@weedeewop - I IMed Galen the moment I heard the XLR OCC swap cause it was that “Holy Crap”. I told him the SPTPC was amazing more open, transparent; however, very focused sound stage. $hit was just moving around… I wanted to beat the Nordost rep… with a bag of rocks better… then the OCC XLR was the same; however, 10X the effect. Galen just said… the SPTPC will provide real & coherent; however, can’t fix bad (XLR)… I got it… the whole chain needs to be replaced for the best affect… however, the money is in the OCC XLR it has the biggest affect in the chain. He was right on the money, same as he is right on the money with everything he has ever said… science will always trump fear and superstition… Will was right about one thing… let the nay-sayers yap… they will become late stage converts…
I can tell you this much… Nordost is all about the marketing and reviews, Iconoclast is all about the science and engineering. Better detail, better musicality, better focused and coherent sound stage. I have already sold one of my Valhalla 2 XLRs… let me know if you know someone who would like to buy my Tyr 2 (2m) and 2nd V2 XLR (70cm).
I owe this group a proper write up of the month long eval I did of the three speaker types.
I have a Chord Hugo mScaler feeding a Chord DAVE DAC. I use the DAVE to directly drive Voxativ 9.87 speakers. These are high efficiency (104dB) single driver speakers, so the DAVE at 2W output can easily drive them. By getting rid of cross overs in the speakers and the amp, I’m pushing for ultimate transparency and holographic sound stage (basically eliminate everything that can cause timing smearing). The Iconoclast speaker cables caught my attention because of the philosophical alignment with what I’ve shooting for in my system (perfect transparency, get rid of everything you can that causes smearing).
The cables I tested were easily 3 of the 4 best speaker cables I’ve ever heard (the 4th being my existing Voxativ Ampeggio cables). The analogy I use is how affirming and refreshing it is to step outside and see (and experience) the real world, when you’re surrounded by photos that have gone through Instagram filters.
I found the SPTPC to have superior imaging and speed to my Ampeggio cables. Except for that fatigue factor, they were the clear winner. My Ampeggio’s had slightly better imaging and speed than the OHE’s, and do not have the fatigue factor I experienced with the SPTPC’s.
As I mentioned before, my experience is that when you “lift a veil” with one component, sometimes your find uglies from a different part of your system behind the veil (in my case, the fatigue factor). It takes time to retune your system when you have an ultra revealing component like the SPTPC’s.
Of course, if my daydream fantasy of OCC speaker cables (which don’t exist) that have the relaxed comfort of the OHE’s with the astonishing speed and imaging and coherence of the SPTPC’s without me have to do extra work comes true, I’m all over that!
@ray-dude - thanks, the detail helps and I agree with the assessment, except fatigue. It was like sitting behind a screen that just got taken away. The music moves so effortlessly with detail and such realness. Not just with amazing recording, with everything… I just upgraded to BHK300s from BHK250 and said if I had to make a choice, I would return the BHK300s, the upgrade was that impactful…
Forgot - I had to retune my REL subs and reposition my seating and speakers a tad…
Galen, are there any plans to produce Iconoclast UPOCC speaker cables, or would they be prohibitively expensive? Would UPOCC copper speaker cables have similar sound quality attributes to the UPOCC interconnects?
The SPTPC can’t be bright, here is why. The 40 micro inch silver plate is too thin to substantially alter anything under 10 KHz due to the skin effect dropping till the signal is more and more diffusion coupled, or closer to the same at all frequencies as you go lower. The smaller copper I use does the heavy lifting to better align the higher frequency overtones above 10 Khz with the silver carrying only SOME of the way high overtones to the highest fundamental in music at 9 KHz or so.
Brightness is heard in the 5 KHZ to 10 KHz range coming off the fundamental. True, the better Vp alignment of frequencies seems to increase the amplitude it simply can not. Current coherence can only improve very, very high frequency information, and in that range. The measured charts show that there is way too much Vp difference between low and high frequencies to slow the higher frequencies down, to match the higher frequencies. Impossible to slow from 50% or so to 10% or so, as we can only SLOW, not speed up.
Purists will point out the time values, although true, can’t be heard. Well, there is a difference between to SPTPC and the TPC, once the silver plate is on it. On the ML CLX speakers I hear a sense of AIR, but not a direct sense of information if that makes sense.
I can hear 13.5 KHz, but not really much higher…and a TONE of that frequency is NOT pleasant I agree. But in music it is an overtone and far attenuated to the fundamental. We don’t listen to tones, do we?
@RonP - hey, congrats and welcome back to the club… isn’t it great being an audiophile equipment whore… I love this, I get packages every week and this costs peanuts compared to a new engine or rolling chassis. Little box here, little box there… cable this, LPS that… add this room treatment… buy this CD… Sublime this, Tidal that… love this hobby. So my wife says to me a few weeks ago… I liked it better when you were buying chains and sprockets for the bikes…
Oh yeah, will be starting up on another block of training soon… yeah, got to start looking at upgrading my cycles sweetheart, thanks for reminding me…
Can’t do, UPOCC wire is too short to run the process with. It is a VOLUME length equation, smaller wire of the same total volume is longer, but not long enough.
A different approach to further improve coherence is going to be necessary and $$$ to technically do right as the math forces a redesign from the ground up starting with the bonded pairs.
This is going to fall outside what I call affordable, and I question how it will help the hobby. Just because you can do it, should you? And, this is not necessarily doable financially.
Will it trip the improvement meter enough to be, “better”, ignoring even cost which we ever should do? Not being in marketing I can say that I don’t know.
Galen, Thanks for the reply. I am going to purchase a pair of UPOCC 1×4 “Gen 2” RCA Cables. It is a more difficult decision to decide between the OFE and SPTPC speaker cables. I prefer a natural sound but wonder is pace rhythm and timing improved with the SPTPC cables. For me the foot tapping or ability of the system to involve the listener is one of the most important parameters for enjoying music. It is also one of the most difficult things to achieve in a system.
Audio 1, please contact me personally. I would like you to try both the SPTPC and OFE speaker leads before making any type of decision. There is absolutely no risk in trying both.
Little did I know…really. I never could have dreamed that it would go on for so many YEARS
I just went back and reread the first post. The message hasn’t changed a bit. Since that time Galen has cooked up a new interconnect design (gen2) and added SPTPC to the lineup of speaker cables. The speaker cables’ design has not changed one bit. No new, “magical” doodads added each year to entice our addicted brains to buy the latest and the greatest. Gotta love that Galen.
The UPOCC was much better in my system than OFE 4x4’s with SPTPC. The OFE’s and that combination could be punishing with poorer sources. The UPOCC did everything I desired.
The ETPC cables and interconnects I caught the unnatural sound stage breathing like in the Audio Bacon review. Cool for Rock and Roll not unamplified acoustic musics. Literally the sound waves pulsed out.
I did notice that using the PS Audio DSD with optical cable clears up any artifacts and everything is sublime with UPOCC and SPTPC and snowmass 3.06. . I think to enjoy these revealing cables it means getting noise out of your system or obscuring it. I listened to an Orchestra Sunday. Yes the Iconoclast set up I am running is most believable in across the spectrum sound and imaging right now.
The OFE speaker cables was two blanket obscurity on my speakers . I can see why the folks with hotter efficiency horns and metal and diamond tweeters like them.
I am ditching my noisy streamer for a dedicated transport with ultrarendu and trying a USB from Germany IN-AKUSTIK REFERENCE to further improve my digital streams. It seems like it might be the UPOCC iconoclast of USB digital more liked than the curious cable. I may just have to try the OpticalRendu if itch is not scratched on USB.
Thanks to Gallen and Bob and all the armchair reviews here. This forum on Iconoclast has been the most helpful in transforming my system to levels of perfection I only imagined. The best purchases top to bottom in my journey have been McIntosh XR290 speakers , Iconoclast, Lyngdorf Room Perfect, PSA DSD DAC , Titan Gaia Isoaccoustic isolators And MC1000 quad Balance Mcintosh Amps. Everything else is a long way back. Three of the six were from PS Audio forum exposure. A lot of helpful knowledge.
The IC (interconnects) are able to be made such that few would ever reach the maximum length we can run for those with UPOCC, or any, copper as the process is SO, SO much slower at the conductor preparation stages. 35 to 40 feet is no problem for the XLR, for instance.
Little did I know…really. I never could have dreamed that it would go on for so many YEARS 