Yesterday afternoon UPS Ground delivered a package containing a circular two-zipper bag. Inside the bag was background information on the company and a 1.5-meter-long Shunyata Alpha USB cable sheathed in plastic wrap that contained these warning notices:
The cable now has about 25 hours of burn-in on it. Having observed Shunyata’s explicit warning to the letter, I’ve restricted “cable cooking” to a continuous playback diet of music program, much of it large-scale dynamic orchestral. (At the moment, Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic are in “repeat mode” beating the hell out of Hector Berlioz’ iterations of the “Dies Irae” in his “Symphony Fantastique” [Sony Royal Edition SBM’d 16/44 rip].)
The unpackaged cable:
The Alpha replaces a USB configuration consisting of a Wireworld Silver Starlight 7 cable, Uptone Audio ISO REGEN powered by an Uptone LPS 1.2 and connected via an Uptone USPCB A-to-B connector to the DAC. It earned its keep right out of the zippered bag, but for starters I’ll share the first impressions of Saint Mrs., who joined me in auditioning the cable after about four hours of burn-in:
"I can hear the layering of the chorus behind the principal singers more distinctly." (Program source: "Make Our Garden Grow" from the final version of Leonard Bernstein's Broadway musical "Candide", with the composer conducting on a Deutsche Grammophon 16/44 rip.)
"The voices [of Mirella Freni and Christa Ludwig] reach out further up into what sounds like a larger venue." (The duet "Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio" from Puccini's "Madama Butterfly", Karajan conducting on a Decca 24/96 download.)
"Listen to the resonance of the guitar soundboards". (Carlos Barbosa-Lima and Sharon Isbin playing "Luiza" from the album "To Brazil With Love", 16/44 Concord rip.)
Saint Mrs. does not profess to be an audiophile. Nonetheless, her comments reflect some of the immediately noticeable improvements the Alpha—unassisted by supplementary USB regeneration or galvanic isolation—brings to the listening table. In particular, the unmasking of previously-unperceived low-level detail that imparts expanded spaciousness and greater ensemble definition and articulation. Instrument and voice alike are better defined, as is the space around them. Inner voicing and micro-rhythms are more discernible, and with them a greater sense of pace, rhythm, and timing.
All of this speaks to the “dead quiet”—achieved through the suppression of extraneous electronic noise--experienced with the Alpha. There’s just more
there there even as the speakers continue their progressive disappearing act.
At 25 hours I can hear the bass beginning to divest itself of “wool” while at the same time registering greater gut-thumping impact (noted with Eiji Oue’s reading with the Minnesota Orchestra of the “Fanfare for a Common Man”-based final movement of Aaron Copland’s “Third Symphony” on a Reference Recordings 16/44 rip).
I don’t want to rush things (well, actually I do), but I’m anxious to hear what 200 hours will bring. I'll probably post some more impressions along the way.