Anybody tried 20th Anniversary Purist cables?

Mapleleafs, You are right, gear first, cables second. I have done the Risch cables as well as others such as various cables made with differing gauges of magnet wire. The results all were excellent. But the results with the PAD cables were much better. Even with the lower end PAD.
Feel free to email me and we can discuss gear. We may disagree on cables but I have read your posts and we agree on quite a lot.
Later,
Chris

Cmo and Tvad, since you both have had a chance to hear the 20th Anniversary Aqueous and the Venustas, I'd like to get your thoughts on which has better high frequency extension. Not "pushed" mind you, but open, clear, still musical.

If there's one thing that holds me back from the Venustas is that I've heard they can be a little "closed" in the midrange. Not as open or articulate as some. Your thoughts on this as well would be very much appreciated.

Well.......... It's like I said earlier; I greatly preferred the Venustas to the AA. I don't know if it was some kind of system mis-match (which I doubt) or the cables were not broken in as advertised. I have not found a cable that I prefer to the Venustas in my system. Are they closed in?........ NOT. I find them to be as detailed as the AQ Sky, but to also have a more textured, three dimensional quality. Guido is right on the money with his assessment of the Sky; it's very revealing and extended from top to bottom. The point that I think the Venustas betters the AQ (and where I differ from Guido's take) is in Harmonic complexity........... and again, that happens (for me) in the midrange.

The one place that I think the AQ betters the Venustas is bottom end extension. The bass is a little tighter and deeper with the AQ.

As to the question of AA or venustas..... I would have to say borrow the cables from the Cable Co. and judge for yourself. I am not trying to be elusive, but it looks like people are having some very different results with the AA at this point.

Thanks guys. You both have been a great help. Like all cable matching issues it sounds like there's no free lunch here. A careful selection of cables is needed even in the highest echelon of IC products.