It does feel a bit weird reviving a five year old thread but I felt compelled to do so simply because the Piccolino truly is a legendary cable. I am somewhat of a cable aficionado and I own / listened to a fair share of different cables. The thing is, I have for a long time, heard great things about the Piccolino. Crystal Cable in general. Although from an aesthetics point of view, I was never a fan. I am (or was) the kind of guy where bigger is better so I would go goo-goo ga-ga over a pretty-looking, large-than-life 8-conductor cable without even listening to it. Hence the thin-as-hell Piccolino never stood a chance in my books.
I was a happy camper with a flagship 8-conductor silver Litz, UPOCC, cryo (and all that jazz) cable from a company that thou shall not name. Yet, on a fateful afternoon at a local Starbucks joint, I was chilling out over a great cuppa Americano with a close buddy who brought several cables with him. One of them was the Piccolino.
I brushed aside the Piccolino and grabbed the other more exotic looking ones and listened to them eagerly. An hour had gone by and my friend noticed the Piccolino was the only cable I had not listened to. He asked if I had a personal vendetta against Crystal Cable and I had to assure him that I didn’t. I just didn’t think the anorexic-looking Piccolino was going to make a difference so I’d rather not waste my time. My buddy had a tough time convincing me to have a go with the Piccolino and eventually I gave in…I’m glad I did because the rest was history.
From the point I hit the play button on my DAP, I was completely blown away by the sheer musicality of the Piccolino. It had that kind of balance that I would kill / die for! No one could imagine the things that were going inside of my head at the time. I am sure my friend had fun observing my reactions. “What the devil is this cable???”
Music, regardless of genre, was complete, in total harmony. Layer after layer. Depth. Height. Bass definition. Silky, airy highs. Transparency. PRAT. Presentation. While other flagships excelled at one or two things, none was as complete an all-rounder as the Piccolino is. I was hooked on them…no, addicted! Fatal attraction even. In less than 10 minutes, I vividly remember asking my buddy, “Where can I get myself one of these? Tell me. Now!” His reply was “You can’t. They’re no longer made.” At that exact moment, rocks from a cliff fell onto me with total despair…
When I got home, the first thing I did was browsed the different classifieds and all I saw were SOLD, SOLD and more SOLD! Why do this kind of crap keep happening to me??? And just when I thought all hopes were gone, an ad caught my eye – Toxic Piccolino interconnect for sale! Why? Because the owner was moving from portable audio to a desktop one. I got in touch with the seller so fast that Flash would be proud of me and when he confirmed it was still available, I pounced and sealed the deal. I didn’t even give two hoots about the price, that is until the credit card bill came a fortnight later. Still, not even a tinge of buyer’s remorse.
I spent a great deal of time rediscovering my music collection with the Piccolino. Everything under the sun sounded complete…and to think I disregarded it because of aesthetics. I should be ashamed of myself. The one thing I hugely appreciate about the Piccolino is how I can hit Play, sit back and get drawn into the music instantaneously without feeling the need to skip tracks, switch from album to album in an attempt to experience over-the-top sonics – you get my drift. Whether it’s a reference material from an Audiophile pressing, an upbeat pop tune from Selena Gomez, a high definition masterpiece from Hoff Ensemble or Dave Brubeck or even Eagles in native DSD, there was nothing the Piccolino couldn’t convey in raw, captivating emotion.
Every other interconnects I own have since moved to the storage box. I no longer feel the need / have the desire to switch from one interconnect to another. The Piccolino is my do-it-all and never in the history of my foraying into the cable world, did I ever safely, comfortably and confidently label any one cable as my do-it-all regardless of price, make and looks. If you are after musicality over technicality and can put aside aesthetics, like me, I think you will be pleasantly surprised by what the Piccolino can actually do.
Whenever I tell people how much I paid for the Piccolino, I get asked this a lot – “Is there anything at all that you regret about the purchase?”
And my answer? A resounding Yes!
Yes that it took me so darn long to listen to it.