I am a believer. WireWorld!
 

I have to admit, in my 30 years of being into high end audio, I have come across many a cable but really never gave WireWorld much thought or auditioned anything from WireWorld. Well, Shunyata I am not very familiar with either.

Often borrowing/auditioning (since the Cable Company is nearby) and of course living with some of the cables on the high end like MIT, Purist Audio, JPS Labs, Kimber, Cardas, DH Labs, Audioquest, Transparent, Nordost, Audience, and even Zebra, Guerrilla, Bluejeans on the lower end... I'm sure I am forgetting some that I have borrowed before...

Of course the various cables made a difference, of course I had my preference and went through various revolutionary and evolutionary system changes and synergy requirements, of course I loved some of them, of course I didn't care for some of the others.

I thought it was about time to give WireWorld a try. With Ivan's help I ordered an all out assault or a complete overhaul of cables on my headphone system consisting of the fantastic Violectric V281 amp, Gungnir DAC and Focal Utopia headphones that I use for reference. Yes, I can literary hear a gnat fart on the window sill of a recording studio and judge if it was musical or not with this system, so revealing and accurate is the sound. :smoking: But that's with very low end cables I was using. Can it get better I thought? It could!

Above all however, I value richness of tone, the body, the preservation of harmonic structure, the musicality, the weight and proper scale or "meat on the bones of the music" and always have. I will take those parameters above all else when it comes to synergy. If I can squeeze resolution, openness and clarity without sacrificing the overall musicality and enjoyment of my system, of course I will take it.

Well, with a slight hesitation I reached out to Ivan to give my system an overhaul. I felt I had a bit of reserve in my system to allow for a bit of leanness if that is what WireWorld cables of the Silver level would bring. The Silver level features ultra-pure OCC silver-clad copper conductors. I am always a bit cautious of silver as it often sacrifices richness for extended upper frequency response and perceived sense of resolution but tends to lean out the sound making the system sound more revealing and detailed but lean and bare or over analytical. I decided to go for it and give it a try anyway since WireWorld works for so many of our members here on AA.

I ordered the following:
Silver Electra 7 Power cord
Silver Eclipse 7 RCA IC pair
Silver Starlight 7 USB cable.

I wasn't even going to try to piece things out and try to figure out which cable brought what change. This was an all out assault and I don't care which of the above brought a bigger change. It gets too exhausting and confusing switching cables in and out with so much changing at once. All I know is after cabling up my system with WireWorld, I was stunned. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical it would bring a significant change as is very often the case. Yes, if your system is up to par, you will hear it but what, where and how is another story. Not this time... I am blown away.


WireWorld transformed my system. I thought my headphone system was already resolving and not veiled but I heard more resolution. I thought my system was articulate and fast with the Utopia reproducing the leading and trailing edges of transients like very few speakers out there can but I heard more of attack and especially decay of notes as they faded away into the black abyss of silence. I heard my headphone soundstage grow and get more palpable when I didn't think it would get any better than that. It did. That's all the Silver doing all those tricks.

But... The most important part is that I got to keep all my richness, body, weight and musicality! In fact the midrange became even more engaging. Now that was a very nice surprise. I got to have my cake and eat it too. When was the last time you upgraded cables and were completely satisfied with everything that changed??? I can count only very few times, always a sacrifice of one parameter vs the other.

Here is the best part... Break in? What break in? These cables made a profound change to my system instantly! If they break in further and something changes, well, I don't know what else I can ask for.

Did it make sense to spend half as much as my amp to cable it? OH YES! I don't know what I would have to upgrade to get this change!

Of course Ivan made the choice so much easier with his super great deal. You guys know Ivan is great at making a super sweet deal.:thumbsup:

All I can say is, take the all out assault if you can. Don't try to piece it together and second guess yourself with multiple cable swaps and mix and match approach. Pick a range that you are comfortable with, swallow the bitter expense pill, cable up and be done! Sit back and prepare to be amazed. In one swift and complete cable change, my system is that much more enjoyable and I am one happy WireWorld convert. I can sit back and enjoy my system the way it is for a very long time now.

Of course I will do this all over again and will be back for more for my 2 channel system next. :yes:

Thanks again for your help Ivan. :thumbsup:

Serge about eight years ago I bought some wireworld cables from Ivan. At the time I purchased the middle of the line and was very happy with their speaker and balanced cables. About a year ago I upgraded my balanced cables to silver and added a 10 foot starlight USB cable ( for the D1100/Aurender) and like you have been impressed. I'm still using the PPP I traded you for years ago. Who knows I might be ready to give power cords a try :)

Hi Serge....so happy to hear that Wireworld made a profound impact on your system. I too have my system fully Wireworld. I have some silver PC's and the copper Eclipse IC's and speaker cable but the one that really hit it out of the park was upgrading my USB from Starlight 7 USB cable to the Starlight 7 Platinum USB cable. (Compliments of Ivan) Jaw dropping to say the least. :eek2:

I would love to upgrade my IC's and speaker cables to the Platinum but I fear my wife will either kick me out or have me committed.:yikes: So I believe the Silver cables will be my destiny. :smoking:

Awesome Serge, yep same here I really like love the wireworld gear!

Serge...
Congratulations on your audio epiphany... courtesy of Wireworld!
Wait untill you give them time to fully cook for 200-300hrs... gets even better!

Serge... Terrific review! I am very glad to see you have joined the ranks of so many happy WireWorld cable owners. :ok:

Serge.......I really enjoyed reading your WireWorld review. I found myself nodding affirmatively and smiling at several points. Both of my sound systems are cabled with WireWorld Silver Eclipse and Silver Electra power cables. The digital cables are WireWorld, too. I use both Silver Starlight coaxial and Platinum Starlight coaxial cable and two Platinum USB cables. I know it sounds crazy, but I have 14 two meter Silver Electra power cables. I also use a 12 foot pair of WireWorld Silver Eclipse speaker cables from my MC2301's to the Sonus faber Amati Anniversario speakers.

Like you, I cycled many different cables through my systems over the years, Cardas, Audioquest, Kimber, Tributaries, and others. The Tributaries Silver Series interconnects came closer to WireWorld than the others, and I still use them to cable my home theater system, but on the two channel systems I am all in with WireWorld and couldn't be happier. Both the living room sound system and the studio sound system are amazingly rich, pure, detailed, and most of all musically satisfying.

Thanks for the heads up on the gnats fart on the window sill of a recording studio. I don't recall ever hearing one but I'm listening for it now. . :D

That pretty much summarizes it. Maybe "nails it" is more apt.

One question, though...are you saying that your system is so hyper-resolving that you can actually hear gnatural gas? :D

David, definitely put the finishing touch on your WireWorld cabled system with the power cords and be done with it. :music:

I will have to give the Platinum USB a try since I have more than 1 DAC already and will probably have 3 DACs total.

Silver is a great level to be at for ICs and Power cords. I love the balance it brings between the effortless dynamics, the resolution and the rich and all important midrange does not suffer but in fact gets even better. I'm sure the Platinum is magic but we all have our budgets and dreams that need to be balanced as well. :D