hifuguy
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2011
- Posts
- 96
- Likes
- 37
Hi Everyone!
My high-end audio interest has been an amazingly enjoyable, interesting, mistake-prone (learn to recognize the difference between “detail” and “brightness!”) and occasionally frustrating path for the last 30 years. After all these years, I’ve at long-last fully arrived at the place that I’ve always wanted to be in terms of high-end sound and musical satisfaction. I would humbly submit that it turns out that there’s a good reason why we call our music systems, “systems.” In both my headphone and speaker-based music systems, for the first time in all these years, I’m at total peace and feel perfectly content. There’s nothing left to upgrade, nothing left to purchase (but more music!). It’s all so refreshing! I truly wish all of you the same.
The purpose of my writing here is to share what has proven to be the last, but critically important, perfectly-fitting piece of my puzzle. It is the MG Audio Design Planus CU interconnect cables. They are what pushed my music systems over the edge into light-speed, crossing the boundary that psycho-acoustically convinces a listener to believe that you are at a live musical event, and not just listening to yet another very good stereo. As I mentioned, my experience is that high-end audio is a system; from source, to transducer, to room… everything really does matter, including power, power cords and cables. If there is a weak link, then a system’s performance will be diminished to a degree, though exactly how much has been lost proves to be a pretty complex equation. If you have neglected the audio performance of your cables, there is a SQ cost to pay for doing so. For many, many years, I knew cables made a difference, but for all but the last couple of years, I dabbled in the $100-$300 cable arena. Looking at it in retrospect, I would humbly submit that light-speed boundary crossing isn’t quite available in this price range. Sadly unfortunate, but true. You’ll know when you hear it. So read on for more details of my experiences with the MG Audio cables.
It started with the glowing review at Stereomojo, culminating with their rather rare Maximum Mojo award. The glowing praise coupled with the not “too” bad price finally pushed me over the edge. I reached out to MG Audio and found myself in quick, pleasant, professional and knowledgeable communication with one of the principles of the company, Greg. Isn’t this a such a cool hobby? Were else can you do stuff like this? Anyway, I ordered a set of 1-meter RCA CU interconnects for use in my headphone system. Following burn in (and even before) they were a revelation (I know, strong word) to my system and my musical enjoyment. Perhaps they benefited in impact because they were the last, perfectly fitting piece to the puzzle, but nevertheless, I was firmly in light-speed mode. They replaced a famous-brand $800 set of interconnects that were very good, very respected, but not like this folks. I could go on and on about all the usual audiophile qualities that we so often talk about; like lows, mids, highs, definition, resolution, soundstage depth, soundstage width, warmth, nuance, organics, etc. They are all there in spades, especially the definition with zero harshness, deep textured bass and a 3-dimensional soundstage. But really, all of that doesn’t matter to the collective musical experience. We only speak of these specific topics in our circles because we feel compelled to try and explain such things to each other. What really matters is the degree to which the system and the music whisks you away to the musical event, to the musicians, to the venue. All of the countless nuances of musicians and thier instruments matter. Can you hear them? Do you sense them? Do you feel them? I do with the MGA Audio Cables, more than any other cable I’ve tried. The fact that they are pretty darned affordable, at least relatively speaking, means I can live this and not just dream about it. So can you… I hope.
Next, I tried the MGA Audio cables in my speaker-based system. After many variations of the typical high-end-audio configuration (i.e. source, interconnect, preamp, interconnect, power amp, speaker cables, speakers, power cables, etc, I find myself using a unique solution. I use a pair of Dynaudio BM5A powered monitors. Rather than placing them on stands, they are at floor level! They are sitting atop a 2” maple block that is spiked to the floor. On the top of the block, there is a cone at the fount, pointing upward, that tips the front of the speaker way up. You would think that this would be a disaster of soundstaging, but I assure you that such is anything but the case. In fact, it’s magical. You have to hear it to believe it. This configuration means that I only need a long set of interconnects, no speaker wires. So with this context in place, the installation of the CU wires proved to be an encore performance of the result with my headphone system. My previously existing cables were soundly defeated in their ability to deliver palpable, believable music. There’s really not much else to say, other than you would have to pry these cables out of my cold dead hands. If I had it all to do over again, I’d buy them again in a heartbeat.
So let’s review: Great communication, check; Nice guys, check; Professional, check; Amazing Absolute Sound Quality, double-check; Amazing Cost/Performance Ratio, double-check; Cool Looking, check; A Mechanical/Electrical Design That Is Off-The-Beaten-Path (not that it really matters), check. These cables and the company are highly recommended on all counts… I would suggest that you give the guys at MG Audio Design a call and take a set of their cables out for a30-day test drive… what do you have lose? I think you’ll love ‘em!
http://www.mgaudiodesign.com
Happy Listening! Peace!
Headphone System:
Mac Mini – Amarra – Locus Design Axis USB Cable – Wyrd4Sound DAC-2 – MG Audio Design CU Interconnects – Violectric V200 amplifier – Q-Cable Headphone Cable – Hifiman HE500 headphones.
Speaker Based System:
Mac Mini – Amarra – Locus Design Axis USB Cable – Wyrd4Sound DAC-2 – MG Audio Design CU Interconnects – Dynaudio BM5A Powered Monitors at floor level, tipped way up
Power Conditioning:
Triode Power Labs Power Cords Everywhere – Blue Circle PLC Thingie Power Conditioning – ATL Cryo’d Power Outlet.
My high-end audio interest has been an amazingly enjoyable, interesting, mistake-prone (learn to recognize the difference between “detail” and “brightness!”) and occasionally frustrating path for the last 30 years. After all these years, I’ve at long-last fully arrived at the place that I’ve always wanted to be in terms of high-end sound and musical satisfaction. I would humbly submit that it turns out that there’s a good reason why we call our music systems, “systems.” In both my headphone and speaker-based music systems, for the first time in all these years, I’m at total peace and feel perfectly content. There’s nothing left to upgrade, nothing left to purchase (but more music!). It’s all so refreshing! I truly wish all of you the same.
The purpose of my writing here is to share what has proven to be the last, but critically important, perfectly-fitting piece of my puzzle. It is the MG Audio Design Planus CU interconnect cables. They are what pushed my music systems over the edge into light-speed, crossing the boundary that psycho-acoustically convinces a listener to believe that you are at a live musical event, and not just listening to yet another very good stereo. As I mentioned, my experience is that high-end audio is a system; from source, to transducer, to room… everything really does matter, including power, power cords and cables. If there is a weak link, then a system’s performance will be diminished to a degree, though exactly how much has been lost proves to be a pretty complex equation. If you have neglected the audio performance of your cables, there is a SQ cost to pay for doing so. For many, many years, I knew cables made a difference, but for all but the last couple of years, I dabbled in the $100-$300 cable arena. Looking at it in retrospect, I would humbly submit that light-speed boundary crossing isn’t quite available in this price range. Sadly unfortunate, but true. You’ll know when you hear it. So read on for more details of my experiences with the MG Audio cables.
It started with the glowing review at Stereomojo, culminating with their rather rare Maximum Mojo award. The glowing praise coupled with the not “too” bad price finally pushed me over the edge. I reached out to MG Audio and found myself in quick, pleasant, professional and knowledgeable communication with one of the principles of the company, Greg. Isn’t this a such a cool hobby? Were else can you do stuff like this? Anyway, I ordered a set of 1-meter RCA CU interconnects for use in my headphone system. Following burn in (and even before) they were a revelation (I know, strong word) to my system and my musical enjoyment. Perhaps they benefited in impact because they were the last, perfectly fitting piece to the puzzle, but nevertheless, I was firmly in light-speed mode. They replaced a famous-brand $800 set of interconnects that were very good, very respected, but not like this folks. I could go on and on about all the usual audiophile qualities that we so often talk about; like lows, mids, highs, definition, resolution, soundstage depth, soundstage width, warmth, nuance, organics, etc. They are all there in spades, especially the definition with zero harshness, deep textured bass and a 3-dimensional soundstage. But really, all of that doesn’t matter to the collective musical experience. We only speak of these specific topics in our circles because we feel compelled to try and explain such things to each other. What really matters is the degree to which the system and the music whisks you away to the musical event, to the musicians, to the venue. All of the countless nuances of musicians and thier instruments matter. Can you hear them? Do you sense them? Do you feel them? I do with the MGA Audio Cables, more than any other cable I’ve tried. The fact that they are pretty darned affordable, at least relatively speaking, means I can live this and not just dream about it. So can you… I hope.
Next, I tried the MGA Audio cables in my speaker-based system. After many variations of the typical high-end-audio configuration (i.e. source, interconnect, preamp, interconnect, power amp, speaker cables, speakers, power cables, etc, I find myself using a unique solution. I use a pair of Dynaudio BM5A powered monitors. Rather than placing them on stands, they are at floor level! They are sitting atop a 2” maple block that is spiked to the floor. On the top of the block, there is a cone at the fount, pointing upward, that tips the front of the speaker way up. You would think that this would be a disaster of soundstaging, but I assure you that such is anything but the case. In fact, it’s magical. You have to hear it to believe it. This configuration means that I only need a long set of interconnects, no speaker wires. So with this context in place, the installation of the CU wires proved to be an encore performance of the result with my headphone system. My previously existing cables were soundly defeated in their ability to deliver palpable, believable music. There’s really not much else to say, other than you would have to pry these cables out of my cold dead hands. If I had it all to do over again, I’d buy them again in a heartbeat.
So let’s review: Great communication, check; Nice guys, check; Professional, check; Amazing Absolute Sound Quality, double-check; Amazing Cost/Performance Ratio, double-check; Cool Looking, check; A Mechanical/Electrical Design That Is Off-The-Beaten-Path (not that it really matters), check. These cables and the company are highly recommended on all counts… I would suggest that you give the guys at MG Audio Design a call and take a set of their cables out for a30-day test drive… what do you have lose? I think you’ll love ‘em!
http://www.mgaudiodesign.com
Happy Listening! Peace!
Headphone System:
Mac Mini – Amarra – Locus Design Axis USB Cable – Wyrd4Sound DAC-2 – MG Audio Design CU Interconnects – Violectric V200 amplifier – Q-Cable Headphone Cable – Hifiman HE500 headphones.
Speaker Based System:
Mac Mini – Amarra – Locus Design Axis USB Cable – Wyrd4Sound DAC-2 – MG Audio Design CU Interconnects – Dynaudio BM5A Powered Monitors at floor level, tipped way up
Power Conditioning:
Triode Power Labs Power Cords Everywhere – Blue Circle PLC Thingie Power Conditioning – ATL Cryo’d Power Outlet.
