Soundstage!
Marc Mickelson


September 1997

[REVIEW FOLLOWUP]
The Audio Magic Tubed Interconnect

Tell me if this has happened to you: you've misplaced something--your gloves, your favorite shoes, your glasses. You look everywhere--twice--but you can't find them, and it's driving you crazy. Then as you walk around the corner and in front of the mirror you realize that you have them on! Well, a similar thing can happen when you review audio equipment, especially something you really like. It's easy to get so lost in the music that you don't pay enough attention to the component at hand--and thus you overlook important aspects of its performance.

[AUDIO MAGIC TUBED INTERCONNECT]Well, in case you've haven't guessed, this happened to me. Last month I reviewed the Audio Magic Illusion cables and Tubed Interconnect. I was enthusiastic about both, but I was especially excited about the Tubed Interconnect, which has only left my system for a few unfulfilling days since it arrived. To say the least, I'm very attached to it, and because it is such a unique and effective product, I thought I would revisit it and address a couple of issues that have occurred to me since I finished the original review.

The last year or so has seen the introduction of a number of specialty components designed for use between a CD player or DAC and a preamp. The specific claims made for these boxes vary, but each is an attempt at reducing the general dissatisfaction many listeners have with the digital format--mostly in the upper-midrange/lower-treble area (in my opinion, the problem region for much high-end gear). I won't comment on this general sense of digital dis-ease that many listeners complain about (mostly because I love my digital rig), but I can say that the Tubed Interconnnect does not fit into this category of product--the digital cure. First of all, no one with less that stellar equipment is going to buy a $4000 interconnect, so there likely won't be anything that needs correcting. And in my system, the Timbre TT-1 DAC I use has such pristine and beautiful highs that I'd soundly condemn any component that blunts or otherwise alters them in any way.

So the Tubed Interconnect is exactly that: an interconnect that just happens to have a tubed output stage along its length. Like any good set of interconnects, it doesn't add noise or odd effects to the sound. Instead, it's a most specialized connecting device that through its refined execution--Audio Magic calls it a "T-balanced" circuit--helps to produce more lifelike reproduction. It has a silver power cord, a silver umbilical that connects its output stage with its power supply, and a pair of silver ribbon interconnecting leads that alone would cost more than $2000 per meter pair. It also uses silver wire internally and silver solder, and has exceptional parts throughout--all the better to ensure that it's not sonically detractive. Its effects are greater than those of any digital cable or anti-jitter box I've tried and roughly the same magnitude as changing your entire set of interconnects and speaker cables. But it's not change that it offers but real improvement--more air and delineation, slightly tighter bass, more naturalness. Audio system? What audio system? The music is just there.

I know I may be looked upon as a kook or crackpot--$4000 interconnects, I mean really--but I hear what I hear. And I bought what I bought. And I won't be taking it out of my system, so integral is its contribution. To say the least, Audio Magic's Tubed Interconnect is highly recommended.

...Marc Mickelson
marc@soundstage.com

Audio Magic Tubed Interconnect
Price: $3,995 USD

Audio Magic
456 S. Potomac Way
Aurora, Colorado 80012
Phone: 303-364-8202
Fax: 303-364-8102

E-Mail: sorcerer49@aol.com