[crwilli]

Even as a devout digital audiophile, I know I still have much to learn and as we all agree, this is the place. My latest lesson comes courtesy of SCAudiophile (Mark) who guided me toward my purchase of a 1.5 meter Shunyata Research Alpha Clock 75 Digital Cable (Thanks Ivan!). While I have a clock and a cable, it was only recently that I started digging into the idea of having a properly matched cable in terms of impedance. That and general audio nervosa had me searching for ‘better’.

I was using a 1 meter WW Gold Starlight 7 clock cable to connect my Esoteric G-02 to my Esoteric K-03x. That chain improved my system when I first installed them about 2 years ago.

After letting my system warm up for two hours, I listened again to many of my playlist demo tracks. I know them all very well.

- Bubbles - Yosi Horikawa
- Danny Boy - Jacintha
- One Voice - The Wailin’ Jenny’s
- Children of Sanchez - Chuck Mangione
- All Blues - Brian Bromberg
- Things Ain’t What They UsedTo Be - Dave Gruisin

It is a cross section of tracks that provide bass, huge sound stages, intimate male and female vocals and large dynamics. (Thanks to Jim, Dan and Dave for a few of these!). The WW Gold Starlight 7 has hundreds of hours on it and the Alpha Clock 75 was fresh out of its delivery box. (No patience)

I paused ROON and disconnected/connected the cables without touching any power or volume controls. It made for fairly quick cable to cable comparisons.

On ‘Bubbles’, the Alpha Clock provided a slightly larger stage which is hard to imagine as this song already has sounds that seem to be coming from outside my room. The real difference was heard in the clarity of the deepest bass notes which start after the initial bouncing balls. It simply sounded clearer with better separation from each sound.

On ‘Danny Boy’, both cables provide a black background and the warmth of Jacintha’s voice in the early a cappella stage. The Alpha Clock 75 differentiated itself in the details. More lifelike sounds such as a breath she takes. It sounded more like she was actually here. Subtle...

I did not hear much difference between the cables on the dynamics of ‘Children of Sanchez’ which hits hard when the horns first kick in.

On ‘One Voice’, the Alpha Clock 75 bettered the Gold Starlight 7 with richer harmonics from the acoustic guitar being played and again, more separation of all the sounds - instruments and voices all from each other.

Cutting to the chase. The 1.0 meter WW Gold Starlight 7 retailed for $500. The 1.5 meter Shunyata Alpha Clock 75 retails for exactly twice that much, $1,000. My 1.5 meter version retails for $1,160.

The WW cable would have lived with me for years had I not read a few posts on AA from people with ‘Street Cred’. While twice the price, I am very pleased with the bump in SQ the Shunyata Alpha Clock 75 has given me.

Improved inner detail (separation of all sounds, almost each guitar string being struck), less muddy bass bigger sound stage. I’ll take it!