ZenSati Cables
"It's a peculiar feeling. Wonderful!!"
The details, the realism of each instrument, the speed, the attack of the strings. My English is not good enough to describe it. I have been using a Rossini CD, among others, and realised, in addition to the sonic improvements already mentioned, that what I had thought was background noise is actually a cellist breathing. Now I feel like turning the volume up and up. It's a peculiar feeling. Wonderful!
........Felipe Jiménez
With over forty years experience in the fields of audio and music, Mark Johansen has created ZenSati to develop a range of breakthrough, world-class audio cables to enhance your musical adventures. With meticulous care, intensive listening sessions that explore every imaginable musical style in a broad spectrum of the finest home audio systems, ZenSati cables evolved as the ideal connection between High End components. A patient, protracted development process has resulted in cables with unimpeded signal transmission and the utmost respect for the written and unwritten rules of the world of music.
What does ZenSati mean?
The name ZenSati refers to an extensive body of knowledge concerning truthfulness; truthfulness and knowledge in disseminating information between system components, from turntable/CD player to preamplifier to power amplifier to loudspeakers.
Have you ever tried to grapple with a sports car in a thrilling ride on a perfectly level track on a beautiful, clear day with plenty of space and the best curves? Have you ever had the sheer unalloyed pleasure of driving your dream car? You shift into fifth gear. Everything is just right. You shift into sixth gear for an exhilarating experience and to your amazement, there is also a smooth seventh gear just waiting to kick in.
Shouldn’t listening to music be that kind of experience? Refreshing, exciting, enchanting with all the many facets that the world of music has to offer the ear wholly intact. You should be able to experience the tonality and relative placement of voices and instruments clearly and unequivocally. You should be transported across time and space, an eyewitness to the original musical event.
With over forty years experience in the fields of audio and music, Mark Johansen has created ZenSati to develop a range of breakthrough, world-class audio cables to enhance your musical adventures. With meticulous care, intensive listening sessions that explore every imaginable musical style in a broad spectrum of the finest home audio systems, ZenSati cables evolved as the ideal connection between High End components. A patient, protracted development process has resulted in cables with unimpeded signal transmission and the utmost respect for the written and unwritten rules of the world of music.
ZenSati cables are remarkable for their speed and crystal clear signal transport. In order to achieve these ambitious objectives, only the very finest materials were sourced for their construction. Silver, gold, copper, rhodium, Teflon, silk, cotton and many other costly materials have been specified for audible performance as well as long-term reliability. For cable termination, the exclusive products from Furutech of Japan were selected as our primary designer for their exceptional conductivity, build quality and sublime fit and finish.
Strict quality control ensures that every element from the smallest parts to the major components is checked individually and repeatedly during each stage of hand assembly. The final result is the ultimate conduit between source and amplification and between amplification and loudspeakers. Because so many cables display flagrant disregard for musical rules, the essential natural, realistic qualities of music are too often lost in transition. For instance, when a powerful piano chord sounds, it is absolutely crucial that notes are not twisted, extended or shortened as a consequence of cable construction and materials.
Extensive original ZenSati research ensures that our cables introduce no lag, loss or distortion as the delicate audio signal is conveyed from one component to the next. ZenSati are the only cable manufacturer to have a patent on the design and the conductors.
Introducing ZenSati video: http://www.zensati.com/film/index.html
ZenSati Cable Founder Mark Johansen talks to Edgar Kramer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsSory5gbbo
Reviews
All products
The full ZenSati setup exposed and promoted the music per se and it was completely neutral. Brilliant highs in music was ... brilliant highs in my listening room; full bodied instruments came through as they were intended to. ZenSati did less to the electrical signals than any of my former high end cables. ZenSati liberates the music from any artificial constraints in a very obvious and powerful fashion. To me, that's what it's all about.
Having a full Krell high-end setup in my dedicated, acoustically treated listening room, I'm kind of spoiled when it comes to equipment: I've got a EVO 505 CD/SACD-player as front end (soon to be replaced by the new Krell CD/DVD/BR-player EVO 555), a EVO 707 world class leader pre/pro, two EVO 600 & one EVO 403, and a full 5.1 Krell LAT 1, LAT 2 and LAT Center loudspeaker. I've even found space (and joy!) for a world class turntable setup consisting of Thales Turn Table (!), Thales & Simplicity arms, Ypsilon Stepup & VPS 100 RIAA. Yes, you've got it correct: I pick my hardware with the outmost care and dedication, and only after carefully reviewing and listening sessions I let go of my hard earned money. Let it be of no surprise that my cables were picked after the same scrutiny process the rest of my setup underwent. I used to have a full top-of-the line 5.1 Nordost loudspeaker cables, and with Krell/Nordost CAST MMF hooking the electronics. Music was wonderful, full bodied, resolved with pinpoint clarity and context. I was a happy, spoiled puppy, having finally arrived at what I knew was my own kind of Nirvana. Get on with the music, and relax. And then Mark Johansen from the ZenSati ApS happened. And everything changed for the better. Upon installing my new Thales arm, I had asked the seller if he could recommend some great cables to hook up the turntable to the Ypsilon Stepup and RIAA. I was surprised when he suggested I'd give a new cable brand on the market, ZenSati, a go. Frankly, having a brand new turntable line, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but when the first few tones from the speakers hit my ears I knew I was in for something extraordinary. Being a discerning and critical listener I was totally blown away with the openness, richness in detail and pinpointing clarity ... but above was the speed with which the music was staging the scene. From live concerts I know the start on Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" - O Fortuna - can take a heavy toll and expose every flaw in your setup. With ZenSati installed I was taken one, major step towards replicating the concert hall experiences. Mark was adamant something was still missing in the overall picture and musicality; if he could just demonstrate his latest cable inventions.... He did.. As they say, the rest is history. From his car he pulled a complete set of ZenSati #2 CAST and 5.1 loudspeaker ZenSati #2 cables. One hour later everything was set to go. The same - O Fortuna - hit my ears, and this time I was taken back so hard that I was literary transfixed in my sweet spot. It was like being at the concert once again, with the same musical impressions I had been intoxicated with during my recent visit. The music was streaming relentlessly throughout the room, fully resolved, without any edge, enclosing my mind with the outmost delight. The stage now stretched far outside the room's physical boundaries. It was as if the scene was as wide and deep as in the theater itself, with the musicians being physically present, seeing fingers playing their instruments. Magic! Every detail counts when it comes to reproducing music at home on your own setup. ZenSati acted in many ways as a magnifying glass, clearly enabling me to pinpoint where the music stemmed from, both in space and time. The cables surprised me with exquisite resolution and separation of instruments. Most importantly ZenSati in no way interfered with the music flow. The full ZenSati setup exposed and promoted the music per se and it was completely neutral. Brilliant highs in music was ... brilliant highs in my listening room; full bodied instruments came through as they were intended to. ZenSati did less to the electrical signals than any of my former high end cables. ZenSati liberates the music from any artificial constraints in a very obvious and powerful fashion. To me, that's what it's all about.
JackX
After weeks of intensive listening sessions with interconnects, speaker cables and power cords from the Danish company ZenSati, it is very clear to me that these cables are 100% neutral.
The feeling is that the cables have a massive bandwidth and nothing seems squeezed together or strained. If you are the owner of a high-end audio setup in true balance, then you don t have to search any more for cables, as the ZenSati cables will provide you with a 1-to-1 transport of the signals. However, if you have a setup which requires cables to fine-tune and adjust your set-up, then forget about ZenSati buy instead one of the cables which colors the bottom or smoothens the top. Here is no voodoo, actually no mysteries the ZenSati cables simply just do the work transporting the perfect signals through your system and to the room.
High Performance Audio, Denmark - Morten Eskildsen
The ZenSati cables are among my three preferences and reference cables in the world. They do not do anything, letting both the equipment and the music speak for itself. The total lack of any addition to the sound and the limitless articulation in both dept and high, width and soundstage makes these cables unique in the market place today and gain many leagues on a lot of other cable producers out there.
The first contact with the new ZenSati cables happened during a trip to Copenhagen in August. We listened to the cables in two reference set ups and the cables did not add or subtract from the experience. In set up nr. one we vere presented with Krell and Sonus Faber Stradivari speakers, the room not yet maximal tuned but after two minutes it was clear what this cables didn t do to the sound, a perfect neutrality that exposed the set up and the Stradivari warts and all. In this room the Stradivari would perform wonderfully on small ensembles but as soon as you threw something more complex at them the whole sound-image collapsed. The speed, transparency and no listen-able restriction throughout the whole tonal spectre gave you a fair good idea of what this system could achive once set up properly. Our second listening session was done with Audio Research REF series and Wilson Audio Watt / Puppy 8. This in a maximal tuned set up, the articulation at the extremes, the total lack of coloration and the speed of delivery flattened me. Listening to this system, also here, brought forward only the signature of the components without adding or subtracting from the experience. When I set out for Copenhagen I told my friend I was going to not listen to some cables and this was a perfect description, although my friends now think me more crazy than ever. The conclusion from my first experience with these cables is that they probably are some of the fastest most neutral and limitless cables around. My second meeting with the ZenSati cables was at the Horten show, medio September, where I was lucky enough to have them present in my reference set up. Here I played on Ypsilon CD and DAC, Plinius amplification and Lithophon Miracle loudspeakers. This is a system that I know well and can only say that the cables did what they set out to do, NOTHING. The neutrality and speed, openness and articulation and the limitless outstretched air and control at the outmost extremes was so present it gave the music a perfect environment to blossom and show you the whole palette of musical colours. In this set up I utilised the Series Two and from a long experience with a lot of cables I can only conclude that these cables now are both my own references and Audiostone AS preferred cables when presenting our gear world wide. So to the final chapter so far. Substituting the reference Ecosse cables in my system with the ZenSati opened up the system and revealed details in my system that I was not aware of before. The transformation and sound-profile described earlier was also true here and I can hardly wait to test the Phono cable and mains cables in my system for a total set up, scary though as this is. Conclusion: The ZenSati cables are among my three preferences and reference cables in the world. They do not do anything, letting both the equipment and the music speak for itself. The total lack of any addition to the sound and the limitless articulation in both dept and high, width and soundstage makes these cables unique in the market place today and gain many leagues on a lot of other cable producers out there.
Audiostone, Norway - Rolf-Audun Breivik Kristensen
My overall conclusion is that there is greater musical coherence and tonal neutrality with no colouration. Another really positive point for me is that I now can play louder without distortion. Transient response is significantly improved, i.e. drivers start and stop when they are supposed to without disruptions in the signal path from amplification to transducer. I cannot strongly enough recommend auditioning ZenSati cables. Listening to music is a daily joy and pleasure, so why not make the most of the experience? I have not tried anything better at the price and if they are going to be changed, it would have to be to an even better ZenSati model.
In 20 years of listening to music, a huge amount of equipment has passed through our living room. Offhand, I can name such brands as Classé, Mark Levinson, Plinius, Primare, JBL, SOTA, Montana, Sonus Faber and Vienna Acoustic Strauss. To begin with, it was always fun to try something new and see what difference it made to musicality, dynamics and/or resolution. Throughout these long, exciting years, there have been both ups and downs in the reference that was gradually assembled. When I first encountered ZenSati cables, my system consisted of Plinius Hiato, Plinius CD 101, Plinius Koru RIAA, VPI turntable and Pioneer S-1X loudspeakers. These fine components were connected by cables of good quality. My dealer allowed me to try ZenSati #3 on a two-week home trial to see what they could do. Cables have always been a bit of a grey area for me. I just wasn’t convinced that they made any real difference; after all, it’s only a bit of wire between two components. I hooked everything up and warmed up the system in preparation for a comparison between my old cables and ZenSati #3. Then something incredible happened, a major “Aha” experience. Starting from below, the bass was substantially tighter, as if the bottom end extended further and the kick drum was lightning-fast – it went BOOM, instead of boooooooom. Kick drum and electric bass were more distinct with better separation. I could barely keep my right foot from playing along, a truly marvellous experience. And I have to mention Erich Kunzel’s ”Ein Straussfest”, an extremely vibrant classical masterpiece with lots of cannon fire and abrupt starts and stops. This bass test was passed with flying colours – with ZenSati #3 things were more dynamic and more detailed than ever before. Midrange clarity was enhanced. Stevie Ray Vaughan’s electric guitar on Tin Pan Alley from Couldn’t Stand the Weather was more beautiful than ever and cut even deeper. Eva Cassidy’s fine guitar work was also better than ever. And I could go on. The high end is more extended, clearer, more open. Over-emphasised sibilants were now a thing of the past, if the recording was up to it. My Beryllium tweeters were challenged, but in a good way. Listening to Zen Breakfast by Karmesh with numerous bells made it immediately obvious that the bells were defined in an entirely new way. There was simply more separation when the bells rang out – a very engaging experience. My overall conclusion is that there is greater musical coherence and tonal neutrality with no colouration. Another really positive point for me is that I now can play louder without distortion. Transient response is significantly improved, i.e. drivers start and stop when they are supposed to without disruptions in the signal path from amplification to transducer. I cannot strongly enough recommend auditioning ZenSati cables. Listening to music is a daily joy and pleasure, so why not make the most of the experience? I have not tried anything better at the price and if they are going to be changed, it would have to be to an even better ZenSati model. I have listened to ZenSati #1 for a couple of weeks and can confirm that it is indeed even better, but it also represents a substantially greater investment relative to ZenSati #3. So for the time being, ZenSati #3 stays in my system, which currently consists of Mark Levinson 383, Classe SACD 2 and Vienna Acoustic Strauss.
Musical greetings, Henrik Lauritsen, audiophile, Køge, Denmark
“The Revelation”
The January/February, 2011 edition of Fidelity magazine (Norway) features a group test of loudspeaker cables under the front cover banner ”Bluff or Critical Hi-Fi Components?”
In addition to ZenSati, the combatants were Chord Signature, Forsman Feed 4, Kimber TC12 and Kimber KS 6068.
Two out of three Fidelity reviewers give ZenSati top marks – six points out of six possible. No other cable received six points from even one listener!
Here’s what they had to say:
Three jaws dropped simultaneously when our demo disc began to spin. This was a pure revelation of what a loudspeaker cable can do. Insanely good! And insanely expensive, it turns out!
Listener 1
Extremely transparent midrange; elegant and relaxed with an exceptionally lively style, dynamic and playful. The stereo image is expansive, yet precise and orderly with a delightful holographic effect, even when the music builds wildly to a full crescendo. Its clarity of expression in the upper vocal range may make this cable less forgiving than others.
5+/6
Listener 2
An enormously big and wide, almost immersive sonic image with laser-precise rendering of placement and acoustics. Exorbitant richness of fine detail both in terms of tonality and dynamics.
The music breathes freely and easily, actually in the room to a far greater extent than ever before. Performers at the very rear of the stage are reproduced with more realistic proportions and greater expressiveness. Applause on live recordings is frighteningly natural. The tone of a piano is simply glorious. This cable brings you closer to everything.
6/6
Listener 3
Just wonderful! Juicy, ripe, natural and musical with brilliant resolution and striking space and dimensionality. All instruments are well integrated in the soundstage. Six points out of six, even when six is the absolute best there is.
6/6
Conclusion
Among the super-cables available to us, I also found ZenSati to be the best, in part due to its musical energy in general which is exceptionally life-affirming
