Quote:
Originally Posted by crwilli
I wonder if any AA’ers have been Beta testers???
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I was one of the early beta testers of both the Alpha and Sigma USB cables, in fact I can confirm that these have been in development for 1.5 years!
The very first Alpha USB that I tested in October 2017 was astonishing in that it completely displaced everything I had here and by quite a margin. It was scary good. This was followed a few months later by a Sigma prototype which was better than the Alpha and which stayed in my system until later this year.
In October after my visit to the Poulsbo factory I came home to the UK with a pre production Alpha USB unit. Basically identical to the finished product except that it didn't have the new black connector with Shunyata logo (see Ivan's image above).
So a few observations:
- The "new" Alpha USB sounded at least as good as my Sigma prototype if not a bit better, which surprised me given my recollection of the jump from Alpha to Sigma in 2017 testing.
- Touring a number of UK dealers with the Alpha USB we demoed it against a number of leading brands here (sorry but would rather not get into specifics, since my dealers sell other brands). It beat EVERYTHING and often by a very big margin.
- I also tested the Alpha USB with a buddy against a very "exotic" cable that costs in excess of $11,000 and the Alpha was better. Night and day better.
- I now have both Alpha and Sigma production units. Putting in the new Sigma I was floored by the improvement over the Alpha. OK to be specific, the Alpha is so good you just can't imagine hearing a better cable. So it's quite a surprise when you can hear greater bass heft and improved clarity and coherence across the frequency spectrum.
- The Alpha and Sigma USB cables do need some settling time, despite the promises of KPIP, with some dips in performance after a couple of days. The cable doesn't sound harsh or anything it just doesn't scale quite the same heights. But unless you are doing rapid A/Bs between the two cables you probably won't really notice (my Alpha USB is now fully run in with a few weeks on it, the Sigma has 30 hours or so).
- At $1k or £1k here (I have to add VAT and duty!) the Alpha USB is an audiophile bargain. We are talking a very decent change in SQ.
Cheers,
Guillaume