So today I’ve had the chance to finally do a cable (I/C’s) comparison that I’ve wanted to do for a while. I’ve got standard Snaics everywhere apart from the TT to Stageline. I’ve been running some Audioquest Diamondbacks as they always seem to punch well above their weight. I also have a couple of meters of grey Snaic in the drawer and have been thinking of getting some of it terminated so I’ll have Snaics right through the system.
I wanted to try out some other cables I’ve got first.
Chord Cobra Plus
Van Den Hul The First
Kimber PBJ
Tara Labs Prism 3300i
Of these I tried the Tara Labs first as these cables have been that pair that have never really fit any where in any previous system other than between a Rotel Pre/Power combo. This was going to be a quick trial before I moved on to the other more talented cables…or so I thought.
In short I’d say the difference and improvements so far are substantial. In every way but mainly musicality. I’m not sure I want to take them out now as its almost as bigger an improvement as a change of cartridge or phono stage.
These cables have always been like a filter yet in this current system they just fit and disappear. I’ve actually pulled out some of my older discs that I always thought were typical 80’s/90’s recordings and am hearing things very differently. PRAT are improved significantly.
So this little boy is as happy as a dog with two bones!
Last time a damsel left me high n dry i felt just like this.
Musical…dont you just love that word.
To me musical is just the opposite of neutral, a different description could be exciting rather than boring. I’ve owned studio monitors and they were boring (yet neutral and precise), and i’ve owned fun (musical) speakers that weren’t very neutral or precise.
I personally don’t feel that musical is a vague term in that regard, but other people may have different thoughts about this…
Edit: after having thought about this a bit more and rewatching part of the video that @Simon-in-Suffolk posted in the other thread, let me retract that… Musical is indeed a vague and subjective term, and it shouldn’t really be used to describe sound characteristics in order to avoid ambiguity. 
As long as its seen as subjective, how can it cause ambiguity? 
I’ve long since given up trying to assess any hi fi any other way than subjectively.
Well the ambiguity is that if i use a term and think of a particular characteristic, and you have a different idea of what the term implies, then we are not talking about the same thing anymore. So rather than using a word like for instance ‘musical’, it would be better to describe a characteristic with terms that are less ambiguous – tonal balance for instance, or frequency response / dynamics.
If possible ofcourse, sometimes it’s really difficult to convey with words how a sound actually comes through. But if i tell you that a certain cable or speaker sounds musical, then you really have no good idea of what i’m actually trying to say.
Fair enough. 
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