Audience Au24 SX Speaker Cable Impressions, VS?

Bumping this.

Any owners or others who have compared the Audience Au24 SX's in their systems?

Thanks.

I have upgraded from Ayre AU24SE rca between my preamp and new Ayre 5 VX Twenty to the Ayre AU24 SX balanced cables.  I have used Audience cables for all my interconnects and speaker cables for many years.  My dealer loaned me a set of the SX for a weekend and the difference was enough for me to order the upgrade.  The SE cables are excellent in musicality and detail, but the SX added more weight and clarity to the presentation.  I will be upgrading the remaining SE cables to SX over the next few months.

@drrsutliff : Thanks! Good to hear your personal impressions. Very helpful. Also reassuring that you found enough of an upside to decide on a full loom upgrade from the SEs.

I will post some early impressions vs my current cables in a day or so.

I look forward to you impressions.  The brand new cable that I received is still early in its breakin period.  Unfortunately I also have a new amp undergoing the same process.  Each day there is a large smile on my face. 

@drrsutliff   I will! But you pretty much summarized it for me. : )

Same here also in terms of gear. My preamp is being swapped out because there was a glitch, so I will have to repeat the break in process.

@drrsutliff : any updates now that you have close to another 10 days of break-in?

The Cable Co was very generous with their loaner and extended my listening evaluation to accommodate me.

The Audience Au24 SX speaker cable loaner is a 2m pair with BFA style banana connectors.

2 days of break-in was recommended for the used loaners, but I felt that it took about a week before they came into their own.

My system is going through a number revisions, but was stable (with all components fully broken-in)  for about five days where I was able to formulate the following quick impressions:

The SXs bring a purity to the sound and additional clarity with an amazing ability to showcase inner detail. There is more air and bloom around instruments, akin to what good tubed components do for a system. Bass has more weight but is also tighter. Image size is believably lifelike. Timbre is richer and palpable.

I have a solid state system, so the additional clarity and transparency makes my system lean slightly analytical. If I had a tubed preamp or tubed amplifier this, in my opinion, would be a non-issue.

I placed the order for a new set of Audience Au24 SXs today.

Note: for anyone considering these speaker cables, give them about 100 hours before listening to them critically. In my opinion, they need about 200 hours. These are rough estimates, just to give a sense for the need for time and patience.

I just added a new preamp and a new power-supply to my system. The new Audience cables will arrive on Friday and will go into another system for break in. I will report back in about two to three weeks once all of the equipment has settled in.

Before the SX was released, I tried the Au24 SE speaker cables, loaned from the Cable Co.

Based on your experience, I guess I didn't have enough hours on them, but I had to strain to hear much difference between them and my Mapleshade Double Helix.

Maybe that says something about my system, or maybe the Helix are incredible bargains, or I maybe didn't have the Audience long enough... or it could be a combination of the above.

I should probably check out the SX version at some point.

@mrppv :  Definitely give the Audience Au24 SX speaker cables a try. Not much of a downside to do a loaner through The Cable Company. I'm sure system synergy plays a role. Given the amount of time that has passed, it might be a fun test to conduct, if only to learn something.

****Please know that I don't have any association with The Cable Co.****

These were the first cables I ever auditioned without purchase, and I have to say that I wish I had taken advantage of the Lending Program a long time ago.

The new SXs arrived on Saturday and this is the first time I have gone from having a fully baked cable in-system to having it replaced with the same cable, without any burn-in.

I got to know the loaner SX very well over three weeks since I wanted to be absolutely sure it was going to bring enough of an upside value to justify the spend. 

BTW, The new cable has a long ways to go but has the 'dna' / signature of the fully broken-in cable. 

david_ten - Thanks for the impressions and suggestion.  So many cables to try out... I have auditioned several but it can be a little overwhelming.  I'm currently using Omega Mikro Planars for the speakers.

I did test a loaner pair (Cable Co.) of the new "SX" version of Audience's XLR interconnects not long ago.

You are absolutely right. So many cables and many good ones. I received some strong recommendations, so I may test those out, down the road.

I will check the Omega Mikro’s out. What do you like about them?

And what were your thoughts on the SX XLRs?

Very informative david_ten

I have not heard the newer versions of Audience since the "e" series.
I thought that those cables and cords (10 years ago) were fine indeed.

Happy Listening!

The Mikros seem to be neutral and get out of the way.  Their fragile build is something to consider though.  They are definitely on the far end of the "minimalist" cable school of thought.

The SX XLRs were good, but not a big enough improvement over what I was using to justify the price difference...  although I may not have had them long enough to settle in properly.

@david_ten aren't you using Cardas Clear Reflection's? I seem to recall you answering a post.

If so how do the Audience SX's compare?

@mikey8811 :  I went with the Audience Au24 SX speaker cables.

I have the Cardas Clear Reflection XLRs between my DAC and Preamp and between the Preamp and Amplifier.

I did not compare the SX ICs since I'm very satisfied with the Clear Reflections.

@jafant : The ’major’ reviews of the SX line-up all mention the SX being a significant step up from the SEs..therefore likely even more so from the Es (I’m guessing here) since these cables are my first ever exposure to Audience cables.

@mrppv : Thanks for your response. I'll keep the Omegas and Clearview in mind.

I'm not looking to change the Cardas Clear Reflections...but if I have an opportunity to try the SX ICs out, I just might.

I have been adjusting my system into its new room in our new home and have not been very timely with any SX updates.  My Audience AU24 SX XLR cables reside between my VAC Renaissance Mk3 and a new Ayre VX-5 Twenty. My local dealer for both the Ayre and my SX cables believes 500 hours are needed for the full resolution of each of my new pieces to become apparent.  The system continues to improve though adjusting to the new room makes any true comparisons impossible.  I also had the privilege of an in home trial using well broken in samples but I agree the DNA was noticeable when I first connected the factory fresh cables and incremental improvement has continued daily.  I'm using Audience SE speaker cables and most likely will upgrade to the SX in the future.  

I just finished my 10 day loaner of AU24SX along with the new synergistic research Euphoria k level 3.  I'm running a cary sli80 through thiel cs3.7 and some proac response 2's...I did like the synergistic cable's but found the audience way more engaging!   Music just seemed to flow in a more natural way..excellent details. I' sold on the audience. 

Thanks! for updating this thread - johnnyb43
feel free to join us over on the Thiel Owners thread. I would like to read more about your system featuring the CS 3.7 loudspeakers and musical tastes. Also good to learn that Audience is a sonic match with Thiel.
Happy Listening!

Anybody compared the SX speaker cables to the Hidiamond 8 speaker cables?