ANSUZ Signalz C2
Interconnects
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 minimize the inductance (Double Inverted Helix Conductors alias DIHC) and two noise suppressing coils (NSC).
Function and form
The black and grey braid and anodized aluminium connector barrels with grey lettering on the C2 look really hi-tech. The workmanship is first rate, and the cables and flexible and lightweight enough not to encounter any connecting issue. Ansuz uses flexible plastic cuffs on the ends of the RCA cinches that help to secure the connection and make it dustproof. Hollow tube connector pins are gold-plated. An arrow indicates the signal flow as the C2 is directional. The impression is that of quality and good engineering.
Bass management
The Ansuz Signalz C2 secured my full attention right from the start by deep and firm lows, abundance of energy and first rate resolution. The sound was also exceptionally dynamic and clear. Next months of listening only confirmed the initial observations and added many more. Still, after the time I spent with the C2, its top feature is its penetrating and tight bass that no competitor provides, plus amazing macrodynamics. Contrasts in low level music going to fortes are explosive, movie soundtracks are monumental, and swings from 0 to 85dB on jazz numbers are instant. However, the time when I got completely hooked with the Ansuz C2 came during listening to Rabaud’s Dances of Marouf (Reference Recordings, RR-71 SACD). The SACD version outperforms as easily the CD as the C2 outperformed any other cable I’d had so far. Here’s the quote, word by word, from my listening notes:
“These evocative oriental textures become so sensual, it’s a kind of weaving the sound. It’s so mesmerizing. I can hear every single note and tonal shift clearly, so effortlessly. And now, the power of the music is incredible, the music is burning from the speakers!”
Clarity & delicacy
Smetana´s Allegro from Quarter No.2 in D minor (Supraphon, SU 4172-2) is a chamber piece that is incredibly played (kudos to Pavel Haas Quartet for this energetic interpretation) and skilfully recorded. The recording transparency is astounding, you´d probably hear a hair dropped on the floor as a loud “cling”. It was not before the Ansuz Signalz C2 entered my system that I realized how transparent this music could be. Though the imaging had all the aforementioned qualities, it was the C2’s temporal resolution that made the sound acquire a completely new heights of transparency. Timing and rhythm was just extraordinary. It is during such a performance when usual descriptors like ´detail´ or ´air´ cease to exist and the listener can freely walk into the soundstage and spend his or her time with the musicians rather than with the recording.
When Reyna Qotrunnada sang “Teeeemptation…” (Temptation track from Hoerkurs Stereoplay CD distributed free of charge at 2019 High End Munich Show) the voice had almost horn-like cadenza and transparent forwardness. Dixie Chick’s White Trash Wedding kicked off with three a capella voices singing in harmony, each voice perfectly delineated from the other two (Home, Open Wide/Columbia, 509 603 9). Then a banjo, mandolin and bass joint in. There was no thinning of instruments despite all the precision and über-purity that the C2 exhibited, the instruments and voices retained their bodies and harmonics, and they were just heard much more clearly. Do not expect any honey and glue or velvety black backgrounds, the fidelity of the Ansuz C2 is recreated through clarity that could be sweet and caressing you into oblivion, or harsh if a compressed music is played.
Tonal accuracy
If you remove the attractive Q-Sound paraphernalia from Madonna’s Vogue cut (Immaculate Collection (Sire/Warner, 26440) you will be left with the chest-thumping bass line and Madonna’s voice. The bass here is not the 100Hz techno experience, it is the old-school warm low frequency drum that asks for control not to end up bloated. I did not hear any overhang with the C2, what I heard was a unique combination of depth, dryness and bloom that all made the sound seismic through the Ansuz.
On the same album it is good to hear how the recording techniques were developing over 80’s and 90’s. The breakthrough Like a Virgin set up was very sparse with just 6 tracks laid on the tape that supported the organic and cohesive feel that is missed with some later carefully studio-crafted 50+ tracks.
Spatial resolution
It was not a lifelike experience, actually it went beyond it for the sound was free of disturbances of a live performance. It was like at a premium spot of a hall with all remaining audience being isolated from me by an invisible partition, and enjoying a very exact soundstage.
The imaging was not that of vacuum tubes, with the three-dimensional shimmering palpability created by added harmonics; rather it was like precisely locked events in time-space with crisp contours. The density replaced by clarity. Then you hear the things. The musician that moved before he put the mouthpiece of his English horn to lips. The violinist inhaling a few centimetres above from where the violin sound started to flow a half second later. The triangle sound locatable by micrometres.
THE REVIEW IS A PART OF THE SHOOT-OUT BETWEEN ANSUZ SIGNALZ C2 AND D2 AND NORDOST VALHALLA V2 AND ODIN INTERCONNECTS.
Recommended resellers
RP Audio, Ostrava, +420 737 366 831
Manufacturer's website: http://www.ansuz-acoustics.com
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-720, SPL Q2048 Mastering Equalizer, McIntosh MCT500 SACD/CD transport + integrated DAC C2600
- Amplifiers: TAD-M2500 MkII, Luxman C-900, Bespoke Audio, McIntosh pre/power C2600/MC611
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Audioquest Redwood, Audioquest Wild, Ansuz Speakz C2, Tellurium Q Ultra Silver, Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Vovox Sonorus XL, Nordost Valhalla V2, InAkustik Referenz, Nordost Odin, ZenSati #2, Tara Labs The Zero Gold G2
- Loudspeakers: TAD Evolution One E1, Sonus Faber Olympica III
- Power conditioning: Shunyata Research Denali, Nordost Valhalla, Ansuz Mainz C2, Pangea AC-9SEMKII, Roth Audio Orfeo + Roth Audio prototypes, Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 2, Synergistic Research Euphoria Level 3, AudioQuest Hurricane, Synergistic Research Tranquility Basik
Gallery
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