Got my new(est) Blue Jeans cables today - the 89259s. Again cleaned the contacts, and plugged them in.
Now I'm not going to get up on a soapbox and yell: "fantastic," but what these cables are giving me is clarity. Very smooth and I hear (or seem to) more detail in the music.
Love them so far - the best I've tried recently, and I can't beat the price - $38 for a 2-foot pair plus $5.75 shipping charges from Seattle to Swampville.
Now - as the cables "burn in," (yeah, I know, I don't believe it either, but might as well give them a go)
here's an instance when the Insanity Mats DO make a sonic difference!
I'm playing one of those "complex, difficult" CDs - the Takacs Quartet with Schubert quartets 13 & 14.
The Takacs takes no prisoners - they really attack the music, and pretty well beat the heck out of their instruments. Consequently, it produces often-harsh sound.
Until now, the disc - while I love the compositions - has given me a toothache.
Today, however - with the new Blue Jeans cables, and the Insanity Mat firmly in place - well, the sound is rich and full, and the multiple overtones that usually produce "hash" now seem a lot more listener-friendly. Sigh.
So - Blue Jeans cables - Insanity Mat - and a nice, tall, cold Bass Ale. Better. Much better. . . . .
Art: yes, my friend, that's what I'm doing this morning.
I sat Mer down in front of the stereo a while ago, and asked her - UN scientifically - if she thought the sound was good.
Well, she listened to some jazz, then part of the current disc I'm playing - some Haydn string quartets.
She allowed as how she really didn't hear that much difference, but that the instruments seemed to stand out by themselves. Separation, I asked? Well, yes, I guess so, she answered. But then she listened som more and smiled: "I think you're getting a more realistic sound out of the system now - less of a 'canned' feeling."
Yep - that's what I wanted to hear, because that's what I'm hearing.
Are the Blue Jeans/Belden cables "better" than anybody else's - won't even try to answer that one! But they're better than anything I've had previously, on my rig, in my room, for my aging ears. Sigh.
