Disclaimer

This is a third product I bought from Lavricables (had them make two adapters for me in the past). I have worked with other manufacturers on custom projects before, but Lavricables quickly became my favourite. As I am a returning customer, they kindly asked me if I could share my experience with others, which I agreed to.

Important to mention is that I paid the full price for the cable (and upgraded connectors), however, they included their 150 hours burn in period service and express shipping for free. I am assuming here that they wanted me to judge the cable after it has been properly burned in and since that added a significant delay, they wanted to ship it to me as fast as possible, at no additional cost. For both I am very grateful, but I sincerely believe I am able to offer my honest opinion, as I both wanted the cable in the first place, as well as paid for it in full.

But I understand if you think I am biased towards liking them, as I clearly prefer them over other manufacturers. On the other side, I have high expectations towards them every time, and will call out when they are not met.

The stock cable

You may ask, why am I upgrading my stock cable? Well, the reason is simple - ergonomics. The stock cable my headphones came with (AB-1266) is very stiff and what is worse, is split in two at the XLR connector. This means that it is quite annoying to deal with, especially at 2.5m length. I had to tape the two individual cables into one just to cope with that. So I really wanted a more pleasant cable that I can live with, is soft to touch and light to wear.



An upgrade option

As any other Abyss headphone user, I have also considered upgrading to JPS Labs (Abyss company) Superconductor cable. I had actually owned one for my previous headphones Diana V2, which I no longer own. The cable is very expensive and comes as an upgrade for 1850 Eur (for 1.8m), so my expectations were very high. Unfortunately, with Diana I did not hear much difference at all (even after cable break-in) and the ergonomics were not that great either. The Superconductor cable was a 2 piece (left and right channel in its own sleeved cable) and the material wasn't soft to touch - quite scratchy. I am mentioning this cable because Superconductor upgrade exists for AB-1266 as well, which is essentially the same exact cable material / sleeving, but with a different connector (mini-XLR), for 2990 Eur (1.8m) or 3490 Eur (2.4m). Because of the price and ergonomics, even if the cable is said to improve the sonic presentation (and "fix" AB-1266 midrange) I did not consider buying one because of my Diana V2 Superconductor negative experience.



Lavricables Grand

Finally on the part of the review you came here in for. This is Lavricable's TOTL Grand offering (they are willing to work with you on bespoke customs, more on this later), the cable has been burned in 150+ hours, which is the minimal recommendation from Lavricables before you start any critical listening (they did the burn in themselves for me for free, see the disclaimer above).



One thing that I noticed immediately (took me 5 seconds) in the Eric Prydz Opus song, is the extra sounds in the background, layered behind the main part (the first minute or so). I had never noticed this before, and I know this song very well. I was amazed how much more resolving the cable is, and how it makes it easy to notice new information, as if imagining got sharper. Going back to the stock cable now that I know it is there I can hear it, but it is smeared / congested. Another thing that has changes is the soundstage, it feels more 3D holographic. I am assuming that this is because of the improved imagining / resolution, that helps with the layering / perception of dimensionality in the sound stage.

The above mentioned improvements to the imaging/staging feel to me as a clear improvement in technicalities due to the cable change. Now, with tonality things get trickier, as I only listen to electronic music, stuff that may not have a real world counterpart, or is heavily altered by the artist. Here I can only talk to subjective properties of the cable change, what I like more or prefer over the stock cable. That thing is midrange - many criticise AB-1266 for its punchy bass and airy treble, believing the mids are recessed, making it a V shaped headphone. This is exactly why I bought AB-1266, as with EDM, I wanted exactly these properties, punchy base that has a thunder level of slam, with airy top, to highlight the electronic music I listen to. Now, songs that are heavily based on vocals, sound so much sweater/lusher/relaxed, but in comparison, base sounds a tad slower / less pronounced. I like this change on some songs, less on others.

So how am I liking Lavricables Grand? Am I satisfied with the build and sonic performance? Would I recommend it to others? Let me try to answer that.

Build - 10/10, I love it. A huge improvement over the stock cable, and in my opinion, also over the Superconductor cable (that I owned with Diana V2, not AB-1266). This is exactly WHY I wanted an aftermarket cable, as the stock cable was difficult to live with. Lavricables definitely delivered and exceeded my expectations here.

Technicalities - imaging/staging/resolution refined - it is a clear improvement over the stock cable. This came to me as a surprise, I did not expect it at all and I am liking what I hear, what a clear step up over the stock cable.

Tonality - more relaxed / lusher sound, mids coming forward slightly more than on the stock cable (recessing the lower end by comparison), which helps AB-1266 on some songs, but hurts on others. Worth repeating, I listen to EDM music where it is difficult to judge what it is supposed to sound, so I can only judge what sound I like. Before songs were sharp, but human voice sounded a bit too cold, now the mids are fixed, but base took a step back in that regard. Hard to say if a Superconductor cable would be absolutely transparent, or do the same, as people report it changes the mids presentation as well.

I spoke with Lavricables folks about the tonality and they told me that they could make me 8 gauge cable (awg17 instead of 4 gauge awg20) that would have a deeper low end register, and be a bit more transparent and airy. Unfortunately for me, this would make the cable bigger/bulkier/heavier and decrease the ergonomics, which was the main reason to upgrade the stock cable in the first place, so I decided against it.

Customer care

What Lavricables folks also excel at is their customer support. Over the couple of months (and two previous orders) they have always replied to me within a couple of hours (yes, even on weekends) and did their absolute best to meet my requirements. They are patient, not pushy, happily explain everything I have asked about. I have ordered from some other custom cable makers in the past but no one matched their speed / quality / price. I can only recommend them.

Summary

I paid around 600 Eur for 2.5m long Lavricables Grand cable, which compared to JPS Labs Superconductor, would cost me 3500 Eur. After owning this cable in the past (with Diana V2, not AB-1266), I find ergonomics (material feel, the weight and the fact that it is one cable not two separate cables) much better with Lavricables. The looks are of course subjective, some will prefer the silver colour, others black sleeving, I am indifferent to both. So if you are interested in an aftermarket cable for your AB-1266 for ergonomics reasons, as you (also) don't like the stiffness of the stock cable, consider buying from Lavricables.

If you believe cables can sound different, then consider Lavricables Grand as an improvement. It helps with resolution/imagining/holographic soundstage, allowing you to extract more from the songs you know well, which I consider a technical improvement. This being said, I am removing 0.5 points from my rating for one and only reason - the tonal change. There is a slight and subtle difference in midrange, that becomes lusher/more liquid/forward, which works well on some songs (vocals), less on others. With AB-1266, which are considered to have a weak point in their mids, I think this works very well. But I wanted to warn those who wants this cable for V shaped headphone, as it alters the lower end (makes it more relaxed) compared to the stock cable. Those would be (perhaps) better served with Lavricable's 8 gauge cable instead.

But what do I know, I listen to EDM, which is often not a real music anyway. And that's why this review is my subjective opinion, so don't shoot the messenger please, I am just sharing my experience with you.

Know your reviewer​

Hi there, as I am not a professional reviewer, I wanted to prefix this review by introducing myself a bit, so that you know what biases I have, what physical limitations I have to work with, and most importantly, what is my end goal. I put the following section into "spoiler" tags, so that those who do not wish to read about me, do not get distracted from the dCS Bartók's review.

​

dCS Bartók's features and specs​

Build quality and port selection​

Bartók weights 16.7kg (36.8lbs), and measures 44/43/15cm (17.5/17/4.6"), which is a lot. It is much heavier and bigger than any other headphone DAC or AMP I have owned before. In the picture, you see a comparison with Chord Hugo TT 2. Bartók comes in two colours - silver and black.

As for ports, on the front you get a single ended 6.3mm and balanced/differential 4-Pin XLR. On the back, there is an RJ45 ethernet port for streaming capabilities, an USB type B port, SPDIF on RCA; BNC; and Optical Toslink, as well as 2x AES. For outs, you get single ended RCAs as well as balanced/differential 3-Pin XLRs.

Bartók also has an option for external master clock input, which costs additional 8k (Rossini) or 14k (Vivaldi), neither of which I had tried.

Streaming, upsampling, filters and advanced features​

One of the biggest reasons for all-in-one device like this is so that you don't have to worry about buying other devices that perform those functions. DAC/AMP combos are known and common (like Chord Hugo TT 2), and upsamplers exists (like Chord M Scaler), as well as streamers do (Chord 2go/2yu, or Pi2AES, or many others).

However, Bartók comes with all of the above - it is a Roon endpoint, supports Airplay and Spotify Connect (I suspect for the upcoming Spotify lossless), as well as comes with its own iOS and Android app called Mosaic. With it, you can connect UPnP, or stream Qobuz/Tidal/Deezer). I have been using it mainly with Roon and it worked flawlessly. It even lets you configure automatic standby after N minutes of not playing songs. I have also used it with Airplay and it worked nicely, albeit I had to disable "buffer" mode to have no video delay that would make people talking be delayed (lip sync).



Bartók automatically upsamples all PCM audio to DXD (352.8kHz / 24bit), but leaves DSD and DSD64 unchanged. This is similar to Chord Hugo M Scaler, which does a similar thing with its upsampling to 768kHz, trying to approximate perfect sinc function with its WTA filter. I am not sure if dCS's intentions are the same, or if upsampling here is for some other reason. As a side note, I have auditioned M Scaler for a week with my TT2 and found the upsampling make the sound more rich/lush, which I did not always prefer (for EDM that is).

What is interesting is that Bartók offers an extra DSD section, that you can use even if you are not feeding it with DSD music. It will come after upsampled PCM and will offer its own filters (F1 to F4). While talking about filters, PCM itself offers F1 to F6, plus one for MQA. As for input formats and files, PCM up to 384k is supported, DSD up to DSD64 and also MQA as well. All of my music is PCM up to 192, so I have not tested anything else, nor MQA (I subscribe to Qobuz, not Tidal).

Bartók also supports channel and phase swap, has burn in sequence that you can use for your headphones, but most importantly it supports channel volume balance for those who have hearing loss on one of their ears, in order to make the sound appear dead centre.

Display, quirks and bugs​

The digital display is very nice, it shows you what song you are playing from Roon, what is the bitrate and bitdepth, but no album picture. It also shows you what clock you are on (if you have external clock for example), what PCM filter you have in use, if you have channel or phase swapped, as well as your cross-feed/Expanse setting. What it does not show you is current volume (that is only on USB input, not Network), nor what upsampling you have (DXD or DSD) - which I find weird, for that you need to open iOS/Android Mosaic app, or go to Bartók's menu.

One thing I do not like is how Bartók makes a relay click whenever it changes the bitrate (no click on bitdepth change), so if your music keeps going from 44.1k to high res, you will hear a click every time that happens (not for 16 bit to 24 bit though). The buffer mode adds a tiny bit of a delay (less than a second) and is there to help to reduce audible clicks in the music playback itself, when bitrate changes. I have however disabled the buffer, as it was annoying to be always enabling it for music, disabling for video, and I have never heard any playback clicks (else than physical relay click) when bitrate changed.

The only bug I found (and reported to dCS) is that when I finish playing music with Roon and swap to watching a Youtube video over AirPlay, it still shows what is being played (albeit paused) via Roon. However, if I restart the device and just play via Airplay, the metadata is available and correct.

What I like though is how you can change volume either on Roon or with Airplay device (like your iPhone or Mac) and it will change volume (and show you in dB) on Bartók's display directly.

Headphone amplifier section​

Bartók's amplifier is surprisingly powerful. Not as powerful as Violectric V281, nor Chord Hugo TT2's rear XLRs, but plenty for most headphones, and even Abyss AB-1266. If you use it with its balanced/differential 4-Pin XLR outs, you get 2.8W with a 66Ω load, and with high impedance headphones that need high voltage swings you get 13.6V rms and for low impedance headphones that require high current swings you get 200mA rms.

I was originally worried that Bartók wouldn't be able to drive my AB-1266, that are known to scale with more power, but I was wrong. Bartók drives them better than my Chord Hugo TT 2 rear XLR's (that output 6W into them). Abyss team went on record (in one of their Youtube videos) that XI Audio Formula S is rated at around 2W and is their recommended solid state amplifier for AB-1266, so clearly 2W is enough. I do not know, however, if Susvara owners would be satisfied here.

Probably worth mentioning is that this is Class A only until 150mW into 32Ω load, after that, it goes Class AB.

​

dCS Bartók vs Chord Hugo TT 2​

So how does it sound? How does anything sound, unless you compare it to something others know? I do recognise that I am here comparing 5k Chord to 20k dCS, but as you read already above, for me, the goal is to build "all-in-one" system and from Chord's current offering, TT2 is kinda the only option for AB-1266. Yes, Dave with M Scaler would be more resolving combination, but would also require an external amplification of the same calibre, something like Riviera, Bakoon, Woo Audio or XI Audio.

Before I go into details, I would like to say that I try my best to audition new gear with my wallet. Not only building a better system, but a system that I consider a "no brainer". For example, TT2 is an incredible value for money, but adding M Scaler did not feel cost effective (also it would not be all in one system anymore). I did listen to Dave at CanJam 2016, but that was a long time ago, in a loud environment and with a different pair of headphones. For that reason, I am apologising for those who own Dave setups and consider them better than Bartók. But for me, cost of streamer+HMS+Dave+amplifier would end up costing more than Bartók and would be a set of boxes that I would need to cable appropriataely. I recognise that this way you can built a system you sonically prefer, but it won't be a simple solution anymore.

Now that we got this disclaimer out of the way, let's compare Bartók to TT2. Since I am not a professional reviewer, I will struggle in this section putting my thoughts into words that others will recognise. Describing audio is difficult for me, so I will focus on my experience and making analogies to other things, like sport cars.

Acceleration and handling​

If you look at a sport car, what do you expect from it? For me it would be how fast it reacts to my throttle control and how well it handles. It needs to react lighting fast, I need to be able to index the position of the car precisely, and want the car to hold me tight, so that I can push my limits as high as possible. Bartók is like Tesla PLAID or a proper hypercar, it accelerates from 0 to 100 in 2 seconds, has very sharp steering and does not roll in corners. What I am trying to say is that Bartók is capable of playing aggressively, produce sharp music, give you a punch when you ask for it (or music dictates). Songs have incredible sense of speed, aka PRaT, and the low end is very well controlled and punchy. Compare that to TT2 (or with HMS), it feels more sluggish, taking its time, being warmer and more lush. It feels as if it was not adapting to the requirements you want it to. It is still a sport car, but not a hypercar.

Comfort and seating position​

What surprised me the most was when I played vocal focused tracks (mids are known to be AB-1266's weakest point) and they sounded natural, like a human voice. Analogy I would like to illustrate here is that it feels like Bartók is able to transform into a luxurious SUV, where you do not feel the road surface at all, and sit as high as a king on his throne. And all of this is being done song by song, as if Bartók knew what I expect from that song. You know the feeling when your expectations are met, and when they are not. You get disappointed when they are not met, you are happy when they are met, but when they are exceeded, you get very excited. That's how I feel when playing ANY song on Bartók. When I was talking to friends before setting up the home listen, they warned me that Bartók will sound more analog/sweater/fuller, compared to if I went into Dave. They also told me that adding M Scaler to TT2 will make it sound less harsh, and more analog like - but song by song, poorly recorded ones still sounded bad, and well recorded was a hit or miss, sometimes I preferred HMS+TT2, other times I did not. With Bartók, all songs sound wonderful, rich, sharp, they sound exactly like I would expect them to sound. This is the quality I did not expect from Bartók to be honest, this predictive nature of knowing how I will like the song to sound, as it if read my mind. Someone told me that this is called transparency, when your headphone system disappears and you just listen to music, not the gear. I don't know if this is the definition, but to me, it blew my mind.

Crossfeed implementation​

I never liked Chord's crossfeed implementation, to my ears they just collapsed soundstage (most people hear opposite here), and Bartók did exactly the same on its crossfeed setting, but not in its Expanse settings. dCS went into science of how this works in their whitepaper, but I must say, it works much better. It makes music sound like it was coming out of a speaker in front of me, including reverb and the low end. I do not prefer it with all songs out there, but some rock just makes me feel I am in the concert haul.

DXD/DSD and filters​

I was told that I would hear a difference between filters and DXD/DSD setting after a while, but it hasn't happened yet. But I also do not hear a difference between Chord's filters either, so there is that.

​

Bartók + AB-1266 TC vs Sennheiser HE-1​

This one is from memory. I listened to Sennheiser for half an hour at CanJam 2016, so take this with a grain of salt. The price difference between dCS Bartók plus Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC and Sennheiser HE-1 is kinda 40k (60 - 20), so one could hope HE-1 is much better, and I don't think it was. I am mentioning this particular system because that would be the ultimate "all-in-one" headphone system, that I do not have to worry about changing cables, fiddling with headphones and such, all designed by the same company. Mind you, I have never auditioned Hifiman's Shangri-la (costs 50k), so can't compare with that one. My issue with all electrostats I have tried (HE-1, 009 with BHSE) is that they lack bass. They are very fast, that is true, so the treble is accurate, but not the lower end. Sennheiser's HE-1 was not any different.

​

Summary​

Most of you will think, why don't you add a well known amplifier, like Woo Audio WA33, or Riviera AIC-10 and the answer is that I do not want to. I am trying to build a system that is as much as possible all-in-one and includes Roon streaming, quality DAC and powerful enough amplifier for my Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC. So far I have only found two systems that can do that - Chord Hugo TT 2 (need to add streamer) and dCS Bartók. How good is Bartók compared to TT2? To my ears, it is a night and day difference. People talk about the law of diminishing returns and trust me, I never wanted to spend more on electronics than on transducers, but now I have.

The main quality of Bartók over TT2 is how it (somehow) knows the sonic representation of the song I will prefer. Songs that I like aggressive/sharp will sound exactly like that, and the ones I want full/rich/lush, will do that as well. TT2 wasn't as good at this, there I felt it is adding a flavor to my music, sometimes desired, but sometimes unwanted. I used to own Hugo 2 before TT2 and a jump in quality for sonic characteristic wasn't that high, but I needed it for its powerful amplifier (that is also why I did not end up going for Dave).

Not only Bartók comes feature packed, it also is powerful enough for AB-1266, which was a surprise to my ears. TT2+AB-1266 is a 10k setup, which is a good value in my opinion. But, Bartók+AB-1266 is a 20k setup, I think all lovers of all-in-one solutions should work towards to - it is that good.

You may ask, what does my wife say? She has been supportive of my hobby for years, but never got it - until now. When I asked her to listen to Bartók she was amazed how good it sounds (she normally listens to Airpods mind you), but when she switched back to TT2, she called it flat, like a fizzy drink vs flat one. The enjoyment was gone for her. I think she was a bit too harsh to the system, but at least honest and showed me that not only a person who is into audio, but also someone who isn't can tell the difference. What surprised me even more is that she asked me to buy tickets to the next CanJam so that she can listen to some other gear, now that she heard how good things can sound.

For those who are into multiple pieces, I hope this review was not a waste of your time. I believe you can get good results from other TOTL dacs (like Holo May, HMS+Dave) and TOTL amps (Riviera, WooAudio, Bakoon), but I think no one can deny that Bartók is a nice all-in-one package and those who want their life simplifier to owning just one box, should give it a listen.

Bartók has convinced me so much so that I have placed an order for a black unit.