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The
Audio Observatory
$62 for a 1 meter pair, and $14 each additional meter per pair.
XLR connections are available" at no extra cost. Following a review by Stereophile's Corey Greenberg is very much like being forced to follow Robin Williams with a plate spinning act. If there's an audiophile out there who's not read CG'S review, promptly crawl out from under your rock and check this stuff out. In essence, PBJ is actually Kimber's fabric shielded KC1 sans the shielding. But in truth, PBJ is among the finest analog cables that you can buy and one that truly humbles a number of high priced pretenders. Let
me tell you about it.
First of all, PBJ has a rather unique appearance. Consisting of three braided wires, the PBJ looks distinctly undernourished next to some of the more, shall we say, well endowed cables. This frail appearance is welcome during installation as the PBJ is flexible and easy to maneuver behind components. RCAs while somewhat common looking, are very sturdy and fit well on every RCA jack used throughout the review period. My only note of concern is that PBJ lacks any type of strain relief. The usual admonition to always pull a cable off by the barrel of its RCA, and never by the wire itself, is especially true in the case of PBJ. Let's get this out of the way: The performance of the Kimber PBJ rivals any interconnect that I've used during the Cable Madness Survey. Whether used between DAC and preamp, preamp and amp, or tone arm and preamp the PBJ always allowed for a remarkably natural and unstrained sonic quality. It's easy to forget about this cable once inserted into a system. It never calls attention to itself, and thereby away from the music. Specifically, the PBJ is very neutral tonally with any distortion being of an extremely minor nature.
Detail is plentiful, but of an almost gentle character. Subtle clues of
image and location are always clear, but never etched or pushed forward.
Soundstage width and depth, again, rivaled that allowed by any other cable
used during
the CMS. Best of all the PBJ allowed timbres to be reproduced in a very
lifelike manner. Whether a light brush of a cymbal or a muted pizzicato,
the beginnings and endings of each note rang true. In a sense, the PBJ
is a very hard cable to write about because of its essential and basic
neutrality. It must be very, very easy on the signal indeed.
One initial concern that I had with the PBJ proved to be groundless. My system (at the time of the evaluation) required a 5 meter length of cable between the preamp and the amp. In the past I've run into problems with hum when using unshielded cable in this length. To my delight, the PBJ was as quiet as any shielded cable when used in this application. No doubt much of this lack of noise is a function of the braiding of PBJ's dueling ground conductors. In any case, this is one unshielded cable that effectively banished any fear of hum resulting from long lengths of unshielded interconnect acting like an FM antenna. As regular TAO readers know, I abhor comparing products. Still, I'd have loved to have been able to make the comparison between the PBJ and the Kimber KCAG silver interconnect. My experience with silver cable has been somewhat limited. In the main I've found silver cables to be detailed in the extreme and lacking the nuance and gentility of the PBJ. If the KCAG missed the boat on subtlety one may rightly conclude that although silver is a superior electrical conductor, it may in fact take the back seat to copper in passing the musicality of low level electrical signals.
But enough of my ramblings. Recommending the Kimber PBJ is one easy task.
For it would be hard to believe that anyone, using a system of any price,
might truly find the PBJ wanting. And, while it goes without saying that
I can't name a single interconnect at its price point that can begin to
challenge the overall performance of the PBJ, a more amazing, fact is
that I can't name a single interconnect at any price that I know can
best it. Kimber's PBJ is an audio classic. Highly Recommended.
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