Quote Originally Posted by jandl100 View Post
Had a bit of a listen last night.
Hmm - well.
Expectations exceeded.
Bugger!

It initiated a bout of frantic cable swapping amongst my collection to see if I could close the gap.

It's a bit strange how cables you have moved on from sometimes still have the magic that initially entranced you when you go back to them after a while.
--- Wireworld Oasis, now why did I move on from those? Very nice!
But I have to admit that the focussed transparency of the Spotfire is a hard act to equal.
It's the image focus that immediately got my attention, most cables are rather fuzzy and vague in comparison. That was a bit of a shock.

I think the sound may be a bit stark for me, maybe a bit of tonal thinness that might or might not prove too much in the longer term. Or maybe that is just superior transparency? There is a lot more listening to do, over a much wider range of material, but these are simply way ahead of what I was expecting!
To wrap up my listening thoughts ...

They aren't harsh, just transparent. Not thin or stark sounding, either.
The tonality sounds right. The bass is well defined and I don't hear any loss of bass power reported by some.

It took me a while to get my head round what they actually do, compared to my excellent IXOS Ixotica cables (something like £300-400 a pair when new, I think).

What they do is move you forward a few rows in the concert hall.
The IXOS place me about 12-15 rows back from the front of the front stalls.
The SPOTFIRE move me to about 3 or 4 rows from the front.

So they are more immediate sounding, slightly increased detail, immediacy and transparency. Less of a cushion of air between me and the performers.
Imaging-wise, the SPOTFIRE are a bit more focussed and with more clearly defined soundstage placement. Just what you'd expect from moving nearer the concert platform.

The IXOS place me quite close to the music, the SPOTFIRE put me even closer.
Where do I want to be?
Well, tbh, I still really like the IXOS and I suspect the SPOTFIRE place me a little too close for comfort some of the time.
On the other hand it would be nice to have the option of choosing!

Either way, the SPOTFIRE are a really excellent, genuinely high end cable imo. Whether or not they tick your own specific boxes only you can decide!