Has Anyone Found Shunyata Cables Sounding Thin?

Hi Zd542 and Guidocorona,

The tonality/harmonics are not what I like to hear. I would call the sound thin. There is definitely something lacking. Maybe it's just my system.

I have been using DIY Furutech PCs, ICs and digital cables in my system, on and off -- not in series. But I have experimented with series cabling in the past. Since the Furutech wire is OCC cryo-ed copper, just like Shunyata cables, I figured the synergy might be good. So, I tried the Shunyata digital and IC cables in series with my Furutechs. Wow! Stunning. So, I tried my PCs with the Shunyatas. Equally stunning.

How does this work? Since I run AES/XLR it's easy. Just piggy-back the cables. With PCs I use a burn-in adapter. Which cable goes downstream? Ah, there's the rub. It depends on which sounds better. This part is all trial and error.

Sabai, I recall you working with the "series" concept a while ago, and I sincerely applaud your creativity and persistence. However, I feel you are disadvantaging yourself with this method. For every change achieved by adding an unnecessary interconnect to the chain, and an unnecessary connection, you are also losing information - you are gaining tonal variety at the expense of precision.

My perspective is that whatever goal could be achieved with the series method could be achieved better by selecting proper cables not in series, but if desired by mixing them. If you feel a particular cable sounds thin, then you place yourself at a disadvantage in using it at all. You are merely degrading the end result in order to adjust the thinness. That is not something I would recommend for the reasons I have stated.

I'm not under the impression that I will change your mind in this matter, but I'm sharing my perspective based on use of cables.

++ Douglas

Douglas_schroeder,

If you could hear my system you would change your mind. There is no loss at all of precision or information -- contrary to accepted audio "wisdom". The fact is that my system is at no "disadvantage" whatsoever. On the contrary, it has gained an advantage -- better SQ.

You are speaking from the point of view of audio theory -- not from the point of view of someone who is actually listening to my system. You have never heard my system. The ears tell the story -- not the theory. It is not a matter of changing my mind. This has nothing to do with the mind. It is all about the ears. My ears have been tested to hear 16,000 Hertz. Neither my system nor my ears are "disadvantaged".

Sorry, Sabai, you are wrong in believing that I have not tried this. When you first posted your "series" idea a while back I tried it; I believe I used three brands of balanced cables in the experiment in different configurations. I found it to have marginal benefit, and I could get better results by continuing to mix a shorter run (no series) of cables than by adding unnecessary ones. In fact, the degradation of the sound was pronounced enough universally that I abandoned the method entirely.

Therefore, I do speak from experience, and my experience says it is counter-productive to add unnecessary cables. While you can adjust the tonality, you will be hurting the precision/clarity. That is my position, and I'm not interested in arguing, if cordially, about it. You are convinced you have a "holy grail" type solution, and after trying it I disagree. :)

BTW, I don't have to hear your system to reach my conclusion, just as you have not heard my system and cannot declare my findings invalid. So, people will simply have to 1. draw conclusions based on our disparate findings, and or, 2. try it.

If I were to hear it I would likely very much enjoy the sound of your system, especially since you have worked so hard to tune it. However, I am also confident that given the opportunity I would be able to improve the sound, that is, make it more to my liking, by being able to remove some of the "serial" cabling and mix in as I wished a more streamlined set of cables. Or, more likely, I would replace the mix of cables with an entire set of cables I feel are exceptional.

I simply do not agree with you when you say the system is at, "no disadvantage whatsoever." From my experience (not simply theory) that is not possible when adding cables which are unnecessary to the system. You may prefer the result, but I have experience which leads me to conclude there is degradation happening in your system as a consequence.

Based on my experiments a person may be able to adjust a sound to address a problem using serial cables, but it introduces a different set of problems unnecessarily when attempting to attain a more SOTA-like sound.