February 16, 2012

  • XLO Reference Type 4, Part 5

    Ah, just as Rick James tried like mad to extend the parties of the 70s into the 80s, Bertie Higgins tried to extend the breezy lite rock of the 70s into the 80s.  With his weird obsession with old movies, he almost did.  30 years ago, I was merely in 5th grade.  But when we got out of school, that stiff Bay breeze started to kick in over San Francisco's Marina district.  And that's when I'd sway to Higgins' "Key Largo."

    No, 30 years ago, the sea lions were not parked out on K-Dock.  They started arriving in early 1990, which was 8 years after "Key Largo." 

    Hahaha, Tessa is mimicking the sea lions' bark.

    Fast forward to the mid-90s.  Every now and then, San Francisco's KOIT would play "Key Largo."  And I'd sometimes hear it downtown, while shopping at Audio Excellence and Ultimate Sound.  I ended up buying the CAL Delta and Theta Data basic transports; and Theta Cobalt 307 and DS Pro Prime II DACs from Audio Excellence.  This Audio Excellence is not to be confused with Phoenix's Audio Excellence AZ, maker of the audiodharma Cable Cooker. 

    I had, among other digital cables, the AudioQuest Digital Pro, Illuminati D-60, Kimber AGDL, MIT T3 Digital and Digital Reference, Tara Labs RSC Digital 75, Wireworld Silver Starlight, and XLO Reference Type 4.  I would swap digital cables between the Theta Data Basic and DS Pro Prime II.  I then asked Margaret what she thought about the sound.  Most of the time, she just shrugged.  So then she volunteered to change digital cables, while I did the listening.

    The XLO Reference Type 4's RCA comes wrapped in white heatshrink.  I'll never forget the way Margaret held it between her thumb and index finger, then remarked, "It looks like a tampon!"  She would also say that her body was "tubby," "dumpling-shaped," and "blubbery like a sea lion."  Fortunately, the Ref Type 4's Mogami 7550 GB RCA plug is not fat.  Thus, it'll fit just about anywhere.

    Honestly, because Margaret likened the Ref Type 4 to a tampon (or at least the applicator), she poisoned my mind, ruined my image of the Ref Type 4, and caused me to set it aside.  Moreover, most audiophiles said that the Illuminati D-60 was "the best" digital coax.  So I kept borrowing it from Ultimate Sound.  In those mid-90s, I tried the D-60 several times, but each time, did not end up buying it.  Sound-wise, it just did not live up to the hype.  However, from an aesthetic viewpoint, the D-60's pearlescent white outer jacket was pretty.  But a certain someone eyeballed it, and said it looked to her like semen.  By a small margin, The MIT Digital Reference was the overall best sonic match for my gear [I've reviewed both the Illuminati D-60 and MIT Digital Reference].  Um, yes, that certain someone made comments about how the Digital Reference's RCAs were of different "penile" length.  But through it all, I put the XLO Ref Type 4 away, and forgot about it.

    But if you were to take away the blabbing from Margaret and the audiophiles, I would have admitted that the XLO Ref Type 4 was very competitive, perhaps my second overall choice, behind the MIT Digital Reference.  I hope you (    yeah you guys, the ones who demanded the photos) enjoy the gratuitous close-up photos of the Ref Type 4 on the Cable Cooker.  Your minds are filled with a different kind of poison