OC Studio Monarch Cable

Introduction
Few months ago I started to look for an upgrade cable for my audio setup. Because I spent most of my budget on DAP and IEM (AK300 + Campfire Andromeda), I was left with a few choices. I really needed somethings with affordable price but differ significantly from the original stock item (otherwise we wouldn’t call it “upgrade”). This poses a big problem for me. After trying out many budget level product-lines from many well-known brands (like Effect Audio or Labkable), I was not quite impressed. They didn’t show me any sense of upgrade as far as I can told, with my setup at that time. Only when when I tried some higher level products did I notice a difference.

One day, there’s a guy in my local hifi forum recommended me “OC Studio” from Taiwan. At first, I was quite hesitated because there’s no English website and only 1 review (in English) exist. But after chatting with them through Facebook page, I decided to buy two cables. Let’s see how good they are IMO.

The cable I purchased are 4-wired UPOCC copper cable called “Orpheus Mk 5” and a hybrid 8-wired UPOCC copper and silver called “Monarch”. I’ll talk about Monarch in this review. (Orpheus review coming soon)

Service
Before talking about cable itself, let’s talk about the customer service of this brand. This is really important for me, because I believe how the company take care of you reflects how it takes care of its products. As I stated at first, there’s no English website at the time I decided to buy (only in Chinese). So the only way I can ask for the information is chatting with them through Facebook page. David Lin, owner of the brand, is the one who probably got in touch with me every times. I’m really impressed with the conversation. David’s English was not perfect (neither was mine), but that didn’t stop him from answering my question patiently. He gave me a lot of advices, from choosing cables to payment method. The shipping is super fast too. It took only 3 days from Taiwan to Thailand (even the local mail is sometimes slower than that!).

Another impression about the service is how the company cares so much about every single problems, whether big or small one. As you will see, I noticed that the 3.5 mm plug tilted a little bit when I first inspected the cable. When David knew about this, he was so concerned about the problem, even though I told him many times that it's not a big problem anymore. He tried to help me with every possible solutions.

[UPDATE : They have English website for now! : http://www.originalcable.com/]

Packaging
The cable come with a moderate size wooden box. The size is just right but I feel that the quality could be better. Screening is too pale and is not on the center, the lock is a little bit loose, and there should be some cloth lining inside the box.



Anyway, I really like a bag they put inside. It looks really luxury and has considerable quality. Other things inside include leather clip, a sticker, and some warning message in Chinese (It said somethings like this : “Clean the MMCX before use. It’s coated with chemical substance from assembly process.” I completely ignore it at first but luckily David warn me just in time).

Built
The cable is extremely well crafted. For Monarch, I order their own custom 3.5 mm plug (called CFRT) and ordinary MMCX (David told me that custom MMCX will be coming soon). 8 wires were beautifully braided and look really appealing. For the plugs, their custom 3.5 mm plug seems to tilt a little bit (see pic below) but that’s not a big deal for me (it looks pretty good in fact). David told me that it's an extremely rare case and he has never seen anything like this before. Note that this has no effect on sound quality at all, as far as I can tell. So, don't worry if you encounter anything like this.


^ Notice how the plug tilt from the grid at the back?


^ two angles, see the difference?

Another point is how they braided the cable after the Y-splitting (The portion of cable between the spilt and the earphone). It has too much stain (which is a normal situation when the cable was braided in that pattern), as you can see from the picture that this part of the cable can hardly stay straight. Also, the cable can be unwound quite easily when you rotate it around.



I think that these problems can be fixed if they change the braid pattern to something like the pic below. (Not sure whether it look good or not though)


Credit : Brimar cable

For the MMCX, it has nothing special but I think it's a little bit too easily broken. They have a little bronze plates that can be bended even when you use a nail to gently pull the cable off. But that’s not a big deal if you don’t change cables frequently. Note that for the plugs, they can provide you with variety of plugs from other companies like Oyaide, Neotech or, interestingly, ATL (all of this come with extra cost, of course). The last part which I like most is the Y-split. Even some brands still using a cheap plastic split with their cables. This is not the case with Monarch though. It was made of aluminum with two hex socket screws plus “OC studio” and “Made in Taiwan” screened on it. I’m really impressed by the built quality that OC Studio can provided for a cable in this price range.

Sound
Here comes the most important of this review. As usual, I will talk about each part of the sound separately. The gears I use are AK300 with Campfire Andromeda.

• Soundstage and details : Suddenly when I plugged this cable and play some songs, I can notice that soundstage is wider significantly. This is maybe due to the number of wires, which is 8 compared with ordinary 4-wire stock cable. You can feel that music feel less “squeezed” together and that make your listening more comfortable. This also means there’s more space among each components of the song, which make you distinguish each micro-details more easily (that is, this cabe didn’t just expose more details but it make the existing details to have more confined boundary and more easily distinguished). It really surprise me that this cable can improve Andromeda’s micro-detailed significantly from the original stock cable (which is already superb IMO).

• Low : This is the best part of this cable. Monarch will undoubtedly give you more bass, but in a “just right” amount. It also hugely improves the detail of bass (for example, so far I’ve believed that the bass kick in some EDM is a pure synth. But with this cable, I finally realized that it’s a record drum kick!). What really impressed me is how this cable improve sounds of the drum. They’re more detailed and sound much livelier. It’s like you’re in the recording room . For deep bass, it’s improved but not as much as the the detail and impact that I described. Overall, it improves low range in both quality and quantity.

• Mid : Mid sounds much livelier too with Monarch. One important signature of this cable is that mid range will step a little bit forward. That means you can hear instruments like piano, guitar or anythings in mid range more dominant. The sound of electric guitar will blow your mind with this cable. Vocal is also improved, both in detail and dynamics (but vocal is laid a little bit further compared to other instruments in mid range). Overall, Monarch will make mid range sounds livelier and more detailed but still balanced and comfortable.

• Treble : At first, treble of Monarch is a little bit too sharp for me. But after some burn-in for a couple of hours, treble is much improved. Still, Monarch’s treble can be considered “extreme” in my opinion (especially if you listen to EDM or anythings with a lot of synth). Cymbals are extensively exposed too but are not as dominant as mid range instrumental or impact in the low range. So, if you’re cymbal-head, this cable might not be the best for you (better try some pure silver cable).

Conclusion
For the cables in this price range, I can say that Monarch is the best so far. The built quality is far more worthy than its own price, as well as SQ. It improves almost every aspects of the sound, like soundstage, micro-detailed, impact of low range, the mid range, or cymbal. Still, treble is a little bit too extreme and may not suitable for everyone. So, is this cable worth buying for its price and overall quality? I can say without hesitation, yes! This is somethings everyone, both with low or even high budget, should have a look.

Once I believed that the quality of any audio gadgets are reflected by their price (“half price means half quality” philosophy). But it all changed when I met OC Studio. Yet, this company has a long way to go. I’m quite certain that one day it can beats with any other well known brands like Effect Audio, Brimar or Labkable. What impressed me much is how quality per price of this brand is very high. At first, when I looked for some reviews of this brand, I found that there’re something like 2 thousands (Chinese) people who feel impressed with the brand, while there’re only less than 10 people who feel moderately-impressed and no negative feeling at all! How can that be possible?, I thought at first. But all doubt vanished when it come to my chance to own the products from this brand. I feel really happy with my Monarch.

Well done, OC Studio. I look forward to your next product lines in the future