CARDAS Fans: Golden vs. Neutral vs. Presence?


I know the Reference series is considered to have less of the traditional house Cardas sound. However, I've read many differing opinions that leave me in the dark as to what they sound like.

Also, one 6moons reviewer liked the Golden Ref IC more than the Golden Ref speaker cable. He found the speaker cable somewhat lean, though detailed and transparent. The most worrisome trait, though, was that he found there to be a loss of "body sound" to vocals and strings, with an emphasis on what he called the "head sound." And the bass a bit overblowsn. This was compared to Nirvana S-L.

Then there is both the Neutral Ref and the Golden Presence. I know what Cardas says about them on their website, so I don't need their descriptions of how they hear them.

Many people find the Neutral Reference too lean with brightness on less than ideal recordings. And the bass seems to be good, but not as deep and tight as it could be.

Then there is the Golden Presence. Few have written about it, but there are a couple of people who like it best of all the Reference series.

Can I get some informed opinions on both the interconnects and the speakers cables of all three models?
zear
Vinylmeister I used to have the Quadlinks. They are decent for the money but I would step up the Cardas chain or try something else like Harmonic Tech Magic Link or something more neutral sounding. The Quadlinks when I had them and I didn't realize that IC's can make or break your system really held mine back. I would upgrade soon. Just my 2 cents.
I have owned Neutral, Cross, Golden Cross and Golden Reference. Like some others here, I did not care for NR at all. It seemed to have the weaknesses of the other lines, and none of the strengths. I think maybe it was envisioned as a home theatre type cable. The Cross is sweet sounding and I can see why some actually like that cable best. In general, I think the speaker cables are better than the IC's, and my favorite Cardas SC is the Golden Cross. For IC's, I would pick the GR in the Cardas line, but I went with Purist cables over the Cardas. I also owned the Magic Link II mentioned here and thought it was good across the board, but not special enough to keep. I actually like my DIY IC's using the VH Audio receipe with 24awg solid silver cotton wrapped wire, caulk backer, and Furutech FP-108R terminations. I tend to like solid core wire better than stranded, and I do think there is something to the Cardas litz configuration using solid core enameled wire with air tubes. I wonder if their cables would sound different if they used PCOCC wire?
Recently I compared some uber-expensive, very high rated ICs and speaker cables ($6000/m and $10,000/8ft) with the name 'Indra' and 'Dream' against the Cardas GR stuff. The GR made these other cables sound boxy, smeared and two dimensional, to a point they were actually offensive. The ancillary electronics and speakers were all custom built, but wired to the teeth with Cardas hook up wire and Cardas capacitors.

It just goes to show...wires are always system dependant, and there is no absolute best. But a full wiring loom of Cardas (including internally) has produced the most neutral, linear and transparent sound I have ever heard.
I think saxo nailed it.
I’ve had other Cardas but once you step up to the reference line it’s another world.

I was running some basic Audioquest IC for a very long time. Then upgraded to Parsec.
I had Twinlink speaker & changed to Neutral Reference. Significant step in the right direction.

I got one Golden Presence for preamp to amp run. Another significant step.
I got another set of GP & ran from DAC to Pre.

Once using the reference line straight through to speakers, I went from hearing really good sound through two speakers, to the speakers disappearing.

I was playing several different MFSL One-Steps.
My turntable to Pre run was Parsec.
They sounded really good but I was hoping for more. After switching the Parsec to Golden Presence, it was clear that one IC that was holding it back.

Just as with the DAC, after switching to the GP, it went from listening through two speakers to the speakers disappearing.  The MFSL One-Steps are killer.

Now one more set of GP IC & I’m done.

I would like to hear the difference between the NR & GP speaker though...