Cable Asylum: REVIEW: TAO Cables XLR, RCA Cable by rp1@surfnetusa.com

Model:	XLR, RCA
Category:	Cable
Suggested Retail Price:	$500 or so
Description:	Quad braided thirty gauge wire, silk insulated.
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available
Manufacturer URL:	Not Available

Review by rp1@surfnetusa.com ( A ) on January 01, 2005 at 21:13:15
IP Address: 24.4.220.126

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for the XLR, RCA

I must start by saying that I have mixed feelings about the entire cable subject. I swing from True Skeptic (when I run tests and find that simple eq makes many cables sound exactly the same), to True Believer when I get a set of cables that seem to turn everything that I "know" on its head. The following cables are of the second persuasion.
I recieved the Steve Eddy Tao cables in the mail last month or so. The first pair was a short lenght of RCA cable destined for my DAC1 to Bryston Preamp inputs. Since the rest of the system is all XLR, that is the only place I could use RCA connectors. The cables are a delicate weave of wire (the material of the actual conductor is Steve's secret) insulated in fine silk. The connectors themselves look cheap but the strain relief grabs the wire securely and the connector plugs in tightly without trying to shove the preamp's connectors off the back.
This pair was said to be already broken in (whatever the hell that is), and they seemed to be so as they havent much changed since I got them. My first impression was of utter smoothness in the mids to trebles. Detail was more musical and coherent than the Empirical Audio Holophonic cables they replaced. But I also noticed that the bass was weaker, taking my (slightly bass heavy) Bryston BP25 to a lighter than neutral flavor. Playing with the crossover's eq I found that it was some 1.2 db down below 50hz on this preamp. When the eq was adjusted for the measured differences (at the speaker terminals) I got another shock. The bass, now of the same relative spectral mix as the EA cables, was much more controled and tuneful, something the EA already excelled at (I thought). The bass seemed to be more "locked in" to the air in the room as if I had much better coupling through the range. Neat effect.
Talking to Steve, I wondered if the XLR cables would remedy the light bass. So I ordered a pair and Steve sent them to me forthwith. So, now I had the TAO RCA on the DAC to pre-amp stage and TAO XLR on the preamp to digital xover stage. Now it gets strange. The bass came out heavy, as is normal with the Bryston in this system,but now even more heavy than normal (even with the eq set below the setting for the EA cables)but the definition and that weird coupling effect were still there. Detail in abundance came out of the speakers but now I noticed a strange, white sort of flavor that no eq could remove (short of turning the ribbons off) sounding for all the world as if the highs were "slipping" between the drivers and the air. Mind you, I am NOT talking "brightness" here, the sound was distinctly different. Most Strange. Where did the ultra smoothness of using only one set of TAO go?
On a hunch, I swapped out the Goertz Silver Purl cables with a pair of Analysis Plus copper XLR cables on the xover to Ribbon amp stage. Now, I got the smoothness and coherence that I had previously with a single set of TAO cables, and, as a strange bonus, even more detailed and coherent bass....from changing the cables on the tweeter amp!
All the above led me to think that maybe, just maybe, I might be able to get the Spectral preamp to run well on this system with the new cables (as an ultra-wide band design it tends to be rather fussy on cable). After a days warmup I inserted the Spectral into the system. Oh boy, did the Spectral love this cable! Finally, after a long absence, I got the "Spectral Sound", that is, absolute control over the vibrato of bass, the position and harmonic extention on the highs and a sense of utter focus and ease on the mids. I thought the coherence was nice on the Bryston, but the TAO-Spectral mix created something that was reach-out-and-touch-it real.
In subjective terms (ok, its all subjective but anyway....)cymbals werent just a nice sound of metal being struck somewhere in the soundfield, but were represented as a wave that shimmered out from the cymbal's position hemispherically! That is, the shimmer extended towards the lister and the rear and side walls like a ripple in water. On stringed bass (Pat Barber's album..sorry Kuma) the instrument was firmly placed behind the singer, was fully resonant yet precisely positioned in space with the plucks clearly defined. The musical harmonics off the simple upright bass was very close to hearing the real thing in my living room. The wood of the instrument is clearly defined yet not overdone. It is now one of my fav disks just for that one instrument!
Female voices are rendered such as to make every lilt and change of note clearly audible...happy songs sound, well, HAPPY. Vocal images are nicely three dimensional, but I have to say that the best tube pre/power amps still rule here. Castanets and stick sounds are very real and dont have the usual SS bare clicking sound. Complex music, like that of a Piano going all out never muddy up or lose composure as they did with some cables (for instance EA tended to choke up in the 4khz region making voices screech a bit on dynamic swings).
Gestalt? Emotion? I have to say that at first the extra harmonic and spatial detail was distracting as if to say "listen to me! I am new!", but over time the ear/brain adjusted and now the detail is no longer a distraction but a way to better get into the emotion of the music. Unlike the Bryston Tao combo,which pleases by nice harmonic colors, the Spectral/Tao combo pleases by presenting all the musical detail that can be through a speaker. It is ruthlessly honest yet pleasing even on not so good recordings. This combo brings out, for reasons that I have not yet figured out, more detail and harmony from the little Benchmark than I thought possible for a Dac with op-amp outputs. Dynamic swings are as explosive as on the far more expensive DAC's (I thought the Benchmark a tad restrained on large dynamic peaks when on its own.)Timing with this combo is dead on. (IMHO) Steve's cables and Spectral combo have that PRAT thing, yet great harmonics too. Wonderful!
These are great cables, but be warned that they may not get along with your favorite cables; you may find yourself digging into your cable box to find the cable that best mates with the TAO. It is worth it though, I assure it.

Product Weakness: Fragile. Spiders keep trying to carry them off.
Product Strengths: Ultra smooth and detailed mid to high freq. Ultra-Coherent sound field. Great "timing".

Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Bryston 4BSST300wpc, Spectron500wpc, Threshold100wpc, AtmaSphere M60
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Bryston BP-25, Spectral, Direct in.
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Levinson 390S CDP, Computer hard-drive thru Benchmark DAC1
Speakers:	Newform Research Ribbons, Multi-amped with DBX digital xover
Cables/Interconnects:	Goertz MI 2, Analysis Plus Oval 9, Nordost,Empirical Audio Holophonic, Goertz Silver purl, Monster M1000,
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, Gothic, Country, Blues, Classical,Pop,Eastern
Room Comments/Treatments:	Furniture, drapes, carpet, sound absorbing ceiling
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Exact Power 15 amp model
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

Product Weakness:	Fragile. Spiders keep trying to carry them off.
Product Strengths:	Ultra smooth and detailed mid to high freq. Ultra-Coherent sound field. Great "timing".