As a follow-up to my search for a cable to pair with my Zeus-XR, I tried five cables at Akihabara's e-earphone; four from Effect Audio and one from Labkable. I was honestly disappointed to see the lack of available demos for the products they sold. There were also tons of demos only available with MMCX connectors, and I didn't have a 2-pin adapter unfortunately. Nonetheless, the following are my impressions:
Labkable Takumi: The Takumi is an 8-wire cable with silver-gold, SPC, and copper conductors (according to
@MikePortnoy's review). I found the Takumi very coloured and thus completely unsuitable for what I was looking for, but it had very interesting properties. It was a rather v-shaped cable, with a full and impactful bass, and an accentuated upper midrange. Its bottom-end is full and thumpy, its midrange is neutral and rather transparent, and its treble is very sparkly, potentially sounding sharp and sibilant with the wrong pairing. Layering and clarity gets a boost due to the upper-mid spike, and soundstaging is deeper than it is wider. A unique cable with a unique sound, but not the one to get for the XR IMO.
Effect Audio Leonidas: The Leonidas is one of Effect Audio's most highly-regarded cables, but I was never a huge fan of its price-to-performance ratio. I tried it again with an open mind, but unfortunately, my opinion still stood. I still enjoy its bass, which is superbly natural, and its midrange, which is sweet and intimate, but I find it lacks air and sparkle in the upper registers to sound articulate and clear, as well as the proper dynamics to sound fun or engaging. Its soundstage is also naturally spaced, but layering takes a hit from the relaxed highs. It's a more euphonic and laidback cable, and I favor its musicality more than its technicalities.
Effect Audio Mars: The Mars, in the short audition I had with it, sounded very similar to the Leonidas, except with a more exciting upper midrange. I felt it improved on the Leonidas by being a more technical cable, but it still had the Leonidas's problem of a lack in dynamism and punch.
Effect Audio Ares II (8-wire): The Ares II has, by now, become an extremely popular cable and I was fortunate enough to try its 8-wire version. This is where things started to go in the right direction. Dynamics were still a bit lacking in the midrange, but transparency, clarity, and layering all received a bump, due to a more neutral, immediate, and textured signature. I was surprised by the Ares II 8-wire as it didn't carry the typical "copper" sound. It was fast, tight, and even sparkly in the upper midrange/treble. It was still more colored than natural, but it was decently engaging, and pretty close to what I was looking for.
Effect Audio Lionheart: This is what I was looking for. It wasn't long into the audition that I realized the Lionheart's signature was very much complimentary to the Zeus-XR's. It's a cable that is full-bodied, energetic, engaging, and technically strong as well. Plus, it was finally punchy and dynamic enough to fully grab my attention. Bass is surprisingly close to neutral; it has more in common with the Ares II than the Leo/Mars, despite its composition resembling more of the latter. But, it had an accurate timbre, and was quite reflective of real-life instruments. Its treble is also the perfect balance between clarity/sparkle and naturalness. It doesn't colour it to boost clarity like the Thor Silver II, nor does it roll off to sound organic like the Leo; it's just right. The midrange, though, is where this cable shines. It's forward, bold, and brilliantly natural, with layering, transparency, and detail retrieval in spades. Female vocals and instruments "came alive" in a way that wasn't present in the previous cables, achieving that last 10% I was looking for in the Zeus's sound. I was incredibly happy with the cable, and moreso to found out that it was in stock when I went to purchase it, despite its reported scarcity worldwide. It is now attached to my XR and I couldn't be happier.
This concludes my little shoot-out at Akihabara's e-earphone. I'll be headed to both Osaka's e-earphone, as well as Music Sanctuary in Singapore in the coming week(s), and I can't wait to cable-roll and share further impressions soon. Who knows, maybe something out there can take the XR's
beyond 100%
Cheers!
I haven't seen that cable in such a long time, one of the OGs in Asia's IEM cable industry.
