Recently I had the fortunate opportunity to hear the ZenWave Audio D4 Interconnect, manufactured by WBF member DaveC, in Madfloyd's highly resolving system. I was struck by how good orchestral massed violins sounded, as well as string quintet. My Monster Sigma 2000 cable -- a design licensed from Bruce Brisson of MIT fame -- also sounded good in the system, but did not fare as well on strings, among other things. I was very satisfied with the sound of my own system, but had always thought that the sound of massed violins was still a relative weak point. So I asked DaveC for a demo cable to try out in my system.
With the Monster Sigma 2000 interconnect I had the corner tube traps in my room on the reflective side (for my system/room, see this thread, with the latest gear and acoustic upgrades on pages 5 and 9, respectively). Yet I have found out that the ZenWave Audio D4 interconnect works best in my room with tube traps turned to the absorptive side because there are more highs. I do think the cable is very neutral (see below), and that in general issues with the tonal balance should be taken care of through adjusting room acoustics. Unfortunately, many audiophiles try to adjust tonal balance with cables. I'd rather choose the truth in audio gear, and adjust the room acoustics if necessary (sometimes even just carpets or the absence thereof can make a big difference).
The highs through the D4 cable, though beautiful, at first sounded a bit disconnected, and drawing attention to themselves in my system/room. Perhaps they also were a bit 'whitish'. Yet now, with tube traps turned with their absorptive side forward, the highs are perfectly integrated, and cleaner and more resolved than ever before -- not by a small margin. The cable gets many things right that the Monster cable simply cannot. For example, in the sixth movement of Stravinsky's Histoire d'un Soldat (Stravinsky cond.) there is a small (high-pitched) triangle that never came through the right way but which in a climax clearly plays on top of the tutti ensemble. Now it does come through, bright and clear -- while at the same time the overall tonal balance is earthy and gutsy (just like with the Monster with tube traps on the reflective side). My jaw dropped when I heard this, because I had known for quite some time that something had to be not right, and now it was. In amazement, I repeated playing this passage a few times! It sounds more like you would expect from the real thing live. This is one of the reasons why I think the cable is very neutral -- and the Monster is warmly colored. While that triangle now shines through, and with the Monster never did, cymbals are not whiter than before; this also holds for recordings that under less ideal circumstances would be on the edge. For example on track 5 of the John McLaughlin jazz rock CD 'To the One' the cymbals can sound a bit splashy, but now they are clean as a whistle and not overbearing. The triangle tremolo at the beginning of Stockhausen's 'Right-Eye Brow Dance' still has a 'golden' timbre but the individual attacks in this fast tremolo are even more distinct than before.
Yesterday I listened to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (Gergiev conducting, Decca). I had thought the recording had sounded sensational before, but this is even better. The first thing that struck me was how free of distortion the sound was. I never thought that a cable could distort, but here was the evidence that the Monster cable had done so. There is a passage in track 11 at 0'47" where unison muted trumpets play a very sharp and concise figure in fortissimo, and normally this distorted grossly. Now it was remarkably clean (I repeated also that passage a few times because I couldn't believe it). The massed violins in track 4 don't harden up anymore once they start playing fortissimo, but keep a beautifully refined and micro-detailed texture. And in track 10 I had found the violins playing mezzo-forte incredibly beautiful and detailed in texture already before, but I wasn't prepared for how with the D4 cable the micro-detail and textural beauty heard before was topped even much more! It floored me. In track 14 there is a passage with swirling figures for the violin section, played forte, that now sounds marvelous too.
Then I listened to the 5th Symphony of Bruckner (Wand, Cologne Symphony Orchestra, on Sony) where the strings had previously sounded quite beautiful. But now it seemed unreal how resolved the violins were in their micro-texture, resulting in this wonderful silky sheen that you also hear live. Miles ahead of what I had before. I had never thought that my system could reproduce massed violins so realistically.
Strings, especially the violin section, on my beloved set of complete Haydn symphonies with Dorati conducting the Philharmonia Hungarica (Decca) had sounded rather horrific on my system until a few years ago, very harsh, like a hard digital 'brick wall'. Eventually, with upgrades of gear (DAC, external power supplies for amps, speakers) and, importantly, also great improvements of room acoustics, the string sound became, bit by bit, better and better. Yet now, with the D4 interconnect, a number of recordings in the series have exceptional string sound in my system, immensely enjoyable. A highlight of my afternoon today.
When people claim that standard Redbook CD cannot reproduce massed violins well, then it seems to me their system/room, including cables, is simply not up to that particular task. The ZenWave Audio D4 cable is just so incredibly 'fast', able to transmit each micro-detail with enormous resolution and lack of distortion. This is also obvious on fast transients of metallic percussion, as mentioned above.
Yet even though strings can sound very beautiful through the D4 interconnect, I don't think the cable itself sounds beautiful. To my ears, it is simply accurate, reproducing the natural timbre of instruments whatever that may be. For example, brutally hard tutti brass attacks still sound just like that through the cable.
The cable serves all kinds of music well, including rock, which is reproduced through it with articulate bass and excellent rhythm & timing.
All in all, the Zenwave Audio D4 interconnect is exceptional, with an unusually favorable value/price ratio. I have ordered a pair from DaveC.
Website of ZenWave Audio:
http://www.zenwaveaudio.com/
With the Monster Sigma 2000 interconnect I had the corner tube traps in my room on the reflective side (for my system/room, see this thread, with the latest gear and acoustic upgrades on pages 5 and 9, respectively). Yet I have found out that the ZenWave Audio D4 interconnect works best in my room with tube traps turned to the absorptive side because there are more highs. I do think the cable is very neutral (see below), and that in general issues with the tonal balance should be taken care of through adjusting room acoustics. Unfortunately, many audiophiles try to adjust tonal balance with cables. I'd rather choose the truth in audio gear, and adjust the room acoustics if necessary (sometimes even just carpets or the absence thereof can make a big difference).
The highs through the D4 cable, though beautiful, at first sounded a bit disconnected, and drawing attention to themselves in my system/room. Perhaps they also were a bit 'whitish'. Yet now, with tube traps turned with their absorptive side forward, the highs are perfectly integrated, and cleaner and more resolved than ever before -- not by a small margin. The cable gets many things right that the Monster cable simply cannot. For example, in the sixth movement of Stravinsky's Histoire d'un Soldat (Stravinsky cond.) there is a small (high-pitched) triangle that never came through the right way but which in a climax clearly plays on top of the tutti ensemble. Now it does come through, bright and clear -- while at the same time the overall tonal balance is earthy and gutsy (just like with the Monster with tube traps on the reflective side). My jaw dropped when I heard this, because I had known for quite some time that something had to be not right, and now it was. In amazement, I repeated playing this passage a few times! It sounds more like you would expect from the real thing live. This is one of the reasons why I think the cable is very neutral -- and the Monster is warmly colored. While that triangle now shines through, and with the Monster never did, cymbals are not whiter than before; this also holds for recordings that under less ideal circumstances would be on the edge. For example on track 5 of the John McLaughlin jazz rock CD 'To the One' the cymbals can sound a bit splashy, but now they are clean as a whistle and not overbearing. The triangle tremolo at the beginning of Stockhausen's 'Right-Eye Brow Dance' still has a 'golden' timbre but the individual attacks in this fast tremolo are even more distinct than before.
Yesterday I listened to Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (Gergiev conducting, Decca). I had thought the recording had sounded sensational before, but this is even better. The first thing that struck me was how free of distortion the sound was. I never thought that a cable could distort, but here was the evidence that the Monster cable had done so. There is a passage in track 11 at 0'47" where unison muted trumpets play a very sharp and concise figure in fortissimo, and normally this distorted grossly. Now it was remarkably clean (I repeated also that passage a few times because I couldn't believe it). The massed violins in track 4 don't harden up anymore once they start playing fortissimo, but keep a beautifully refined and micro-detailed texture. And in track 10 I had found the violins playing mezzo-forte incredibly beautiful and detailed in texture already before, but I wasn't prepared for how with the D4 cable the micro-detail and textural beauty heard before was topped even much more! It floored me. In track 14 there is a passage with swirling figures for the violin section, played forte, that now sounds marvelous too.
Then I listened to the 5th Symphony of Bruckner (Wand, Cologne Symphony Orchestra, on Sony) where the strings had previously sounded quite beautiful. But now it seemed unreal how resolved the violins were in their micro-texture, resulting in this wonderful silky sheen that you also hear live. Miles ahead of what I had before. I had never thought that my system could reproduce massed violins so realistically.
Strings, especially the violin section, on my beloved set of complete Haydn symphonies with Dorati conducting the Philharmonia Hungarica (Decca) had sounded rather horrific on my system until a few years ago, very harsh, like a hard digital 'brick wall'. Eventually, with upgrades of gear (DAC, external power supplies for amps, speakers) and, importantly, also great improvements of room acoustics, the string sound became, bit by bit, better and better. Yet now, with the D4 interconnect, a number of recordings in the series have exceptional string sound in my system, immensely enjoyable. A highlight of my afternoon today.
When people claim that standard Redbook CD cannot reproduce massed violins well, then it seems to me their system/room, including cables, is simply not up to that particular task. The ZenWave Audio D4 cable is just so incredibly 'fast', able to transmit each micro-detail with enormous resolution and lack of distortion. This is also obvious on fast transients of metallic percussion, as mentioned above.
Yet even though strings can sound very beautiful through the D4 interconnect, I don't think the cable itself sounds beautiful. To my ears, it is simply accurate, reproducing the natural timbre of instruments whatever that may be. For example, brutally hard tutti brass attacks still sound just like that through the cable.
The cable serves all kinds of music well, including rock, which is reproduced through it with articulate bass and excellent rhythm & timing.
All in all, the Zenwave Audio D4 interconnect is exceptional, with an unusually favorable value/price ratio. I have ordered a pair from DaveC.
Website of ZenWave Audio:
http://www.zenwaveaudio.com/
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