Cables Experience - Digital USB, Analog RCA, Power - SoundFidelity Italy

We’re there! We’re at the point where you could listen at your home great compositions and almost feel like you are in the concert hall with the band in front of you.

But 30-40 years ago you couldn’t experience that, cause back then we didn’t had so much technology in order to have many options regarding Digital to Analog Converters, which I consider to be the heart of an audio chain system.

We have better speakers now, that are able to give you shivers down the spine, we have new devices that are part of the system which bring to you millions of songs at the touch of you finger. We have (again) vinyl and CDs. And we also have a name now for this passion of ours, we are being categorized as “audiophiles”.

But there is a piece of this puzzle that evolved incredibly in the last years, a piece that is capable to start riots between audiophiles, and gather believers and unbelievers. That piece is a very important one, because it allows that all other pieces to be connected between them and form a system, otherwise they would only be simple components unable to communicate and share their purpose.

Audio cables tend to be the last component at which a customer is looking when he is building his audio setup, because they could cost a pretty penny nowadays and they get to be easily neglected. You buy them because your gears could not function without it, but you don’t take attention to their specifications as much as you did when you analyzed your future Streamer, DAC, Preamp, Amp, Pick-up or CD-Player, speakers and so on.
And the trap that waits for us most of the time when we buy a new equipment is that they are being equipped with the most basic power cable or connectors, and if you don’t pay attention to that, you may not experience the best performance from your precious gears. And that happens from economic reasons, because no maker, especially entry-level or mid, will want to add to his price product an increase of 50% let’s say, just for a power cord.

But good communications between equipments are requiring a high level of fidelity in order to achieve their best performance, and here comes Sound Fidelity to help, as they have been studying this phenomenon for years.

This project started in 2010 in Turin, Italy, from the passion of Fabio Sortino for music, sound quality and innovation.

My first experience with Sound Fidelity took place almost a year ago, when they were kind enough to send me to test their top products regarding Power cables, Digital USB cable and Analog RCA cables and whilst I was in a way reticent about the outcome, because I was knowing my setup for more than 2 years and I didn’t think that there could be major changes, these guys proved me wrong and for the period that I have loaned their cables I was able to hear one of the best performances from my very own system, which as I said, I was already listening for some years now.





This year, with their book being published and already available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/TRUTH-ABOUT-HI-FI-CABLES/dp/B0CTHYMTGJ
I got the chance to test their newest analog cable – the unbalanced interconnect cable RCA Gold 1X.

The book is filled with informations regarding cables, starting from what materials are being used to how many types of cables we can use in a system and what characteristics they should have in order to ofer the best performance. It also explains different concepts, miths, presents various tests and I find it very necessary for passionates or audio enthusiasts because it is the first time when I find so much informations about cables and how to use them properly, it almost feels like a complete user guide for them.



The unbalanced interconnect cable RCA Gold 1X is, and I quote from SoundFidelity’s website:

“made with silver-plated OFC copper conductors, with double Teflon insulation which determines great frequency linearity. High-quality pure red copper 24K gold-plated RCA connectors are used to optimize tonal balance. The electrical and mechanical characteristics of this cable will help achieve greater dynamics and naturalness in the audio message. Thanks to these characteristics, a sound rich in harmonics and details is obtained, without veiling and opacity, a realistic, non-artifacted sound, which creates a large three-dimensional scene and with an increased perception of depth.”

But what does that mean for day to day use in our systems? To find out, I have conducted a series of tests, in which four DACs have been used, in order to see how a good cable vs a stock one can improve (or not) the performance of the audio systems.



T+A DAC200 & Flux Labs Acoustics FCN-10 Headphone Amp on T+A Solitaire P and Solitaire P-SE Headphones


This DAC completely changed my mind about the filters that we usually see in the DAC menus, as it is the first time when each filter change something in an audible way, and not just theoretically. With their in-house implementation and technologies, this one is by far the best buy in his class, sounding dangerously close to some designs that could cost almost double.

The magic of those filters simply flourish when the Gold 1X were being used, as their tonal balance allowed that all the details to be kept pure and delivered without any interference or coloration in the final sound.





Mola Mola Tambaqui & Flux Labs Acoustics FCN-10 Headphone Amp on T+A Solitaire P and Solitaire P-SE Headphones

Tambaqui is currently my favourite DAC from a long list that I have listened so far. Their design and implementation is out of this world, and with the analog output working in Class A combined with my Class A Headphone Amp, the result is putting that silly smile on my face every single time I am playing my favourite songs on it. There is so much warmth in the sound, so much air and details, the scene is vast and yet so clear, and everything is being presented so relaxed and in a manner that you will forget how time flies and the only thing that you will be focusing will be your music. This is a device that honours good music and presents it to you close to perfection.

In this case, the Gold 1X transported to my amp those fine details and nuances that only devices that are working in deep class A are able to have, without them it would only be a reproduction of a songs, and not its story being delivered.

With headphones like T+A Solitaire P and P-SE, which are high precission instruments for listening to music, it would be a waist of resources in matter of DAC, Amp and streamers or other sources, if the cables that should connect them would be some convenience ones and not something specially built for the job, as the ones from Sound Fidelity are.







TEAC NT-505 DAC & Flux Labs Acoustics FCN-10 Headphone Amp on Audeze LCD2Classic and 7Hz Timeless IEM

TEAC NT-505 is a very fun device, which impress not through its ability to extract the smallest microdetails or show every imperfection from a song, but rather through its musicality and way of setting the rhytm and put you on a relaxing mood which will demand consistent playlists of song as the fun never ends.

Here, the Gold 1X was able to transport to my headphone amp the warmth and naturalness from the artists voices and the energy of the drums and strings when needed. Each audition carried with this setup wheter I used the big Audezes or the 7Hz IEM got to be extended every time, as the connection with music was perfect.





Musician Pegasus II & Flux Labs Acoustics FCN-10 Headphone Amp on Audeze LCD2Classic, Meze 99 Classics and 7Hz Timeless IEM

The Pegasus is an R-2R design, which totally cast a spell on my since I listened the Gustard R26, and I find it so enjoyable as it involves you directly into the music and you flow as long as the playlist lasts.

Along with the Gold 1X, this DAC sent all that R-2R goodness towards my ears, having a great control over the bass and sub-bass, with clean reproduction and energy delivered. The mids had their magic, as R-2R designs usually have this warm and cozy way in delivering voices and instruments and the highs kept their cleanness as no harsh got to my precious headphones.







So, why is so important to have cables with characteristics such as signal fidelity, absence of noise, protection to electromagnetic interference?

Because no matter what transport and source you will have, with random cables they will not be able to send their best performance to your preamp and amp, and the result that gets to your speakers might not be the one that you expected, or maybe heard in a similar system where you felt the emotion and musicality.