Zensati, Kubala Elation, Audioquest K2, and Graditech

Had a fun time demoing all these speaker cables over the last two weeks.

The Audioquest K2 had an enhanced midrange, but that aside, I found it less live, more laidback than the others. Graditech had been my preferred option because it was slightly more open, excellent across the spectrum, did not seem to be doing any evils such as rolling off highs, was quick enough. Then I put in the Kubala Elation, and that was a bit quieter, very effortless in orchestral music across the frequency. It was slightly less open than the Graditech and less lively. With my Logans, I prefer a nearfield sound, the Kubala was holding it back a bit.

By now my impressions were that as long as a high end cable does not do something bad, just go for the best deal. I could buy either the Kubala or the Graditech depending on what price I got.

Then I put in the Zensati 1, which is well over 4 times the price of the Graditech, and this was the first wow cable I have heard, with the wow mostly visible on orchestral and operatic music. It was doing everything - more 3d, more soundstage, great slam, the depth of the orchestra was more visible, the operatic vocals were sounding excellent. It seemed both lively and easy on the ears. I could hear some music I hadn't heard before. I stopped playing audition tracks, and ran through a few of my favorite songs. It is indeed excellent, demo highly recommended. Also fast and airy. I won't be buying it, I still feel money is better spent on the other hifi components as long as one keeps out a bad cable, but this cable was indeed superb. I might end up settling for Graditech

Bodhi said:

Cool comparo, although if you're reviewing the KS Elation cables, it would be a disservice not to try Jorma Prime which are in a similar price bracket. Zensati are massively over-priced cables made from relatively cheap Taiwanese cable from Jinwei dressed up with fancy connectors. Zensati is also not a real company, Mark Johansen just puts them together in his garage. If you want to go Zensati, just look for Jinwei cables on Ebay for 1/10th the price.

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Yes I am aware of the Jinwei scandal. I had tried their 12k interconnect before and found the VD RCA to beat it. but these speaker cables are seriously good.

As for the price unless they are really cheap I am not buying any of these yet, unless I get a great used deal on KS or Graditech. I haven't heard of Jorma in the UK, not sure if anyone can demo but will look for it.