Graham_Thomas:Soiled bass sounds bad.
This doesn't really answer the question though. Any direct comparisons from someone who has heard both?
Yep i've heard both.... this was my review:
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OK so I got some Kimber 4TC in the end.
So.... I'll give my thoughts compared to the Cable talk 3.1, Atlas Hyper 2.0 and Chord Epic....
Whacked Fool's Gold (Stone Roses) on and.. ummm that sounds very good. In fact the percussion had a completely different feel to it. Yes more prominent treble but not harsh. So.. natural. It reminded me off when you open the window in your house and hear the rain outside, so much air and lightness but NOT metallic or piercing.
Flicked up a few tracks to Where Angel's Play, errrrr never heard that before... you could actually tell that Reni (the drummer) was hitting the cymbol toward the middle of the disc which gives it that more cowbell type sound. Wow.
Chucked on Mr Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Winter from the 4 seasons. You can hear him breathing very clearly. Never heard that even with the Epic. So VERY transparent.
Led Zep II next. Kick drum sounds amazing. The Cabletalk had quite a bit of bass, the Hyper tightened it quite a bit but the 4TC just sounds so much more dynamic in the bass. Listened to The Lemon Song I could swear my amp has gained about 30 watts. Jone Paul Jones sounds significantly better than the Hyper and Cabletalk and even the Epic, every inflection in his playing is laid bare. Put it this way I'm hearing slurs and vibrato I aint heard before. Kick drum is unreal.
So in summary, very transparent, very dynamic bass and quite a lot of bass quantity too (more than the Epic), airy treble..