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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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Starting in 1989, Peter, who lived in the same Western Addition neighborhood, was one who taught me how to drive. Actually, he took me, and his sister Sharon, who was/is a year younger than I. I think Peter had a mid-to-late 80s 2-door Nissan Sentra. I just recall it being kind of trapezoidal. I do not know what its official color was, but to me it was "gray metal, with a bluish tinge." I think the rear windows propped or popped open. And unlike today's cars, that Sentra had real bumpers!
In the early-90s, when I was into high-end audio, Peter, who was/is six years older than I, got himself a new car, and then gave the Sentra to Sharon. No, we could not have imagined a cable costing more than those late-80s/early-90s economy cars. But with the Pranawire Nataraja line-level interconnect, that's where we are.
This Nataraja normally resides with an audiophile, who primarily uses it between a dCS Puccini and Jeff Rowland Criterion. But every 2 or 3 years, he sends me some cables, including the Nataraja, to be "re-charged" overnight on an audiodharma Cable Cooker. With a cable this thick and large (the Nataraja is shaped like an arowana), shipping is no easy task. Man, it almost feels as though we could have stuck the Nataraja on top of Sharon's Sentra, which had a roof rack.
I do not know what happened, but the Nataraja performs better than at any time I've had it before. It is still on the understated and feminine side, but now tracks a few things better. First, it preserves soundstage width. Even studio recordings, which you thought were kind of monophonic, have instruments placed outside of your speakers. This causes you to look up, and wonder how your room got wider, in order to hold this recorded soundscape. Second, the music itself isn't as soft, feathery, and ethereal. Third, it doubles down on being effortless, in tracing the music's flow, seamlessness, and continuity. There is nothing disjointed, stilted, or choppy. Fourth, it actually is capable of maintaining the deep bass' force and wave-like nature.
Peter would frequently shout, "Damn, woman!" at Sharon's driving. She had choppy acceleration and braking. The gutless Sentra had a tough time, getting up to highway speeds. At intersections, Sharon would stop a few feet short of the crosswalk, and then have to lurch to the line. That would throw off other cars at that intersection.
Sharon would drive, while you sat in the front passenger seat, as the "navigator." In those days, we still had paper maps. You had to hand-crank the windows, and manually lock and unlock the doors. When the windshield fogged up, you had to wipe it. But that always seemed to leave smeared grease or streaks. Without enough cup holders, you had to hold beverages for Sharon. And it helped, to have a stash of quarters.
From when Peter taught us how to drive, you learned that the backseat of the Sentra was cramped, with a bumpy ride. You feared speed bumps, pot holes, and the general "cheese grater" condition of Bay Area roads. If that Sentra had a boy and a girl in the backseat, you joked that they'd either kill each other, or have to get married. Which brings us to our friends Jason and Laura [not their real names]. Jason was your average UC Davis student. Laura was your stereotypical ice maiden nerd girl. She made it into top universities, but her family wanted her to stay close to home, so she went across the Bay to UC Berkeley.
I'll have to save this story for another day, but in the mid-90s, the four of us took a weekend getaway to Carmel and Monterey. With all the jostling in the backseat, Jason and Laura were at each other's throat. But Chris Isaak's "Somebody's Crying" got everyone to put hostilities aside, and the subsequent quiet was a detente.
The Nataraja is still not as snappy, chewy, transparent, incisive, and biting as other top-flight interconnects. But there's nothing ragged, piercing, fattening, or out of control. It accelerates sufficiently, and comes to a stop at the crosswalk. Electric guitar does not have the buzz and cut, but is more palatable. Drums have more texture and character, but not the full pop, punch, and explosiveness. Plenty of audiophiles want to listen to rock music, but do not want it to rattle, jangle, or bang them over the head. These audiophiles will find much to like about the Nataraja. There's no bickering or backseat fighting. And no one yells, "Damn, woman!"
The Nataraja does a credible job of locating background vocalists. You can almost plot their coordinates on the board game, Battleship. This quality greatly adds to the "believability" factor. It is like being at the Fillmore Street Fair, at the top of this page. Yes, there were throngs of attendees. But instead of a blended mess, you see the individuals up and down the street.
Other interconnects, such as Nordost Odin, Tara Labs ISM OnBoard The One, and Wireworld Platinum Eclipse possess far greater see-through transparency. So in this case, they have the cleaner windshield. Yet, when it comes to the objects outside of your windshield, the Nataraja leaves them in place. As you bring up more and more recordings, you notice that each has its own "positioning" of images, and overall viewing perspective. This picture was taken, after the dry lighting caused the California wildfires. The Nataraja will not magically and artificially clean up the skies. But neither will it start more fires, nor make the winds direct more smoke your way.
It's weird. When you use the Nataraja, it is obviously of a higher caliber. Yet, you do not feel rich, snobby, pretentious, or arrogant. It isn't sporty or turbo-charged, either. The Nataraja makes you feel as though your car (not minivan, truck, or SUV) has lots of room. Everything is automatic. And the ride is smooth and sufficiently powerful.
Hard to put a finger on it, but there is something comforting about the Nataraja's sonics. While you are aware of its shortcomings, it tends to put the distortions where they do not bother or annoy you. Be warned that, if you ever experience this caliber of interconnect, going to others many put you back in Sharon's Sentra, necessitating everyone to shout above the road noise. And then, at a big parking lot, you go over a speed bump, only to hit a pot hole.
-Lummy The Loch Monster
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Topic - Pranawire Nataraja, Part 23 - Luminator 00:31:28 12/20/20 (1)
- RE: Pranawire Nataraja, Part 23 - fantja 01:02:14 12/24/20 (0)
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