Shunyata Sigma SC compared to Alpha SC

[gadawg]

I had posted my impressions of the Alpha back in the summer and by all accounts Alpha is an amazing product. Easily bested Transparent reference with my equipment in my room. Let me also say that i believe cables to a large degree are system and preference dependent so it's critical to audition cables for yourself in your system before spending large sums of money on them. That said, he's my thoughts about the Sigma ....

After being blown away by the Alpha I was ready to buy them but my dealer convinced me to get the Sigmas on order and if I didn't think they were even better he would take them back and get a new set of Alphas coming. So I agreed and ordered the Sigmas. They arrived in perfect condition in a cool case that I'll post some pics of later. I know they are claiming their new cables don't require much break in but still, I wasn't expecting what I heard right out of the box. Immediately I was noticing low level detail that I had never before heard on these recordings in my system. The background was even quieter than before by a stunning margin. That is in my opinion the single biggest improvement in the Sigma over the Alphas. Imaging was just as solid as with the Alphas with a small improvement in soundstage depth. The Alphas are amazing here as well so I'm not detracting from the Sigmas here saying they were only marginally better in this regard. But better they are. I pretty quickly got 100 hours on the Sigmas leaving it playing 24X7 so I can't say when the break in occurred but I can say now with 200 hours on them they haven't changed since I logged 100 hours. Break in complete. What I noticed after break in was greater density in the midrange with a slightly more refined top end. Wasn't bad out of the box but break in did make small but welcome improvements. I'm also noticing a more holographic soundstage after break in ... even better than the Alphas but that was one of the things that I was really impressed with the Alphas and yet the Sigmas got better. Could I live happily with the Alpha's? Had I not heard the Sigmas ... for sure a big fat yes!! After hearing the Sigmas I was happy to pay the difference for the improvements and am now spoiled beyond belief. So be careful ... if you hear the Alphas and they check all the right boxes for you and are the right choice financially for you, buy them and don't look back and for sure don't audition the Sigmas..because to hear the Sigmas is to Want the Sigmas! There is no going back at that point so you have been warned!