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Stereovox XV2 vs Zu Audio Ash MK II


I'm looking for a digital cable between my Blu-Ray player and Modwright Transporter.

Has anyone compare the Stereovox XV2 to the Zu Audio Ash MK II? I'm familiar with the Stereovox XV2 and think it's one of the best digital cables for the $$ but no experience with the Zu Ash.

The reason I'm interested in the Zu Ash is I'm very happy with my Zu Varial interconnects. It's a great match in my system and best many more expensive cables.

Thanks!
knghifi

Showing 4 responses by knghifi

knghifi OP
1,668 posts
 
Mooglie,

Very interesting Zu is warmer than the Stereovox. From my experience Zu is very unforgiving, totally revealing and reason the Zu Varials are a good match for my all tube system.

I found some very interesting reviews on the Nirvana Transmission and Stealth Varidig ... any experience with them?

Thanks for your comments.
knghifi OP
1,668 posts
 

Rich,

Your post is very informative and interesting ... Thank you.

I had a Benchmark DAC1 (with the PCX XLR mod) but not the Bel Canto ... your analogy is understood :-)

I've decided to go with ASI Liveline. Srajan tells me it's worth a try ... it replaced all the cables in his system ... so far he has not mislead me yet :-) This could POSSIBLY replace all the cables in my system too.
knghifi OP
1,668 posts
 

Mooglie, I just discovered Stereovox has a XV2 replacement, the XV Ultra. Since I was happy with the XV2 and familiar with the sound, I plan to try to XV Ultra. As far as ASI Liveline, I'll try their spkr cable.

Kenobi, there are so many cables in the market and system dependencies ... there is only a best cable for ones system.
knghifi OP
1,668 posts
 

Kenobi,Mooglie ...

On the Stereovox XV2 Ultra digital cable, I decided to get the Modwright mod for my Oppo BDP83 so canceled my order.

My local ASI dealer dropped off sets of spkr, power and ic cables for me to audition. I had to postpone the audition due to home remodeling until now.

Overall I found the ASI Liveline cables to be excellent ... sound is clean, focus, not fuzzy and open.

Compare to my Synergistic Apex speaker cable, I found the Apex has more body, ambiance, bass ... more natural sounding ... I prefer my SR. On the power cord, compare to my ESP Reference the ASI was clearer but seems to limit current. Music flow more at ease and more information with the ESP.

I could easily live with either but the differences are not worth changing in my system.

XLR connections in my system are much superior to RCA and the dealer only has RCA ICs so comparison was tough. Overall I prefer my Zu Varial XLR to the ASI Liveline RCA in my system BUT (big BUT) I could tell that the ASI are superior. The ASI was less congested, cleaner, less fuzzy ... I would like to audition a XLR ASI Liveline in the future and possibly replace my Varials.
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