Alrighty then, this is my try to review the new Palladium Series cable from Arctic Cables. These are my personal findings, so yours might vary of course. I am no reviewer, just a music lover.
I have bought 3 different Arctic Cables until today: Copper, Silver, Palladium. I sold the copper cable when I upgraded to the upocc silver (now its name is Signum, or Signum+), well and now it would be time to sell my Signum+ (except I won´t sell it, you never know when it comes in handy again, hehe) because I don’t think I will get back to it after listening to the Palladium cable (which is, more or less, the silver upocc cable with palladium plating). Not because the Signum+ is a bad cable, it isn’t. To tell the truth: it is an exceptional cable for its price! The Palladium cable just pairs better with my headphone, for my tastes, and I will tell you why:
Used equipment: Calyx M DAP (Romi Audio hardware modded) with Focal Stellia.
Those of you who are familiar with the Calyx M DAP will know that it is rather warm, lush, analogue sounding (the Romi Audio hardware mod gives it more resolution as well as more prominent mids). Now, also the Stellia, though highly capable in resolution and open sounding for a closed back, is also slightly north of neutral in the bass region when it comes to the frequency response. Now the Signum+ cable added (to the extension on both ends and many other positive things) another analogue flavor, which was great, but got me thinking that it might even be a better synergy with leaner headphones like Sennheiser´s HD800(S) or Focal Utopia etc. where you won´t necessarily need more air up top but rather more oomph down below. But I can´t confirm this, as I don’t have those headphones with me to test them. The same goes for DAP´s that are rather neutral/reference sounding per se where you´d want an analogue texture to give it a more natural feeling (like above, this is an assumption.) That doesn’t mean the Palladium cable prioritizes one spectrum of the frequency over another, it rather shows what´s there. If you´ve got a neutral source, it will stay neutral and SHOW it, make it quite palpable for you to hear; if the source is rather warmish, it won´t make it any warmer or leaner but reveal the nature of the source.
With three thoughts I would say the Palladium cable is TRANSPARENT, TRUE TO THE SOURCE, EFFORTLESS. That´s it. But let´s start at the beginning, with the bass!
BASS: First, when comparing the cable with the Signum+ I thought that it had a tiny bit less bass (in quantity), but after numerous switches I checked that I just heard the other frequencies better through which lead to the false impression that the bass was a bit quieter. Or it was because I hadn´t burned it in properly. After 200 hours+ I can confirm that when switching between the two cables, the Palladium has even a tad more subbass, which probably comes down to better low end extension. In addition the bass texture is also a notch better, so also the bass quality overall wins.
MIDS: Fluently. Transparent. It just flows effortlessly. Everything is completely present, clear and in addition the vocals, to me, sound a tad fuller, which I happen to like very much!
HIGHS: Extension, extension, extension. It´s not that the highs are elevated, at least not that I would hear it that way, it´s more like they can shine through better (true to the source) and therefore also the imaging, the soundstage as well as the overall resolution profits by a tiny margin. It is a slightly more holographic soundscape than before. With the Signum+ I had the feeling that there is more depth (compared to their copper cable), now there seems to be a bigger room in addition to that. There is absolutely nothing piercing, at least not with the Stellia. This is remarkable.
It´s not that everything I wrote above means that this cable is like 50% “better” (for me) than the Signum+, it´s more like 2%. BUT as you all know, alas diminishing returns kicks in, as always.
For me, I have found my dream DAP and headphone, this cable is the last bit that I wanted/needed for my audio nirvana. It is really expensive BUT at the same time very good value for money when you look at other cable manufacturers, where the silver cables are priced even higher than the Palladium plated silver cable of Arctic Cables. Also please don´t forget: Lifelong warranty, also if you choose to sell it to someone else, he has the full warranty. You can always send it in for plug changing, you only have to pay for the shipping and the new plug and not for the labor itself. Then on top of all that, 30 days from buying the Palladium cable you can send it back and get all your money back if it isn´t what you were searching for. If I´m not mistaken, all of that is something no other cable company can compete with.
This is a keeper. I won´t sell it.
And I completely forgot: This cable looks absolutely stunning!! As does their Signum+
They are impeccable woven and the plugs (in my case Oyaide) pair wonderfully with the cable. I also really like the small red dot on the plug for the right side of the headphone. I also dig that the heatshrink doesn´t go over the plugs. This also was my wish when I pulled the trigger. As always, no microphonics whatsoever, at least I don´t hear any that would bother me. The cable is absolutely pliable, as all the other cables I had from them.
What else? The shipping to Europe was a horror (thank you Corona). If you live in the US, I hear that there is no problem with the USPS shipping. If you live somewhere else, well, if you have 2 months time then it isn´t a problem
BUT if you want your cable A BIT EARLIER, I think you can always talk to Roy and tell him to ship it with FedEx, UPS etc. Of course that means you have to pay another 100 dollars for the shipping, but I would have done it if I had known that it takes THAT long! It´s not Arctic Cables fault, but I thought you should know and decide for yourself.
Oh, and Roy was so great in answering all my questions. I wrote many mails to him (as I was the first, or one of the first buyers of this new cable) and wanted to know more about everything. Roy and Val are very patient and will get back to you, just give them 1 to 3 days to answer, you know, they probably sometimes have more important things to do, such as soldering and braiding beautifully made cables
So just to be clear, if you want the best value (and sound quality) for money, go straight to the Signum Series, if you have enough spare money and exactly know what you want and don´t care paying 1.6 k for a 1,6% sound improvement and also have a source you absolutely love as well as a headphone, then go get it, listen to the Palladium Series and lean back, close your eyes and listen beyond. Haha, that sounds like it would come from a commercial textwriter. Words are nothing, music is everything. Oops, again. Well, I better stop now, here comes the eyecandy
Edit: I have to admit, I really thought about sending back the cable because the improvement over the Signum is so very very small, but since I don´t need the money right now, I will keep both. Take everything above with a big grain of salt please. Also placebo kicks in and BIAS and the expectation etc. etc. BUT what I can tell is that I am sure that my honeymoon time with the cable is over now after many weeks of listening and comparing and still I hear the difference between the Signum and the Palladium cable which tells me that I am not completely deaf (I was a drummer in my former life, so that you know) and which also tells me that the Palladium cable will definitely stay attached to the Stellia … well, until there is a new Stellia 2.0 on the market.
Also they are working on IEM cables, so keep an eye at their website if you are interested!!
I did try to make the comparison as good as possible in just changing the cables and letting the headphone on my head all the time so that the position was the same.
The Palladium cable you see here happens to be mine:
http://arcticcables.com/Catalog.asp?Page=NewShowProd.asp&PRodID=1791976
Self made pics are attached below. Have fun
