John's Review
I wanted to be sure of the result and have been playing the cables 6 to 10 hours a day for the past 6 days. There is no question here. It is not simply how good of a bang for your buck is the cable. Rather, this is the best speaker cable I have listened to in any of my systems. The first two days I used a series of tests in which a track would be played using my best cables – a pair that I paid $2k for (that listed for $10k back in 2000). Then we would switch to your cable, which consistently showed slightly more detail and was just as musical. More importantly, your cable did a better job in placement of the orchestra’s pieces. The singer was more in front of the band, so to speak. When it was time for a particular instrument to play louder than the rest of the orchestra, the dynamic range was slightly widened to allow the soloist to shine. This happened with both of my DACs – the $20k Berkeley Reference DAC and the $5k T+A DAC. I use the Berkeley to play PCM music and I use the T+A to play true native DSD music. The speaker cables simply gave me a more “natural” sound to the music – more like I was being there.
Again, thank you for letting me hear these cables; you have done a remarkable job in keeping the price down to approximately $500.00 for a pair of cables that sound better than cables costing many times the price. Your oxygen-free copper, plus the quality of the connectors, plus, of course, the cryo treatment produces results that need to be heard to be believed. Best, John.
Herb's Review
I finally completed my system with Ice Age Audio Cables by adding Ricks speaker cable. I have to say that I never had more of a coherent sound than I have now! My mid range driver and tweeter are as one like a concentric driver array. Except my drivers are separate! The bass response never has any bloat or artificial overhang. Simply put, if there is bass you will get it, if there is none then you won’t! Just like the interconnects, Ice Age Audio just gives you a clear path to the music you are sending through them! I highly recommend using all Ice Age Audio Cables for a complete synergy of pure sound! I am using Ricks power cords on every source component. Balanced interconnects from preamp to amp and also from dac/player to preamp! Components using are a Krell xd300 amplifier,EMM labs pre 2 preamp, Marantz sa-10 reference Dac/player, Sonus Faber Olympica 3 speakers, Rotel Michi phono pre and VPI classic turntable. Thank you Rick and Brodie for such wonderful cable products!
David's Review
I first heard about Ice Age Audio from Don Sachs. I had purchased his (legendary) tube preamp and he recommended I order a Copper/Copper Power Cable from Rick at Ice Age Audio. I had not gotten on the audiophile power cable bandwagon at that point and was skeptical. But Don knows his stuff, so I decided to give the Ice Age Audio Power Cable a try. And lo and behold flash forward, here I am writing a testimonial because the power cable truly made an improvement to the sound. I now have 6 of the Ice Age Audio Power Cables: DAC, pre amp, amp, TV and two subs. Based on these improvements I decided to give Rick's interconnects a try and ordered a set of RCA and XLR cables. I was using quality BJC cables previously but with the Ice Age Audio interconnects the sound took a big leap forward. Highly detailed, but also for lack of a better word, enchanting. As in everything just sounded more musical and enjoyable.
A few months later I upgraded to Ice Age Audio Speaker Cables & Jumpers for my bi-wired speakers. I was using some decent Mogami cables beforehand. But my word the Ice Age Audio Speaker Cables again took the sound to even more amazing places in similar ways as the interconnects, Game-Changers. And finally, having heard recommendations for running all the same wire throughout your system, I decided to try this by adding the Ice Age Audio USB Cable. I'll be honest - as much as everything up to this point improved the sound, I didn't expect the Ice Age Audio USB to beat my current Audioquest coffee USB cable. It was expensive and in all my tests it had clearly been superior to all others I tried. But I'll be danged...I've now got an Audioquest USB cable for sale...
The improvements that I have found from Ice Age Audio Audio products all have a similar quality. If one was to describe a "house sound" for Ice Age Audio Cables it would be this: astounding detail with an almost intoxicatingly musical and lushly enjoyable quality; the kind of sound that just puts a smile on your face listening to the music, rather than making you ponder what to upgrade next. That is a rare place for audiophiles.
Alan From Ireland says...
I recently purchased two Copper/Copper Power Cables and a 15ft pair of Speaker Cables from Rick. This review is on the Speaker Cables but by default will include the Power Cables. The existing speaker cables at the time were Revelation Audio Labs Testament Cryo Silver costing today $2499.00 for 2 meters, mine were 4 meters. It would be true to say I was skeptical in regard to could speaker cables costing circa 600 dollars be any where near the Testament cables. I was proved to be so wrong.
The Ice Age Audio cables were burnt in using both a enhanced burn in disc by Isotek a UK company and music from a cd transport. The cartridge is a Hana Umami Red Moving Coil cartridge through a Mastersound ph5 pre amp, Mastersound 845 mono blocks and Art Diamond 12 inch three way floorstanding speakers. I currently have 98 hours on the cables. The burn in process to date has been a bit of a roller coaster and at one point I thought this won't work, now the sound is fantastic. The bass is solid and full. The sound stage is massive filling the room with music. I initially thought I would loose some high end detail, not the case. It is there in all its glory but smoother. Vocals are clear and strong with no harshness or brightness. The testament cables in comparison and on reflection are thinner in sound, lack bass and a narrower sound stage. I am still staggered as to how Rick can manufacture cables at such a cheap price and yet produce a sound better than cables costing five times as much. I have no hesitation in recommending to any one who is skeptical and thinks that cheaper cables can't sound as good as those costing megabucks go and try these Ice Age Audio Cables you will be shocked and more than pleasantly surprised.
Rick many thanks for your speedy efficient service you are a pleasure to deal with.
Kind Regards-Alan
