Saturday Interconnect Shootout…
… though maybe not exactly a shootout as perhaps more a tasters test.
We performed the test on the downstairs system – the distance between the EMMlabs DCC2 DAC/preamp and the Audio Note Kegon amps was close enough [barely] for the 1 meter cables to reach.
We heard the TEO Audio MHD-1 “Standard” Liquid Cable interconnects, the Stealth INDRA with the newer connectors, the Audio Note U.K. PALLAS, Nordost VALHALLA and Jorma Design PRIME. Before this whole thing started we had the Nordost ODIN cables on the system for a few weeks.
There were all RCA cables. The TEO, PALLAS and PRIME were warm – the VALHALLA and INDRA hadn’t been used for a month or so.
We just leave the cables in place, and it looks so cool to see them all lying there. Kind of like having multiple tonearms, you can just “turn off, un hook, hook up, and turn on” to switch to a different sound entirely.
A long report will be forthcoming, I think, and the TEO and PALLAS writeups will be in the magazine.
The TEO speaker cable
The short and sweet is that the TEO is indeed liquid sounding – very much reminding me of an MBL sound or a clear-sounding CARDAS. The sound is round, and more forward/room pressurizing than the other cables in its price range. This is a sound that ‘comes to you’ rather than you having to ‘go to it’ – i.e. it doesn’t require your brain to work as hard as other cables in this broad price category do – not the last word in transparency, soundstaging and inner detail [which are all closely related], but you can just sit back and enjoy the music. Personally, I like them.
There are a lot of people we know who insist on this kind of sound – many are good friends who happen to be Canadians. Interestingly TEO is also manufactured in Canada [not to suggest there is a Canadian ‘sound’ but… well, is there one? And is this it?].
Another TEO interconnect (the PDL)
Oh, prices: $2500 for the TEO, about $4K for the VALHALLA and PALLAS, about $6K for the INDRA and about $10K for the PRIME all for 1 meter RCA interconnects.
The PALLAS, although considered a small signal cable for the backs of turntables and digital transports, performed perfectly in this large signal position between the preamp and amp. Sounded just like itself.
The PALLAS has one of the most evenly distributed soundstages and with an uncanny ability to keep separate and distinct the disparate threads of the music. The timbre and frequency response is very, very even up and down the range.
It does not have quite the blackness of background nor the uber resolution of the PRIME [not to mention the ODIN] but this is one of my favorite cables and I put it at a close 3rd place behind the other two. If you look at the relative price of this cable – you will know why we are so EMPHATIC about people taking a closer look.
