BAT Preamp

[blackraven]

Arnoldys, I am not sure that I get your point. If you are posting about DAC's, my current DAC would blow those out of the water. It was a $1600 hybrid tube-solid state dac and sounds great. The DAC's that I am looking at are in the $3,000 to $4000 range. I will look for a used one.

[Feanor]

I have how ever heard differences in some cables. My AQ Coral IC's had a slightly warmer sound than the BJC's and they were less sibilant. The Tara Labs RSC's when placed in my main system were way too bright. My Monster M1000 and M950's sound like my BJC's. My Silnote IC's sound a bit warmer than the BJC's. And my Virtue Audio cables are junk.

I do expect the Cardas Parsec's to have improved sound based on user reviews. It seems that the reviews on Cardas cables are that they all lean to the warmer side without losing detail.

On a certain budget deluxe cables might be worth looking into. As I mentioned, some brands are designed to sound "different" and so plausibly will sound different. If you have, say, a $3000+ preamp connecting to a $3000+ amp, spending a few hundred for hundred on I/Cs to get even a subtle change could be worth it -- the big problem that remains is finding the exactly right I/C: the great advice is to make sure you can return them or resell them without too much loss.

My advice remains the same: if you have low to upper mid-range equipment, it's wisest to invest your money in improving other components rather than spending it on expensive cables. The 4 foot XLR Cardas Parec that I would need are $450 at Audio Advisor; to be blunt, I have better uses for $450, whether on hi-fi equipment or many other things.

[Jack in Wilmington]

On a certain budget deluxe cables might be worth looking into. As I mentioned, some brands are designed to sound "different" and so plausibly will sound different. If you have, say, a $3000+ preamp connecting to a $3000+ amp, spending a few hundred for hundred on I/Cs to get even a subtle change could be worth it -- the big problem that remains is finding the exactly right I/C: the great advice is to make sure you can return them or resell them without too much loss.

My advice remains the same: if you have low to upper mid-range equipment, it's wisest to invest your money in improving other components rather than spending it on expensive cables. The 4 foot XLR Cardas Parec that I would need are $450 at Audio Advisor; to be blunt, I have better uses for $450, whether on hi-fi equipment or many other things.

I did see a pair on Audiogon this morning for $315. I'll need another pair of XLRs when I get my preamp and these are on the list to check out.

[blackraven]

I found a pair of 1 meter Parsec's for $250 which is about my limit for Cables.

Here is a user review-

I am in the process of switching from mostly Kimber to almost all Cardas Parsec.
Reading the blurb about the Parsec i thought 'clarity with a bit of Cardas warmth'? Yes exactly what i want for my slightly lean system. (mainly caused by my power conditioners.. My craving clarity has it's price)
I bought one 1 meter Cardas Parsec from The Cable Co to try it out... and immediately liked it. (the wire I had in that position I thought was good, now clearly sounded like crap.) So it goes.

The improvements are worth the cost, IMO anyway. So far the savings of going to The Cable Co (including trade ins of some of my old cables, has been $1000.(compared to if I paid list at a local dealer.. of which I have no local Cardas dealer FWIW) i spent cash $1,850, so far. Maybe another $900 spent (3x 1m sets more) to really finish the job. Two installed with three sets of the Parsec are on their way.. Like I wrote, this is a new passion.
The Parsec take a long time to get to sound wonderful as compared to merely good.. 300 plus hours. So that is annoying.. But the rewards are worth the effort. I bought one used Cardas Golden Reference, and I have one Neutral Reference.. The 'tone control' side of the equation. After I get the seven meter pre to amp in and burned in, (My biggest cost) I will experiment to finess the sound with the two Reference wires.

My old cable flame was Kimber. I had some KCAG, some PBJ, some hero.. no more. they are all superceeded by the Parsec. Light Years...LOL. Kinber was pretty neutral, especially the Hero.great wires.... Have to say i enjoyed the cables for many years.. The new Parsec just crushes my old stuff though At least for me. I always had respect for Cardas, just wanted the clarity of kimber more. Now Cardas has certainly moved into the 'Clear' arena.

One other wire i own are old Mark Levinson wires.. Bought the $2 ft raw wire back in the early 1980s.. Reterminated it with vampire 'Tiffany' style RCA a few years ago (the original RCA on those wires were Radio Shack gold plated RCA.. How times have changed, and me too) . Nice stuff i still use now and them.

I have always written about having restraint in spending on wires.. Ten percent.. Blah blah.. Well My new expenditure is not too bad considering the total cost of my stuff. If I can sell off a few more of my old wires i would be only near 6% of total. (if I add in the Golden Reference i just bought on a whim, because the price was right plus I was certain it was not a counterfeit, it moves the percentage to over 7%) With my powercord cost included, it still all is near the 10% range. So I am happy on that front too.

PS: Steves 'neutral, detailed ,romantic comment in the header to this series.... All three on the Parsec. Which I why i am going crazy buying a full set.

[frenchmon]

I'm not surprised that you don't hear any difference between deluxe Cardas adaptors and the cheaper one. Hate to say it, but I'm not surprised that your BAT contact recommended the Cardas -- audiophile industry representatives & reviews tend to recommend the more expensive stuff. I wonder why that would be?

I recent suckered myself into buying a pair of 4', cryo-treated Neotech NEI-3004 XLR's from Take Five Audio. They were to replace a 7' pair of Belden 1800F from Blue Jeans Cable. The Take Five Neotech's aren't super expensive but did cost about 2x the Blue Jeans Belden. There is absolutely no difference in sound that I can detect.

My advice was and is don't spend money on high-end cables. The sound differences will be extremely small if not imaginary -- unfortunately we can't minimize the placebo effect on audiophiles.

Feanor....didn't you say you have hearing loss? Also, don't know what gear you have other than the Pass, but every component in a system has to be able to pass on these little nuances with no problem. My Rotel gear which was ok mid fi gear would not pass on the detail from more upscale cables.

[frenchmon]

On a certain budget deluxe cables might be worth looking into. As I mentioned, some brands are designed to sound "different" and so plausibly will sound different. If you have, say, a $3000+ preamp connecting to a $3000+ amp, spending a few hundred for hundred on I/Cs to get even a subtle change could be worth it -- the big problem that remains is finding the exactly right I/C: the great advice is to make sure you can return them or resell them without too much loss.

My advice remains the same: if you have low to upper mid-range equipment, it's wisest to invest your money in improving other components rather than spending it on expensive cables. The 4 foot XLR Cardas Parec that I would need are $450 at Audio Advisor; to be blunt, I have better uses for $450, whether on hi-fi equipment or many other things.

Feanor....most mid fi gear wont pass the greater detail that a hi end cable will. The best way to listen to cables is to call "The Cable Company" and borrow cables to try in your system. All they charge is 5% and you can apply that to any purchase any time. And they have new as well as used cables. They have just about every cable...if they are not listed, do a search or just call them up. High End audio, Video & speaker cables from The Cable company

[frenchmon]

I found a pair of 1 meter Parsec's for $250 which is about my limit for Cables.

Here is a user review-

I am in the process of switching from mostly Kimber to almost all Cardas Parsec.
Reading the blurb about the Parsec i thought 'clarity with a bit of Cardas warmth'? Yes exactly what i want for my slightly lean system. (mainly caused by my power conditioners.. My craving clarity has it's price)
I bought one 1 meter Cardas Parsec from The Cable Co to try it out... and immediately liked it. (the wire I had in that position I thought was good, now clearly sounded like crap.) So it goes.

The improvements are worth the cost, IMO anyway. So far the savings of going to The Cable Co (including trade ins of some of my old cables, has been $1000.(compared to if I paid list at a local dealer.. of which I have no local Cardas dealer FWIW) i spent cash $1,850, so far. Maybe another $900 spent (3x 1m sets more) to really finish the job. Two installed with three sets of the Parsec are on their way.. Like I wrote, this is a new passion.
The Parsec take a long time to get to sound wonderful as compared to merely good.. 300 plus hours. So that is annoying.. But the rewards are worth the effort. I bought one used Cardas Golden Reference, and I have one Neutral Reference.. The 'tone control' side of the equation. After I get the seven meter pre to amp in and burned in, (My biggest cost) I will experiment to finess the sound with the two Reference wires.

My old cable flame was Kimber. I had some KCAG, some PBJ, some hero.. no more. they are all superceeded by the Parsec. Light Years...LOL. Kinber was pretty neutral, especially the Hero.great wires.... Have to say i enjoyed the cables for many years.. The new Parsec just crushes my old stuff though At least for me. I always had respect for Cardas, just wanted the clarity of kimber more. Now Cardas has certainly moved into the 'Clear' arena.

One other wire i own are old Mark Levinson wires.. Bought the $2 ft raw wire back in the early 1980s.. Reterminated it with vampire 'Tiffany' style RCA a few years ago (the original RCA on those wires were Radio Shack gold plated RCA.. How times have changed, and me too) . Nice stuff i still use now and them.

I have always written about having restraint in spending on wires.. Ten percent.. Blah blah.. Well My new expenditure is not too bad considering the total cost of my stuff. If I can sell off a few more of my old wires i would be only near 6% of total. (if I add in the Golden Reference i just bought on a whim, because the price was right plus I was certain it was not a counterfeit, it moves the percentage to over 7%) With my powercord cost included, it still all is near the 10% range. So I am happy on that front too.

PS: Steves 'neutral, detailed ,romantic comment in the header to this series.... All three on the Parsec. Which I why i am going crazy buying a full set.

Raven...I hear ya loud and clear! Good job!

[Jack in Wilmington]

Feanor....didn't you say you have hearing loss? Also, don't know what gear you have other than the Pass, but every component in a system has to be able to pass on these little nuances with no problem. My Rotel gear which was ok mid fi gear would not pass on the detail from more upscale cables.

Frenchie, Feanor has a link at the bottom of all his posts to "Feanor's Stereo Configuration" it's a really nice breakdown in a ladder diagram ( I think it's called ) form. I wish I could do that.

[Feanor]

Feanor....most mid fi gear wont pass the greater detail that a hi end cable will. The best way to listen to cables is to call "The Cable Company" and borrow cables to try in your system. All they charge is 5% and you can apply that to any purchase any time. And they have new as well as used cables. They have just about every cable...if they are not listed, do a search or just call them up. High End audio, Video & speaker cables from The Cable company

Frenchie, thanks for the suggestion about the Cable Company; it sounds like a great idea I'd try but I'm located in Canada and our Canada Customs department is very ruthless about collection duties and taxes. The fact that you have every intention of sending borrowed items back to country of origin doesn't impress them.

[Feanor]

Feanor....didn't you say you have hearing loss? Also, don't know what gear you have other than the Pass, but every component in a system has to be able to pass on these little nuances with no problem. My Rotel gear which was ok mid fi gear would not pass on the detail from more upscale cables.

Yes, I have an almost complete loss above 10kHz, i.e. I'm deaf to the top octave. Presumably this does affect my ability to hear high frequency nuances. On the other hand, I was recently able to hear differences between my new Schiit Audio DAC and my previous, SMSL DAC. In fact I was able to hear difference between different opamps in the SMSL where those opamps were strongly different in character, i.e. OPA627 vs. LME49720. And of course, I hear relatively huge difference among the three amps I have around at the moment: Forte Model 5, Class D Audio SDS-258, and Pass Labs X150.5.

I should emphasize that I've never said there ARE NO differences in sound among cables; (various people have said that but not me). I'm just saying among the low to mid-priced cables I've tried, neither ICs, digital cables, speaker cables, nor power cords, have I noticed any differences. My listening strategy is simple: after listening for a few hours I either notice a difference with a new component or I do not. I rarely go in for intensive A-B sessions that might drive out minute differences.

However the other thing I'm sticking with, condemn me if you will, is some fine differences heard by some audiophiles, (present company excepted of course), are imaginary.

If you and others hear cable differences I say, sincerely, good for you. My consolation is that I save a fair bit of money -- which ain't such a bad thing.

My equipment, depending on your definitions, on the border line between upper mid-range and lower high-end. You can see my configuration following the link in my signature, below.

[bluetrain]

Congrats, BR! You've got one very competent device there.

How's your impressions so far?

[blackraven]

Congrats, BR! You've got one very competent device there.

How's your impressions so far?

I could not be any happier with the BAT. It is exactly as reviewed in the link below. Its level of realism is astonishing. It is not overly tubey and it is detailed, revealing and dynamic. Its imaging and sound stage is fantastic. But what really impresses me is the front to back depth and musicality of the preamp. The most expensive preamps that I have heard are the $8500 ARC LS27 and a $15,000 plus Ayre preamp and they don't compare in the depth and musicality to the BAT. Of course that could be because they were hooked up to different amps and DAC's.

Balanced Audio Technology VK-51SE line preamplifier | Stereophile.com

[bluetrain]

I could not be any happier with the BAT. It is exactly as reviewed in the link below. Its level of realism is astonishing. It is not overly tubey and it is detailed, revealing and dynamic. Its imaging and sound stage is fantastic. But what really impresses me is the front to back depth and musicality of the preamp. The most expensive preamps that I have heard are the $8500 ARC LS27 and a $15,000 plus Ayre preamp and they don't compare in the depth and musicality to the BAT. Of course that could be because they were hooked up to different amps and DAC's.

Glad to hear that, man. You describe my exact feelings, even though I don't have that particular BAT. Great, really great brand. Does everything just right. Makes you love it. Last week I got also 255Se, which is breaking- in as I type, and I feel happy. Now I can sell my A 21 without regrets.
You need to get better wires, IMO.

enjoy!

[blackraven]

BT, you have some nice gear there. I also have an A21 which was replaced by my Pass amp. I was going to sell the A21 but my wife convinced me to give it to my 22y/o son who is a budding audiophile.

I am going to get a pair of Cardas Parsec XLR's.