PhonoPhi
Headphoneus Supremus
Please, do not tell Watercoolers - their sanity may be challenged... Totally got the blind testing ban now - sanity of believers must be protected.lol, I had to tell emdeevee so that he can put that Trifecta challenger to the test!
Yup, I think we've answered a few together before.
Though, as per the greatest wisdom of all that I learned from the Watercoolers - totls (and most of HiFi) are like fashion business - if one beleives that your few kilobucks are properly invested - the perception must be strongly self-enforced by group hugging/therapy - and it usually works quite well based on the success of this forum and Watercoolers.
Technically, if you put three DDs at 120 degrees angle to each other - the phase decoherence is unavoidable. Perhaps, Campfire invested a lot in their R&D to make it work nicely; or just the great "club atmosphere" was a right fashion hit with Campfire fans...
In some sense, Campfire may be argued to be more of a reknowned "fashion" rather than engineering leader, arguably, based on their insane low-impedance IEMs.
Campfire can be arguably credited with starting the "cable business" all alone with their multi-BA low-impedance IEMs - very much against sane engineering, but pro- fun/hobby.
Surely, if your source is totally out of specs (16 Ohm or above for most, it used to be) driving insanely low-impedance IEM - then everything will suddenly matter - cables, battery charge levels, etc.
Especially, if legendary Andromeda was purportedly tuned with 1.5-Ohm cable or so; "cable matching" may not be very easy and so it became a worthy hardcore game for elite audiophiles.
When I first heard about "palladium-silver alloys", I used to try to argue about physics, materials science, sane common sense...NiceHCK have been on form lately with their “better” releases like Himalaya and DragonScale 2. I’ve been buying their cheapies on and off for years but it wasn’t until very recently that I started taking their higher end stuff seriously.
I wasn’t much keen on their prior approach of selling surplus stock from supplying this or that famous cable brand and marketing them as dupes (and those cables were frankly hit and miss - some downright meh, some decent, others simply not to my taste).
But when they announced they were creating their own prototypes from different types of cable material, I was interested. So when they released a small batch of these prototypes during the last Ali sale, I picked up a few. I spent some time getting to know them and these are the ones I like most.
Most of the listening was done on the Himalaya, Titan, Quattro and Impact.
SSOrpheus
Pure silver cable. Very transparent and resolving, particularly in the mids and treble. Not bright or sharp; instead a full sound, more natural and less aggressive than you might expect from an SPC or hybrid. Good sub bass extension and definition though it won’t add note weight.
Interestingly, I noticed a peculiar lack of depth on open listen. I left it on the burner for about 10 hours and it opened right up. Perfectly aware of the different schools of thought on it, but this has got to be one of the more significant burn-ins I’ve actually heard.
Really nice colours but the fabric sheath (if it can be called fabric) is stiff, scratchy and microphonic.
DragonScale 2
(Not one of the new prototypes; but it stands tall among them)
Silver-palladium alloy. Very good upper treble and imaging, wide sound field. More bass pressure than something like SSOrpheus. Less mid-forward and less W-shaped than the likes of AuKing Ultra.
Different price bracket, but if I were to compare this with the much talked about Xinhs silver-palladium cable, the Xinhs is brighter and snappier. In comparison, the DragonScale 2 is much more resolving, brings more natural tonality and decay, has much more bass and is simply the more well-rounded product.
I’ve never heard OG DragonScale so can’t compare them.
AuKing Ultra
Gold plated copper. The vocal specialist of the lot, but also one with very nice treble extension and deep, textured bass. Fab mids for voices. Got my first goosebumps with Himalaya on this pairing. Treble here is more prominent and shimmery than SSOrpheus, but not sharp or fatiguing.
The most substantial bass of the three, though DragonScale 2 is not far behind.
It has an expansiveness in its staging that I associate with good copper. Conveys a clear sense of depth, layering and separation.
Compared to Eletech Raphael, AuKing Ultra is lusher, darker. Raph may be more resolving, or at least more overtly so because of its upper mid/lower treble tilt. ISN GC4 is a bit similar to AuKing Ultra in its darker colouration but AuKing Ultra has better (and more) bass.
Interestingly, Raph has relatively shallow depth compared to GC4 and AuKing Ultra.
Thiccc cable with a very soft fabric sheath and no microphonics of note once the music is playing. My favourite cable of the lot.
Now, I finally got it - for the Trifecta to totally outmatch Trio - few kilobuck cables are simply a must. Fashion business is a fashion business after all
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