Miyajima Saboten: sweet dreams are made of this

 

When its stilus touched the LP I realised I was not liking it. It was a strange sound. Expecially it was dynamically constricted, dynamically muted. The biggest problem was that this was not balanced by some other magnificient quality so that you could say : yes, you don’t like it but have you ever heard its 3D presentation? or something like this. No, nothing at all. I thought it was a bad cartridge. Moreso it was on the lowish output even for an MC and this proved a problem for the first preamp it was connected to. And this was the only reason why I realised I had made a mistake. The thing was not properly loaded. I have made a big mistake with my step up. You know sometimes, even though you need glasses, you just say to yourself you know by heart were the setting are. But when I was ready to change my phono preamp I had my glasses on and said : what the hell ! I have loaded it at 37 ohm !

I started it all again. I used a step up transformer on my Lamm phono preamp and things… changed. Yes they changed. Dynamic it was sure not its forte, but was acceptable, normal, not too good not too bad, but it was emmediate to my ears that it had soomething special et unique. It had a kind of sweet fluidity with a certain tinbric density coupled with not really muted transient attack. Generally when we hear a certain fluidity we also hear  diminished transient attacks, and expecially fluidity and density of timbre don't go often toghete,  but in this case, its not that it had great transient capability, but the fluidity of its musical reproduction was perfectly balanced with everything else in a way that I was feeling nothing was missing. I perfectly know this trick. And is a rare one. So the thing that gets you captivated is this kind of uniqueness of sound. When you hear it after a while you realise that all other MC cartridges really have something in common, you realise that all belong to the same family with some variations that meke certain cartridges more appealing to you then other ones. But this one is like it has a different nature. In a way it is exremely interesting since it is really like a new interpretation of the music. on the other side the way you have learned to judge and to select cartridges is challenged to the point that you ask yourself who got it right. While keep on listening to thos cartridge few times I have thought all the others got it wrong, since there was a certain expression a certain charge in the music that was completely absent from all the other MC cartridges I have listened to. They all sounded mechanical in comparison to this one. And the ones that sound less mechanical and more fluid were achieving this at the expenses of body, or transient attack.

The only really fastidious point was that after so many years of being used to MC sound whenever I wentr back to another cartridge, I was feeling more "at home" in its wrong doing. I am sure that if I had lived with this cartridge for much longer time I  had to seriously readjust to all my other cartridges with some difficulty.

For this reason I can surely affirm that this cartridge has some kind of magic. Not because it immediately will blow you away but it will suck you in a strange world. in a world were thing are there like suspended in a different reality you are used to ear.

You can buy some cartridges that have some universal pleasing sound like Dynavector. I don't know anyone that does not like Dynavector. That he prefer something else yes, but that dislikes Dynavector never. Then there are other cartridges that are disliked only by people that don't let them express as they were supposed to sound like Ortofons. Ortofons sound the way they should only with step up transformers in my opinion if not they sound uninvolving. But if you use with the right step up they are not going to be disliked by anyone. Then you have some others like VDH that are either disliked or loved like it happens with Naim electronics.

In this case, with this Miyajima, it is absolutely impossible to predict by who it is going to be loved. I guess it will fit well in a reproduction chain with low power amps and horn speakers. 

It is a cartridge that all vinyl lover should hear. I guess this is valid for all miyajima cartridges. Right now I am listening to another Miyajima, the Shilabe. It has the same family sound of the Saboten, so I think this is the sound of Miyajima cartridges. 

One thing is sure: if you like this sound nothing can be an alternative to it.

Vertical damping and counterweight orientation on Moerch DP8

 

I know, maybe it is not good to spend such long time with a tonearm that has so many technical disavantages. The arm tubes cannot be that rigid since their fixing method. And then they are not even tapered to avoid vibrations. The continuity of the cabling is broken for the very same reason. Not only in one point from the cartridge to the din connector at the tonearm base, but also at the tonearm tube - tonearm base level. Could you cope with the fact that this fragile connection is held on place with pins touching togheter by pression?And the lateral weights are like big vibration captureing devices. 

But at the end it sounds fairly good to me and also to many others even if they didn't buy it. Yes at the end something can sound poorly in principle and good in reality or sound good in theory and bad in reality. I prefer the former case.

Let's get into the heavy subject: It is stated that generally vertical damping is not an advantage in this tonearm.

Few have written it does something in their set up. A friend hifi distributor of mine says it is better with vertical damping. Others say it does not change the sound.

When we have different answers we have to consider different things. Of course the first is lazyness...

or better: the fastidiousness of the procedings.

One thing is to moove the tonearm from a turntable to another. Another thing is to try different silicon density and another one is to wipe it off from the well and put it in again. And another is,at the end of all this, to play with the length of the axe that dips in the silicon well of this tonearm.

But I wanted to have a definitive answer to it. It is better to assume it works better in one way of another. It is much simpler to rest satisfied. But you know how it is...satisfaction does not last forever. We are not in the Garden of Eden and everybody knows what happen to the only people there.

I have made about one year of testing. I have used this tonearm in different turntable with different cartridges and different tonearm cables and the answer is, unfortunately or fortunately it depends how you will receive this information, it makes a difference. Sometimes this difference is slightly better, sometimes slightly worse. But this slight thing makes an important matter at a certain level, surely at the level of this tonearm. I don't think anybody will buy a tonearm of this caliber if for him small difference were not vital.

What  when damping is too much: the sound is darker and less agile. Less rithmically involving.

What happens when it is too little or nothing: the sound is responsive and rithmically expressive with a little brillance, a little shine similar to some silver cables. Some, since it is not always the case in silver cables.

Between these two for me it is always better the second. I don't like a darker and less rithmically involving sound.

What about the best result? The best result is a longer journey result.

First of all the silicon density. Yes I have tried different silicon density. You can easily find different silicon density for RC cars differencial use.

The best came out to be of 100K.

When you put about 0.2ml of this silicon in the Moerch well for vertical dumping and you play with the vertical shaft length to get it right you are going to find a setting where you feel indeniably that like this is correct. Everything snaps in time and focus and tone. It has more or less the same effect of changing the cartridge impedence matching in your phono preamp. 

Records that were difficult to listen to become really OK! This wa for me the best adventage for me. I hate records of which music I love to be reproduced in a way that does not allow me to enjoy them. 

The problem is that this everything is not stable. It means you didn't find the best for every combination. You have find the best for a certain cartridge. And worse... for a certain tonearm cable. Worse still: for a certain combination of cartridge and tonearm cable in a certain turntable. And of course your choosen arm tube (green, red or blu) you use.

For example in the Kuzma Stabi Ref 2 and EMT cartridge with a green arm tube I have found out that the vertical shaft had to be lifted  out to mesure 12mm from the base where it is seated (11.5mm is the shortest mesurement allowed according to the manual). But this with a certain tonearm cable. With another tonearm cable it was better at 14.5mm out

In a Thorens TD124 with an Ortofon SPU Gold on a blu arm tube the best was to leave the vertical damping shaft all the way in 11.5mm out. This was the case with all the three tonearms cable tried. Maybe because it is a non suspended design and a direct drive... 

With a Linn LP12... better without vertical damping!

This is just so you have an idea of it.

So yes, generally vertical damping in this tonearm is not an advantage but if you want it all out of it, it can be crucial.

Of course certain systems are much more reactive then others. If your system does not react or you don't react to different vibration device like cones or platforms and so on, or for you any cartridge loading sound the same, it is useless you try out the best vertical damping.

At the end it is somehow intuitive. The vertical damping has not only a mecanical influence but also a vibrational one. Anything we put in the system and that connect things togheter is a vibrational device that will add or subtract things to make things worse or better.

I feel that the option of vertical damping is perfect for the ones that have one turntable one tonearm cable and one cartridge. You find the correct setting and then forget about it.

It is good to have this option. It is good to know that you can have a possibility to tune it. 

It is a bad thing to think you have the possibility to tune it for the better but you don't do it. 

Yes, it is a question of fastidiousness. 

The best answer would be: generally the vertical damping in this tonearm does not improve the sound if you don't want to mess with it but it could.

The counterweight.

You have three main counterweights with this tonearm.  I am not talking about the lateral ones but the ones you need to balance the cartridge and apply the correct VTF. These three counterweights have an eliptical shape. Then you have a fourth counterweight, perfectly round, that is easier to moove to achieve the smallest difference of weight. I hate this one. It it mooves too freely. I would have much prefered it to be a little tighter with its o-ring.

In the owner manual it showed how to get a dynamic balance with the main counterweights. Sometimes this is achieved rotating it or both either with the larger part in the top position or in the lower position. You could also have, if you nned more then one to balance the weight of the used cartridge, one rotated in a way and another one rotated in the opposite way.

The thing is that the rotation of it or thenm changes the sound.

I have found out, with different turntables and cartridges, so the effect is repetable, that using the counterweight with their larger side up gets the sound more unified and more linear in a sense. Using the counterweight with its larger side down gives you more drive and dynamic contrast. The best combination of course depends upon your system and your taste, but more I would say about your taste since tried in different configuration the outcome is the same. 

Naim Powerline

 

It is quite probable that you are not going to like this cable. It is quite probable you are going to dismiss this cable for many reasons.

It does not sound good out of the box.

It is not going to sound that great out from a Naim system.

It is a cable that needs a lot of patience from your part. 

You have to accept from faith that it is a good cable and if it does not sound good it is not its fault.

Generally, it means always, we are up in a hifi situation when we have controlled the bad things by smoothing things out. Highs are too aggressive, we get a smoother cable here and there. But when we are using "smothers" we are loosing some information, spatial, timbric or rithmic and surely we are using filters.

High end systems sound good and uninvolving. We admire them  without caring about them at the same time. Most of the time they don't reproduce the essence of the music. Only a clean sequences of notes and very silent spaces.

So we have a mid high, high end system and we insert this cable in. What we will ear after about 300 ours of burning in? If we listen before this burn in period this cable could sound even worse then a $10 for 1m Belden power cable, that by my standard is a very decent cable.

So after this long burn in period you will ear that the sound stange get more compact. The propulsive energy is concentrated in a smaller scale landscape. The bass is well controlled, go very low but you feel it is sometimes too dry. The mid hig are very open and tense. The highs are neither very extended not very controlled.There is a sensation of things being tense, and soon you will become tired of it. You will go back to your previous cable with aural confort.

OK, once again you wanted to upgrade and things went on the wrong side. You take the cable away and hope to sell to Naim owners. Yes because I don't think it would be easy to sell it to other people.

But what happen if you accept by faith that this cable sounds good and what you are hearing are...

It is going to show all the vibration issues on your hifi. You think it is bright or it is forward only because you didn’t fix the vibration well in your sistem.

This was an impossible task with other higher end power cables. They tend to smooth things out and wash also the timbre out in the meantime and sometimes rithm too. But they are polite. They have a calming effect on your hifi problem. I think is because the Powerline is extremely open in the mid-high region that the vibrations issues of the system will show. The Powerline will show how manipulative and coloured high end power cables generally are to smooth things out and to low the noise floor.

The most notable thing in this cable is its medium frequencies section: it is more open then you thought could be. After you try another cable it will almost inevitably feel shut off in this region or if not shut of or recessed a little foggy.

This cable is raw. It means it leaves your system breath. 

It is very different from other power cables. It is not for fixing or improving things out, is to let things out. So this can be a good or a bad thing.

It will give you some work since it behaves completely differently from other power cables. 

I personally find this work to be worthed. I always found that it is quite easy to calm down a system, but to give life to a system that is on sedation is very difficult. 

With the Powerline your system, after correct use and matching, will either sound bad or good depending on your work, but it will never sound boring. And I hate boring systems.

Cardas Clear Beyond and Clear Reflection power

 

Cardas again! What a strange thing for me. I have never listened for a very long time Cardas cables. My listening experience with Cardas stopped at the time of Golden Reference. Now, after many years I can appreciate what evolution does. 

I have already said that in the past I was not really a Cardas fan. Not because they were not good cables, they always have been good, but I felt they were more like fixing cables. For most systems it was a good thing, but when you were putting togheter components that were blending well togheter, I have found Cardas cables were retaining informations, dynamic and rytmic abilities.

You know how it is, most of us are only partially intelligent. We have an experience in time and we project it in the future with a forever stamp on it. It is for this stupid reason that I was not listening to Cardas cables. Even though I have to admit, I have herd few times systems sounding extremely well with a complete Cardas set up. But they had to be completely Cardas cabled. 

Now after many years I have to say that Cardas sound has changed, and these changements were all positive. I think now Cardas sound can be more universally appealing. 

Let's start with the Reflection. Reflection sound is fluid and slightly raw at the same time. It is a strange feeling!  I think it is a question of microinformation. It is not the quitest cable,  but within this not complete quiteness and black background it gives a kind of "educated freedom".

This cable is also rithmically capable. In the absolute scale I can only say it is slightly dynamically restricted and the bass is...not the strongest point, but well blended with everything else. I guess if the bass was different it would not sound this fluid any more and maybe it will be more heavy handed and this last thing is something I really dislike. It is similar soundind to the old Golden reference power, but more fluid, less coarse and less upfront. 

The Clear Beyond sounds very different.

The first thing we notice are  actually two: the dynamic window is more open and its silence is deeper, much deeper.

These two attributes makes for a less propulsive sound and more space for everything to happen. But it gives also the impression to slight alter the time, not the timing! You get the feeling timeis slightly expanded, that music is less constrained. It is a faster then the Reflection but it seams slower for this time thing. A little like a professional F1 driver against a very good driver. When we see the good driver in the circuit we think he goes very fast, its driving comes out as aggressive. Then you see the F1 driver in the same circuit with the same car. It seams he goes slower, that he has more time to express his skills, and his controll over the car and the circuit, he floats, everything is smooth, no compensation in the trajectories, it seams the car goes on invisible rails. At the end this apparent slower perception will be time recorded as a much faster lap!

This is the thing that happens with the Beyond. 

One thing that I was absolutely not prepared for was to realise that Cardas Reflection does not blend that well with Clear Beyond. In the past I could have mixed every Cardas and they would have mixed well togheter. The Reflection power blend perfectly with Reflection interconnect and loudspeaker cable, but not so with Clear interconnect. And the opposite is also true.

But the Beyond is a more universal cable then the Reflection. It blended well also with a Naim NAC A5 speaker cables that is very difficult to pair with almost anything. The Beyond is a cable that easily tend to disappear. This is an excellent thing, but if your system has been covered by some pushing from cables to compensate a laziness or whatever adding the Beyond will make it sound the component connected how it should. This is how things should be. But at the end the result it is going to be less "involving" you are going to think it is the cable while it is not. I have tried many combination and this was clearly shown. For this reason I think the best way to assemble a system is to have very neutral cables and then at the end matching the components. But most of us already have components so we try to get what works best with them in our listening room.

I have the impression that when you go Clear you should get everything in the Clear range. And that the Clear range blends well with other brands too. This is because Clear range is more neutral and leaves very litle signature on its own.

The Reflection is beautiful, but its beauty is more delicate, you have to respect it more, you have to put it in a more sympathetic context. But if you already have a Reflection somewhere, go and "reflect" everything else and you will be an happy guy! The ending result is extremely balanced.

Except for one thing. Don't put a Reflection feeding your power strip feeding other Cardas cables. The sound will suffer. Don't ask me why...

Cable confrontation: Naim NAC A5 VS Straight Wire Virtuoso H

At one of my friend's house with my Kuzma Ref2 turntable. He wanted to listen to it in his system, and then we said why don't we make a video of the cables we are listening to?

And here you have it. A confrontation between two "immortals" speaker audio cables. Both are still in production after many years and both are extremely good value for the money.

The Naim is difficult to make it sound this way. It needs more then 400 hours of break in and has to be correctly dressed. If not you are going to discharge it after 5min listening, but you will never catch its value. The Straigh Wire is of a very easy interface with most amplifier speaker combination.

 Whatch it on you tube and you will have the subtitle to know which cable you are listening to.

It will be nice if you will write your thoughts and preference!

Cardas Clear Beyond Phono cable

 

This is such an expensive cable! Yes, but who is going to buy it? Surely no uf you have a $1000 tonearm.

But, for the lucky ones that can own a reference tonearm, is such a cable worthed?

I will put it simple: it is not only worthed but it is a bargain! There are many phono cables in this price range and above, and one thing is sure the Clear Beyond surely belongs to the range above its price.

The most beautiful thing about this cable is its coesive easiness with everything. Everything is expressed without struggle or too much fluidity that can be boring even if at times seducing. 

The one thing that is really Beyond is its silence. It does not pick up any noise and it does not have any noise from its own. Just compare it with any other cable and you will easily realise it. There is also  no trace of metal conductur signature. You cannot guess either it is silver or copper or whatever. 

Its transparency is exceptionally good as its soundstage. But every detail is perfectly integrated in the music message. This is a very uncommon thing to achieve. Generally when you have a very detailed cable, it makes the details sounding like in another dimension in time that is different from the music.

Also their nature can appear to be from another happening. It is difficult to explain, but it is for this reason that details can be too much of a good thing and harsh. It is like a frequency get separated from the whole message. The Clear Beyond achieve the rare thing of being very detailed and musical at the same time as no other cable I have tried so far can.

And it is fast without being dry. And here again the beyond gets "beyond" another paradox in hifi reproduction. When a cable is fast generally is short in reproducing notes decays. And also feels it simplify  the musical message somehow. This generally tends the  rithm of the music to be perceived more easily.  But it can sound a little dry. The Clear Beyond allow a beautifull decay being fast at the same time and never letting the tempo in the second seat. Maybe it is a question of ultimate time control or maybe it is a question of not letting the signal being polluted by noises or by any kind of distortions. Anyway this managing of tempo (PRAT) and decays is unique among cables. Expecially if we add that the reproduction of depth is magnificent. The reproduction of depth most of the times does not go hand in hand with good ritmic capabilities in hifi staff.

All these characteristics allows the instruments timbres to be fully develloped, and also the bad recording to sound bad, but not as bad as with other top cables. Because there is more of everything.

And then its bass... Deep, controlled, fast but breathing at the same time.  The bass has space to breath with this cable. The best reproduction of bass of every phono cable I have ever listened to.

And I guess every of all these most of the time reciprocatly exclusive factors brings at the last for me inesplicable characteristic: this cable has wamth. Most of the times this feeling is given by a curtain effects on the high frequencies, or a slightly fattening of the mid bass region. But in the Clear Beyond the high frequencies are extremely well extended and the mid bass region is the best of any other cable I have tried. I feel it achieve this characteristic avoiding faulse harshness and being true transparent. I guess the true transparency allows timbres to be beautifully portraied and the lack of distortions, even the pleasents ones, togheter with the true transparency brings this wamth out. For this reason I will say it is a different kind of warmth of which we audiophiles are used to. It is a kind of natural warmth, results of lack of intrusion of "bad" things. 

After fews moths of using this cable with few cartridges, phono preamp, amps and speakers  and the needed connecting cables I have come also to one conclusion: whenever you try to identify something that you don't like in this cable you are identifying something that you are not liking somewhere else in the audio chain. Once you think it is forward, then you change preamplifier you realise it is the preamp or the cartridge you are using with it and so on. For this same reason it is absolutely not a fixing cable. It allows you to fix the chain keeping it as a stable actor. If you think it is its fault you are deeply wrong...

This was one of the easiest review for me. 

I have listened to more expensive phono cables that can do something better then the Clear Beyond does, or at least we are more readily aware of these advantages, maybe because umbalanced from the integrity of their total musical portray,  but these "betters" were always less important in comparison of the "betters" the Beyond is capable of. The Beyond generally did better were music count the most.

Without any doubt one of the best cables ever built.

An absolute masterpiece.

I truly compliment Mr. Cardas for this achievement.

Cardas Clear Reflection Interconnect - Get it and forget it

 

I have always found Cardas cable good, but on prolonged listening I have always felt they were not… enough. Musicality was there, but either I have found them to be too dense or too slow or missing in openess. But I am talking about old Cardas cables. Not even the very classic like Golden Reference and before it the Golden Cross were totally of my liking. I said it again: not totally of my liking. Since I had friends who absolutely loved the Golden Cross and the Golden reference. But despite this, all the time I was listening to a sistem all cabled with Cardas… I just listened to the music. So I have thought they were just balancing each other. But you know how we are : we like changing cables, mixing brands and so on. In the past with Cardas cables this was not a too good idea. It is true that most of cable brands shine when working with same family cables, but some were allowing better then others to change one cable here and another there easier then Cardas cables.

But with the Clear line this changed. 

I have always wanted to try the Clear Refelction since they affirm is an improved version of the Golden Reference. And I know the Golden Reference very well. I have sold it many times when I was in the hifi bussiness and I also had it for some time. 

I really didn’t know what to aspect from this cable, and I was expecially curious how it would blend with other makers cables.

When I have received it everything looked familiar. The same minimalistic plastic bag. The same smell. Yes there was a special smell on the Golden Reference, and I found it in the Clear reflection.

I cooked it for few days and I started my listening session replacing my installed cable between my passive preamp and my amplifier. I know in this position I like very few cables. I know that passive preamplifier makes things more difficult so I have started from here.

As soon as the first seconds of the music started playing I got one strong feeling : everything it is how it should. Not too much not too less of anything. A balance that does not allow you to appreciate something in particular neither feeling something is not that right. This is extremely rare for me to happen. Most of the time, for the good ones,  I have a feeling that tells me that something is so good and that same something is fooling me and in few days it is going to bother me. And this is what generally happen after a delay that goes from a week to a month at the most.

Days went on and I started to putting words and thoughts to what I was listening.

The various elements music is commposed of are blended in an almost perfect balance. I say almost just becaus I don't think perfection exsists. This means the music message makes sense all the time. You are not going to appreciate rithm or instrumental localisation, or timbre and then when you search for something else you feel it is a weak point. You allow yourself to be less critical, and this is a great thing for us that are passionate about sound reproduction! We found ourselves too often to jump and focus on a weakness and this spoils our listening pleasure. This cable gives you the permission to just listen.

This is rare. Very rare. And I think this is Cardas Clear reflection strongest asset.

If I have to decompose the sound of it I would say the high frequency are extremely well rendered. They develop with fluidity and ease and at the same time the attack of the notes is not diminished. In a word: elegant.

I have to say that I am extremely sensitive to one thing: no matter how good a cable is, no matter how beautifull it reproduces acousticals landscapes, localizes instruments and so on, if I feel the rytmic part is weighted, I say this when you have the sensation that it does not come easy, I cannot stay with it too long. When the rithm is followed, like a kind of tedius work instead of a natural flow, I get frustrated in my listening sessions. 

With previous Cardas I always felt this timing thing was not as fluid as it should be. The Clear reflection do it in a way I don't have any frustation at all.

As we go in others specific parts the organisation of the different instuments is very good, you can feel they are separate and playing at the same time togheter and the depth is rendered much better then most cables.

The medium zone is a beauty. Fluid, saturated withoud being heavy, and very expressive. The only part that I could say not too good thing about is the bass. Yes, the bass is there but it is not that expressive, not that propulsive. But it is perfectly blended with the rest. I feel that if it was different and I dare to say if it was of a different nature, it would have spoiled the nice blending it has with the rest. But you notice it only in a direct comparison with more expensive cables that, to tell you the truth at the end don't have the same level of musical enjoyment the Reflection is able to convey. 

This was not an easy session for me, not for the listening part, but for the critic part. I almost felt guilty about criticizing it, so honest, so fluid, so pleasurable, so without annoying characteristics this cable is.

The Clear Refleftion is extremely well made, extremely well balanced and most of all extremely musical. Another thing is that it is a cable that most people will like. I have listened to it with a friend that has a taste for music reproduction that is opposite to mine and he like it to! 

I forgot to say: I have done most of my listening test without changing other cables around, and sometimes changing them but not putting other Cardas around, and I found this cable to be an easy match with anything if components are put togheter in an harmonius way. Then I have started putting some of its family arouund, Clear Reflection power cable, then I have put on the Clear reflection loudpseaker cable. The result is globally  better, but not something you have to. It is like its qualities are able to be expressed in an even easier way. 

 Living with this cable is easy and pleasurable or an easy pleasure. Get it and forget it!

One thing: I have red a review somewhere where the author found that this cable is very calm. Yes it can sometimes sound this way depending on the power cord the components is linking is fed. With the Reflection power cord it is not very calm, it is just very balanced not too rushed not too calm. Actually I feel it is slightly on being fast. But it is true that with not the right power cord it can sound too calm. This is a very interesting thing that I think happens with many other cables. For example with Wireworld Gold Platinum or Platinum with the wrong power cord they can sound a little pushy on the high medium frequencies. But they are not! With cables that are not compressed and that gives you a faulse sense of speed this happens all the time. It is true that if you don't have few cables to play around with, when you buy a cable that is not dynamically compressed or that is very linear, you could end up with a too slow or a too much medium high frequencies showed in your system. If you are not sure about how really is your system, and nobody can be sure except the ones that have tried many combinations, I think it is better to buy lower range cables from good cables companies, like Cardas or Wireworld or the likes.

 Weakness: it seams the Clear Reflection could be the perfect cable, but it is not. It would not make any sense for Cardas to make more expensive cables. Yes the Clear Reflection has its own weaknesses but are not the kind of being harsh and sometimes umpleasent to listen to. It never presents such downsides. Its downsides are of not being that open, even though is not closed, not having that dynamic freedom that you can have with other more expensive cables, but these last have to be very good ones. These minor sides appear only when things get real high in your hifi chain. 

For example when I have put the Reflection between my preamps and amps combination and I had my turntable phono cable of good mid level, things were extremely enjoyable and no downside was exposed. When I have changed my phono cable with the Cardas Beyond this one let so much more informations to pass through (good informations) that the Reflection limits were showed. But with the lesser phono cable it was taming its few downsides making the combination a joy to listen to.

Considering this, I guess the Reflection is a cable that could be used in all the application when there is some little traces of bad things like not too much body, high frequencies slightly aggressive and so on, but these deficiencies have to be minor, since it is enough transparent to show when they are not that minor. It does not have downsides, just few limits that I would consider small only in an objective context. Considering its asking price it does not have any limit!