Audience Au24 vs. Shunyata Aries IC

OK, with the usual caveat that cabling issues are very system dependent, I can tell you that I've heard both of these in my system and clearly preferred the Aries. (Actually I really like the Shunyata Altair but that wasn't your question.) To my ears the Aries has more of all the qualities you list, but the thing that stood out most was that the tonal balance seemed truer. Pianos sound like pianos, strings like strings. Much better soundstage as well. The Au24s are a fine interconnect and there are a lot of people that love them, but they didn't work for me.

The two IC are quite different sounding; figuring out which will work in your system is a "try them first" thing, IMHO. I have a system's worth of the Au24--including speaker wire right now. I am also very familiar with the Shunyata Aries IC's and Lyra speaker wire as I have a friend who has loaned me his Shunyata cabling for weeks-long periods a few times.

Au24 IC's: musical, transparent, slightly dark, good sound staging but does not allow the as much "air" to be heard as is possible. The Au24 can accentuate certain upper mid frequencies if the amplitude goes up in that same frequency band.

Aries IC's: Very musical, dynamic, exciting, just slightly bright, good sound staging (as in stage dimensions) but can be slightly diffuse in specific images. Tonal colors come out more than compared to the Au24. Aries are more involving cables on the musical-emotional side. Not as good lower bass extension as Au24.

Lyra Speaker wire: Smooth, quick, detailed, good sound staging, good imaging, good frequency balance and extension.

Au24 Speaker wire: Smooth, a little less detail, slightly darker than Lyra, musical but not as involving as Lyra.

The Au24 cabling sounds quite good in a complete system, from source to speakers. The Au24 Speaker wire does not sound good with Shunyata IC's upstream. Not a problem for the Lyra speaker w to have all Au24 upstream. I can see how Au24 could easily sound better than the Shunyata stuff in some systems. The Au24 has a kind of "orgainized" quality whereas the Aries has a bit of an exciting, propelled-forward-by-the-music quality.

Hope this helps. FWIW, I am ordering two pairs of the Shunyata Altair IC (mid-level), and will be hearing a pair of the Andromeda S W in a week or two. I have heard the Altair IC's in my system. Nice, very nice.

to really hear how the audience sounds or the shunyata....you have to wire the system with the accompanying power cord..