Review: VH Silver Pulsar (VHS) vs. Gregg Straley Reality Cables IC (GSRC)
Setups:
APL Hifi DV-563a > (Interconnect) > PrimaLuna Prologue One > Ven Haus Recipe Cat-5 cables > Magnepan MG
APL Hifi DV-563a > (Interconnect) > Singlepower MPX3 > Audio Technica ATH-W5000
Prologue One Tubes: Telefunken Smooth Plate 12AX7, RCA Cleartop 12AU7, SED EL34
MPX3 Tubes: Sylvania VT-231 Driver, Tung-Sol Black Plate 5687 Output
Music Used for Review:
Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker (SACD) – Call Me on Your Way Back Home
Dave Brubeck – Time Out (SACD) – Blue Rondo A La Turk
Norah Jones – Come Away With Me (SACD) – Don’t Know Why
Yo-Yo Ma - Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet (SACD) – Legend of Herlen
Radiohead – Kid A – Kid A
Chris Thile – All That Wonder Are Not Lost – Big Sam Thompson
Build:
The VHS is constructed using a single 28 awg copper center conductor surrounded by a solid FEP Teflon dielectric which is double shielded using foil and a silver plated copper braid. The entire cable is then covered with black techflex. The cable in this review was terminated with Eichmann Silver Bullet plugs with proprietary aluminum barrels which are much more robust than the plastic barrels provided by Eichmann.
On the other hand the GSRC is unshielded and uses two copper conductors with a redish/pink sheathe. The GSRC that I purchased was terminated using Vampire OFC plugs instead of the standard RCAs.
Both cables appear to be well built but the aluminum barrel of the VHS seemed to provide better strain relief than the barrel of the Vampire RCA. The GSRC cable is also a bit stiff while the VHS is probably the most flexible cable that I’ve ever used. For those of you concerned with the wife approval factor the VHS is much less noticeable than the redish/pink GSRC.
Miscellaneous Notes:
Both the GSRC and VHS were cryotreated by the manufacturers. Before shipping each GSRC is burned in on Gregg’s cable cooker for a few days to help speed up the break-in process. Gregg stated that the GSRC would only need about 50 hours of burn-in to reach their full potential but to be honest I thought they sounded great the second I put them in my system and I didn’t notice too much of a difference after using them for awhile. On the other hand when I first put the VHS in my rig and I thought they sounded congested, incoherent and bright but after the burn in they really opened up and showed what they're capable of. Chris suggests burning the cables in for about 400 hours before doing any critical listening and my findings are pretty much in line with that recommendation. I burned the VHS in for about 500 hours before conducting this comparison.
Sound:
To my ears both cables were very detailed but had very different presentations. The VHS had a delicate, ethereal sound while the GSRC sounded much more solid and defined. I found the instrument separation on both cables to be very impressive, the VHS seemed to have more air around the instruments but to my ears the GSRC sounded more palpable. The VHS had a slightly wider soundstage than the GSRC but at the same time the soundstage was also much shallower. When listening to Chris Thile’s Big Sam Thompson with the VHS it sounded like the musicians were lined up at the stage lip and I was listening to them play from the front row, the width was impressive but the lack of depth was very unnatural. On the other hand when I switched to the GSRC the instruments seemed to step back into space and it was much easier to get a mental image of where each instrument was in relationship to each other. There were times that I appreciated the forwardness of the VHS but over longer listening sessions I definitely preferred the more natural sound of the GSRC.
To my ears the area in which the VHS excelled the most was treble; both cables had natural sounding highs but the VHS had greater extension. In terms of treble decay the VHS a bit quicker than the GSRC and it seemed there was more air between each note. I didn’t find the GSRC to be lacking in extension or decay, the VHS was just a little bit better. To put it simply the VHS had the best treble that I’ve ever heard in my system.
I found the bass with both cables to be fairly similar, the VHS had a little more impact but the GSRC had a little more extension and texture. To my ears these differences are fairly small and I didn’t really favor one over the other.
In my systems the most disappointing aspect of the VHS was be the midrange which I found to be very thin sounding. When I listened to Norah Jones and Ryan Adams I thought the VHS had nice detail but it completely lacked any weight or texture. On the other hand the GSRC was much more tangible and textured. To my ears the midrange of the VHS sounded thin, flat and uninspiring and the GSRC was had wonderful body and texture which really allowed the emotion to spring to life.
Despite the wonderful treble of the VHS to my ears the GSRC was the clear winner of this comparison. When listening to the VHS I could immediately notice the way they changed the system while the GSRC seemed to get out of the way without imparting any characteristics of it’s own on the sound. I could see how some with a darker sounding setup might appreciate the upfront nature of the VHS but in my system I preferred the more neutral sound of the GSRC.