I purchased John 1's Diamond X3 this weekend to replace my Lapis X3. The Lapis is an amazing cable. It simply sounds good in almost any system. I have tested cables from Silver Audio, Cardas, NBS, Nordost, Other Audioquest, Magnan, Harmonic Technologies, Silversmith and found the Audioquest Lapis X3 to be among the best. Interestingly enough, I use Krell components... People shriek when I tell them I use silver IC's. Silver is great at preserving fine detail between components. For some reason, AQ silver IC's are not bright like other silver or poorly designed silver cables. Lapis in my system sounds almost like Cardas Golden Reference without the bloat or midrange "hump".
The only cable I've heard that bested the Lapis has been a custom made Jack Bybee cable which my dealer would not quote a price on. Apparently it was a one-of-a-kind cable. It was truly amazing. Complete tonal balance without any high-frequency distortion at any listening level. I'm still working on the dealer, trying to get
more information on this cable. It's odd that he is
so secretive about it. If I do manage to get more info, I'll post.
Looking forward to receiving the Diamond X3's from John.
I hope they are an improvement on the Lapis X3.
The only cable I've heard that bested the Lapis has been a custom made Jack Bybee cable which my dealer would not quote a price on. Apparently it was a one-of-a-kind cable. It was truly amazing. Complete tonal balance without any high-frequency distortion at any listening level. I'm still working on the dealer, trying to get
more information on this cable. It's odd that he is
so secretive about it. If I do manage to get more info, I'll post.
Looking forward to receiving the Diamond X3's from John.
I hope they are an improvement on the Lapis X3.