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Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
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Cable Asylum Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys. |
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"Damn dude," wrote an Inmate, "You're the rare bird, who understands that it's about life, music, and then the audio. Like everyone else who writes to you, I may or may not be interested in the product itself. But you offer so much about it and its surroundings, that there's always something I want to ask you. And with that web of life and music, I not only improve my own life and music collection, I feel like I've made a friend. Even though, obviously, we've never actually met in person. When I talk to my own audio buddies, we wish to thank you for bringing up aspects and details that no one else does. And whaddya know, there'll aways be discussions of a related product to the one you're covering."
This Inmate has not shipped me any cables, because he goes to someone near him, who has an audiodharma Cable Cooker. But ah, via all the talk about cables, the conversations turned to the series on the AudioQuest Hawk Eye. He and his friends have had other AQ digital cables (though not all of which were coax), so they have been eagerly awaiting more posts.
The Inmate giggled that, when my friends and I were teenagers and young adults in the 1990s, our parents gave us "crappy little [subcompact] cars." But hey, those small, relatively inexpensive, and fuel-efficient cars enabled us to get around. And when we got around, we could explore new music. In the early-2000s, my girlfriend TLS and her friends liked to go clubbing. Through that web of connections, Anything Box's "Clean" was a favorite of ours. It barely made a blip with the public at large, so our audiophile network likes to lap it up.
The Inmate is keen on aesthetics, and he actually asked about TLS' little 1990s 2-door Honda Civic EX sedan [in the late-2000s, his son bought a 4-door Civic]. Although TLS' favorite color was silver, her car was in black. Black was her second-favorite color, the one she wore most often. Okay, okay, her reasoning was that, by not making much money, she could only afford one color, and black was universally accepted.
The Inmate learned that this isn't trivial. I was, at times, opposed to black-colored audio products. But TLS convinced me to accept the black-colored Mark Levinson components. And it turned out that, at least in terms of sonics, the Mark Levinson No. 37 CD transport was state-of-the-art. The No. 37 and No. 390S CD player are notorious for mechanical problems. But if you have one which still works, as a transport, it still provides top-notch sound. The Inmate added, "And if you don't have high-quality sources, you cannot properly evaluate cables."
Fronted by the Mark Levinson No. 37, the AQ Hawk Eye's deviations and shortcomings are revealed. The first inaccuracy you may notice is that images are larger, and more diffuse than they should be. This leads to the cable not being able to reproduce the body or substance of the image to a 100%.
Anything Box's "Clean" can have a bit of "sssssssssss" sibiliance to the mid-treble. Via the Hawk Eye, some of this is slightly reduced, and replaced with a sort of grayish coloration. Indeed, when you listen to tonal color, whether in EDM or orchestral works, instead of a clean mirror reflection, the Hawk Eye gives you a slightly dirtier or grayer result. But you know what? Many of you will find the overall textures listenable, rather than offputting. We understand that, for many audiophliles, textures and tonal colors are vital. So bring your notepad, listen carefully, and see if the Hawk Eye's deviations here are acceptable to you.
Due to the, in absolute terms, slightly diffuse imaging, the bass is subjectively not as tight as it should be. The Hawk Eye slightly emphasizes the audible portion of the bass, over the deepest octaves. Especially in EDM, the waves of bass should be clearly defined, "seen," and felt. With the Hawk Eye, these waves are slightly indistinct and softened.
To me, TLS' Honda Civic was easy to drive. When she got new tires, it handled even better. The Bay Area's roads are notoriously bad. Yeah, with the Civic, you felt every bump, crack, pothole, track, and grate, manhole, plate, etc. Yeah, road noise was, well, crisp. But you felt in control, and with such a small and maneuverable car, you felt like you had margin of error. The icing on the cake was that the Civic could fit into the Bay Area's smaller parking spaces, and still give you enough room to get out of and back into the car.
Just as the Civic was easy to park, the Hawk Eye is easy on the music's movement. You may find yourself waving, swaying, bouncing, and playing air instruments, to the music. Yeah, you might wish for even more speed, precision, and dynamics, but the Hawk Eye lets 85% of the music flow well enough, that you can move to the music.
The Inmate did ask again about AQ's own Digital Pro, which I originally had in 1993. From my recollections of the DP, the Hawk Eye is more open, clean, and lithe. Some audiophiles will point to the Hawk Eye's DBS battery pack, but I do recall the DP having dirtier background silences.
If you bring out the audio checklist or report card, the Hawkeye does not do any one thing exceptionally well, but scores competently across the board. The lack of bad grades means that the Hawk Eye can be a well-rounded performer. Indeed, as we have used it with a variety of digital gear, that even-handed balance does come through. Now that we have an idea of what the Hawk Eye can and cannot do, it is up to the individual, with her gear, timeline, budget, tastes, to judge for herself, whether this is "meh," "fine," or "mediocre."
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - AudioQuest Hawk Eye, Part 7 - Luminator 17:32:57 11/1/20 (1)
- RE: AudioQuest Hawk Eye, Part 7 - fantja 01:04:01 11/10/20 (0)
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