As the saying goes, you don’t miss something until it’s gone. I’ve had to deal with this recently, due to my job relocation. Having no place to call home meant that I was without all of my personal belongings, including my audio equipment and my computer. This meant no equipment reviews, but more importantly, it meant NO MUSIC!!! When I finally got my belongings out of storage, the first thing that I unpacked was my audio system. Pots, pans, and clothes could wait—I wanted music and I wanted it NOW! This review was long overdue, and a new room was going to require time and tweaking. The next thing I did was set up my home theater system so that I could use it to run in a new pair of 30-inch Argent Audio Pursang interconnects.

After a few weeks of reacquainting myself with my system, I was ready to try the Pursangs. I already owned a pair of excellent-sounding Argent Audio Jaden Signature interconnects, which were among the best and most neutral cables I had tried in my system, but Ric Cummins of Argent told me that his top-of-the-line Pursangs were considerably better. The question was: How much better could they possibly be? My system already sounded incredibly balanced, so I had a difficult time fathoming that the Pursang could improve the sound. Was I in for a surprise!

Ric offers the Argent Audio Pursang RCA interconnects in two standard lengths, 30 and 36 inches, which sell for $900 and $950 respectively. Made-to-order lengths are available. The Pursangs are constructed with small-gauge silver wire with a TPFE dielectric and core. They are hand wound in a non-parallel, aphasic-field weave and terminated using locking gold connectors.

I inserted the Pursangs between my preamp and DAC, and was amazed at the improvements in dynamics. I also heard more weight and authority, especially with respect to attack, on John Mayer’s Room For Squares album. I never felt that the Jaden Signatures were lacking in dynamics, weight, or speed, but compared to the Pursangs, it sure seemed like they were. The strength of the Jaden Signatures was their finesse and musicality. I had heard other interconnects that had more weight, but they were always lacking in musicality, balance, and finesse. Not so with the Pursangs, which maintained the balance and musicality of the Jaden Sigs but delivered more of everything. In short, the Pursangs are Jaden Signatures on steroids!

With the Pursangs, the soundstaging of my system approached levels that I had not experienced before. My old listening room was smaller than the new one, and the soundstage I got with the Jaden Signature interconnects was fabulously wide and deep, stretching well beyond the boundaries of the speakers. Nevertheless, it was not as seamless. With the Pursangs, the speakers vanished into the background, and I was left with a soundstage complete with the performers in my living room! The improved clarity was incredible. On Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Echo, the guitarist stood to the left of the left speaker, while the drummer was behind the equipment rack. Tom Petty was singing directly in front of me.

Amazed with this, I pulled out a disc even more capable of taking advantage of the system’s soundstaging abilities—The Carl Saunders Sextet’s Live in San Francisco disc, an excellent outdoor concert recorded by Jim Merod. With the Pursangs in my system, this disc sounded more lifelike than it ever has. The piano was off to the left side of the stage, the percussionist was on the far right side of the stage, the bassist was clearly centered behind, and the trombone and trumpet were center stage. Merod’s recording also showcased another of the Pursangs’ strengths—their transparency. This outdoor performance had an airiness that really made it sound live in my living room. If the trumpet honked, the Pursangs unabashedly passed the sound straight through, just as you would hear it at a concert.

The last thing I wanted to confirm was the Pusangs’ bass performance, so I played Diana Krall’s Look of Love. I had always loved the Jaden Signatures’ ability to render bass quickly and tightly without making it overpowering. The bass with the Pursangs was even more powerful, tight, and fast, yet it still had no overhang. This was, again, the best I had heard my system sound!

The Argent Audio Pursang interconnects were clearly a step above any other cables I have tried. The thing about the Pursangs is that absolutely no other cables sound so balanced. The timbre of instruments and voices is accurate. Highs, mids, and lows are all there, with no frequencies sticking out like sore thumbs. The result is the most musically involving experience I have ever enjoyed in my system. I have heard many cables that do some things right, but the Argent Pursangs are the first to do it all right! If you are in search of very neutral, balanced, revealing, and refined interconnects, I highly recommend that you give the Argent Audio Pursang interconnects a try. They are the best I have experienced to date. Fown-Ming Tien

Pursang interconnects
Retail: $900 (30 inches), $950 (36 inches)

Argent Audio
web address: www.roomlens.com

Coming Soon: More on the Argent Pursangs by Marshall Nack