View Full Version : Glass opticals
wee tee cee
04-09-2015, 16:27
OK....digital cables all do the same thing-they either work or dont!!!
Had an interesting day at my place today, a couple of the AOS troops came across to sample various glass opticals ( good quality co-ax also inplay)
Glass opticals-lifeatech/mark grant/fisual pearl and hollywood....various opticals ranging from give way shite to mainstream good quality.
The three of us chopped and changed but the glass ones quickly usurped the plastic.... the glass boys then stepped into the sonic arena.
The fisual pearl was first for the bump- close but no cigar....veiled and sibilant on female vocal( talking tiny degrees here).
The fisual holywood and lifeatech I have kept in play....The Mark Grant is away with Gary.
Im really struggling they are both excellent cables-will give it a few days and some hours on the cans to make a decision.
Very interesting day....great sounding cables,all noticeably different for reasonable money in a digital system.
If you take VFM into consideration, it will be hard to beat the Hollywood.
I still don't know if it is glass though. I can't find anything on it to confirm.
wee tee cee
04-09-2015, 16:44
I dont know myself...can only comment on what we heard in my set up today. The Holywood is really good-the lifeatech has got me scratching my head....its doing things the Mark Grant and Fisual dont.
I have been listening to John Martyn solid air for 25 years-we played it today and heard an echo on his voice i have never heard before...as I said I will have to get on the cans and put on my serious listening scowl for a few hours...ma heids melted!!!
Never heard the Lifatec, so I will be interested in your findings.
wee tee cee
04-09-2015, 16:57
Initial impressions were that it sounded quieter/slower....its just less distorted and coloured.(really small but positive differences ) Fed a really good recording it shone-its dead honest. My system is battery powered, it sounds like taking the mains hash out of the equation-quite strange at first.
brian2957
04-09-2015, 17:01
Thanks for having us over Tony . The day was a bit of an eye opener for me as I didn't think that there would be much difference in SQ . The star of the show for me was definitely the Lifatech cable with the Fisual Hollywood coming a close second . If I was looking for the best it would have to be the Lifatech . If I was looking for SPPV the Hollywood would be the cable of choice .
The Lifatech cable was the winner on the day for me .
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w2/brian2957/IMG_20150904_132851112_zpslbujegv9.jpg (http://s172.photobucket.com/user/brian2957/media/IMG_20150904_132851112_zpslbujegv9.jpg.html)
Initial impressions were that it sounded quieter/slower....its just less distorted and coloured.(really small but positive differences ) Fed a really good recording it shone-its dead honest.
Interesting results Tony, I have both the Lifatec and the Hollywood, and have tried them in two systems at home. They are both excellent cables, the very slight differences in my set up(s) could be characterised as the Hollywood is slightly more in your face, more lively, and the Lifatec perhaps slightly smoother sounding. I'd agree that the Hollywood sounds faster. Since I have two systems I'm keeping both cables, and currently have the Hollywood in my main setup, and the Lifatec in my second system. No reflection on the Lifatec, that's just the best permutation in my setup.
I did nnotice the Hollywood wraps up a lot tighter than usual for glass ones, so it may not be all glass, or maybe there's a reason for it. I do like it though compared to the nice one I got from Stan, which is also a decent cable
brian2957
04-09-2015, 17:14
Yup , the Hollywood is a genuine bargain at the price it's selling for .
wee tee cee
04-09-2015, 17:33
jumping between the two as I type...be interested to see what Gary makes of the MG back in his system. The Holywood is a good bet for anyone looking to try a half decent optical.....
Another crackin' wee afternoon courtesy of 'oor Tony, thanks mate. :)
Don't let anyone tell you all digital cables sound the same, as they dont!
Having heard Tony's Mark Grant in my won system and was impressed, I took a punt on the Lifatec.
Was interested how it would compare to the MG.
Started off working out way up the cables, Pearl, Hollywood, Mark Grant then finally the Lifatec.
Pearl..ok to good, but trumped by the Hollywood.
The Mark grant bettered the Hollywood, but wasn't a lot in it to be fair. Noticeably better though to my ears.
I think Brian thought the opposite, which shows how close the cables are and that it could be a preference thing...
Given the price of the Hollywood and the fact the MG cant be bought, the Hollywood is a great "in the middle" cable and fantastic VFM.
Is it glass? Dunno, but it sounds good!
Then came the Lifatec, which was a bit of an ear opener.
The other cables sounded like different flavors of the same thing, but immediately the Lifatec sounded different.
Immediate impression was it was quieter, throwing up a more refined soundstage with less fireworks?
But as listening went on with differnt types of music (acoustic close miked blues, orchestral, ACDC) just when you thought the cable was a certain way, a different type of music put that to bed.
Remember when Back in Black (think it was) came on whilst thinking the Lifatec in Tonys system was a bit too refined for me..then the guitars kicked in. Whoa!
As Tony said, he heard something on Solid Air (standard test track) he hadn't heard before, and I think he was a bit taken aback with that.
If a cables doing something like that then its doing something right.
A different type of sound from the others, I agree with Tony that I think its better at removing digital "mush" from the signal and is more honest.
Better recordings showed this up particularly.
Be interested to hear how you get on with the cans Tony, wonder if the Lifatecs open nature will shine there?
Plumbed the Mark Grant into my system this morning, sounding mighty fine Tony.
PaulStewart
05-09-2015, 13:15
Had a long chat with John at AudioVisual Online who look after the trade side of Fisual, the Hollywood is confirmed as a glass cable and it's not being discontinued as far as they know. I think fo feeding a MacMini or similar computer based file server to a DAC, where RFI carrying USB and co-ax need to be avoided, these cannot be bettered fo SPPV.
PaulStewart
11-09-2015, 00:11
Interesting package arrived at the surgery today, first out was a .5 meter Fisual Holywood optical cable. Swopped out the Pearl and I felt that it had more "air" and detail and slightly better dynamics. Looking at the terminations under a microscope, they seem really well polished and finished, as indeed do those of the Pearl. Passing a laser through the cable and examing the projected spot under the scope, showed very clean edges, with no sign of chromatic abberation, not something that can be said of most plastic cables.
wee tee cee
11-09-2015, 00:34
We tried the glass cables first, then plumbed in a plastic one-just for comparison. The drop in sound quality was not insignificant-almost like throwing a sheet over the speakers, some high frequency nastiness(sibilance on voices) had it out of the fray rapidly.
Hi guys, I decided to try this Hollywood glass cable, but I need miniTOSLNK to TOSLINK (to connect it to mac mini) and didn't find this option anywhere. So I need to use an adapter, would this be a compromise?
PaulStewart
11-09-2015, 08:07
Hi guys, I decided to try this Hollywood glass cable, but I need miniTOSLNK to TOSLINK (to connect it to mac mini) and didn't find this option anywhere. So I need to use an adapter, would this be a compromise?
I'm using an adapter on my system, and seems OK, it still betters the Pearl, which has a dedicated mini toslink.
PaulStewart
11-09-2015, 08:13
We tried the glass cables first, then plumbed in a plastic one-just for comparison. The drop in sound quality was not insignificant-almost like throwing a sheet over the speakers, some high frequency nastiness(sibilance on voices) had it out of the fray rapidly.
I have always maintained that Toslink is superior to co ax as it cuts the path for RFI and EMF, but only if high quality glass is used. This is especially true with any PC/Mac server, as they are very noisy environments.
I'm using an adapter on my system, and seems OK, it still betters the Pearl, which has a dedicated mini toslink.
Great, thanks for the info :)
wee tee cee
12-09-2015, 01:09
I have managed to get a couple of hours on the cans to try to compare the Lifeatech with the fisual hollywood.
The Hollywood is a very good optical regardless of its cost.
The lifeatech brings something else to the fray-my impression is that it cuts down on sonic mush....its very honest. The sheer level of detail it reveals is marvellous. Feed it a great recording and it pulls out a lot of subtle detail-mixed in echo on voices/background noises on live recordings/drum skin texture/granular quality to female vocals/cimbal decay/placement of instraments/layering of sound( really wanky I know but hey...I never got it before!!).
Three times the price of the hollywood if you get whacked for the import duty....three times as good-you know the script, an incremental improvement( no night and day shite from me folks).
was very happy with the Mark Grant, swithered with the Hollywood-will get myself a lifeatech.
On cans- Blues in blueprint-DUKE ELLINGTON....the texture of the sound is really something special ( ive gone all wanky again!!!,this cable is dangerous)
There is a good optical cable called All Glass.
It is in fact an all glass cable and I liked mine compared to the plastic crap found every where.
Mark Grant used to sell them.
I use a really good digital coax now and Prefer it in short runs to Tolsink every time.
One less conversion cycle in the path.
My Hollywood arrives on Thursday.
They would not post to France, so I have had to wait for a visitor to carry it across.
It seems they don't post to the U.S.A. either.
Why don't they call it anything but Hollywood if you can't get one in Hollywood?
I could not find anything about it being glass or plastic in the description so I'm not sure it's on par with the all glass one I have now anyway.
Had my Hollywood for a week now can't say it sounds any better than others I have tried.
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