Cables hunt for Magico Q7

[Stereo-head]

Originally Posted by TOGA

here they are.

Looking at that photo makes me feel like a kid walking in to Toys' r' us

[TOGA]

Stereohead, it 's exactly like that.

[TOGA]

I listened to all SC except Kubala tonight.
I am happy to report that all of them deserve to be high end cables. All of them
will serve most high end system very well.
One show their strength 95% of the time, only 10% on certain types of music that they show what they're seriously lacking in body and weight, noticeable in male voice for example.
one play exciting sound but quite artificially processed, like artificially flavored orange juiced, but some may like it,.
one is very well balanced, do not lacking in anything, voices not as rich as my cables,
some details missing, but overall very satisfying sound. price is very right too. I would definitely choose this one if I don't already have TR Reference MM.
back to my own SC, compare to the third samples, tonal is very similar with my cables
richer in voice, weightier down low and more details across spectrum.
One interesting points is that on Kubala and Shunyata, the way they terminate spades to copper wire do not look very professional at all, the work is like DIY.

no time for any IC and Kubala SC yet for now

Toga
PS this is a casual comparisons, it is not ideal review, so do not take it seriously.
just wanna share.

[TOGA]

Interconnect were even more interesting. They're all sound different, but none can be call
upgrade to each other. just different. choice will be by personal preference rather than
selecting the better one.
With all showing positive result then I will tell the name. Keeping everything constant, I swap IC out of DAC one by one.
1. Shunyata Anaconda Zitron, they were very very beautiful sounding, smoother sweeter than other. treble smooth and less energy but never lacking. the smoothness and pleasing sound appear on every song I played. similar to Emotion that I tried long ago. Best bang for the buck.
2. Elation, absolutely neutral tone, don't know what to say because everything is just there, colorless may I say ?
3. Transparent Ultra MM2, very similar tonality to Elation, stronger impact, more energy across the spectrum, like Elation with sport package. but they never sound fatigue
or hard at all, I used this since 2007, that's how happy I am with them.
4. the other one which I may not stabilise them long enough , sound similar to watching TV with Sharpness control fully up, and of course I don't like this artificial feel.

If I upgrade from TR Ultra to any one of them, I will get a different sound, but all equally good. So this upgrade doesn't seem necessary at this point. But Transparent offer
4 more steps to climb, while what Shunyata offer right now is there best.

One last thing to play today is to try Elation SC, a loom of Anaconda Z all at once and Elation loom all at once.

Toga

[Manbient]

Toga,

I'm new here but I just want to say thank you for sharing so much of your experience with us. You are playing with the kind of gear many of us only dream about and will probably never get to test these sorts of comparisons ourselves! I've been dreaming about Magico since the first Mini came out, and it was only this year that I even heard Magico the first time! By reading your posts I can at least pretend I know how this gear sounds

[TOGA]

Thanks Manbient, one thing to remember in this hobby is that we will never have sound same as live performance, amplified or
un amplified. So choose what we like. Many kinds of coloration or distortions is already recorded and we playback by adding some more. Sound good at home may not necessary be realistic kind of sound. We don't want a drum set sound that real in living room all the time , for example , as real drum set are very loud and cause ears strain. I explore new stuffs and enjoyed doing so , being An engineer that is my nature, so I am not chasing perfection here or trying to get the absolute sound, I do it purely for pleasure, creating a pleasant sound and music.

A this moment frankly I don t care about how Q7 sound anymore, I just care to learn how each cables sound like . Q7 is like not in the loop Anymore. It s like testing many different cars on unlimited space flat terrain. That s how Q7 play the part here.

Now I am going removed every Transparent cables out and replaced with Anaconda Z. To see how they work as a team.

Toga

[bzr]

Toga, I'm guessing a full Zitron loom of the Anaconda vintage will win as an everyday listener.

[Cellindo]

Dear Toga, as you are lucky enough to have full sets of IC and SC, I believe the ultimate tests is to compare brand against brand, both IC and SC from the same brand being connected at the same time.

I understand you can do a Shunyata versus Transparent versus Kubala Sosna shoot-out.

Because you are very experienced in this hobby, you know that you'll need 30 min to 1 hour "stabilization time' after each IC and SC cable swapping before being able to make a significant judgement about sound quality.

Your findings will be very interesting!

Cheers from France

[TOGA]

Sadly, but second pair of IC are Python Zitron rather than Anaconda. Adding them between pre>power instead of Transparent Ultra made sound too mellow and lost energy. I prefer only one Anaconda from Dac and Transparent pre> power more.

Back to Elation, one from Dac is great, adding more from pre and sound become liger in weight and brighter overall.
Bass weight is reduced, confirming to my observation that Transparent always provide more lower bass energy while
Not the most airy cables afound.

[TOGA]

What kept constant here on power side are

Furutech GTX Gold + Audioquest WEL PCs feeding direct to Moon amps.
Furutech GTX Rhodium + MIT Oracle AC2 with Oyaide 004 feeding Running Spring Maxim power conditioner.
And from Maxim, Anaconda zitron PC feeding disc transport, Transparent PLMM2x with Oyaide004 feeding DAC,
RSA HZ feeding RC Ref40.