FTA cables are extremely luxurious
Some of you may have have seen my Final Touch Audio Callisto USB cable review (HERE). If not I suggest going back in time and giving it a read. The short summary is that the Callisto USB cable changed my thinking about if a USB cable could actually have a positive impact on a sound system. I was so impressed that I immediately reached out to FTA and requested a full set of interconnects for review. This included their one meter Ganymede RCA cable and two one meter BNC cables. This would allow me to cable my entire system with FTA and assess how a full set of interconnects sounded.
Equipment used for the review
- Headphones: Hifiman Susvara
- Headphone Amplifier: Ampsandsound Bigger Ben
- DAC/Preamp: Chord Dave
- Up-Sampler: Chord M Scaler
- Cabling: FTA RCA, USB, and BNC Cables, Wireworld Power Cables
Please note that all cables received at least 3 weeks of burn in before critical listening was performed.
Aesthetics Matter
Final Touch Audio makes beautiful cables. They are flat cables that are more ribbon like than tubular. The jackets on my set were all a gold / bronze color (except for the USB cable, which was black). This looks excellent in person. The RCA connectors are big. They feel solid in hand, and they are easy to plug in and unplug. Sometimes when cables are easy to unplug that means they are loose. I am happy to say the RCA cables were always secure in my equipment, and I never had any concerns.
The BNC cables look and feel about the same as the RCA. The exterior BNC connector is gold, and the pin in the center appears to be silver. I noticed that locking the BNC cable onto my Dave, M Scaler, and my Schiit DAC was quite a bit more challenging then any other BNC cable I had, but once locked it was much more secure.
Starting with the BNC Cables
I requested two BNC cables from FTA so I could connect my Chord M Scaler to my Chord Dave using the Dual BNC interface. Once I connected the cables, I powered up the Dave and M Scaler and began testing the different sample rates to ensure the cables were functioning correctly.
For those who do not know about Dual BNC and the Chord M Scaler, essentially the M Scaler is a powerful up-sampler that can upsample music to > 700kHz. To deliver this highly upsampled signal to the Chord Dave it uses two BNC cables, each operating at > 300 kHz to convey the data. The DAC then combines the information into final digital signal and processes it. If the M Scaler is running at its maximum upsample setting, it uses both BNC cables. If it is running on any of the other lower settings, it only uses a single BNC cable. Why am I telling you this?
When I began my testing with the M Scaler, I started out with a music file that used a standard sample rate of 44.1kHz, and put the M Scaler to pass through (meaning it was outputting using a single BNC cable at 44.1kHz as well). Everything sounded fine, and honestly I was really impressed by the perceived improvement the BNC cable seemed to have on the smoothness of the musical presentation. When I adjusted the M Scaler settings from 1x to 2x things still sounded fine, same for 4x and 8x.
However when engaging 16x and therefore engaging both BNC cables at the same time I noticed a hum. I tried recabling and swapping the cables and got the same result. I put back another set of BNC cables and no hum was present. My assumption was that I must have gotten a bad cable, and Final Touch Audio was nice enough to send me a third BNC cable. Sadly, the same behavior appeared even with the new cable in the mix when engaging the Dual BNC interface. Why was this happening? I have no idea, I have no other BNC cables that have this issue, and I continue to be puzzled to this day. All I know is that it simply will not work without a hum. Considering that most people do not have equipment with a Dual BNC interface, I decided to press on with the review using the standard BNC out on the M Scaler to the Dave. This capped my sample rate in the 300kHz range (8x on the M Scaler), but there was no hum and it matched a more typical setup for end users. Something about the Dave and how it "sees" the Final Touch Audio BNC.
With the FTA BNC cable in the mix, I noticed what appeared to be a greater sense of space over my standard BNC cables (Wireworld Starlight), and a smoother presentation. Similar to the changes I noticed when adding the Callisto USB cable, dynamics appeared to improve as well. Swapping cables resulted in a noticeable change, which is expected considering the price difference between my standard BNC cable and the FTA BNC cable. I will say I thought the improvements were in line with the price difference, and if Dual BNC worked correctly I don't think this cable would be leaving my system.
Listening to "Drover's Road" by Mark Knopfler with the FTA BNC cables brought out additional detail and clarity to the guitar and drums that just didn't seem to be there without them. The overall presentation just felt more analog as well. I normally hate that expression, but it turned out to be the only way I could come up with to describe what I heard due to the smoothness and the organic nature of the music. So assuming you have a system as revealing as mine, the BNC cable is a winner. Let's see what happens when we add in the Ganymede RCA cables.
Onto the Ganymede RCA cables
The Ganymede is quite the RCA cable. I do have one word of warning for those with DACs or equipment with left and right RCA plugs that are close to one another. The RCA connectors on the Ganymede are wide, so wide in fact that they would not fit on my Schiit Gumby. I had no issue with the Chord Dave or any any other equipment in my main system, but I was quite surprised when the issue arose.
Once the cables were installed between my headphone amplifier and my Chord Dave, I began to listen. The Ganymede can be described as wide open, a clear trend for FTA. I found mid bass energy increased with this cable in my system, and the bass seemed to improve as well. The top end sounded clean and clear, and it was apparent I could listen to my system for hours and hours without fatigue.
The only issue I ran into with the Ganymede was I found that it tilted my system slightly to warm. This is a fine balance with my system as it is already slightly warm due to the way that I tube my Ampsandsound Bigger Ben. Swapping my standard tube set out and replacing them with my "bright set," consisting of NOS RFT short base EL34s and a NOS Telefunken 12AX7 made quite the difference. Gone was the mid bass bloat that was present with my standard set. Now there is a reason that I refer to my "bright set" of tubes as a bright set of tubes, they can be painful with the wrong music or the wrong up stream components. The Ganymede did an excellent job of smoothing out the top end, leaving the detail, but without the fatigue. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement. This tube set is also not known for its bass characteristics, EL34s in general do not have the best bass, but the Ganymede RCAs helped deliver an exceptionally good experience and left me wanting for nothing.
So what are my final thoughts on the Ganymede? These are exceptional RCA cables, no ifs, ands, or buts about that. In my experience they provide a smooth and slightly warm presentation. In my current system with my preferred tube set, that ended up being a little too much of a good thing. However if your system is already a little bright and you want to pull it back without loosing detail, I think these cables are worth auditioning. They look and feel the part of a high end RCA cable and their build quality justifies their price based on what I have seen in the market.
So an entire FTA system?
Let's start with a simple statement: if price were no object I would likely own the entire FTA line of cables. They are that good and are incredibly well made and I would recommend trying them to most people. However we live in a world where price is always a factor, and as you have likely seen on my previous cable reviews, I do have a few qualifiers. I do not believe cables should make up more than 20% of your entire system's retail value. If your system fits into those parameters and is on the brighter side then I recommend auditioning these cables. I also recommend auditioning these cables if you feel your system is not smooth enough. It is shocking how smooth and organic each of these cables has made my system sound.
For me, my system does fit from a cost standpoint, however I found that the entire combo offered too much of a good thing. If you try the entire combo like I did, I suggest starting with one cable at a time. That way you can see how the single cable effects the sound and decide if you like it before adding the next cable. I have a strong hunch you will end up with at least a little FTA in your system like I have.
Ganymede
Retail: prices start at 2130 Swiss Francs/1m for RCA and 2015 Swiss Francs/1m for XLR
Final Touch Audio
US Distributor
Destination Sound Group
