CARDAS Cross

MJ09.02.2009

Interconnects

The Cross represented a milestone in the Cardas's portfolio and soon became one of the best selling cables in audio. It takes you only few minutes of auditioning to understand why. In the early era of sterile digital sound it arrived with analogue warmth, rich colours, and the sense of being seated in the most comfortable seat of an opera auditorium, with a galss of wine in hand.

Function and form

95%
Ease of use
36%
Sound
85%
Appearance

Teflon dielectrics, PVC jacket was replaced by PU in the newer versions of the Cross. Capacitance 34pF, inductance 0.11uh, 238 wires inside.

Note: During this review a set of an interconnect and a speaker cable was auditioned. The performance evaluation was put in the context of other Cardas's cables; we encourage you to read their reviews to understand the performance differences.

Bass management

Weight
58
Slam
50
Articulation
58

George Cardas claims that resonant behavior of a conductor or a strand is the reason for performance gaps in many cables. Each and every strand in a cable has its own ´sound´ due to microscale vibrations and ringing. Two or more wires of the same mass and tension are supposed to have common mechanical resonating points and share the same note. Two or more wires or bundles of wires, differing in size, each have their own resonant points. When combined, wires find new points of interaction, creating another note.

There is a solution - create a multiple strand conductor, where the individual strands share no common mathematical node or resonant point and layer them to cancel the noise they each create. In so called golden section stranding, derived from divine ratios (Fibonacci sequences), the individual strands are arranged so each strand is coupled to another, whose note or sound is irrational with its own, thus nulling inter-strand resonance.

Cardas cables also employ a unique stranding method where strands diminish in size towards the interior of the conductor. This design is called Constant Q Stranding and it allows each strand of the cable to share the load equally. All George Cardas's cables use OFC copper - actually Cardas Audio is one of the few manufacturers that draw their own conductors from copper rods instead of outsourcing the wires from elsewhere like most competitors do.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail
50
Air
48
Transparency
48

Tonal accuracy

Timbre
30
Dynamics
45
Temporal resolution
40

The wood is woodier and the brass is brassier through the Cross, if compared with the cheaper Crosslink. I almost can see lipstick on a singer's lips. The Cross is not that dynamic like more expensive Cardas's s cables but it shows a sense for comfort and joy. The sound is a bit darker, with very black background, but - compared to the more mature Neutral Reference cable - also a bit veiled and compressed. Still the details are there and it is up to your ears to decide if the level of transparency is enough for them or not.

Spatial resolution

Holography
64
Soundstage width
70
Soundstage depth
68

The imaging of the Cross is good but the Cross misses a bit of the ambience that makes the upscale model, the Golden Cross, even better. Also the soundstage was slightly upfront.

Overall, it is a cable with its own sound signature which is quite prominent. However, this departure from neutrality is quite addictive during prolonged listening.

Price as reviewed:16 200,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Excelia HiFi, Chrudim, tel. +420 724 00 77 44

Associated components

  • Sources: Carat C57, Meridian G08
  • Amplifiers:  Carat A57, Meridian G02, Mark Levinson No. 432
  • Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Homegrown Audio DNA, the whole family of Cardas Audio cables
  • Loudspeakers: Focal JMlab Diablo Utopia, Revel Ultima Studio2, Revel M22

AAI Maestoso IC

Out of all those interconnect cables that my audio system has ever hosted, the Maestoso interconnect reminded me Nordost´s Odin the most. I mean the original Odin that sold at 16k€ per meter. Certainly, there were some nuances, like ...

Recommended resellers

Authentic Audio Image, Povážská Bystrica, +421 905 694 943

Sound
91%

ANALYSIS PLUS Copper Oval-In

Analysis Plus Copper Oval-IN (1m XLR) brought up images of a hornet to me. There was nothing hornet-like in its sound, rather it looked exactly like it with its black and yellow camouflage. Contrary to a hornet the Copper Oval-IN is ...

Recommended resellers

Audiostudio s.r.o., Olomouc, tel. +420 608 752 475

Sound
53%

ANALYSIS PLUS Silver Oval-In

After many computer simulations and other exhaustive tests, in Analysis Plus they determined that a hollow oval cable constituted the best possible conductor design. The primary advantage of an oval conductor design rather than ...

Recommended resellers

Audiostudio s.r.o., Olomouc, tel. +420 608 752 475

Sound
69%

ANSUZ Signalz C2

The design goal of Ansuz Acoustics is to keep inductance as low as possible. The Ansuz interconnects are using three twisted 3 mm coaxial cables (Direct Ground Connection alias DGC), and 2x6 wires twisted in reversed directions to ...

Recommended resellers

RP Audio, Ostrava, +420 737 366 831

Sound
93%

ANSUZ Signalz D2

Like the Ansuz Signalz C2 is the Signalz D2 a showpiece of modern technicistic design of interconnects. The black and grey of braid is complemented by translucent copper that gives the cable its depth of colour and premium look. Like ...

Recommended resellers

RP Audio, Ostrava, +420 737 366 831

Sound
94%

AUDIOQUEST Thunderbird

After years of hiatus, AudioQuest has finally decided to shift the attention to signal cables. It could have been an upgrade, but it is not: the new range of interconnects turns most cable-building principles upside down. There is ...

Recommended resellers

AQ s.r.o., Červenka, tel. +420 585 342 232

Sound
91%

AUDIOQUEST Wild Blue Yonder

The Wild Blue Yonder brings a new grade of illumination, the recording bathes in light and air and has unbelievable amount of subtle detail. I have not heard anything like that before. The sound flows like a pure water in a mountain ...

Recommended resellers

AQ s.r.o., Červenka, tel. +420 585 342 232

Sound
89%
Back to category