Cable Wars ! - Gotham GAC1 vs Atlas Voyager

[JANDL100]

Bryfiero kindly loaned me a pair of his Atlas Voyager to compare & contrast with the Gotham GAC1 cable that I have been praising of late. He tried the Gotham after seeing my posts, enjoyed it (especially for the money) but ultimately preferred the Atlas. He asked me to post my views, so here goes ....

A hifi dealer friend of mine is insistent that "cable sound" is very dependent on the kit it is used with - he's much more experienced than I so I am happy to take his word for it. So I can only say that my observations refer to my current system - Pioneer PD-S505 Precision (Tom Evans tweaked) as a CD transport plus Beresford TC-7510 Mk.III DAC, pre-amp courtesy of eBay seller Horbrarian, Lyngdorf SDA2175 power amp and Dali Skyline 1000 ribbon hybrid speakers. A quite well balanced, hi-rez system IMO.

I was able to use the twin line outputs on the Beresford, each into a pre-amp input, so I could switch at the click of a button from my listening seat using the pre's remote control. All tests were done sighted, but results are consistent across the several CDs that I used in the comparison (classical, techno/jazz, female vocal, solo piano).

Atlas Voyager (about £100 I think). Gotham GAC1 (£8.99).

In a nutshell - both are good - the Atlas are def a bit brighter tonally, the Gothams def go deeper and tauter in the bass (a real strong point with the Gothams IME). I feel the Gothams also are a little better focussed with a slightly deeper soundstage, with more space around solo instruments/voices.

The Atlas have more presence on vocals though, Ithink because of their brighter tonality.

Bryanprefers the Atlas, I prefer the Gothams overall. The differing tonal balance of the cables may well dictate what systems they work best with. Both are good cables with no obvious vices.

All IME IMO YMMV etc

I hope to be getting my mits on some of Borats Baby's cables soon. I'll post a supplement to this mini-review then.

Thanks for the loan of the Atlas cablesBryan! I'll send you some cables to play with when I return them.

 

[Effem]

As a matter of interest Jerry what happened to the oil filled interconnects you had? I also bought a pair to play with based upon your usual enthusiasm

 

[JANDL100]

Effem wrote:

As a matter of interest Jerry what happened to the oil filled interconnects you had? I also bought a pair to play with based upon your usual enthusiasm

Oh Frank - that is so last week ! :lmao:

I've got one pair up for sale and am keeping the other pair I have. Will probably send them on to Bryfiero to play with today.

TBH - against the Gotham they sound a little fuzzy overall, and also a little ill-defined in the bass. But then those are the Gotham's strengths. I think they are well detailed and pretty open, perhaps a tad rolled off at the top.

What did you think of the oil-filled beauties? (They are a gorgeous bit of kit though, regardless of sound, aren't they!). :22:Not exactly flexible though.

 

[griffo104]

Nice one Jerry. Have to say having had the Gothams for just a weekend I can concur with you regarding the strengths of the bass - possibly the best I've heard from a cable in my system. Still prefer the Cardas Quadlink overall as it's better balanced but that bass on the Gothams is lovely. Plus the Cardas cost me £200 so not really a fair comparison.

Going to try and get a 3m pair after pay day to hook up to my phono to see how it goes with that.

Regarding equipment and cables, the one peice of kit which really shows the difference between cables in my system, and I mean really shows it, is the Magnum Dynalab tuner which seems to just get better and better as you put better cables on it.

 

[Effem]

JANDL100 wrote:

Effem wrote:

As a matter of interest Jerry what happened to the oil filled interconnects you had? I also bought a pair to play with based upon your usual enthusiasm

Oh Frank - that is so last week ! :lmao:

I've got one pair up for sale and am keeping the other pair I have. Will probably send them on to Bryfiero to play with today.

TBH - against the Gotham they sound a little fuzzy overall, and also a little ill-defined in the bass. But then those are the Gotham's strengths. I think they are well detailed and pretty open, perhaps a tad rolled off at the top.

What did you think of the oil-filled beauties? (They are a gorgeous bit of kit though, regardless of sound, aren't they!). :22:Not exactly flexible though.

They are so good Jerry they are currentlylanguishingin a drawer

To be absolutely fair though they do give a very smooth presentation with no obvious vices and they wereinexpensivefrom a Hong Kong dealer not the source you got yours from. I am tempted to crack them open to see how they retain all that fluid without it leaking out, but it seems a sacriligious waste to ruin them as they are so beautifully put together. Wonder how far the oilwould travel if you stamped on them?

Contrary to what anyone might think I really do enjoy reading about these little cable "discoveries" for silly money like the Gothams that spank the big names.

 

[griffo104]

Effem wrote:

JANDL100 wrote:

Effem wrote:

As a matter of interest Jerry what happened to the oil filled interconnects you had? I also bought a pair to play with based upon your usual enthusiasm

Oh Frank - that is so last week ! :lmao:

I've got one pair up for sale and am keeping the other pair I have. Will probably send them on to Bryfiero to play with today.

TBH - against the Gotham they sound a little fuzzy overall, and also a little ill-defined in the bass. But then those are the Gotham's strengths. I think they are well detailed and pretty open, perhaps a tad rolled off at the top.

What did you think of the oil-filled beauties? (They are a gorgeous bit of kit though, regardless of sound, aren't they!). :22:Not exactly flexible though.

They are so good Jerry they are currentlylanguishingin a drawer

To be absolutely fair though they do give a very smooth presentation with no obvious vices and they wereinexpensivefrom a Hong Kong dealer not the source you got yours from. I am tempted to crack them open to see how they retain all that fluid without it leaking out, but it seems a sacriligious waste to ruin them as they are so beautifully put together. Wonder how far the oilwould travel if you stamped on them?

Contrary to what anyone might think I really do enjoy reading about these little cable "discoveries" for silly money like the Gothams that spank the big names.

I've been using them in line with the Chord Chameleons I have and I have to say they are very similar with the Gothams having the edge in the bass.

For the price it seems silly not to give them a go.

Wonder how much the final price of cables from the likes of chord are due to the cost of advertising and packaging although until now I did think the Chord cables were amongst the better value cables from the big boys.

Still using a certain 3m worth ofKK interconnect between my phono and amp at the moment and it's seen off a couple of much more expensive cables I've been loaned

 

[thrunobulax]

Another little discovery,i picked up some cable from Maplin to knock up a set of component video i/c`s for the dvd, its shark silver special dvd component coax S2CY-1A, and out of interest put some silver Eichmanns on the spare.75m i had left and hooked up the CD to Beresford, the .05m coax i had being a little too short.

Its a stonking digital I/C and around £2.50 per metre.

 

[JANDL100]

JANDL100 wrote:

I hope to be getting my mits on some of Borats Baby's cables soon. I'll post a supplement to this mini-review then.

Well, I've got the Babe's Myryad cables - and they are now up for sale on eBay. *

For me, the Gothams showed them the door in all respects. The Myryads aren't at all bad - but the Gothams in my system have significantly better focus (the M's sound vague and fuzzy in comparison) and the G's bass is in the next league up.

YMMV of course.

(* They are on BIN Best Offer - I don't want to make a profit, so an offer of £14 will be accepted)

 

[Sony6million]

Expecting some Gothams in the post next week to try. Can lose for the money, and looking forward to comparing to my Voyagers too

 

[flapland]

I am also expecting some Gothams in the post this week so will add to the feedback.

Expecting to use them between Linn Numerik and Kairn, and also Kairn and Lexicon 212 (Bryston 3B st rebaged)

 

[ob1]

I found the gothams work best from cd player to my preamp but VDH 102 mk3 sound a lot more lively when use between pre and power amp, wiered!

 

[JANDL100]

ob1971 wrote:

I found the gothams work best from cd player to my preamp but VDH 102 mk3 sound a lot more lively when use between pre and power amp, wiered!

Now that is interestin' !!

OK - livelier is good.

How do the VdH do the focus-thing compared to the Gothams? You know, solo instruments or vocals are nice and tightly defined in space (not vague or fuzzy).

 

[JANDL100]

JANDL100 wrote:

ob1971 wrote:

I found the gothams work best from cd player to my preamp but VDH 102 mk3 sound a lot more lively when use between pre and power amp, wiered!

Now that is interestin' !!

OK - livelier is good.

How do the VdH do the focus-thing compared to the Gothams? You know, solo instruments or vocals are nice and tightly defined in space (not vague or fuzzy).

It's OK - I'll find out for myself - I've just bought a pair on eBay !

 

[flapland]

Recieved mine today after ordering Sunday evening....

Wow great cables at a amazing price, beat my Chord Cobra's to a pulp. Already bass is more tuneful, instruments are better seperated and detail is improved.

Best 21.99 I ever spent on hifi. Thats two cables plus postage.

Does the maker actually occupy Wigwam if so please make you self known to us all so we thank you direct.

 

[Mark LJ]

I know he's seen the thread as I asked him a couple of questions re their speaker cable. Very impressive vfm.

 

[JANDL100]

Yep - the Gotham is a stunningly good interconnect, regardless of price IMHO. I'm real happy to have been able to share the Good News about it with lots of other folks.

And, yep, the seller has seen this thread, and the other thread that I started about his marvellous cable ..... I've bought 3 pairs from him ..... and he recently sent me a new Gotham digital cable he is planning to sell on eBay to see whatI thought of it. Totally unsolicited by me, but he just wanted my opinion. He doesn't really "believe" in digital cables, he said, but wanted to know what a genuine hifi looney like me (my words, not his

) thought of it.

Well, it's bloody good - not quite as good as my £160 RRP (

) Missing Link digi cable - but it does run it close - and for the £15 or £20 or whatever he'll sell it for it's a real bargain. Open, detailed, good dynamics. Sounds as good as the Ensemble Digiflux digi cable I also have and like - and that goes for about £100 I think. He said he'd be putting the digi cables up for sale later this week.

I emailed him to see if he plans to sell any speaker cables too - but he hasn't got back to me about that yet.

 

[thrunobulax]

After getting a 2m rca to minijack Gotham, i was impressed so grabbed a couple of pairs of .75m rca to rca and been listening for a few days.

At the price they are excellent, but they dont do it for me as well as my own diy silver i/c`s when used between sources and pre and pre-power.

But they have found a home in a second system and i will be happy to use them there.

I think they are great cables for a tenner tho.

You cant buy a singular silver Eichmann plug for that.

 

[Guest]

Im not an audiophile buta skint studentDJ and I do like my set up to sound good I saw these interconnects on eBay and after a quick search on google stumbled across this thread. I actually thought they were just trying to get business with all the cheesy sounding reviews and were too good to be true at £8.99 but after reading what everyone has said Im going to purchase 3 sets to connect everything up : )

Cheers everyone.

 

[earl of sodbury]

gerrard wrote:

Im not an audiophile buta skint studentDJ and I do like my set up to sound good I saw these interconnects on eBay and after a quick search on google stumbled across this thread. I actually thought they were just trying to get business with all the cheesy sounding reviews and were too good to be true at £8.99 but after reading what everyone has said Im going to purchase 3 sets to connect everything up : )Cheers everyone.

Best of luck mate - and welcome to the 'wam!