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#48884 - 11/12/01 02:00 PM A listening test...
gonk Offline
Desperado

Registered: 03/21/01
Posts: 14054
Loc: Memphis, TN USA
While I waited for the cable guy to run a new line to one of the bedrooms, I took advantage of the morning to re-arrange the entertainment center (give the 1050 more room to breath, and prepare it for a future change from the 1050 to a 950 and eventually a center surround amp). When I had the center mostly cleared out, I gathered an assortment of interconnects and conducted a brief and very un-scientific comparison. When reading these results, keep in mind that this is my personal opinion based on my gear in my house and with only brief listening tests on several of the cables, using the signal path from my Yamaha CDC-775 CD changer to my Outlaw 1050. This is hardly a definitive review, but is certainly interesting to anyone considering an upgrade to the new Outlaw PCA's.

I compared a 0.5 meter pair of PCA's to my standard cables on the CD player (TMC Yellow Label 1.5m), a 1.0 meter pair of TMC White Label, a 1.0 meter pair of BetterCables Silver Serpent audio, and a 1.0 meter pair of (now discontinued) BetterCables Premium audio. All were burned in (the PCA's were on and old CD player from last Wednesday evening to this morning). I used a mixture of CD's to test with, relying much of the time on the Gladiator soundtrack. The BetterCables Premium came in last, with a muddier sound and weaker soundstage than any of the others. The BetterCables Silver Serpent and TMC White Label were very comparable, with a very nice sound. On my Yamaha changer, the TMC Yellow Labels have been champ for some time now, replacing a loaner pair of Magnan Vi cables. I suspected that the PCA's would be hard-pressed to overtake the Yellow Labels. To my surprise, I preferred the sound of the PCA's -- they offered better overall clarity and a better soundstage, although they seemed to maybe not have quite as clear a separation between notes at the low frequency as the Yellow Labels. This, with a price probably 3 or 4 times lower ($50 for a 1.8m PCA pair as compared to a "list" price of $180 per meter and an average price of around $90 or $100 per meter at Audiogon for Yellow Labels).

I will add this note -- if you haven't ever dealt with locking RCA connectors before, I recommend a little patience and care when connecting the PCA's. It takes some attention to what you are doing to get a proper connection with a locking RCA, but to me it seems worth the effort. The cables themselves are very easy to handle, unlike the notoriously stiff TMC cables (which are so stiff that some people won't even use them).

Bottom line: I've moved my CD changer, so I can't use PCA's without buying a 1.8 meter pair. I think I'll be doing just that later this week. It is a great analog interconnect (I still consider the TMC White Label my favorite digital cable), and a really great price...
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gonk
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#48885 - 11/15/01 10:27 PM Re: A listening test...
zacster Offline
Gunslinger

Registered: 11/15/01
Posts: 131
Loc: Brooklyn, NY
I haven't tried much else that's any good, so I can't compare the PCAs to them, but I put mine on tonight and am just amazed at the difference. My wife just stood there listening with a smile.

For $30 a pair (.5m), I can't think of anything that would come close in the bang for the buck department. I'm reconsidering investing more money on a new CD player, since what I've heard (rotel, arcam, rega) didn't impress me nearly as much as these cables.

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