Soundstage!
Dave Duvall


February 1997

[Review Followup]
AUDIO MAGIC MYSTIC REFERENCE I2S CABLE

A little while back Todd Warnke introduced the new Audio Magic Mystic Reference I2S cable to you with a favorable review. Jerry Ramsey sent me a pair to try out, so that we could give a reaction to using it with the DDS PRO Transport as well between the PRO.32 and V3.0 as Todd reported on.

The Reference is most definitely an improved product over the original Mystic that I have been using in my system for some time now. Must be the larger conductors and seven layers of shielding. I found the Reference to have the warmth I liked when I listened to the Audio One cable, but retained the transparency of the original Mystic. I'm getting the best of both worlds, and I likes it!

When listening to the Cowboy Junkie's "Something More Besides You", from their latest "Lay It Down" (Geffen GEFD-24952) , I relished in Margo Timmen's sultry voice as it sounded more natural than ever. I'm talking about getting up and ask her to dance kinda real. The snare drum set back behind her has a vivid snap to it that is well pronounced via the Mystic Reference. On "Roughest Place in Town", the showstopper from the fabulous remaster of Stevie Ray Vaughn's "Couldn't Stand the Weather" (Epic EK-64425) Tommy Shannon's bass takes on less of a stretched, thin, rubber band sound and gets at you like what it is; individual notes created by the flesh of fingers on a compliant, robust, well rounded metal bass string. Stevie's guitar strings are sharp in contrast. Plenty of attack and bite, but with more body and harmonic context than the original Mystic.

The Mystic Reference takes the design of the original Mystic one step further, to a place where warmth and resolution co-exist. Just one more addition to the hard fought battle of getting digital to resemble the analog sound I was raised on. These days I'm quite pleased with digital, but without innovative products such as the Mystic Reference I2S cable, that statement would be awfully hard to make. For now we await longer bit words and higher sampling rates for further improvements. Till then I certainly appreciate state of the art products from companies like Audio Magic.

...Dave Duvall
duvall@redshift.com

Click Here for Todd Warnke's Full Audio Magic Mystic Reference Review