Anti Cables - Speaker Cable - Review/ Demo

dorokusai

***UNDER CONSTRUCTION***

boltaction

Test setup:

Pioneer D-10 Turntable with direct RCA
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum output, using WinAmp and the 192khz upsampling plug-in.

Equipment:
Yamaha CR-640 Reciever, tuned
Polk Monitor 5Jr+
Monster generic audio cable
Monster insulated RCA (6 feet), set away from all sources of interference
(initial testing done with horrible no name brand, then Monster, then unknown high quality braided RCA cables. Quality difference was noted and final review based upon best RCA interconnect.)
Anti-Cable cable wiring

First impressions:
Upon arriving home, I was surprised to find a box sitting in front of my house. Excitedly, I brought them into my sound room and opened them up. I was... well, slightly letdown. These wires do not look special, but the paper included describes to me that these are not typical wires. They are pure continually cast copper with a thin surrounding of a red plastic coating. I decided to purposely not research them to help keep my opinion of the product as neutral as possible.

First listen was connected to the secondary outputs on my reciever, and I started the impressions by knowing which cables I was listening to. I began with Tom Waits - Mule Variations. With its gravelly lyrics and clanging instruments, I wanted to get a impression for the midrange seperation. I used dual formats: 320K LAME 3.92 Mp3 upsampled to 192khz and excellent condition vinyl.

I thought the Anti cable's did a better job of presenting higher midrange than my Monster cables immediately, and noticed the high octave pings of Tom hitting a steel pipe in the track "What's he building in there?" really flowed into the room with distinct realism. This was better presented digitally, although the vinyl was very well done as well.

After initial listening, I switched back to monster and re-listened after giving my ers a 20 minute break. Surprisingly, the monster cables did not sound horrible at all and were quite enjoyable.

Afterwards, I directed my audio system towards Dave Matthews Band - Under the table and dreaming. This was presented in 192Khz LAME 3.90 and original audio CD. The instrumental complexity creates a difficult album to properly present using substandard equipment, especially during vocal segments.

Comparing audio formats, the 192khz rip lacked presence but had clarity. Although I compared both formats, I swayed towards the Audio CD version.
Once again, I heard a subtle difference between the cables. This was very subtle, mind you. We are talking light presence difference.

Because my audio equipment is not top of the line, I may be limited by my physical hardware.

Blind testing produced indistinguishable comparison! This was attempted multiple times.


Pros:
Pure Copper
High quality
Clean connectors

Cons:
Needs good equipment
Cumbersome to install