Brad,
I've been slowly upgrading my client's Transparent cables.... the latest being his speaker cables. He hasn't had them very long, but his review is quite a read.
He's a chef (for the opera house here in Seattle) and an huge fantasy fiction fan:
The Transparent Plus speaker cables are not quite what I expected. Upon first view I was stunned by their size; monstrous! "Gods, what have I done?" was my first thought. The network is the size of a clenched ogre's fist, white-knuckled around a garden hose. I fully expected the sound to punch through my chest, extract my heart, and SQUEEEEZE. Not quite the case...
Even though I only experienced Transparent Plus speaker cables for a 'smidge' over one week, I came to view them as suprisingly civilized!
Ogre isn't the violent simpleton I'd come to expect. More refined even than it's pleasant and polite youngest cousin, MusicLink. Once again, I'm amazed by Transparent. Overall bass is much improved. It is amply detailed and well anchored. The weight of the bass often times keeps my speakers from blasting into another world. The dynamics pop and sometimes explode, yet the sound remains musical.
My titanium dome tweeters, in past, have sometimes sounded HOT: the HF now flows in neutral among the music waves. Much of the excessive 'heat' has been syphoned by the ogre's grip. The midrange is more seductive than ever. Perhaps this is where the ogre's humanity resides. The midrange is animated enough to bring human vocals to the forefront and coax them to life.
The staging is more apparent than ever. All band members stand at their marks and contribute aptly to a more dimensional sound. Angles and depth are revealed.
Between musical notes the air is still. Music seemingly springs into life from the quiet darkness; like undead warriors materializing to cross swords with silence. There is more musical space from which to field battle. Immortal dead advancing on the battlefield, swords singing into the foreground with great harmonic accuracy. Warlocks in the background skillfully chant their tonal sorcery and ritual. War drums beat with energy as the enlisted march to Master Rotel's cadence. For immortality the wage is war. Music is immortal: timeless.
As I watch the cold wind blow it's breath of attrition. As I watch dark droplets of rain sacrifice themselves for Mother Earth, Thom Yorke presents to me, Eraser. And upon these leading moments I've come to realize that my first impressions of Transparent Plus weren't entirely wrong. The networks are indeed young ogre's fists yet those fists belong to a skillful architect. One who thoughtfully crafted a musical realm more expressive, revealing, and engaging than any I've experienced before. Instead of escorting me to Ye'Ole Theatre where Blast Chamber Music Company resides, he's taken my hands and guided me to the Transparent Gate.............through to the distance I catch a shimmering glimpse of an MM2 world...
...and somewhere a rabbit bounds frantically for it's life. It's well aware of the Herald's return. The damned Greyhound is loose again...
--
AA
Adam Andreasen
Definitive Audio
Seattle, WA
