So I've had some time to burn in the Transparent Reference XLs in my system and have been listening to them for the past couple of weeks. The pair of speaker cables and 2 sets of ICs were custom built for my Lamm gear and Sonus Faber speakers. Transparent custom builds them in house and tunes each cable for the speaker and component to component through their epoxy filled network boxes that take care of the impedance match as well as damping the internal vibrations of the cable and optimizing the electrical "resonance point" to enhance the bandwidth of the cable and eliminate noise infiltration. Length and matching of the cables also takes place on the bench with measurements from what I understand.
I decided to do a comparison of two extremes, very expensive vs. very affordable Zebra cables I had on hand. This way, the true colors and differences would be that much more evident and easier to notice. Often, when comparing cables of similar price range, it boils down to very subtle differences and is often a matter of preference which you like more. This comparison would highlight the true value of such expensive cables as these Transparent cables if one can call $28k "value".
I've owned and auditioned quite a bit of a variety of cables at one time or another from many manufacturers out there. Of course none of that matter much since the systems were different as well during those times. There are however some strong points that you tend to remember about each cable if they offer something special by comparison to others in your system at that time.
So what does $28k worth of Transparent bring to the table?
Well from the moment I hooked them up, I knew these cables were quite the "bass" cables. The slam down low was very impressive. The speakers sounded as if they were upgraded to something else. Just goes to show you that when you think you know your speakers well, you really don't. With a bit more burn in time, the bass texture, articulation and resolution went up a few notches more. I don't remember
any cables making this kind of a difference before. Drums took on a rounder, full bodied presence on the soundstage as if I was listening to a great vinyl rig instead of a dry sounding CD. Bass instruments had much more resolution and articulation, each note had more distinction instead of being clumped together into one repetitive tone. These cables made the speakers "load up" up the room with bass in a very different way as compared to the Zebra cables I compared them to. The bass was drier and stingier by comparison, it was not nearly as "fleshed out" with the Zebras. There were more than a few times when I realized I was hearing the rhythm setting, foot tapping in the recording and I have never noticed it before. These cables will dig all kinds of details out of the recording down low.
The percussion instruments such as the snare drum, tom-tom, bass drum had an unbelievable "presence" and a sense of palpability in my room. On the other extreme, the high hats/cymbals shimmered with much greater clarity and brassy/golden overtones and never sounded glassier or like they lost some shimmer as they did with the Zebra cables. The highs in general were much more impressive, extended but very natural sounding. Most impressive.
The mids were much fuller and meatier sounding. This is where I thought the match between these Transparent and my Lamm gear did not exactly gel well together. A little too much of weight/heft in the male vocals, impressive, yes, but probably a bit on the warmer/fuller side of neutral for my preference. Although this is a much better side of neutral than the lean, artificial sounding other side of neutral that makes the vocals sound much too lean and thin. These cables may add much of the desired weight to the midrange and add meat to the bones of the sound for those systems that desperately need it and there are plenty of systems out there that can use it.
Another strong point of these cables was the 3-dimensionality vs the Zebras. The layering of instruments front to back was much more believable. You could tell that the instruments were separated on the soundstage with the Zebras but with the Transparents you had a sense of you knew exactly how much space there is, that is how believable and palpable the isntruments on the soundstage are with the Transparent.
So that is it in a nutshell. These cables kick some serious sonic ass in all the parameters. The sad part is that they cost so much. The good part is that I heard some of the positive attributes when I auditioned the much cheaper Transparent ICs before these, although I did not have their speaker cables at that time. That was just a hint of what a system fully plumbed with Transparent cables can do. Now I know...
This audition gave me something to think about. Is it smart to leave so much of the sonic goodness out on the table by not having cables to bring out the very best of your gear which you already paid for? I think not... I will have to look into these cables again when my next room and gear are in place.
