Effect Audio Cadmus Founders Edition

Cadmus FE.

With a sub name like Founders Edition the Cadmus gets a glamorous makeover from its humble roots as a silver plated UPOCC cable but then saw an updated version in the 8w. The Founders Edition adds a gold plating to half of its cores of UPOCC. This makes for a very interesting addition to the Cadmus formula.

Gold is a premium material used sparingly for IEM cables. I have done reviews for several gold-plated cables. A gold-plating over pure silver, a gold-plating over crystal copper and also a cable that is very similar in its combination of silver-plated copper or SPC and the other half of its cores being gold plated crystal copper, similar in make up to the FE. I have a good understanding of what gold does for cable performance just from owning and reviewing these cables in the past.

The way gold works on a cable's performance is very interesting. Most folks know what copper cores do for your IEM sound performance but plating that copper in gold brings about something that is an addition for copper properties. Silver is mostly used to plate copper to enhance its technical traits. Gold when plated on a higher end copper brings a sculpting aspect to your sound properties in the form of a richer tonal character with better perceived contrast for your music. The better perceived spatial cues resulting in an uptick for imaging with an added texture, gold counters the glare and brightness that can happen with pure silver at times, also shaping what silver does for your imaging as well, rounding notes that are associated with pure silver. Gold plating is like the Yang of pure silver’s Ying. Some might think, if gold helps sculpt a cable’s sound properties, then why not have the entire thing in gold plating?

As they say. Too much of a good thing is never good. Cables with too much gold plating ends up being a bit skewed in sound. To be specific the tonal character turns beyond rich, it turns dark even murky and while bright neutral IEMs benefit the most from a gold plated copper cable. Ultimately it becomes a one trick pony, becoming more of what I call a niche cable. These types of cables can only be used with certain types of sound profiles. A gold plated copper cable on an already warm and or dark tuned IEM and you're going to get a syrupy dark mess of a sound that has a bit too much coloring.

Gold plating is optimal when used as a tuning mechanism within the foundation of other elements within a cable. The FE uses 4 cores or half the cable cores plated in gold with the other half being a higher end UPOCC with a silver plating/ cadmus foundation, now we are talking about harmony and a balance in tonal qualities.. A super Cadmus? The FE is exactly this, what you're getting is the best of SPC and gold plated copper.

What's interesting about the Cadmus FE is that it also includes some excellent geometry with one of the best pure copper cables properties in the Ultra Pure OCC copper cables Effect Audio uses for their signature series. The addition of a gold plating brings out a sound shaping aspect that adds a richer tonal character across the entire sound profile, rounding out treble notes to a greater degree, gives a better contrast to mids presence and provides a deeper fuller richer sounding bass note. If used in the correct manner can enhance timbral properties to be more realistic with a better sense of depth in the process. This also brings better more defined notes for you music and results in an enhanced imaging with an added texture element to your sound. You get that fullness of note, warmth and body from its copper cores but now it will sound more of a sculpted around the edges of notes. Richer, meatier a more refined sound as a result. That slightly darker hue from the gold plating does wonders for both instruments and vocal performances.
In experiencing the FE, I can clearly tell Mr Suyang knows his sound. There is a clear purpose to the mix of materials on the Cadmus FE. Out of all the signature series it makes complete sense to reimagine the Cadmus 8w into his passion project.

With that I would like to thank Effect Audio for letting me have a gander at their FE. This cable is the property of Effect Audio and was provided for the purpose of a review. From how I understand it the FE is in limited quantities and for those who are lucky enough to get a set. This is what to expect when getting the FE.

Comparing the standard Cadmus 8w vs the FE was interesting to hear. What you get vs the Cadmus 8w is an enhancement of dynamics from the bass end. Bass gets a nice uplift in performance. With less silver in the mix for the FE this allows the copper cores for the FE to take precedence a bit more and even better adding half gold plating. Tonal character is enhanced throughout the sound profile of your IEMs. A blacker background which helps with its enhanced imaging and resulting in a better sound separation vs the Cadmus 8w. Really the FE can actually be called a different cable as its level of technicalities is a level up over the Cadmus 8w. You get that richer tonal character in your entire sound profile of your IEMs. You can say it is a musical enhancing cable to a greater degree.

Cadmus 8w for brighter tuned IEMs are not the best match up. I noticed a thicker plating of pure silver over a highly refined copper that is used on the Cadmus cables enhances stage and technical elements but also ends up leaning the tonal quality a touch north of neutral due to its detail enhancing ability, especially on monitors with plenty of treble emphasis. Cadmus and Cadmus 8w both do better on IEMs that have a bit of a roll off for its trebles or monitors with a smoother treble character in general.

In using half gold plated UPOCC. This balances the tonal influence of pure silver on the Cadmus cables as treble notes become cleaner and more rounded in performance. The base Cadmus is all about enhancing details and gives greater note weight on the 8w with better technicalities, sometimes with the wrong pair up while you do get the more detailed monitor it also seems to enhance the treble details as well. Gold does wonders for treble enhancement as it gives a better slightly darker edge to treble notes, refining treble details to have more of a contrasting edge to its note. This is the reason why a pure silver cable works great with a gold plating.

Gold for vocal performances. Gold works miracles, here is why. Gold enhances a richer tonal character for sound adding a darker sound characteristic to a base sound. It is the opposite of what pure silver does. Too much of one aspect and not enough another and you got either a brighter sound or a dark one. But when mixed just right, you end up getting a rich tonal character that has better separation from other sound elements. Hows about getting a bit of both characteristics but one makes the other smoother, silkier and more importantly richer. That is what gold does. That is what happens on the FE.

Elements in the sound field get a cleaner blacker background on the FE over the prior Cadmus cables and this is one aspect that is a bonus on the mix of materials for the FE. UPOCC base cores are enhanced both with silver and the gold and you get a lesser influence of its silver plating cores and now get that tonal balancing richer gold plated cores bringing a more refined sound profile to your IEMs base sound.

Basically you're getting a new form of sound shaping with the addition of gold and the FE is ideal in so many ways for the addition of its properties. Sound becomes better separated, bass becomes more full bodied, musical notes are cleaned up with a more textured sculpted sound, trebles become cleaner vs being brighter, there is a difference there. Notes become more rounded in how you perceive its sound. Stage becomes more precise, your music becomes more immersive and if anything more musical in nature.

There is no question what the gold plated UPOCC is doing here on the Cadmus foundation. It basically becomes a much more refined sounding experience for your IEMs, and is this not why one spends the money to achieve with such cables pairings?

In the end the Founders Edition is glorious on several fronts but one based on someone that knows his materials and how they affect the sound of your IEMs. Throw Suyang in a dark room with only food and drink with all the materials he could add or take away from the base Cadmus cable and this is what he came up with. A sound refining cable that is beyond what the original Cadmus can do. The culmination of its materials here is a masterful blend that helps shape your IEM sound to be a more refined experience. The Founders Edition is easily a cable that I can rely on to enhance and optimize any of my IEMs and is this not why we look into premium cables in the first place? Thanks for taking the time to read.