.
ECHOLE CABLES LIMITED EDITION SPEAKER CABLE
.
My pursuit for higher transparency cum higher appreciation of musicality brought me to seek out James Chin of YL Audio for more of Echole Cables Limited Edition.
.
.
Without much hesitation on his part, he parted his own pair of the Echole Cables Limited Edition Speaker Cable (hereinafter referred to as Echole LE SC) for review purpose. I knew time for them to be in my possession would be limited…without further ado, I shall proceed with their installation from my Vitus Masterpiece Mono Amplifier MP-M201 to the treble towers of my Gryphon Audio Kodo Loudspeakers (of four towers configuration…hereinafter referred to as Gryphon Kodo)
.
NOT FOR THE POCKET UNPREPARED?!
.
I would set it out straight that the Echole LE SC came with the asking price of US$31,500 per 3 meter pair…not meant for most budgeted audio system. However, if your pocket is deep enough and want to hear your prized loudspeakers to perform to a different height of sound quality (for me), or to present a ‘different tonal coloration’ that allowed you to listen deeper into your beloved music (preferred by some), or for audio related reading pleasure…read on.
.
.
A DIFFERENT TONAL?!
.
My initial impression upon installation of that Echole LE SC was but a ‘mild audible’ difference compared to the Skogrand Beethoven SC (which was a great conduit…reviewed here). James Chin was present then and remarked to me that they take an hour or so to settle in.
.
.
Later, I realized that the Echole LE SC was not meant to alter (maybe slightly) the sound characteristic of the Gryphon Kodo. Instead, to me, they were meant to ‘delicious-up’ the same ol’ recipe.
.
‘DELICIOUS-UP’ THE SAME OL’ RECIPE
.
Firstly, I wished to iterate that the Echole LImited Edition Power Cords (hereinafter referred to as Echole LEPC, reviewed here) were still connected in the audio system throughout the review, and their attributes remained. Therefore, I would only write out the ‘additional attributes’ from the addition of the Echole LE SC into the same audio system…
.
.
Lately, I found myself in love with Ms.Masako Kunisada’s rendition of “Snow Flakes” in the compilation album, “The Dancing Girl From Izu” (RHYMOI MUSIC RMLP-041). I found her voice was well captured in that recording…with much of the ‘human element and emotional content’ intact (or what made or meant thereof). (With) The Echole LE SC allowed through into the presentation of her voice, not just, dimensionality, definition, delineation, palpability, presence and weight.
.
.
Here, the Echole LE SC presented that ‘human element‘ with exposure of further layering, separation and depthinto that above mentioned dimensionality, definition, delineation, palpability, presence and weight. Therefore, I heard and felt that as if she ‘fleshed out’ from the accompanying musicians (but remained in the music), and stood upfront, unhindered and unveiled in full body and size.
.
I hope the readers are not mistaken the above as a heavier midrange that tend to outsize the delineation of an image. On the contrary, the Echole LE SC, like most serious hi-end cables define, delineate and separate every image (,note, tone, nuance, etc.) so well that in most instances, the images are proportionately sized, thus present a lifelike and dimensional musical presentation.
.
As for the ‘emotional content’. my definition is available elsewhere in other reviews), I knew that all that above mentioned details were better and tighter knitted together to form the intended shape of (emotional) content. (To me, if the recorded details were not knitted together well, then the intended shape of the music, note, chord, expression, emotion, etc. could not be fully expressed as intended by the artist(s) and/or recording engineer. Case in point here is the ’emotion’ expressed in the voice of the vocalist).
.
Therefore, there were more expressive expression in her vocalization. I might add that it was as if time slowed down (or that tempo became more obvious) with the purpose to vividly portray Ms.Masako’s control and differentiation in her voice (and output).
.
You may be thinking that since the vocalist (Ms.Masako) was ‘fleshed out’, did the accompanying musicians reversed backward? In perspective, my answer to that is affirmative. However, I would argued that there was a clearer and further distance thus better separation between the vocalist and the accompanying musicians.
.
On the same note, back to my reference vinyl record, “Arnold Overtures” (Reference Mastercuts/ Reference Recordings RM-1518), I did discover the musicians at the further back of the orchestra were more distance from those at the front. Clearly, there was more distance and separation between the different tiers of musicians in the orchestra. However, to the Echole LE SC’s credit, I found those musicians at the furthest back stage were still well defined, delineated, separated, and weighted with presence. Thus, I could clearly hear (/see) the furthest back of the soundstage.
.
.
On the subject of soundstage, the Echole LE SC has proven to me its transparency to the furthest depth of a recorded soundstage. With all the ‘separation with a distance’among the recorded musicians, it was not a stretch to expect that the Echole LE SC to be equally transparent to the soundstage width and height. My expectation was affirmed in The Dallas Wind Symphony for “Fiesta” (Reference Recordings RR-38), where the soundstage was not just proportionately high, wide and deep, but there was an ‘airy soundscape’.
.
.
Here, when the orchestra gave it a full treatment of low frequencies, the Echole LE SC was so transparent (to me) that it not just delivered the deepest ‘sonic boom’ from its origin in the soundstage, that rattled me, my sofa and surrounding articles (to the extent of my Gryphon Kodo), but also delivered the airiness(remember the ‘airy soundscape’) that followed the ‘sonic boom‘. The powerful experience was as if the whole orchestra; the musicians and their respective instrument, and the entire recording venue were thwarted at me.
.
.
.
In “The Sheffield Drum Record” (Sheffield Lab 14), I found that each slam of bass was so well controlled, defined, delineated, and it’s dynamic and transient were equally far extended…which was expected, given the above experiences. What impressed me more was its transparency to coherency of the entire frequencies bandwidth. That allowed me to hear and experience each thwart,…each hit at the drum skin as a single note and tone all the way down to the lower frequencies, without any muddiness…it was that clean!
.
.
In other words, the Echole LE SC would deliver whatsoever bass that was captured in the recording…provided the other ancillary components could deliver.
.
I AIN’T HEAR EM ALL!
.
I am sure of it!
.
Previously, 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).
.
.
.
Later, the newly installed Echole LE SC brought to ‘the table’ a notch more transparency to details of the ‘human element’ and ’emotional content’, separation, soundstage, soundscape, coherency, and bass.
.
.
If there was anymore that my audio system could be improved upon, I wished to know…off I went to meet up with James for more Echole Limited Edition Cables…again, for review.
.
Check out the website: www.echole.com
.