Krakow Sonic Society is an informal group of music lovers, audiophiles, friends, meeting to learn something new about audio products, recordings, music, etc. The idea for KTS was born in 2005 and this is now its 132 meeting.
Many steps led to the 132 meeting of the Krakow Sonic Society—bigger and smaller, but necessary ones. From the fact of hiring a new CEO to International Audio Holding BV, the departure of GABI van der Kley-Rijnveld from the company, the nightmare of the pandemic and—albeit to an incomparably lesser degree—related meeting restrictions, to the return of GABI and—finally—the possibility of face to face meetings. All these steps/elements mattered but not the launch of the Classic Legend series by Siltech seems to be a completely new opening and a reason to meet and talk about it.
Our host in front of his system
The sequence of events in question was a complex process, in which each step separately carried a large "creative" load, but together it resulted in much more than its components summed up in Excel spreadsheet. So when we all saw each other in one place, there was a lot of emotion, joy and some nerves—"will it work as it did before?" Ultimately the most important was hope of things getting better. We were all in the same situation as most of people are, regardless of who we are or what we do.
The emotion in question stemmed from the fact that we could finally meet and hug both GABI and Edwin—let me remind you: both members of the KTS (you can read about their previous visits to Krakow HERE 2015, and HERE 2017)—but also because after the turmoil GABI has come back to this family business to her former position. You can read more about it in the interview I conducted a day later, the publication of which is scheduled for November.
The 132nd KSS meeting was the middle one of a three-part story that I wanted to tell you in connection with the already mentioned new series of Siltech cables: the CLASSIC LEGEND. Its first part was the test of the analog RCA interconnect and the '880' loudspeaker cables, the meeting in question is the middle part, and the interview - the final chord.
I also divided the report from the meeting into three parts. In the first one, I will briefly tell you what the new cables are for Siltech as a company and about their design. In the second, we will listen to a lecture given by Edwin van der Kley, head of Siltech and co-owner of IAH. And finally, in the third part we will give the floor to the participants of the meeting who will say a few words about their impressions from the listening session.
CLASSIC LEGEND
Let's start with what the new series is for Siltech. My grandfather, Władysław, after whom I have my middle name, had a lot of medals that I loved to play with as a child. A participant in the defensive war in 1939, a Stalag prisoner, taken to work deep into the Reich, he had an accident there and never regained fitness in one of his legs. Therefore, in the times of the Polish People's Republic, he received medals quite regularly, which he put into a small box, in which also those from the service in the Volunteer Fire Department also landed. As I say, when I was a child, I played with them, pined them to my sweaters and sometimes lost them. Needless to say, it was forbidden.
Among all of them, however, only a few really counted—they were the so-called "Bread medals," with the Knight's Cross of the Rebirth of Poland at the fore. No big deal, the cross was of the lower importance within this award (class V), but—it was still important. Its importance was special because it came also with some money paid to its owners on monthly bases. Together with a small pension which the then Federal Republic of Germany committed to pay, it was—for the realities of the time - a fair addition to what my grandfather had earned on the farm, and then to his retirement pension. So when he put on a fireman's gala uniform, he pinned only the most important medals to it—decorations for service in the OHM and the "bread" ones.
Let's get back to 2021: I think that every manufacturer has such "bread" products in their lineup. They are for them a kind of "work horses" working for the whole company. In order for them to become such products, they must meet several conditions, the most important of which can be summarized as an exceptional value for money, where 'quality' is the key word. For Siltech, such a series is—again: in my opinion—the Classic Legend series.
System, we used to listen to the music
I came to this conclusion after listening to two of its most expensive models. You will find in my review details about the history of the Classic series, its technical details and innovations that can be found in its latest version. If you are interested, I encourage you to read the test (High Fidelity № 210, October 1, 2021, more HERE; accessed: 4/10/2021 |PL|). Here and now let's recall only the most important facts.
The original CLASSIC series was introduced in 1997. It uses the third generation proprietary gold-silver conductor with two layers of Kapton dielectric (G3). Classic Legend is the fourth incarnation of the series. For the first time, a new version of the conductors, the G9, was used here, i.e. the ninth generation of the proprietary silver and gold alloy. The micro-gaps in the crystal structure of solid silver are filled with gold, thanks to which the break-in process is significantly shortened.
The cables feature a three-layer insulation consisting of a variety of polytetrafluoroethylene developed by DuPont, commonly known as Teflon, and a thermoplastic polymer PEEK. The noise reduction is to be ensured by a shielding layer, with special attention being paid to increasing the resistance to radio and electromagnetic interference, resulting in "reduction of harmonic distortions and increase in signal dynamics". These solutions were originally developed for the flagship Crown series.
Classic Legend includes three models of speaker cables, interconnects (RCA, XLR, phono, and digital) and power cables, grouped in three series: 380, 680, and 880. The head of Siltech Edwin, will talk about technical details, recalling a large part of his life story.
ABOUT… SILVER
EDWIN van der KLEY
When Siltech looked for the best conductor for his cables, it turned out that it was silver. Of course, everyone with some technical knowledge realizes that it is not just about gold, silver or copper. It's all about the quality of the material—the purity of the metal and its structure are everything.
I joined Siltech after its first technological developments and took up engineering work there. When the company ran into financial trouble, I bought it in 1997. I am an electronics engineer, specialist in radar technology. For some time, right after graduation, I also worked in the research department of Philips. The company was a leading electronics manufacturer at the time and was actively looking for people who would be useful for them among its final year students.
I was assigned to the computer department. At the time, Philips was a bit behind IBM in its research and wanted to catch up with it by building a minicomputer. And the minicomputer at that time was, more or less, of this size (Edwin, speaking, draws an area the size of a large wall unit in the air - ed.). They called it "minicomputer" because "standard" IBM computer took up a space of an entire room. I was working on memory systems there—we had the 64kb version and needed 128kb. Its development cost 1.5 million euros in today's money.
EDWIN van der KLEY
Later I worked for Shell, Exon Computer Systems, etc. I was developing digital systems there that allowed different devices to communicate. And although I wanted to earn as much as possible, I could not forget that my hobby, from an early age, was music. I played the clarinet as a young boy, even on television. So I knew something about music, something about electronics and a little more about digital circuits. I combined it by buying Siltech, to which I introduced a completely different research culture.
In the audio industry, many companies believe that measurements do not matter and that the only thing that matters is listening. This is obviously not true. The reason for this is that really good measurement systems are extremely expensive. Listening is not a bad thing—just like trying the dishes by the chef. However, in order to prepare a completely new, interesting dish, knowledge is required.
Therefore, when I came to the company in 1992, I implemented a measurement program there. At that time, one of the Belgian companies I knew before, specializing in the design of hard drives for Philips, was relocating to Singapore. As a result, they had to buy all the equipment from scratch in accordance with local regulations. I made a deal with them and by paying $2000, or 1/10 of their market price, I bought their entire measurement system. In this way, being a small company, we became owners of a laboratory that even large companies did not have at that time; some of these devices are still in use today.
In audio, we strive to make an instrument, voice, etc. sound the same as in real life. To understand how it works, I started a research program with my violin maker to answer these basic questions and tell us which direction we should take. When doing it we also discovered some "secrets" of the violin.
For example, repainting the top is a big problem—if done wrong the violin can then be thrown away. It turned out that it has nothing to do with varnishes, but with the thickness of the wood and two layers of varnish. It is so, that the holes in the shape of the letter "ʄ" act as a kind of bass-reflexes, they amplify the sound. Even the smallest change in port length—here it's the top of the instrument—changes the resonant frequency and ultimately ruins the sound. When we discovered this, we started to take off some thickness from the inside, which immediately restored the violins to their original sound.
I apologize for this long introduction, I hope Wojtek will not hold it against me, but I wanted to outline the problems we had to face. However, it prepared us to understand why we are able to sense extremely small changes in the system that are difficult even to measure. And we are because we are evolutionarily sensitive to the ultra-small corrections in the sound that come to us—a change meant danger and often death.
Due to the long period that the hominids spent in the caves, we are especially sensitive to sounds coming from the sides. When we try to focus on something in front of us, we hear less. Let me remind you that we are still in the cave. So we got used to the fact that each sound is accompanied by an echo. We feel incredibly bad in an an-echoic chamber, right?
Our listening system is therefore incredibly sensitive. Each, even small change or disturbance causes us discomfort. In audio, we must pay attention to details that, from a scientific point of view, should not be of concern to us at all. The problem is that we don't know which distortions to watch out for. After all, the distortions in tube amplifiers are very high, and yet they are not non-musical, we do not pay attention to them, even if they reach 5%. On the other hand, we note distortions of a different type that are even difficult to measure.
Let me give you an example. The wall we are sitting next to is almost white. If we mark a tiny point on it with a black marker, we will notice it immediately—it is the equivalent of low distortion. But imagine that this whole wall is a bit less white, maybe a little bit grayer, and we won't notice it and think it's perfect. Even if it is 10% less white, it will not bother us. It is similar in electronics and it works similar in music.
When designing our cables, we have always tried to make so that they have ultra-low distortions—in general. We can measure them, so we know what we are doing. We measure specific distortions using special amplifiers, called "lock-in amplifier," which allow us to view the signal down to -150dB. We use them for cables, we also use them for plugs because plugs are the source of a lot of distortion.
And now - in the course of our research it turned out that we are most sensitive to timing (time relations - ed.). This is because the most primitive part of our brain is responsible for detecting it. Simple life forms used to be just tiny agglomerates of jelly-like masses. In order to eat something, they had to stable across food, because they had no eyes or ears. Over time, cells began to specialize. The ears, for example, started their careers by sensing shock-waves.
That is why we have an incredibly well-developed sense of "timing" of the sound—it is much more important than the pitch. Even if I started singing a famous song now and I can't sing, I'm sure most of you would recognize it and even my falsehoods wouldn't be so terrible. It would be enough, however, that I would change its rhythm, and you’d probably try to kill me. One of our sons sings in a way that is completely unrelated to the melody and he can’t even hear it.
GABI van der Kley-Rijnveld Yes, it is true—we are not so sensitive to the pitch. One of my uncles did not like singing at school because he sang terribly out of tune. But he learned to play the flute, and once he understood the connection between the melody and the order of closing the flute flaps, he became a musician and played the clarinet in the orchestra of the Budapest State Opera for the next 30 years.
GABI van der Kley-Rijnveld
EvdK While there are differences between people who speak different languages—tonal speakers are more sensitive to pitch difference—the general principle is the same. Moreover, we hear fewer and fewer high notes over time as we get older, yet we have excellent elderly conductors who cannot hear above 4kHz. Why? Because they can hear pace changes.
So we made the timing the most important element of our cables during their development and testing. We had to discover many things ourselves and then use them. This was the case with the original Classic series. We used in it, and in all its subsequent versions, the purest silver that we were able to produce, also using solutions that we developed during the research on electromagnetic fields. We use analytical systems for this, which are also used by companies that design cars, airplanes, etc.
To achieve this we try to control as many elements as possible—even the origin of the ore from which we later smelt the silver. Each supplier has a slightly different type, which gives a different material—due to contamination. There are very few silver mines in the world, and many more gold mines and even more copper ones. Silver ore is therefore most often obtained from gold mines, where these metals often occur next to each other. It is similar in copper mines where silver is found. So guess which suppliers we prefer. It is much easier for us to clean this type of material.
We pay great attention to how the material is mined. There are many "dirty" mines in Central America. Still a lot of rivers are poisoned with mercury that is used to clean the ore, and people just die there. We do not buy such material, despite the fact that it is much cheaper than the one that is mined in accordance with the principles of "Fair Trade."
Which reminded me of something again, this time from my childhood. When I was little, we had mercury thermometers at home and they kept breaking every now and then. My mother just washed off their remains with water. And there was nothing dangerous about it until you ate something like that. But the real problem was when you washed the mercury off with hot water with a temperature above 50° C, because then it was really dangerous. And it is precisely the heating the mercury soup after cleaning the ore that is life-threatening. We do not buy such ore—for the same reason we do not buy ore from China. Nota bene—to get around this problem, many manufacturers do not use the ISO system.
But let's get back to the topic. Originally, we only had one source where we bought silver ore, but that has changed over time. We now look at the specification from a given supplier and choose what suits us. So we have a long history of metallurgy. Which reminds me that some 20 years ago I had an opportunity to buy a gold mine in Canada, from where we imported the material back then. The problem was not even the money to buy it, but the fact that the deposits were located at a very great depth. Therefore, the mining of the material was very expensive, which made it extremely expensive. At least if we take into account the price of gold at that time. But if I did, today I would be incredibly rich.
Anyway, we were the first audio company in the world to make silver and gold alloy cables. We need the alloy because the silver particles do not adhere perfectly to each other and there are gaps between them. It’s like stones on the bottom of the river that disturb the flow of water. In order to improve the flow of electrons, we had to close these gaps with something—and that's where the gold particles are. The main difference between successive generations of our cables is the purer and cleaner conductor with better packed gold particles.
The dielectric is equally important. We have used three types for the last thirty years. They were: Teflon, PEEK, and Kapton. We buy them from DuPoint, their best source, the place where they were invented. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages. There is no one perfect dielectric. For the first 20 years, we only used Kapton, even though it was very expensive. We applied three layers of a few microns thick foil in three different directions. It was very stable and harmless.
GABI and EDWIN
However, it is not the best at high frequencies - Teflon works better there. The problem with this material is that it is soft. If we consider that we have to have two wires in the cable—positive and negative—and that they are still vibrating, we can understand that the cable behaves a bit like a condenser microphone, creating a small amount of energy. Soft material only exacerbates this problem. And adding the same signal that the cable carries with a delay, changes the "timing," adding an echo—and we are extremely sensitive to it, as you remember.
That is why we started using a dielectric made of several different materials. However, another problem arose, because an order of their layers and their thickness also matter. And this is another element that distinguishes the Classic Legend series from the older generations of Classic cables. Legend features the best conductor we can produce, but it is used combined with a dielectric system far superior compared to the previous ones—and that made a dramatic difference. Suddenly, everything in the sound opened, but it also smoothed out.
To sum up—thanks to the knowledge and techniques we can measure the changes we introduce, we can predict them and correlate them later with the listening session. All of this costs money, but if we take into account that the cross-section in the new cables is larger than in the older ones, the metal in them is actually cheaper now, and we just cut our earnings a bit. However, I wanted to do it so that it would still be a competitively priced product.
Though, in fact, we could have keep selling the older Classic Anniversary version as their sales continued to grow over the years. But I couldn't pretend that we were not able to do better. Since we managed to improve something, we had to introduce it into our cables, even if it might seem irrational in business terms.
Finally, I would like to add that many of the changes we have introduced in the new series come directly from our top Triple Crown cables, which Wojtek uses in his system. We achieved this by measuring, mainly magnetic behavior, and listening.
SOUND
HOW WE LISTENED
The 132nd meeting of the Krakow Sonic Society was held at Tomek, one of our hosts. We listened to CDs and LPs played from the Transrotor TMD Alto turntable and the Ayon Audio CD transport with the Stratos DAC/preamplifier from the same company. The signal from it is sent via XLR cables directly to the Accuphase A-75 power amplifier, and then to the Dynaudio Confidence C-4 Signature loudspeakers. The signal from the CD transport to the DAC runs through the AES/EBU digital interconnect.
CABLES
Siltech Classic Legend Series Cables
CD transport → DAC
Acrolink 7N-DA2090 Speciale
preamplifier → power amplifier
Acrolink 8N-A2080III Evo ǁ SILTECH CLASSIC LEGEND 880i (XLR)
turntable → phonostage
Phasemation CC-1000D ǁ SILTECH CLASSIC LEGEND PHONO 680i
amplifier → speakers
Acrolink 7N-S8000 Anniversario ǁ SILTECH CLASSIC LEGEND 380L, 880L
power cables
Vovox Textura ǁ SILTECH CLASSIC LEGEND 380P
When listening we were comparing our host’s cabling system with the complete Siltech system. We did not avoid making a mistake. It turned out that among the cables delivered to Tomek there was no digital AES/EBU cable. As many audiophiles use Siltech analog interconnects for this purpose, so did we. On the other hand, we connected RCA interconnects between the Ayon and the Accuphase power amplifier, instead of the balanced ones. It didn’t quite work—the sound was quieter, which is normal, but also muffled.
So we returned to the Acrolink cable between the CD transport and the DAC, and we connected the preamplifier to the power amplifier with XLR Siltech cables. In the description of the listening section you will find traces of this failed experiment.
Recordings used for the test
- Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, Darkroom | Interscope Records/Universal International UICS-9161, "7-inch mini LP", CD (2019).
- King Crimson, In The Court of the King Crimson (An Observation by King Crimson), Atlantic/WOWOW Entertainment | Inc., Discipline Global Mobile IECP-70001, CD (1969/2020).
- LA4 , Just Friends, Concord Jazz CJD-1001, Direct Cut LP (1978).
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Complete Piano Concertos, Krystian Zimerman & The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle, Deutsche Grammophon 489 9971, 3 x CD (2021).
- Patricia Barber, Cafe Blue, Blue Note | Premonition Records/Impex Records IMP-6035-1, One-Step, Limited Edition, 2 x 45 rpm (1994/2020); more HERE
- Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin, Hush, Sony Music/Sony Music Hong Kong Ltd. 543282, K2HD Mastering | No. 0441, CD (1992/2012).
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Complete Piano Concertos, perf. by Krystian Zimerman
- King Crimson, In The Court of the King Crimson (An Observation by King Crimson)
- Patricia Barber, Cafe Blue
WICIU (KTS) To be honest, this break was too long for me and I am not able to say anything that I am 100% sure about. However, I was shocked by the difference between a system with one set of cables and the others - the difference was unbelievable, in favor of what we listen to now (i.e. ANALOG = Siltech XLR, DIGITAL = Acrolink AES / EBU - ed.).
MARCIN OLES (Oleś Brothers) For me, the break was not a problem. With the Siltech cables I got much better separation between instruments, better resolution. Also the feeling of the "body" of the instruments was more believable, natural, especially when it came to the piano. It was easier for me to distinguish violins, violas and even individual instruments in a given group.
GABI van der Kley-Rijnveld (IAH) Yes, I heard it too. As I told Wiciu a moment ago, this Beethoven piece is my favorite and I often play it myself. I also know that Krystian Zimerman is very picky about the instrument, so he usually takes his piano with him. So when we listened to it the first time, I couldn't understand why it sounded so harsh and clear. The second time, with the wrong level, I thought it was OK, it was smooth, but it still wasn't the piano I would expect from a Zimerman.
And finally the third time I got something that finally sounded really well, that spoke to me. It was a huge difference. It was a much more realistic recording. The cello is recorded very closely on this album and plays a solo in the third movement. The second, slow movement is only a piano and woodwinds, sometimes also a solo. The pianist must then have contact with the performers, especially the cello, which is far away from him—it's like a conversation. With our cables it was obvious—good separation, closely positioned microphones, but it sounded "together," like one orchestra. It was the biggest change for me.
JULEK (Soyaton) Like GABI said, the difference was very big. After the first change, everything smoothed out and the recording gained elegance. It got musical and vivid, almost as good as at home.
MARCIN (KTS) I would like to add to this one thing that I noticed, and that is separation. With both King Crimson and Billie Eilish, each element that appeared in the loudspeakers sounded better "pulled out" and did not blend in with the others. And of course the timing - the cables arranged it, and the sounds "behind the sound" were presented in a better way.
GABI With the Acrolink cables, everything was more compressed ...
EDWIN van der KLEY (IAH) Remember, however, that this recording is actually very heavily compressed.
GABI Yes, yes, but with the Siltechs it seemed to matter less. With the "bad" cabling the difference was big, but it was still not "my" music. To tell you the truth, I'm not listening to Billie Eilish or King Crimson. But with the Siltechs in the right configuration it sounded really interesting, nice, as if I finally understood what this music was about.
TOMEK FOLTA (KTS) For me, the Crimson track sounded stronger with the new Siltechs, more like vinyl than CD.
ROBERT SZKLARZ (Nautilus) It's hard for me to judge, because I sell both brands. But, OK: Siltech sounded clearer, introduced better control, and the sound started and ended at the right moment. The treble with the Siltech was much better, more differentiated and more resolving. With Zimerman you could hear more details, like breaths etc. The difference was greater than I expected, despite the fact that this system was build with the Acrolink cables to complete it and the Siltech were not chosen for this specific system and most of them were brand new.
EDWIN It's true—our cables take at least 100 hours to break in and their crystal structure will eventually settle down. Here, apart from the speaker cables, all the others were new, straight out of the box. Interconnects, especially the phono one, need the most time—the lower the current, the longer it takes.
Yo-Yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin Hush
Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
LA4 , Just Friends
MARCIN OLES I can only repeat what I said with the Beethoven—with the Siltechs the resolution and separation of the instruments improved, and I could better hear the soundstage. By the way, this system now, with this cabling, is all about space. I like systems that show the resolution and body of instruments, but it is very important to me how you hear it in space. After changing cables, the system is much more sensitive to the quality of the recording. Lesser quality recordings are pointed out much more strongly.
GABI Yes, it is just Siltech. When you sit in a concert hall, every error is clear. Therefore, such a statement is a compliment to us, that is what we meant. A lot of people prefer their systems to be forgiving, but that's not the point.
EDWIN As a student, I listened mainly to the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Jimmy Hendrix, I hated the classics at the time. Back then my radio was of poor quality and the quality of these recordings did not bother me at all. I have all the original RS records, I collect them, and I have most of the original Hendrix and DP releases, but now I know that most of these recordings are, from a sound point of view, disappointing. Therefore not always hearing more is better. But that's what life is like, and we try to show people the truth.
When we lived in Canada for a while, my father took many pictures of us. Today I look at them with nostalgia and even if the colors are not real, this is the best representation for me. Similarly with Bond movies, I like them very much, the brownish and greenish colors of the old episodes are fantastic. But no one will tell me that they are more true than the new ones, right? It is similar with mono recordings.
MARCIN OLES This is all true, but it is also true that specific audio devices, such as cartridges, are better suited for the music from the times they were developed—better than even the best modern hi-tech cartridges. Maybe it is not always necessary to show everything, because if we do the illusion is broken? Music always sounds the same—now and 50 years ago, but not the recording.
JULEK This was best heard in the Billie Eilish recording—it was much louder in order to impress the listener. And that's what people expect now.
DOMINIKA It's very hard to say something smart after so many statements, but I will try, because Eilish is my beloved artist and I know this album almost by heart.
Both of these performances were very interesting to me and I was delighted with how they sounded. But I also really liked Beethoven and the vinyl that Julian brought (LA4 Just Friends - ed.). I like the sound in both cases. These were two different presentations, but it was also true that with the Siltech cables the colors were deeper, and the stage was bigger. And that was very cool. But, like I said, I liked both versions.
TOMEK I would like to start by returning to the problem of "truth versus pleasure." For many years, by building this system and changing its components, I have been trying to achieve something that I admire in Wojtek's system. The point is that it shows the truth, but at the same time turns even very bad recordings into a spectacular performance.
I remember how many years ago I listened to the TechDAS Air Force One turntable and he played for me a really poor release of an old Bajm album (Protect me, Wifon, 1986 - ed.). And it sounded so spectacular, in such a delightful way that from then on I have been trying to achieve something similar in my system. The point is not that the system forgives mistakes, but that it creates a show with each album.
GABI So you have to buy cables from the Triple Crown series.
TOMEK Well, back to the music - it's hard not to notice that switching to Siltech cables resulted in a much larger sound stage, even one meter deeper and wider. I really liked it both with the LP, i.e. with the new phono cable, and with the CD. Some time ago I bought a new Acrolink cable for my turntable, but a moment with the Siltech was enough for me to understand that it was probably a bad investment... With the Siltech the timbres were more pleasant and the instruments had clearer 3D bodies.
SUMMARY
EDWIN It's hard to talk about your own products, but I'll try. We really liked what we heard here. To tell you the truth, I also liked the first set, the one with the Acrolink. I also enjoyed the second set. I listened to this comparison from a technical point of view and tried to understand why you can hear this or that one way or the other. Each technique has advantages and disadvantages, so I try to figure out how something affects the sound. And we've tried every shape of cables—even those with a triangular cross-section.
When I started working at Siltech, we had no idea where the given changes in sound came from. Now it's clear that the basis is the conductor material, its purity and geometry, the dielectrics, and the design of the cable itself—all in that order. So you have to use long crystals—long ones give better sound than short ones—but also can't be too long. While monocrystalline conductors are best, purity is more important. We also choose conductors with a circular cross section. Flat cables are great at treble, but have bass issues that round cables don't.
And I also understand companies that produce cables that have their own "own sound," because that is how the sound of the entire system can be shaped. They also often sound great in a short listening session. However, I wanted our cables to show the whole bandwidth and that they sound equally good today, in two years' and five years’ time. It was the same with cars for years. A lot of people loved Alfa Romeo cars, not because they were good cars, because they weren't, but because they felt differently from any other when driven. When the company started copying German cars, which gave it a better quality, people stopped buying them.
This is a problem for a manufacturer and it is difficult to find the right solution. The more so because in different countries there are different listening conditions. In Europe, most buildings have thick brick walls, and in the US they are usually drywall. When you put an American "tuned" loudspeaker for America in a European home, you get a "boomy" bass. On the other hand, in Japan, horn loudspeakers are popular, in which energy transfer is very effective and you do not need to play loud for the presentation to be detailed. After all, many people live there in buildings with thin, paper walls and do not want to disturb their neighbors.
The solution is to prepare a top-class product that will work in many applications. And that's what we're trying to do. So I agree with all the previous speakers, because you can clearly hear that the resolution and space have improved. Thank you all for coming, Dominika and Tomek for your hospitality, and to the readers of "High Fidelity" for reading, and see you again!
LISTENING SYSTEM
SOURCE: Ayon Audio CD-T CD transport
DAC/PREAMPLIFIER: Ayon Audio Stratos DAC
LOUDSPEAKERS: Dynaudio Confidence C-4 Signature
TURNTABLE: Transrotor TMD Alto
PHONOSTAGE: Phasemation EA-350
CARTRIDGE: ZYX Ultimate 100
CABLES: Speaker cable: Acrolink 7N-S8000 Anniversario (2 x 3 m). Analogue interconnect XLR: Acrolink 8N-A2080III Evo (2 x 1 m), Digital interconnect AES/EBU: Acrolink 7N-DA2090 Speciale (1.5 m). Phono interconnect: Phasemation CC-1000D. Power cables AC: Acrolink 7N-PC6700 Anniversario CBN (1.5 m) for Stratos, Acrolink 7N-PC6500 (1.5 m) for Accuphase, Acrolink 7N-P4030 Anniversario (1.5 m) for CD-T, Vovox Textura for Phasemation and turntable’s power supply
INTERNATIONAL AUDIO HOLDING BV
Nieuwe Stationsstraat 10
6811 KS Arnhem | NETHERLANDS
KRAKÓW | Poland
Text: Wojciech Pacuła
Translation: Marek Dyba
Images: Wojciech Pacuła
