noticeable. The overall effect was a listening delight.

I never thought that cables could interact so much!! However, all the other cables I own showed dramatic improvement also. The KCAGs were now astonishing, but the XLO was a lot closer than my previous listening experience.
They are showing their age, however, since there are many cables capable of a great musical experience.

Similar Products Used:

Kimber KCAG, ZuCable OxyFuel

Used XLO digital cable as the DAC/Pre-amp interface cable

Price used to be $200/meter when it was called XLO Type 1. Now $330m called"Reference Type 1" but I think it's the same cable.
I bought a .5 m way back in '93 and have never had them out of my system.
JE of Stereophile is right that they increase dynamic contrast. They will also bring out bass compared with cheaper or let's say less capable interconnects. Treble is quite good also.
In my current setup, I use .5 m out of my dac into my passive line drive (Mod Squad), with 1 meter MIT MI330 out of the drive. I'm thinking of purchasing another .5 m to replace those MITs, although the MITs seem quite decent.
My experience with cables in general is: shorter is better, certainly in terms of preserving dynamics.
The XLO has always seemed smooth and detailed. (Smooth is meant not in the sense of glossing over subtlety, just in the sense of not being grainy or hard).
An odd thing happened recently. I reconfigured my system a bit, and for a day or so it sounded rather off, especially at higher volume levels. Finally I noticed that I had plugged in the XLOs in the wrong direction. The XLOs are directional and in a reasonably transparent system you can tell when they are not connected in the proper direction.
XLO should not be a limiting factor in your system-building. It is a good, transparent cable. JE's criticism in Stereophile that they are not quite so deep in the soundstage may be true. But highly detailed, never hard (although capable of revealing hardness in other components), and a fairly neutral refernce that can be used in judging your other components.

One of my favorite interconnect. Many great deals can be had on this cable now that a lot of people are selling it used. This makes it an AMAZING deal. The only problem is I am now using the Signature Type 1.1 which is much better but twice the price!
The sound is best described as transparent and dynamic. This comes at the expense of revealing brightness elsewhere. Hence it goes really well with tube or hybrid equipment. Some people call the treble hot or bright which is fair but they are probably used to hearing MIT or other rolled off cables. The bass is fast and deep. The top end is very well extended. Drums sound amazingly live and crisp. Also good with warm (British) solid state amps and speakers.

Worth 5 stars in the right system. Only problem is you have to watch what equipment you put it on. This cable will liven things up. Dynamics are unmatched, even at 2 or 3 times the price. Transparency and detail are great too.

I have the type 1 0.5 m. I'm not sure that I would call it smooth though its not bright. There is wonderful dynamics, plenty of detail and transparency. The other things like soundstage depth and width are nothing special (at that price).
overall, definitely recommended and seems far more sensible than the twice the price 1.1.

as for cable directionality, this is my take: cable directionality only occurs after you've run in the cable for 100+ hours, if you change direction, it sounds worse.

Excellent bass, a lot of detail

Imaging two dimensional; not a neutral cable; funky cable geometry; very taut

In it's day, this cable was a pacesetter. Alas, now it's an also ran. There is just too much competition out there for it to remain so pricey.

Sound: Just read the review that talks about the lack of balance (my system has no tone controls) and you have it. The bass is a little heavy. The imaging isn't up to current standards, either. It's fairly wide, but not all that deep.

Their white papers go into great detail about dielectric constants and energy disappation, but I doubt it matters all that much when most other manufacturers shield at the first layer with Teflon or Teflon foam also. ( They really knock cables with PVC covers in these papers and I've used a few that sound better than these for far less. )

I have to say that after all of their chest pounding, they haven't come up with a great sounding cable.

Similar Products Used:

All Kimber; ZuCable OxyFuel; All DHLabs; Wire World Atlantis

Bass, treble, imaging

Not the most neutral of cables

Purchased in 1992 for and audio system I recently integrated into my home theater (read: I've only got room for one system). It was after I removed another good cable and inserted the XLO that I remembered what I liked most about this cable. It simply worked BETTER than another other cable I tried (with my Sonographe CD player and Bedini amplifier). YES. There, I admit it: I AM using a cable as a tone control. But let's face it, folks, when you can't afford the best you make do the best you can.

Similar Products Used:

DH Labs BL-1