Auric Illuminator & Au24 - views from HK

Lincoln from Hong Kong:
(8 Dec 2000)

Thanks to Joe who mail me these wonderful products, I would like to share my audition feeling with other audiophiles overseas: First let's talked about this Auric Illuminator CD treatment, I do use the Finyl to clean CD which claim could improve the resolution, but so far the result after cleaning is not as obvious as the Auric. One set of Auric costs S$60 which inlcude a black felt pen, a bottle of bluish liquid and some cleansing clothes. The black felt pen is for painting the outer and inner rim of the CD, something like the AudioPrism Green Stop Light I used before. The liquid is for cleaning the lable side as well as the playing side of the CD, but I should say polish both sides of the CD by using the clothes. The liquid is quite sticky, so shake really well before use. After treating the CD, the result is fantastic, the whole sound stage seems to widen and deepen with a very very quiet background. It is really worth to try although it takes time to prove how long the treatment can last. Then there is the Audience AU-24 cable, this is really a giant killer cables. After running it for approx. 100 hours and compare it with my AN-Vz, below is my observation: Resolution: at least 10% better than my AN-Vz, instrument separation is it's strong character. Smoothness:  it is still AN-Vz better with it's special sweet tonal characteristic Treble:  AN-Vz has better in extension but AU-24 is not bad already, at least 90%. Mid range: a bit lighter than the AN-Vz and less solid. Bass:  also a bit lighter touch than the AN-Vz Overall tonal balance: both are very good and quite close. I have tried 2 ways to test the performance of this cable, first I use it between the  DAC and Pre. Overall performance is that music come out become lighter, less crystalize than the full AN-Vz connection. Then I tried to reverse the connection, AN-Vz for DAC to pre and the Au-24 from pre to power amp. Now the lighter touch characteristic changed and become more solid. Bass punch improved a lot although it is not to the full AN connection standard, not bad at all and at least the resolution gain a bit. It is quite a good combination. One thing I need to mention is that the Au-24 is really thin and ugly as stated in the Singapore Forum but it's peformance is really outstanding at this price range. The AN cable is only a bit better in touching and smoothness but 3 times more expensive than this 1.5M AU-24 or 5 times more than the 1M one.

Joe Lee responded:
(8 Dec 2000)

Co-incidentally this morning I received an email from Audience about Au-24. I abstracted some of the contents: "...The Au24 uses the superior Ohno Continuous Cast Copper conductors, teflon insulation and a polyethylene jacket......when it comes to cable, less is more. Less insulating and conducting materials means the problems with eddy currents and the damaging effects of dielectric materials will be less... ...Many of our customers have been surprised at the extraordinary definition of the Au24 cables. I have mentioned the fact that they are the only cables I know of to image properly in the high frequency area. Another quality the Au24's have is their ability to reproduce sound as it is heard in nature. Walk outside and listen to the wind rustling tree leaves or birds singing. Someone playing an acoustic instrument in the park or even traffic noise in the city will make it clear. Where are the type of highs and bass we mistakenly look for in our audio systems? Reality is real, not hyper-real. If you use your experience of listening to natural sounds or acoustic music the fact becomes obvious, the Au24 cables simply sound real... ...to people who say they like the Au24 but prefer the sound of brand X. I believe this is because they are used to the time response of conventional cables. An acquaintance calls this "psychoacoustic habituation." In these cases I tell them we have a cable named "Maestro" which they may prefer. Although the Au24 is our finest cable the Maestro cables may match some systems or personal preferences better than the Au24... I am proud of all of our cables and I do not hesitate to recommend them with enthusiasm. Richard A. Smith Director of Product Development Audience” Lincoln, I don’t want to bullshit anyone and tell you that I am neutral in this aspect. I cannot be neutral not only because I am selling this cables, but also probably because of this so called “Psychoacoustic habituation” as mentioned by Richard Smith, like many members who are using this cable, I get used to Au-24 so much that I just cannot unplug it from my system...The sonic purity offers by Au-24 is really second to none!

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