Very many caveats:
- I wrote this at 3am
- The score is arbitrary.
- My selection of high-end earphones is limited, I only own an A12t (reshell, though original was owned by me too).
- Sometimes, I can't tell if I'm hearing the cable, my iems, or the source.
- My hearing is crap, especially in the upper registers.
- I don't own many other cables in it's price range.
- I got it for $350 on sale, which means no matter what, this thing was worth the money to me.
other notes:
- the A12t sounds very slightly warm with heavy subbass and darkened upper mids to my ears. subbass performance is its strong suit, both texture and slam. furthermore, it has LID tech, which means its overall signature is not affected, and most changes to its sound are due to changes in impact and decay (I think).
- my source is the Hifiman R2R2000 Red. the Red has a dark (less treble) but detailed and textured signature, a natural sound with smoother details but great resolution, and a particular subbass presentation that makes vocals and other well-recorded instruments sound like they're right up against the microphone (I believe it's because the subbass adds a lot of body and presence).
- I suspect the A12t, Gold 16, and Hifiman R2R2k Red is a synergistic combo, meaning that using the Gold 16 in other combinations might not yield the results I'm getting. I would describe the combo as dark (subdued upper mids and maybe treble), but with impressive speed, resolution, and texture in the mids and lows (some might perceive as balanced armature timbre). the microphone phenomenon I described above is very apparent with this combo (a lot of emphasis on low-level subbass).
- before you go out and buy the gear in my combo, the Hifiman R2R2k Red I own has an annoying glitch where the beginning of songs are skipped. I thought it didn't bother me, but after a month of use, I hate it so much I'm asking for a replacement to see if other units have the same issue.
There's no other way around it, the Gold 16 is the best cable I own. Soundstage, resolution, overall tonality all trump my other lesser cables and my old plussound x8 gold plated hybrid. I haven't had the chance to pit it against a lot of other cables in its price range side by side, but from memory, there are only two cables that beat it in my opinion, and those are the EA Horus and the Crystal Cable Dream Duet. To me, the Horus has an extremely wide soundstage, and a somewhat fun sounding due to its immense treble performance and detail. The Crystal Cable Dream Duet has the largest soundstage of any cable I've ever heard. It might have been my ears playing tricks on me, but the earphone I demoed it with (VE8) was changed quite drastically with the CCDD. It went from a warm and well textured earphone into one with an absolutely massive soundstage, maybe about 4 times the size of the original. I've never had a chance to demo the CCDD again though, so take this with a grain of salt. (Well this whole article should be taken with one massive grain of salt)
Onto the Gold 16, I would describe it as having a relatively neutral, if a little dark signature overall. The ALO Audio website says that it sounds warm, but I think otherwise. With a gold cable in general, I usually expect a more bloomy sounding mid and bass presentation, but there are obviously going to be exceptions. Due to LID tech being present on my A12t, I will mainly be describing how the Gold 16 affects impact and decay, which I personally think are the more important changes cables can bring in the first place. Impedance issues in multi-driver iems are becoming less of a problem anyways with FIBAE, LID, and other forms of this technology.
Black background
The background on the Gold 16 is phenomenally black. With its overall faster presentation, the Gold 16 has a very black background, and instruments have very sharp borders within the stage. Resolution also benefits from this.
Bass
The Gold 16's subbass is very fast and can go very low if your earphones and source can handle it (A12t and Hifiman R2R2K Red have excellent subbass extension). With a different, more midbass heavy source, such as the iBasso DX150, the midbass might be more emphasized but still very fast and guttural sounding. Overall, bass is audibly faster paired with the A12t, which has a longer decay than most balanced armature bass.
I have yet to try the Gold 16 with a dynamic driven bass, so I cannot comment on that. What I can say is that I think a lot of dynamic driver bass sounds more bassier and more powerful because they have more emphasis on bass decay. This isn't to say they are really more powerful though; I've found some dynamic drivers to have less impact than BA drivers. My experience with dynamic drivers is limited to the Solaris, IER-Z1R, Canary, and the N8, which all exhibit this character in my opinion. The A12t is a lot faster with less decay than these four iems. I feel like its hits will go deeper though it might not sound as natural.
But I digress; my point is, the Gold 16 will make the A12t (and other BA bass) faster, which means you might begin losing out on bass decay but gain a very fast and powerful attack. This might risk a more pronounced BA bass in setups like the VE Elysium so YMMV.
I recall that dynamic drivers usually aren't so affected by cable swapping, but if they are affected by the Gold 16, then you're probably in for a treat: fast and powerful impacts with tight but still natural sounding decay, hypothetically speaking.
Mids
Mids texture is faster with greater resolution. Voices sound more resolved, and depending on the source, maybe edging on being etched. There really isn't as much to say here on the Gold 16 compared to its bass imo, though I think there are a few things I can point out.
Though the mids are very fast, I don't think it's quite as fast as the bass. In particular, I think upper mids has the longer decay, which is fine imo, it makes female vocals, trumpets, and violins sound more natural and avoids becoming overly etched like on some silver cables. (My observations on upper mids are probably not accurate due to the music I listen to, mentioned again later. It could also be caused by the fact that my A12t's have darker and possibly slower upper mids.)
The lower mids is faster by a hair, closer to the speed of the bass, but still with longer decay. Sometimes, the lower voices run the risk of sounding overly etched. Bass guitars and guitars with distortion sound really close to being too etched, with bass guitars getting the worst of it. This isn't too much of a problem with voices and acoustic instruments like double bass, which imo can actually use a little more etched texture.
One thing that really shines in the lower mids is the black background I mentioned earlier. The edges around males voices and lower instruments is very clear, and staging is best in these registers as well. I find that upper mids can sometimes get lost in the mix due to their longer decay (either that or the songs with female vocals I listen to are mastered weird. this happens with lots of kpop where female voices sound lacking in body and definition, but then again Billie Eilish sounds perfectly fine).
Overall, the mids sound really good on my setup, with both strengths and weaknesses to the upper and lower mids, though once again YMMV when it comes to pair ups.
Treble
Before I describe the treble, I should note that I often get treble and upper mids a little mixed up. I also have very poor treble hearing as a result of performing in an orchestra for a few years (I think). The black background I mentioned before is also seen in the treble.
One of my biggest gripes with a few of my favorite recordings is the hiss within them. Crystal Silence by Chick Corea has a lot of hiss for some reason, but the Gold 16 can smooth it out without losing out entirely on the details.
The problem with this hiss taming and black background in the treble is that the treble changes aren't the result of shorter decay. I think the treble decay is just a little slow, contrary to what I would expect with such a black background. Rather, the treble quantity is probably rolled off a little, especially with my setup.
The A12t already has a dark and slow treble and upper mids in my opinion and so does the Hifiman R2R2K Red. Combined with the Gold 16, my overall setup is darker than with other cables. Despite the treble being dark, the Gold 16 still has an expansive soundstage.
I theorize that a slower treble will produce the perception of larger stage. The Hansound Agni II, a pure silver cable is very fast and has a very detailed sound, to the point where it sometimes sounds like it's pitch shifted up and etched sounding on some tracks. It's stage sometimes sounds like a wall of sound in your face. On the flip side, the OC Studio AuX is a gold plated silver cable with a bloomy warm sound. Its soundstage can sound expansive, but it's bloomier and muddier lower mids and bass limit the soundstage expansion because they create more body. It ends up sounding like instruments are facing you but somehow all the decay and reverb is faced backwards. Another case of large sounding soundstages is in QDC and UE iems, which have slightly out of phase treble which give them their great resolving characteristics and wide soundstages.
However, I also don't think soundstage is determined entirely by treble. The rest of the frequency, especially lower mids and bass, can also contribute to the expansive soundstage, like how the OC AuX mentioned before has a smaller stage because of its bloomier bass and mids. I think an excessive quantity in those registers causes instruments to sound closer preventing the stage from being really expansive.
One of the things I first noticed with the Gold 16 is that diagonal staging is noticeably improved. I'm not too certain as to how this works, but I believe it's because the slow treble creates a large expansive soundstage and the fast lower mids and bass creates dense instruments within the stage. Instruments in the upper mids, which have slower decay, aren't as easy to place to my ears. This is all just speculation though, as I'm not an audio scientist, physicist, or engineer, and I haven't read any legitimate educational information about how sound works.
Ergonomics
The ergonomics on the Gold 16 are alright. It's a stiff cable, but it isn't dense like a lot of thick gauge 8 wire cables. It will never sag or hang and create pressure points over the top of the ear even without its memory wire guides. ALO Audio made a great choice with the Y-splitter and 2 pin connectors as well. The split is very light, unlike a few trendier companies that make cables designed to pull your ears off or swing around like a pendulum. The 2 pin connectors don't protrude out of the iems and stick into the side of head. The pins are also very long, and even though the sockets on my iems are loose, I've never had a problem with the Gold 16 pins falling out, unlike other cables. The only caveat is its stiffness, which can be unbearable at times,
Conclusion
If you ever see the Gold 16 on sale for $350, I don't care who you are, buy it immediately. For a cable beginner, $350 sounds like a lot, but for a cable with effects this apparent, I think that price is a steal. For cable veterans, $350 for a cable with expansive soundstage, fast bass and mids, and smooth, friendly treble should be a downright steal. However, if you can't wait until this year's black friday, I still think that most people with a sizeable collection of cables should consider the Gold 16 for $1000. I find it to be over looked.
- I wrote this at 3am
- The score is arbitrary.
- My selection of high-end earphones is limited, I only own an A12t (reshell, though original was owned by me too).
- Sometimes, I can't tell if I'm hearing the cable, my iems, or the source.
- My hearing is crap, especially in the upper registers.
- I don't own many other cables in it's price range.
- I got it for $350 on sale, which means no matter what, this thing was worth the money to me.
other notes:
- the A12t sounds very slightly warm with heavy subbass and darkened upper mids to my ears. subbass performance is its strong suit, both texture and slam. furthermore, it has LID tech, which means its overall signature is not affected, and most changes to its sound are due to changes in impact and decay (I think).
- my source is the Hifiman R2R2000 Red. the Red has a dark (less treble) but detailed and textured signature, a natural sound with smoother details but great resolution, and a particular subbass presentation that makes vocals and other well-recorded instruments sound like they're right up against the microphone (I believe it's because the subbass adds a lot of body and presence).
- I suspect the A12t, Gold 16, and Hifiman R2R2k Red is a synergistic combo, meaning that using the Gold 16 in other combinations might not yield the results I'm getting. I would describe the combo as dark (subdued upper mids and maybe treble), but with impressive speed, resolution, and texture in the mids and lows (some might perceive as balanced armature timbre). the microphone phenomenon I described above is very apparent with this combo (a lot of emphasis on low-level subbass).
- before you go out and buy the gear in my combo, the Hifiman R2R2k Red I own has an annoying glitch where the beginning of songs are skipped. I thought it didn't bother me, but after a month of use, I hate it so much I'm asking for a replacement to see if other units have the same issue.
There's no other way around it, the Gold 16 is the best cable I own. Soundstage, resolution, overall tonality all trump my other lesser cables and my old plussound x8 gold plated hybrid. I haven't had the chance to pit it against a lot of other cables in its price range side by side, but from memory, there are only two cables that beat it in my opinion, and those are the EA Horus and the Crystal Cable Dream Duet. To me, the Horus has an extremely wide soundstage, and a somewhat fun sounding due to its immense treble performance and detail. The Crystal Cable Dream Duet has the largest soundstage of any cable I've ever heard. It might have been my ears playing tricks on me, but the earphone I demoed it with (VE8) was changed quite drastically with the CCDD. It went from a warm and well textured earphone into one with an absolutely massive soundstage, maybe about 4 times the size of the original. I've never had a chance to demo the CCDD again though, so take this with a grain of salt. (Well this whole article should be taken with one massive grain of salt)
Onto the Gold 16, I would describe it as having a relatively neutral, if a little dark signature overall. The ALO Audio website says that it sounds warm, but I think otherwise. With a gold cable in general, I usually expect a more bloomy sounding mid and bass presentation, but there are obviously going to be exceptions. Due to LID tech being present on my A12t, I will mainly be describing how the Gold 16 affects impact and decay, which I personally think are the more important changes cables can bring in the first place. Impedance issues in multi-driver iems are becoming less of a problem anyways with FIBAE, LID, and other forms of this technology.
Black background
The background on the Gold 16 is phenomenally black. With its overall faster presentation, the Gold 16 has a very black background, and instruments have very sharp borders within the stage. Resolution also benefits from this.
Bass
The Gold 16's subbass is very fast and can go very low if your earphones and source can handle it (A12t and Hifiman R2R2K Red have excellent subbass extension). With a different, more midbass heavy source, such as the iBasso DX150, the midbass might be more emphasized but still very fast and guttural sounding. Overall, bass is audibly faster paired with the A12t, which has a longer decay than most balanced armature bass.
I have yet to try the Gold 16 with a dynamic driven bass, so I cannot comment on that. What I can say is that I think a lot of dynamic driver bass sounds more bassier and more powerful because they have more emphasis on bass decay. This isn't to say they are really more powerful though; I've found some dynamic drivers to have less impact than BA drivers. My experience with dynamic drivers is limited to the Solaris, IER-Z1R, Canary, and the N8, which all exhibit this character in my opinion. The A12t is a lot faster with less decay than these four iems. I feel like its hits will go deeper though it might not sound as natural.
But I digress; my point is, the Gold 16 will make the A12t (and other BA bass) faster, which means you might begin losing out on bass decay but gain a very fast and powerful attack. This might risk a more pronounced BA bass in setups like the VE Elysium so YMMV.
I recall that dynamic drivers usually aren't so affected by cable swapping, but if they are affected by the Gold 16, then you're probably in for a treat: fast and powerful impacts with tight but still natural sounding decay, hypothetically speaking.
Mids
Mids texture is faster with greater resolution. Voices sound more resolved, and depending on the source, maybe edging on being etched. There really isn't as much to say here on the Gold 16 compared to its bass imo, though I think there are a few things I can point out.
Though the mids are very fast, I don't think it's quite as fast as the bass. In particular, I think upper mids has the longer decay, which is fine imo, it makes female vocals, trumpets, and violins sound more natural and avoids becoming overly etched like on some silver cables. (My observations on upper mids are probably not accurate due to the music I listen to, mentioned again later. It could also be caused by the fact that my A12t's have darker and possibly slower upper mids.)
The lower mids is faster by a hair, closer to the speed of the bass, but still with longer decay. Sometimes, the lower voices run the risk of sounding overly etched. Bass guitars and guitars with distortion sound really close to being too etched, with bass guitars getting the worst of it. This isn't too much of a problem with voices and acoustic instruments like double bass, which imo can actually use a little more etched texture.
One thing that really shines in the lower mids is the black background I mentioned earlier. The edges around males voices and lower instruments is very clear, and staging is best in these registers as well. I find that upper mids can sometimes get lost in the mix due to their longer decay (either that or the songs with female vocals I listen to are mastered weird. this happens with lots of kpop where female voices sound lacking in body and definition, but then again Billie Eilish sounds perfectly fine).
Overall, the mids sound really good on my setup, with both strengths and weaknesses to the upper and lower mids, though once again YMMV when it comes to pair ups.
Treble
Before I describe the treble, I should note that I often get treble and upper mids a little mixed up. I also have very poor treble hearing as a result of performing in an orchestra for a few years (I think). The black background I mentioned before is also seen in the treble.
One of my biggest gripes with a few of my favorite recordings is the hiss within them. Crystal Silence by Chick Corea has a lot of hiss for some reason, but the Gold 16 can smooth it out without losing out entirely on the details.
The problem with this hiss taming and black background in the treble is that the treble changes aren't the result of shorter decay. I think the treble decay is just a little slow, contrary to what I would expect with such a black background. Rather, the treble quantity is probably rolled off a little, especially with my setup.
The A12t already has a dark and slow treble and upper mids in my opinion and so does the Hifiman R2R2K Red. Combined with the Gold 16, my overall setup is darker than with other cables. Despite the treble being dark, the Gold 16 still has an expansive soundstage.
I theorize that a slower treble will produce the perception of larger stage. The Hansound Agni II, a pure silver cable is very fast and has a very detailed sound, to the point where it sometimes sounds like it's pitch shifted up and etched sounding on some tracks. It's stage sometimes sounds like a wall of sound in your face. On the flip side, the OC Studio AuX is a gold plated silver cable with a bloomy warm sound. Its soundstage can sound expansive, but it's bloomier and muddier lower mids and bass limit the soundstage expansion because they create more body. It ends up sounding like instruments are facing you but somehow all the decay and reverb is faced backwards. Another case of large sounding soundstages is in QDC and UE iems, which have slightly out of phase treble which give them their great resolving characteristics and wide soundstages.
However, I also don't think soundstage is determined entirely by treble. The rest of the frequency, especially lower mids and bass, can also contribute to the expansive soundstage, like how the OC AuX mentioned before has a smaller stage because of its bloomier bass and mids. I think an excessive quantity in those registers causes instruments to sound closer preventing the stage from being really expansive.
One of the things I first noticed with the Gold 16 is that diagonal staging is noticeably improved. I'm not too certain as to how this works, but I believe it's because the slow treble creates a large expansive soundstage and the fast lower mids and bass creates dense instruments within the stage. Instruments in the upper mids, which have slower decay, aren't as easy to place to my ears. This is all just speculation though, as I'm not an audio scientist, physicist, or engineer, and I haven't read any legitimate educational information about how sound works.
Ergonomics
The ergonomics on the Gold 16 are alright. It's a stiff cable, but it isn't dense like a lot of thick gauge 8 wire cables. It will never sag or hang and create pressure points over the top of the ear even without its memory wire guides. ALO Audio made a great choice with the Y-splitter and 2 pin connectors as well. The split is very light, unlike a few trendier companies that make cables designed to pull your ears off or swing around like a pendulum. The 2 pin connectors don't protrude out of the iems and stick into the side of head. The pins are also very long, and even though the sockets on my iems are loose, I've never had a problem with the Gold 16 pins falling out, unlike other cables. The only caveat is its stiffness, which can be unbearable at times,
Conclusion
If you ever see the Gold 16 on sale for $350, I don't care who you are, buy it immediately. For a cable beginner, $350 sounds like a lot, but for a cable with effects this apparent, I think that price is a steal. For cable veterans, $350 for a cable with expansive soundstage, fast bass and mids, and smooth, friendly treble should be a downright steal. However, if you can't wait until this year's black friday, I still think that most people with a sizeable collection of cables should consider the Gold 16 for $1000. I find it to be over looked.
This cable is really a No-No for Nova but definitely a YES for Andromeda.
