Which interconnect cables more synergistic with dCS sound, Cardas Clear Beyond, Shunyata Sigma V2 or Oyaide Tunami Terzo V2

Audio Systems
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Focal Utopia 22 & V590 mk2 PRO & Cardas Clear Beyond
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Hi,

A bit of a background, first. I’m new to the audiophile scene and don’t own a dCS product, yet. I like to keep the equipment lean and have found acoustic bliss with head-fi using the Utopia 2022 connected with the Cardas Clear Beyond cable to the V590 Mk2 PRO integrated DAC/headphone amp for songs like Duet by Rachael Yamagata or The Love by Dekker. On other tracks, however, like Purple Rain by Prince, Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) by Nancy Sinatra, or Put Your Lights On on the Carlos Santana Supernatural album, the vocals have moved too far back on the soundstage with the Cardas headphone cable which otherwise creates this amazing, holographic, deep, detailed soundstage with very realistically sounding instruments. I don’t like to go back to the stock cable because with that the soundstage is around my head whereas with the Clear Beyond it’s now in front of me and it’s much wider, too. This may be hard to believe unless you hear it but that’s the way it is.

After some research and some good advice, I made the decision to give the Lina DAC with the Master Clock a listen with my current Violectric amp to see if with the dCS strength in vocals and the Expanse technology the voices can be brought forward in some of my favorite tracks. The dealer will have the full Lina stack in by the middle of December and I have an appointment to try it.

My question is, given the sound signature of dCS, do you think that Shunyata Sigma V2 will be more complementary as an interconnect cable for the Lina DAC and the Violectric amp or the Cardas Clear Beyond. I will most likely take the Oyaide Tunami Terzo V2 XLR along for the listening test but maybe some users here could share their thoughts based on what they know about dCS with Cardas cables or Shunyata cables.

I’m very biased towards the Cardas Clear Beyond because of my experience but it could be that the Shunyata Sigma V2 offers more synergy. The dealer sells Shunyata but not Cardas. I’m not sure if he will have any demo interconnect cables in to try out vs. the stock interconnects and the Oyaide, which as mentioned, I will probably take along.

Thanks!

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Welcome to the community. Your question is similar to many that have been asked here over the years.

The answer is that there is no particular cable brand that has a special relationship or “synergy” with dCS equipment. dCS engineers are unlike some and go out of their way to ensure that their equipment has no particular “voice”.

If you care to read through this forum you will find that many cable brands are favoured by various users. Basically no well known audiophile cable manufacturer offers anything other than well engineered cables that fulfil the requisite electrical parameters. Otherwise they would go out of business. Further what you like will not only depend upon your equipment but on your personal tastes which cannot be predicted by me or anyone else. It also depends on what you can buy. No good in getting a cable recommendation where the nearest supplier is an unknown vendor 4,000 miles away.

You seem to enjoy Cardas Clear so why not stick with that?

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If you are looking for recommendations, try Tempo Electric.

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That‘s very interesting because in a way my question implied silver vs. copper as a conducting material, too, with a dCS DAC but then one has to factor in the properties of the headphones/speakers, as well. It would be tempting to try Tempo Electric, pure silver, vs the Oyaide Tunami Terzo V2, pure copper, and hear the difference in sound and forget about the really expensive cables. Tempo Elecrtric is not available in my country, unfortunately. The V2 of the Shunyata Sigma now uses some silver in it, I read, whereas the Cardas Clear Beyond interconnect is pure copper. The Cardas Clear Beyond headphone cable, on the other hand, also has some silver.

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I use a pair of solid silver Audioquest Fire interlinks between my Rossini APEX DAC and Lina headamp, and like very much what I hear:

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It could be that silver audio cables are a good match for the Lina DAC. I read a couple of times that the Shunyata Sigma V2 can sound a bit thin and the highs a bit sharp. I attributed this to the silver it includes but maybe that’s very synergistic with the warm and rich sound of the Lina DAC. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find out if the dealer has demo cables.

I’m too much of a Cardas fanboy not to try a pure copper interconnect. The Oyaide Tunami Terzo V2 should give some clues in this respect.

It’s a bit unfortunate that this complexity has been added to my audiophile experience but I listened to two versions of Foolish Games by Jewel on her Greatest Hits album today. The vocals in the regular version are just poorly mixed with the rest of the music IMO. They sound a bit anaemic with the Cardas Clear Beyond headphone cable. The vocals in the version featuring Kelly Clarkson, on the other hand, sound amazing with my setup. And it’s the same album we are talking about here. The only ones who seem to understand the issue are the dCS people with their Expanse technology. It also means, one probably needs to spend as much as for a car to fix it.

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While I’ve been extremely happy with Shunyata, I believe such decisions often come down to personal taste and the only real way to decide is to listen for yourself.

In my experience, high end cables can be auditioned at home if you find the right dealer - and don’t forget that the dealer you buy your dCS equipment from might not be the best place to buy your cables from.

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Very helpful. I do get the sense, also from the other cable interconnect thread on this forum, that there is slight preference for using audio cables at least with some silver in them. Personally, I prefer as a starting point a warm sound even if it means adding a slight treble boost as a preset to some songs.

The gold standard for judging the interconnect cables for me will be the track Private Investigations by Dire Straits on their Love Over Gold (Remastered) album. The guitar play with the highs is so challenging, I find, that any cable that makes them sound too sharp will not be a good one for my ears.

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I use an entire Cardas Clear Beyond wiring loom with my Vivaldi stack and couldn’t be happier :grinning:

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Wow, private investigations is my first critical listening track for all my equipment. It was great in eliminating some of the AMP’s I was auditioning as well. I have several cables, DHC for Susvara was my most expensive buy. They are are great cable, not sure they are 2K great at this point. Also they as a company are not the most helpful. After spending over 2k I relocated my set up and found I needed to get a longer length cable…They offered to do nothing for me, not even a discount on a replacement!!! I had a similar issue with a cable from MOON AUDIO and they immediately told me to send it back for replacement… That’s what I think we all should expect form our dealers at these price points. Lina stack and Susvara cable recommendations anyone?

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That is, hmmm, interesting customer service. In one of my day jobs, long pre-Reiki Audio, it was something of a mantra that it is far easier to retain and delight an existing customer than to attract a new one. That has stuck with me and, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been proven to be the case in spades.

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The Oyaide Tunami Terzo V2 did not disappoint and I’m glad I took this pair of XLR cables along today. I didn’t A/B it with the stock XLR interconnects because the distributor hadn’t sent them along with the Lina demo units. But I did try a pair of silver XLR cables that the dealer had briefly and couldn’t discern an earth shattering difference in the short period of time. I wasn’t in the mood for longer interconnect cable tests because the combo sounded wonderful with the Oyaide Tunami Terzo V2 already and the Lina DAC also didn’t disappoint.

In the three tracks I had selected, Purple Rain by Prince, Put Your Lights On on the Carlos Santana Supernatural Album, and Money’s Too Tight (To Mention) by Simply Red, the Lina delivered strong, dynamic vocals that gave me chills. None of this the-singer-is-behind-the-instruments-on-the-soundstage impression that the internal V590 Mk2 PRO DAC conveys with the Cardas Clear Beyond headphone cable with these three songs. In the V590 Mk2’s defence, there are many tracks where its internal DAC can sound amazing, but not with many “older” recordings, it seems. And, yes, the Master Clock does improve the sound discernibly, unfortunately, which means I had to order it, too.

I didn’t try different mappers, filters, or upsampling settings today. I will do so when I have my own unit. I was mainly interested in the conversion of the vocals by the dCS technology and am a happier but more penniless camper now.

On the synergies of the combo, aesthetically, the German functional design can go along with the clean, minimalistic design of the Lina, if the two Lina units are stacked on top of each other, I think - I was really surprised how compact they are, BTW. Then the V590 Mk2 won’t look out of place as much. On the sound synergies, WaveTheory reviewed the V550 which is basically the V590 amp without the DAC. It has a very refined sound and is not an amplifier that will “slap you around.” I found the 2V setting on the Lina DAC best with it but it can take the 6V setting with ease. While the Lina DAC gets out of the way and doesn’t add anything to the music, it is very engaging and dynamic, according to Moon Audio, and the Focal Utopia is also a very dynamic and punchy headphone. So, the V590 Mk2 PRO sitting in between the two works really well IMO.

BTW, the dealer’s jaw dropped when he heard Bohemian Rhapsody by Daisy Gray today with that setup and so did mine the first time I heard it with just the V590. Its internal DAC does well with the vocals in that track but I’d say with the Lina DAC and the Clock there is more texture to them. Vocals, in general, even if the internal DAC of the V590 can deliver them well enough, sound a bit more natural with the Lina, was my impression today.

BTW, if you’re looking for a headphone amp that’s synergistic with your dCS DAC and you can live with a very functional look, I’d go with the V550. Here’s WaveTheory’s review of it :

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Did you try/ compare with the Lina HeadAmp?

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I had asked the dealer to request only the DAC and the Clock. He got the two demo units in on Friday and has to send them back to the distributor on Monday as they need to go to another dealer. Eventually, I will ask for the demo headamp to be sent to me at home. But it wasn’t a priority this time.

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Pure copper definitely works with the Lina as an interconnect. Nothing is broken in, yet, not the Lina nor the Oyaide Tunami Terzo V2. I‘ve only listened for a couple of hours over the weekend without the proper setup, still used the stock power cords, and I had to take out the treble boost presets on all the tracks. No EQing whatsoever anymore. The Oyaide from the Lina DAC to the V590 Mk2 amp sounds warm, smooth, a lot more dynamic than the stock XLR cables, and delivers nice and bright highs. This gives me more confidence to try the Cardas Clear Beyond interconnects. People are nice enough to provide them to me so I can test them at home. My hope is that the Cardas Clear Beyond adds to the spatial imaging from what I‘m hearing now. We‘ll see.

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Clear Beyond XL power cords make a big differene!

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The Clear Beyond XL would be overkill for the little shoe boxes and head-fi listening IMO. I got two of these for 429 € each. I made sure that they fit snuggly and that they lean slightly against the wall for support in order not to damage the power sockets.

I haven‘t listened to the IsoTek power cords, yet, but I like how the color matches the frame of the rack which makes them look inconspicuous behind the Lina against the white background, I think.

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I’d rather check out the interconnects and other parts of the stack for the amount of money the Clear Beyond XL cost.

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@Donald_D I heard a lot of good things about Shunyata and I consider like 2 months ago to up-grade my cables staying with Nordost brand that i use in the moment or go for something different like Shunyata. At the end i keep in the Nordost world. I went for the reference series and i love the sound and synergy with dCS and my amp and speakers. Just one advice, if you go to a brand, use all the cables from the same manufacturer.

Also if you like streaming you should try the Qnet and Qsource from Nordost. One of the best up-grades i did.

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I compared the Cardas Clear Beyond XLR interconnects with the Oyaide Tunami Terzo V2.

First on the Oyaide, as stated before, it produces a dynamic and warm sound with nice, bright highs. The soundstage with the Utopia22 is very tight around one‘s head. Transient speed is pretty much non-existent with this cable, I‘d say. There is noticeable overhang of notes and obvious bleaching of the presentation. If it’s a track where there is one guitar, one piano, one violin or a simple melody accompanying vocals, this cable sounds fine and can sound fantastic with the unbuffered input on the Lina HeadAmp (I‘ll explain later). But if there are several instruments on the soundstage, the music comes across as one big blurry whole.

It failed the Private-Investigations-on-the-Love-Over-Gold-Remastered-album-test after around minute 4:25. The highs came across as way too sharp. In Big In Japan Ane Brun‘s voice has a cracking sound to it with the Oyaide. The bass is dynamic but because of the characteristics described above can have too much boom.

Is the Cardas Clear Beyond XLR cable ten times better? First on the soundstage, it’s wider, it‘s a bit deeper but still around one‘s head with the Utopia22. It didn‘t move in front of me like it does when I plug in the Clear Beyond headphone cable into the V590 Mk2 with its integrated DAC. The soundstage does move further out with Crossfeed on the Lina DAC but this sucks a bit of life out of the Utopia22. Not recommended for this headphone and I never use it.

With the Cardas the instruments are clearly delineated, transient speed is rapid, the bass is tight, the reverb is perfect. It produces highs in Private Investigations and in Ane Brun‘s voice pleasant enough that one wants to listen to them rather than turn down the volume or reduce the treble (which doesn‘t help much BTW). The Cardas cable does require for my taste the use of treble boost presets in some tracks that I had taken out with the Oyaide.

I did A/B testing with the two cables rather than listen to one for a while and switch back to the other because the differences I described above were so obvious. With the Carlos Santana Supernatural album I‘d say the Cardas Clear Beyond is five times better than the Oyaide.

The track that really blew my mind with how huge the difference between these two cables is was Verdamp Lang Her (A Damn Long Time Ago) by a German rockband band named BAP, the Live in Wackersdorf version. The song is from 1981 and the recording from 1986. If you don‘t understand the lyrics, don‘t worry, neither do most Germans (:joy:) because it‘s in Kölsch, a regional dialect spoken in the Cologne area. It sounds more like Dutch than German. The refrain in the last minute is sung in English BTW. An English translation of the lyrics can be found here: https://hospi-tales.com/2014/05/01/a-damn-long-time-ago-verdamp-lang-her/
The Clear Beyond gave me chills after minute 1:40 (I do understand most lyrics because I lived for part of my childhood in that region). With the Oyaide I turned the song off. It was simply unlistenable. So, yes, the Cardas cable is ten times better.

But there are tracks where sometimes vocals matter more than a single instrument or a melody that accompanies them in the background and there I prefer the Oyaide over the Cardas. As mentioned, the Oyaide generates a very tight soundstage and coupled with the clarity and detail that the unbuffered inputs on the Lina HeadAmp from the Lina DAC produce, it‘s as if each note in You Lost Me by Christina Aguilera, in Duet by Rachael Yamagata, in Foolish Games by Jewel, in Bohemian Rhapsody by Daisy Gray is exhaled into one‘s ears. It sounds amazing. I‘d have to give Purple Rain by Prince to the Oyaide, too.

I‘m not sure if the Oyaide interconnects will produce the same effect with the tracks mentioned in a two channel system, but this cable is definitely a keeper for head-fi listening.

BTW, Drew Baird at Moon Audio mentioned in his written Lina review that You Lost Me also gave him chills. He used their cables, obviously.

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Cardas Clear Beyond vs. Nordost Odin 1 XRL interconnects shootout

The reviewer in this video only swaps XLR interconnects between his dCS DAC and the amplifier. I agree 100% with those who prefer the Clear Beyond sound in the comments section.

I ended up using a treble boost preset on about one third of the tracks on my playlist with the Cardas Cable. Now that it’s broken in, the setup with the Lina and the Utopia22 produces a warm, tonally well-balanced, full-bodied, rich, lush, smooth, very detailed and textured sound. The treble boost adds, for my taste, the necessary clarity to some tracks. I’d say, the Cardas Clear Beyond is definitely synergistic with the Lina.