ECHOLE CABLES LIMITED EDITION POWER CORD
YOU AIN’T HEARD ‘EM YET?!
James Chin, the boss of YL Audio Malaysia (a refined audio distributor of some serious brand such as Kronos Audio, Absolare, Echole Cables, etc) has been talking to me about the Echole Cables (by Kerem Kücükaslan, the founder of the famed audio brand, Absolare) and why he has invested in them for his own personal audio system. He punched the line and hit the nail with me when he said I have not heard my audio system. I have heard many sales pitches in my days but I knew when it’s a committed one…dead serious!
Unannounced, he brought a pair of the Echole Cables Limited Edition Power Cords (hereinafter referred to as Echole LEPC) that were intended to be plugged into the Vitus Masterpiece Mono amplifiers (MP-M201). I welcomed the initiative and plugged them in (to replace the Gobel High End Lacorde Statement Power Cords, priced at €7,500 per piece for two metres).
HEAR ME…IT AIN’T CHEAP(?!)
I remember now why I did not ask to test out the Echole Cables even though they were easily available for me through James.
Echole Cables have six tiers, with Passion being the starter, followed by Obsession, Signature, Orius, Omnia and finally, the Limited Edition. Except for Passion that employs 8N purity copper at its core which is then plated and polished with Echole Cables’ proprietary recipe of alloys that incorporated Silver, Gold and Palladium. The other five higher tiers employ mostly the proprietary alloy of Silver, Gold and Palladium, but at different configurations, portion and ratio.
The above alloys of three precious metals; Silver, Gold and Palladium, and sophisticated metallurgy would only spell ‘expensive’. According to Echole Cables, the Signature, Orius, Omnia and Limited Edition are the “most expensive cables being produced within its respective price range in the current audio market”.
The Echole LEPC in question was of the flagship tier, the Limited Edition, and is retailing at US$16,000 per piece of sixfeet length.
STRAIGHT AWAY I REQUESTED FOUR ECHOLE LEPC!
After an hour or so of listening to some very familiar vinyls, the first impression I got from the pair of Echole LEPC was the way music ‘snapped together’ in a very ‘refined manner’, which reminded me of listening “live” to ‘unplugged musicianship’ in my audio den.
However, I realized that the Gryphon Audio Kodo Loudspeakers’ (hereinafter referred to as Gryphon Kodo) active bass towers’ audio performance (200hz downward) which were plugged in with the Shunyata King Cobra Power Cords, was ‘not following’ (in terms of audio quality) the accompanying treble towers which were powered by the Vitus Masterpiece Mono amplifiers with the Echole LEPCs. I admit that the ‘not following’ between the Gryphon Kodo treble towers and the active bass towers was not apparent with the previous plugged in power cords from Shunyata and Gobel.
I liked the contribution to the sound quality by that pair of Echole LEPCs that brought about higher transparency to the treble and at the same time exposed the ‘veils‘ over the bass. Therefore, I requested another pair of Echole LEPCs for the bass towers.
I know… I know that I have put in 4 pieces of Echole LEPCs costing US$64,000 into my final transducer (Gryphon Kodo) that actually produce sound! {I know some readers may not be able to swallow that…mind you, I was just informed that the Echole LE is no more the flagship model of Echole Cables,…The INFINITY is the new current flagship with its power cord model at US$26,500 }.
HOW’S ALL THAT SILVER, GOLD & PALLADIUM SOUND IN THE SYSTEM?!
In short, ‘breathless‘…the Gryphon Kodo four towers were able to sync and form a coherent pair of ‘higher transparency’ transducers! Imagine the sensation of being reintroduced to the love of your life, or given the answer to an aged old question, or given a key to a treasure (in short, a pleasurable surprise!).
Henceforth, I was able to understand and appreciate the delicate and fragility of coherency at the final transducers. It allows me to further fine tune the position of the four towers of the Gryphon Kodo Loudspeakers, and to couple them with my audio den, (all) with confidence.
I played Aiza Seguerra‘s (a multi talented Filipino actress, singer-songwriter and guitarist) first Platinum Status album in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia,“Open Arms” (S2S SSLP-9624). It is a beautifully detailed recording of a deserving vocalist. Here, with the Echole LEPC, there was an honest presentation of her voice that represented her age and experience. That higher transparency gained was able to expose her innocence, nativity and purity in her voice on the title track, “Open Arms“. I believe that was the essence that was supposed to be in the song.
Since we are at female vocalisation, I have to express my discoveries from my heavily spun vinyl album from (Ms.) Kit Chan (New Century Workshop NCKCLP 001). Here, her voice was much denser, more palpable, solid and defined comparatively.
There was even more focus at the source of her voice which vividly portrays the separate play of her mouth and lips in the singing. Beforehand, it has alluded me of hearing, feeling and almost touching the mouth and lips of the vocalist, until the inclusion of the Echole LEPCs!
Even the accompanying musical instruments were given the same treatment of higher density, playability, solidity and definition…and more vividness as to their dimensionality and boundaries.
If I could experience the above, you might add ‘pinpoint imaging‘ in a list of given virtues of the Echole LEPC. Given a more complicated musical presentation of much fuller bandwidth such as Arnold Overtures (Reference Mastercuts/ Reference Recordings RM-1518), with a multitude of musicians and their respective assortment of musical instruments, the listener would be able to truly appreciate the extent of the Echole LEPCs’ list of virtues. I could easily say that even in the most difficult and most bombarded passage(s), each musician and musical instrument were maintained in its position, and with coherence!
Another note to be recorded here is the inclusion of the Echole LEPCs into my audio system has affected the presentation of the lower frequencies. The bass drums were given ‘youth’ at Winds of War and Peace (Wilson Audiophile Recordings/Analogue Productions APC 8823), where Lowell Graham conducted The National Symphonic Winds.
The bass drums were vividly located, and each was presented with palpability, density, definition, boundaries and dimensionality. What surprised me next was the presentation of the ‘hit and boom‘ from those bass drums. Instead of the usual waves of low frequencies rushing at me, I was hit by concentrated and ’roundly’ defined boom of low frequencies. In other words, I was hearing (for the first time, in my audio system) low frequencies with detailed and form. That truly brought to the meaning that there was as much details at the upper frequencies as in lower frequencies.
When I suggested that those bass drums were given ‘youth‘, it was not exclusive to sound quality alone but inclusive of quantity as well. Here, each bass slam was more dynamic, denser, extended (to really low and forward), fast and clean…and harder and punchier with ‘a hit that hurt the gut’ (given the right source and system). Comparatively, I was hit by middle weight boxer before the inclusion of the Echole LEPCs. Now, with the Echole LEPC, I may be in the Financial Emergency Ward!
Blowing a whistle at close up to the recording mike and playback that at higher volume that reached peak +100dB for the track ‘Brazil‘ (A. Barroso) from T. Misago and his Tokyo Cuban Boys’ ‘Excitin‘ Latin!’ (Toshiba Records PRO-USE Series/Direct to Disc LF-95013) may sound crazy…may even blow up the listener’s ear drum and/or the tweeter of the loudspeaker (consider that a warning!). However, I got to experience and hear the whistle and it being blown, as ‘a separate phenomenon’. Comparatively, I used to get energized, slightly harsh and confused high frequencies that resembled the whistle blowing.
Here, even from high to extreme high frequencies and at higher volume, the inclusion of Echole LEPCs brought about similar detail, separation, extension, energy and control, as at the low to lowest (possible) frequencies.
I AIN’T HEAR EM ALL!
The addition of the Echole LEPCs into my audio system did open up quite ‘breathlessly‘ the spectrum of musicality, transparency, transient, intimacy, detail, definition, density, palpability, positioning, separation, coherency, dynamism, extension, time, and quietness (quite a mouthful). Thus, I was reintroduced to my own audio system in a very enjoyable manner.
Without delay, I requested more cables of the Echole Limited Edition to try out in my audio system, (of course) in the ‘guise’ of doing more reviews.
Finally, what I was trying to state was that James was right about me not having heard my own audio system (and my music) to its fullest transparency!