Analysis Plus Solo Crystal Oval 8...OMG!!
I seriously can’t believe what these cables are doing to the sound in my rig. I had them awhile ago and couldn’t justify the price (used) so I pulled back and returned them...
Yes. SAME HERE, exactly. Funny. I came full circle too, long reply if interested. Took a while to find an approach. :)
All system dependent of course but there is a DIFFERENT SOUND to the AP cables too up and down the lower line too.
I tried the AP Crystal Solos a while back, thought "too much $" for Solos, and returned them - just like you. Four months later sold some unused gear, tried various combos of my Cardas Parsec (nice, copper), in combination with my Apature JJ (silver-over-copper) interconnects. Had many pairs of Cardas too over the years (MicroTwin, Hexlink, Golden Cross, Belden 8402, AQ), now own Parsec, tried Clear Cygnus recently), li synergy with current system when streaming with ladder DAC in lossless. Just could not get it right when doubling up on the two pairs of Parsec (DAC-to-Pre) and (Pre-to-Mono-Amps) was too much of a good thing, too rolled off, loss of sound stage and depth. I kept going back and pulling one pair of Parsec (nice for $) and re-inserting my Apature JJ with silver-over-copper between pre-to-amp (tad too much detail or glare, more forward) and loss of sound stage I suspected. I run tube amps and so with lots of NOS front-end tubes could not regain the depth of stage I was use to over decade. "Had to be my cables", and sure enough. Spoke to Tech Rob at AP. He explained more about he Crystal Solo, yes they are copper "different extrusion process".
GO BACK and TRY IT AGAIN!, dealer demo:
1) AP Copper Oval-In MiCRO interconnects (1M) inserted (test #1)
- Liquid smooth, musical, a tad rolled off but nice, great for $. A peak in midrange and bass with highs rolled of a tad more. Could be nice for a brighter solid state amp like i used Cardas Golden line for a few decades. Not as revealing and less synergy top to bottom for my full tube amp system with tube DAC. Yes, ton’s of NOS tube rolling, it’s a cable issue for sure. Gap: still missing some stage depth and detail and resolution, but nice. Memorable. More of a wall of sound across speakers side to side. Have a slight veil over the top-end, which produces a more full bloom sound. Neat at first, something missing with detail. AND, I could not forget about former "Crystal Solo" that I did not give enough time to on my prior test four months ago. Break-in, really? Never let them rest last time, hmm. Back to dealer to grab the Solos again...
2) AP Solo Crystal Oval interconnects (1M) inserted (test #2)
- Instant detail, cleaner, and improved resolution, larger and deeper sound stage - immediately. Not as musical or milky smooth as the Copper Oval (at first). However the Solo has more twinkle coming through with detail, now in the opposite direction wondering IF they will smooth out, same as my first demo and return. Ah, dealer says "give them some time". Believer? Ah, we’ll see. Then I start reading people claiming "to give Solo Crystal first 20-100 hours of resting, settling in, cable tension relaxing" after being coiled up in a box. Decided to give them a lot more time, a week or more... we’ll see...
- After 20-hours I am starting to notice a slight more musicality coming through now and it’s NOT just me getting use to it. I appreciate the larger and deeper sound stage of the Crystal Solos too. At 20 hours my speakers have petty much disappeared now. Now running Cardas Parsec at sources/DAC and Solo Crystal between Preamp and Amps. Can flip-flop them for evermore clarity if needed. Subtle details way out there coming through now that I could not hear with Cardas Parsec, or AP Copper oval, or from my other Apature silver-over-copper ICs. Nice, gonna keep the Solos for sure.
Decision:
Returned AP Copper Ovals (nice, musical, smooth, more veiled over), and bought the Crystal Solos (more open, bigger sound stage, more resolving) and giving them more time to settle in.
Other Info:
These AP cables provide a different tone and approach than any of my former Cardas. And, mixing is an option, so i am. Works well. Some say stay with like cables, I don't believe that any more. Each component has it's own internal wiring, and so I've learned to just try different ICs to figure out does/not work well.
Final Solution:
Hybrid, mixed my Cardas on the front-end with AP on back-end between amp to preamp and now I’m getting a unique sound, Nice, not too detailed and not too milky smooth. Just about right for my system, amps, speakers, fine tune achieved. No more tube rolling! Done :)