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I was recently fortunate enough to be offered the chance to demo the new DanaCable Lazuli Nirvana cable at my home. I want to thank Ginko Audio for the opportunity! Rarely do we get to try out gear in our own home, in our own audio chain, in an ideal listening environment for an extended period of time. This was fun.
Just a heads up, this review won’t offer much technical lingo and will not reference graphs etc. It’s just one enthusiast’s simple thoughts on the Nirvana cable.
My standard audio chain is:
Mac Mini/Roon (Qobuz/Tidal) -> AudioQuest Carbon Optical cable -> Chord Qutest DAC -> AudioQuest Golden Gate RCA cable -> Wells Audio Milo amp -> Danacable Lazuli Reference cable -> Hifiman HE1000SE
For this review I swapped between my Danacable Lazuli Reference and the Danacable Nirvana I was borrowing. Everything else in the chain stayed the same. The tracks I used for this comparison were exclusively Roon/Qobuz high-res streamed files and were songs that I often use to compare audio gear and that I’m intimately familiar with.
One thing I feel is worth addressing right off the bat… the price. Starting at $3,495 this cable is not cheap no matter how much money you make. For roughly the same price (or less) you can purchase one of the TOTL headphones and/or have multiple amps. So this forces a potential buyer to consider the value proposition here. There are plenty consumers out there with the disposable income to be able to afford numerous pairs of TOTL headphones, cables etc… What a luxury that must be as I am not one of them. I fall into the category where all of my “fun money” is dedicated to the best single DAC, amp, headphones and cable I can afford. Yes I could purchase cheaper gear and have more choices, but long ago I chose that I wanted the best I could afford and to maximize my audio chain as much as my wallet would allow. I may be giving away the ending here, but I can say that if you have the money then IMO you should absolutely be considering the Nirvana.
I really love the Lazuli Reference cable that I’ve had for about a year now. It was expensive for me, but once I heard it I knew there was no going back to the stock cable. I immediately realized that my HEKse headphones were not performing at their best without it. I won't go into details on the Lazuli Reference, but you can check out my review of the Lazuli Reference if you are so inclined. Long story short, it was just about perfect for my sonic preferences. My only slight criticism would be the weight (especially compared to the pathetic, rubbery and thin stock cable), but I quickly got used to it. Since I always listen while seated in a chair, the cable weight never bothers me because the slack in the cable either sits wrapped on my desktop or in my lap, either way it avoids the weight of the cable pulling down on the headphones. I guess I also kind of give the weight a pass because the build quality is just so high.
The most immediate thing I noticed when using the Nirvana is the finess and control of the music. Sounds across the spectrum are presented as being extremely refined and well behaved with no glaring weakness in any area. It immediately feels like my HEKse has somehow reached another level of ability I didn’t realize it had and didn’t realize I was missing. Admittedly, now when I go back to the Lazuli reference I do miss that bit of extra finesse from the Nirvana.
With the Nirvana the highs retain detail, but any hint of a treble peak is completely (and I mean completely) gone and you really hear the full body of the treble notes, which is something I think can easily and unfortunately be masked by treble glare/edge. I’ve been listening to a lot of Art Blakey lately and when he hits the snare drum or hi-hat it sounds like the real thing is in the room with me, not artificial at all, it’s uncanny. Another place I noticed the well-controlled and well-represented treble is on Lee Morgan’s Sidewinder album, the “Sidewinder” track in particular. The details in his playing are just remarkable and the cable allows you to really hear all the subtleties that make him one of the best trumpeters ever IMO. There’s a section of fast paced playing by Morgan around the 3 minute mark and with the Nirvana cable it never sounded congested at all.
Another immediate sonic improvement I notice when switching to the Nirvana is the black background. I’ve worked pretty hard to weed out any hiss or electrical noise of any kind in my system, but with the Nirvana the background becomes even more ink black. I’m thinking this contributes to the instrument separation I’m hearing. Each instrument really has it’s own room to breath. I really heard this awesome instrument separation on Hank Mobley's Soul Station album.
The mids, which I think are already a strength of the HEKse sound great with Nirvana. I especially noticed the strong low-mids when listeneing to Nils Lofgren’s”Keith Don’t Go,” a track I often turn to for great acoustic guitar playing. There’s lots of texture in the mids and they feel full without being overaccentuated.
The bass is deep and tight. Listening to Zed Leppelin’s “Mody Dick” was a great example of this. I didn’t feel cheated on any hit of the drums by Bonham, the full force of his immense power really shined through.
Lastly, there is increased resolution, the sounds reach deeper into the music and retrieve more information for my ears. I don’t know how the heck this was accomplished with a cable but it’s true. Actually, the easiest way for me to explain the overall experience when I switch to the Nirvana from the Lazuli Reference is that it is like listening to a 44.1kHz 16 bit track and then putting on the same track but in 192kHx 24 bit high resolution. It’s the same music, it just sounds a bit better in all respects… and it’s hard to go back to the lower resolution once you’ve heard it! Another very similar experience for me was when I heard the Chord Mscaler for the first time with my Qutest. Some of the improvements are just hard to put into words without it sounding like I’m just using excessive hyperbole, you just kind of have to hear it to believe it. It’s like more of the music is being pushed through into your ears and in the most delightful way.
Just a heads up, this review won’t offer much technical lingo and will not reference graphs etc. It’s just one enthusiast’s simple thoughts on the Nirvana cable.
My standard audio chain is:
Mac Mini/Roon (Qobuz/Tidal) -> AudioQuest Carbon Optical cable -> Chord Qutest DAC -> AudioQuest Golden Gate RCA cable -> Wells Audio Milo amp -> Danacable Lazuli Reference cable -> Hifiman HE1000SE
For this review I swapped between my Danacable Lazuli Reference and the Danacable Nirvana I was borrowing. Everything else in the chain stayed the same. The tracks I used for this comparison were exclusively Roon/Qobuz high-res streamed files and were songs that I often use to compare audio gear and that I’m intimately familiar with.
One thing I feel is worth addressing right off the bat… the price. Starting at $3,495 this cable is not cheap no matter how much money you make. For roughly the same price (or less) you can purchase one of the TOTL headphones and/or have multiple amps. So this forces a potential buyer to consider the value proposition here. There are plenty consumers out there with the disposable income to be able to afford numerous pairs of TOTL headphones, cables etc… What a luxury that must be as I am not one of them. I fall into the category where all of my “fun money” is dedicated to the best single DAC, amp, headphones and cable I can afford. Yes I could purchase cheaper gear and have more choices, but long ago I chose that I wanted the best I could afford and to maximize my audio chain as much as my wallet would allow. I may be giving away the ending here, but I can say that if you have the money then IMO you should absolutely be considering the Nirvana.
I really love the Lazuli Reference cable that I’ve had for about a year now. It was expensive for me, but once I heard it I knew there was no going back to the stock cable. I immediately realized that my HEKse headphones were not performing at their best without it. I won't go into details on the Lazuli Reference, but you can check out my review of the Lazuli Reference if you are so inclined. Long story short, it was just about perfect for my sonic preferences. My only slight criticism would be the weight (especially compared to the pathetic, rubbery and thin stock cable), but I quickly got used to it. Since I always listen while seated in a chair, the cable weight never bothers me because the slack in the cable either sits wrapped on my desktop or in my lap, either way it avoids the weight of the cable pulling down on the headphones. I guess I also kind of give the weight a pass because the build quality is just so high.
The most immediate thing I noticed when using the Nirvana is the finess and control of the music. Sounds across the spectrum are presented as being extremely refined and well behaved with no glaring weakness in any area. It immediately feels like my HEKse has somehow reached another level of ability I didn’t realize it had and didn’t realize I was missing. Admittedly, now when I go back to the Lazuli reference I do miss that bit of extra finesse from the Nirvana.
With the Nirvana the highs retain detail, but any hint of a treble peak is completely (and I mean completely) gone and you really hear the full body of the treble notes, which is something I think can easily and unfortunately be masked by treble glare/edge. I’ve been listening to a lot of Art Blakey lately and when he hits the snare drum or hi-hat it sounds like the real thing is in the room with me, not artificial at all, it’s uncanny. Another place I noticed the well-controlled and well-represented treble is on Lee Morgan’s Sidewinder album, the “Sidewinder” track in particular. The details in his playing are just remarkable and the cable allows you to really hear all the subtleties that make him one of the best trumpeters ever IMO. There’s a section of fast paced playing by Morgan around the 3 minute mark and with the Nirvana cable it never sounded congested at all.
Another immediate sonic improvement I notice when switching to the Nirvana is the black background. I’ve worked pretty hard to weed out any hiss or electrical noise of any kind in my system, but with the Nirvana the background becomes even more ink black. I’m thinking this contributes to the instrument separation I’m hearing. Each instrument really has it’s own room to breath. I really heard this awesome instrument separation on Hank Mobley's Soul Station album.
The mids, which I think are already a strength of the HEKse sound great with Nirvana. I especially noticed the strong low-mids when listeneing to Nils Lofgren’s”Keith Don’t Go,” a track I often turn to for great acoustic guitar playing. There’s lots of texture in the mids and they feel full without being overaccentuated.
The bass is deep and tight. Listening to Zed Leppelin’s “Mody Dick” was a great example of this. I didn’t feel cheated on any hit of the drums by Bonham, the full force of his immense power really shined through.
Lastly, there is increased resolution, the sounds reach deeper into the music and retrieve more information for my ears. I don’t know how the heck this was accomplished with a cable but it’s true. Actually, the easiest way for me to explain the overall experience when I switch to the Nirvana from the Lazuli Reference is that it is like listening to a 44.1kHz 16 bit track and then putting on the same track but in 192kHx 24 bit high resolution. It’s the same music, it just sounds a bit better in all respects… and it’s hard to go back to the lower resolution once you’ve heard it! Another very similar experience for me was when I heard the Chord Mscaler for the first time with my Qutest. Some of the improvements are just hard to put into words without it sounding like I’m just using excessive hyperbole, you just kind of have to hear it to believe it. It’s like more of the music is being pushed through into your ears and in the most delightful way.
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