We took a call from a customer who had recently purchased a new system — a worthy collection of components, including a pair of the very fine Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary loudspeakers. Bought online without audition. After a couple of weeks of running in, the system was still hard and bright, and the character hadn’t shifted. Would we come and have a listen.
We took along various items to try. By far the biggest improvement came from one change: substituting the Cardas Parsec interconnect and loudspeaker cables into the system.
The result was immediate. The harsh, brittle top edge disappeared. In its place came tonal colour, texture and richness. Bass gained solidity and weight. And from those diminutive AE1s, an almost three-dimensional sense of depth opened up. Quite a transformation.
A Brand With a Story
We have had a long and fruitful history with Cardas cables. Despite suffering from less than ideal distribution in the past, they have always been the first port of call for natural-sounding, harmonically sweet cables that prioritise listenability over hyped-up detail levels that ultimately become tiring.
For almost two decades, their Golden Reference and Golden Cross cables — mains, interconnect, and speaker — helped music lovers access the best from their systems. The holy trinity of Conrad Johnson electronics, Avalon loudspeakers, and Cardas cables formed the basis of many a superb system. The complexity of construction meant they came at a cost. Yet even today, on second-hand and auction sites, these cables still command decent money.
Progress moves on, however. In the early 2000s, Cardas restructured their range quietly, without fanfare. New names, a new sound direction — more open and clearer, dropping the rich hues of the earlier models for greater consistency and transparency. The best Cardas cables today are undoubtedly expensive. The results are equally undeniable.
Enter the Parsec
But there, second from bottom in the Cardas lineup, sits the Parsec range.
These dark olive-coloured cables are an unsung star. The Parsec combines the transparency of the newer Cardas ranges with much of the sweetness of the Golden Reference — at prices nearly half of what the Golden Reference once asked. The £670 1m RCA or XLR interconnect supersedes the old £1,100 Golden Reference equivalent. That is a remarkable result.
Better still, Cardas is now distributed in the UK by Cambridge Acoustic Sciences, making these cables more widely and reliably available than they have ever been.
For anyone looking to add a large dose of believability, realism, texture, or plain listenability to their system — these cables will weave their magic. Yes, there are better cables available. But the Parsec can be a stopping point, or an endgame. Such is their quality.
Hear the Difference for Yourself
If you’d like to hear what a cable change can do to your system, come in and talk to Andrew. We stock the Cardas Parsec range at Audio Republic and are happy to arrange a demonstration
Call Andrew on 0191 406 7070 or send us an enquiry via our Contact page.