Your jaw dropping cables

Probably the most jaw dropping expeience I've ever had with cables were the Nordost Valhalla. Stunning cables, though after time I found them too difficult to live with long term. They were so revealing that I found my listening sessions growing shorter due to listening fatigue. I still say they are the best demo cables in the world, but I wanted cables that I could listen to for hours everyday.

I found two other cables that I would say tie for the best for long term listening, IMHO. The Jade Audio Hybrid Gold and Stealth Indra, They are very different, the Stealth being almost as transparent as the Valhalla, but a bit more musical. The Jade being probably the most musical cable I've ever heard with incredible dimensionality.

Competitors? Far too many to even think about listing, sorry.

After blind testing cables with a scoring system for over 30 years with 5 other guys; in my opinion your goal should be to achieve an emotional experience from a truly great cable. Our testing has told us that there are less than 10 manufacturers that have the capability to actually put you in front of the artist at the recording studio. My main recommendation would be do not buy cables that are made in someone’s garage and stick with the same cable manufacturer throughout your whole system that actually has a real factory. In my opinion great non snake oil cables will connect you emotionally with your system. All 6 of use now use an Italian made cable call HiDiamond and we have been for over 2 years. The technology is very different and there is no other cable that scored a perfect score in our blind test. There are very few really great cables out there. If you are looking for emotion in your system this is the best cable I have heard!

I've had a few jaw dropping experiences with cables. My latest and hopefully my last (said that many times as well) are cables from Mark Cole's Sablon Audio, both ic's and power cords. Mark is almost ready with his speaker cables. You can audition his demos which have been making the rounds. Highly recommended.

*Welcome back to the board, John*

Biggest positive impact in cables for me: KCI Silkworm+ interconnect and Purist Proteus Provectus tonearm cable.

My only jaw-dropping experience with cables was thirty years or so ago when I replaced my manufacturer-supplied wire interconnect with an Audioquest Ruby IC. What a difference! I believe there is a magnitude of difference between cables worth hundreds, maybe thousands (maybe?). But I still can't believe the megathousand dollar cables that some cable manufacturers try to foist on gullible audiophiles. I use mostly Kimber KCAG and Tara Labs Quantum and they're just fine for me.