Hey guys, this is a cross post snippet (with some additional content) of the full review of my new @doctorjuggles Cardas cables, specifically the Cardas Clear Light cable he made for my Fourté. If you're interested in reading the full review, it's available on flinckenick's thread here.
REVIEW: DoctorJuggles Cardas Clear Light 2-Wire for Tia Fourté
Packaging, build quality and ergonomics: The Cardas Clear Light cable comes safely packed in a soft velvet drawstring pouch, with a leather clasp to keep the cable together when rolled up for storage. Don’t expect a fancy box, embossed logos and an unpacking experience fit for kings. If you ask me, that’s a complete waste considering the cable will generally be attached to an IEM and stored in a more elaborate case anyway. The no frills no fuss approach is on point, and the leather clasp is a nice personal touch.
Using high quality black paracord, the Cardas Clear Light cable is super soft and also warm to the touch. It’s also incredibly light, much lighter than I expected it to be, and also more supple that I imagined. By comparison, Fourté’s so-called ‘premium’ stock cable is pathetic. There’s no other word to describe it. However good it might sound (and to be fair, it sounds fine, when you’re not comparing it to a Cardas cable), ergonomically and visually it’s about as basic and uninspired as a cable can get, more so than some of the cheapest Chi-Fi cables I’ve used myself, and utterly unacceptable as an accessory for a $300 IEM, let alone one that costs $3,600. The best thing I can say about the 64 Audio cable is that it’s light, the memory wire is actually quite useful, and it just gets out the way once worn (once you’ve spent the better part of 10 minutes untangling it).
Now that that’s out the way, My Cardas Clear cable is expertly finished with silver hexagonal-style hardware, not dissimilar to the type used by PW Audio on its higher-end cables, including a hex-style Y-splitter, chin slider and 4.4mm balanced plug. Internally the Cardas Clear Light cable is made from its namesake Cardas Clear Light wire, which was designed to closely match the qualities of the Cardas Clear in a lighter, slimmer package. As such Cardas Clear Light comes standard as a 2-Wire cable with four conductors (two sections with a positive and negative copper conductor, four conductors in total). You’ll find more info on Cardas Clear Light here.
The Cardas Clear Light is the most comfortable cable I’ve used so far with the Fourté. The earguides are inspired by the PW Audio earguide design but refined for even better wearing comfort. The thicker cable and firm but soft guides take all the ‘weight’ of the earpieces away from the pressure points around my ears, and once seated I can hardly feel the cable around my ears at all. It’s also flexible enough to let me tweak the earpiece position without putting any strain at all on the cable or connectors.
Sound impressions: I previously used the PW Audio Anniversary No. 5 8-wire all-copper cable with the Fourté, but I’m going to compare the Cardas Clear Light cable to the stock 64 Audio cable.
The Tia Fourté is one of the most transparent IEMs I’ve used, and as such I’ve found it to be very revealing of even the smallest changes in the chain. The Cardas Clear Light, as it turns out, is more than just a small change. Compared to the stock cable, the Clear Light is instantly more refined, smoother, warmer and fuller. If you’ve ever heard the Fourté, you’ll probably be nodding yes, yes, yes and YES!
Many people have a love-hate relationship with Fourté. I happen to be on the LOVE side. To me, the Fourté sounds natural, revealing and effortless, without any untoward peaks or harshness unless it’s in the track (and yes, if it’s in the track, spiky harshness or poorly recorded vocals or instruments can kill you if you have the volume turned up too loud).
The Cardas Clear Light takes the best qualities of Fourté and refines them to the point where it almost sounds like a different IEM. Starting with an ink-black background, music is almost devoid of grain or environmental noise when compared directly to the stock cable (which I can only assume is shielded, but likely nowhere near as well as the Cardas). This makes every tiny sound that Fourté already easily resolves even more apparent.
Fourté is best-in-class when it comes to stage size, instrument separation and microdetail, but can sometimes suffer if there’s too much reverb coming from its acoustic chambers, resulting in a centre image that’s not always clinically precise (and paraphrasing @Precogvision, even a little vague). Listening with the stock cable that’s certainly the case, but switching to the Cardas Clear Light, imaging is one of the biggest improvements for me. Suddenly both instruments and vocals are brought into sharp focus, still generously separated, but now better layered and more accurately placed on the stage.
The stage itself is just as wide, but is now much deeper and even taller, if that’s possible. Small echoes – especially common in reverb effects in electronic music – radiate into the murky black depths of the stage, and I get a real kick listening to them fade away in the distance.
Breaking down tonal characteristics into tangibles, bass is clearly more weighty and punchier compared to stock, with a physical kick that, in many ways, has changed my opinion of the Fourté’s bass from borderline neutral to perfectly elevated. Such is the tactility of the bass I’m hearing with this cable that with some albums, where before I’ve thought of switching to the Legend X for more impact, I no longer feel any need to do so.
Another obvious change between stock and Cardas is the smoothness and resolution of the vocals. Whereas Fourté’s vocals, especially female vocals, can sometimes be a touch too airy for my liking with the stock cable, the Cardas Clear Light imparts added warmth and fullness to the midrange that both smoothens and enriches the vocals. Any hint of grain or grit is replaced by easy transitions and even better definition, making vocals sound more natural and lifelike.
Fourté treble is unique among high-end IEMs, both in its aggressive (for some) and incomparable extension. It’s what gives the Fourté its laser-like precision, but occasionally rubs people up the wrong way. For the record I’ve never found Fourté’s treble fatiguing, and while it does lend to a slightly brighter than neutral tonality, it does so with great finesse and almost zero harshness to my ears. These characteristics are further enhanced by the Cardas Clear Light cable, with treble peaks flattened slightly so that where I’d hear a peak (usually in the chh, tss or ssp sounds of vocals or splashes) with the stock cable, they’re almost entirely absent with the Cardas.
In summary: Using four words to describe the Cardas Clear Light with Fourté, I’d say smoother, warmer, clearer and more precise (ok that’s five, but it still counts). Hearing the Fourté for the first time with the 4-wire PW Audio 1960s (made from the same Cardas Clear Light cable) convinced me that I needed to have a similar cable on my Fourté. As luck would have it, the 2-wire version of the 1960s is regarded as having even better synergy with the Fourté, for exactly the characteristics I describe above (notably being warmer, fuller yet also smoother and more detailed).
My Cardas Clear Light cable has the same dark background I heard with the 1960s which, I believe, is the foundation for the sonic trickery it performs elsewhere. Whatever the case, my opinion is that using Fourté with its stock cable wastes some of the potential this already stupendous IEM has to offer, and the synergy with the Cardas Clear Light makes this cable a must-buy for any aspiring or existing Fourté owners.
Brandi Carlile – The Story
Compared to stock: Vocals are fuller, less ‘grain’, more defined against blacker background. Better separation of instruments at the 1:00 mark. Kick drums in the 1:35 melee have more weight, splashes have more definition too. Brandi sounds more engaging, more emotional, probably due to a slightly warmer, fuller tone.
Lana Del Rey – Yosemite
Compared to stock: Intro guitar is immediately more vivid. Lana’s vocals have far more nuance, better sense of depth, can hear trailing echoes of her voice in the space. Instruments and vocals are more layered, some more forward, some further back, with vocals dead centre and perfectly clear. Tiny tambourine is perfectly imaged just right and back of centre, and I get a much better sense of this with the Clear Light cable. Fuller, warmer and more engaging presentation. Bass notes have more weight, with natural decay. Overall fuller and slightly warmer tone is a perfect fit for the Fourté, which can be a touch too clinical, especially with brighter sources.
Jim Croce – Time In A Bottle
Compared to stock: Can immediately notice the blacker background, and more defined strings on intro guitar. Jim’s voice is even sweeter, less edgy. With stock, his louder notes seem to peak a bit too much, much smoother with the Clear Light cable. Better sense of space. Smaller sounds appear more clearly out of the blacker background, and tiny echoes are more easily heard, better defining the space.
Joe Satriani – Always With Me, Always With You
Compared to stock: Great track to really push the Fourté’s treble, and test for midrange balance, definition and timbre, with some kick drums for bass in the mix. Intro shakers more 3D-like, echoes reach far deeper into the space, slightly warmer tone carries through to the opening guitar riffs, adding body and shape to the sound, making them less thin and scalpel-like compared to stock. A smoother, more musical sound while still improving detail and definition – that’s some achievement. Layering is again better, with the guitars slightly back from the shakers in each channel, and completely distinct. Drums at 2:20 have a deeper, fuller decay, giving the track more weight. I wasn’t sure if the qualities I’ve been hearing on the vocal tracks would translate as well in an instrumental track, but if anything, they’re even more apparent.
Nice review, something I always found to be uniquely to fourté og only. The ability to show and change its tonality completely into something new and different! With every cable you hook it with
Fourté og will always be the unique specimen that has the ultra resoluting powers that you can even compare solder's difference in cables lol
Fourté is a clean and slightly on the reference natural tuning and it hugely benefits of a warm copper cable, it yet keeps the same details, textures, layering powers and now its bassier more fun more grandiose! You do get deeper rumbles and bass definition and quantity with copper
Something I never tried with fourté is the pw1960 4wires. But with tia Trio it was the absolute best match. Was simply magical and phenomenal I guess its even more with og
This comment had a Trio of likes. Now 5. Odin know why. It was a terribly lazy pun. Noir idea hey. Maybe a glitch in the Matrix sooo complex, even Nio can't figure it out.
This comment had a Trio of likes. Now 5. Odin know why. It was a terribly lazy pun. Noir idea hey. Maybe a glitch in the Matrix sooo complex, even Nio can't figure it out.
This comment had a Trio of likes. Now 5. Odin know why. It was a terribly lazy pun. Noir idea hey. Maybe a glitch in the Matrix sooo complex, even Nio can't figure it out.
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