[Review] Zanash Silver Speaker Cable

Zanash Silver Speaker Cable

Hello all,

If you do not believe in cables, please look away now!

Perhaps some of you already know the virtues of Zanash's speaker cable, but I guess more data cannot hurt.

Having read all the good reviews of Zanash's cables, I decided to ask him if he would make me a tonearm lead (cardas din to rca) using his recipe (I will post a comparison here soon as well). I tried both his silver cable and the AuAg for the arm lead and immediately felt that I had to at least try his speaker cables.

This is a review of his speaker cable, but at the same time, it is also a comparison with two other commercially available cables: the QED Genesis Silver Spiral and the Nordost SPM Reference.

After spending some critical time with all these three cables in my system, my subjective assessment (my tastes, my components, my room...) is as follows:

QED Genesis: This is biwire run of cable that has been my cable for over a year. I bought it to use with what used to be my system. In the meantime I upgraded pretty much everything. This is a good cable, top of the range at QED, uses some pretty cool technology stemming from QEDs research. Looks nice and hefty too... and it has served me very well through a number of system upgrades. It throughs a really good soundstage and is generally clean sounding. It is not as extended and it sweetens the highs quite a bit, which suited my old system to a tee.

Compared with the other two, however (virtually much more expensive cables) is outclassed pretty much allround. Soundstage loses in height, it lacks the ultimate detail, highs lack extension and clarity and it is softer in dynamics. Bass is not as deep and not as clean.

Nordost SPM Reference: This cable comprises a number of silver plated high purity copper filaments in a really nice looking arrangement and a super-thin purple coloured strip (it feels quite flimsy so I decided I had to be extra careful with it!) .
Second in the Nordost food-chain only to the Valhalla, it immediately made the system much more exciting to listen to. Very dynamic. Maybe too much so, but made me sit up and listen much more. Soundstage height is the best of the three, and it is very very detailed. Instruments have more presence than with the QED but are further to the back than with Zanash's cable. Image is very well delineated. Highs sometimes have some sibilance/spit but it is an engaging sound. It is a bit on the bright side, to my ears, and could easily be too bright with the wrong system/speaker combination. Perhaps a tiny bit more extended in the low end but it is difficult to be objective as it is a small difference. Seemed a little "louder" overall than any of the others...

Zanash 3mm Silver Cable: This is Zanash's own build, with cotton jackets and no terminations (in this case as it was merely a prototype).
Compared with the QED it improves it in the same areas as the Nordost, pretty much alround really. I was expecting this, I must say, but not to such an extent... (more so with the Nordost, perhaps, given its price)

Comparing it with the Nordost was a long and interesting process, and not without some surprises.
The soundstage is all there in all its splendour, with perhaps a bit less height but voices hang in the air just as well (or better). Image is a bit more to the front which I felt involves you more without being fatiguing.
Bass is extended and clean, and there is no sibilance or spit in the highs which again sound a lot more natural to me.
Dynamics are first rate, perhaps not as forceful as the Nordost, surely an exciting sound to listen to and just the right amount of "get up and go" to make it musical and fun (in my system at least). Maybe a little less engaging on the whole (did not feel that it turned the volume up like with the Nordost) but much more natural to listen to, IMHO.

System
For reference, my 2-channel system currently consists of a pair of Sonus Faber Signums, MF NuVista M3 amplifier, MF A3.2 CD Player, NAS Spacedeck with Morch UP-4 and Koetsu Rosewood Signature.

My conclusion
Having lived with Zanash's speaker cable for almost two weeks there is no way I would go back to my QED. It has vastly improved the sound of my system, making it more transparent, extended and more fun to listen to (more natural).
I am now awaiting the 5mm version to install in my system, and I keep wondering how much better the 5mm silver version can be!

A big thank you to Zanash for being so helpful, loaning me all the cables and being generally a really nice guy!

Cheers,
Jack

 

Cheers...thanks for the even handed review.