Cables Reviews
Master Silver Meze Empyrean upgrade cable
I have always been sceptical (or skeptical, depending on your location) regarding the benefit of cable upgrades.
When it comes to cable upgrades, you definitely have to be extra careful. Choose only experienced, trustworthy sellers and believe only your own ears.
I have had mixed experience with silver upgrade cables. The Toxic Silver cable with my LCD2C didn’t really bring the difference I was expecting after a blind test. The dual silver/copper cable of the Unique Melody Mason V3 IEM however had a clearly different tonality with silver vs. copper.
Since most Meze Empyrean owners recommend a silver cable, I thought I buy one too. I have been looking for the most affordable good quality cables out there. Even £300 sounds quite a lot for an upgrade cable; let’s find out if it is worth it.
After a good search, Lavricables seemed to be the best balance between quality and price.
They have got a two weeks return policy on their 2m long silver cables with 6.35mm/quarter inch plug, exactly what I needed. I agreed with Lavricables to send my silver cable back in case I don’t like the sound and I am unhappy with the improvements; or write a positive review in case I like the sound for a certain percentage of refund.
After two weeks of excessive A/B testing their silver cable to the stock Empyrean cable I ended up keeping the silver one and writing this review for the offered discount and for sharing my experience.
The only difference to the stock 12 core 2m long sleeveless Master line silver Lavricables cable is the 6.35 plug I ordered. Instead of the generic and good quality ‘ViaBlue’ plug which is gold plated brass I went for the Aeco plug which is pure copper and heavily gold plated.
My system is a Chord Hugo TT2 with Meze Empyrean.
Lavricables says:
“The difference compared to any copper cable is pretty obvious and unless the source is a decent one, you’ll get audible improvements. Pls also note that cable might sound a bit harsh from beginning, once burned in for 100+ hours, it will be much more pleasant and neutral sounding.”
“These are two different plugs, AECO is made of pure copper and heavily gold plated. ViaBlue is made of brass and gold plated on top. It’s pretty noticeable difference as well, however this will be dependent on your setup as well.”
Ergonomics:
The 12 core silver master cable from Lavricables is nicely braided and very light compared to the stock Empyrean cable. It doesn’t have any microphonics, whatsoever. Depending on the length and your usage scenario the cable can jump around a bit, but it is very light weight and completely disappears once you stop moving around.
To me ergonomics is a clear upgrade compared to the stock cable. I find the stock cable nice, but pretty heavy. Something you have to put from one side to another when you change position. The silver master from Lavricables is just a lot lighter.
Sound:
Burn in or not to burn in?
According to Lavricables the cable needs 100-150hrs burn in time to sound at its best.
“After burn in time the cable will sound more relaxed and neutral, less grained and harsh as on some setups it might sound a bit unpleasant. There are pretty technical process that happens with silver during burn in time, you may find lots of non-audio articles regarding that on the web. The key point here is that it is quite audible with silver, not that as with copper.”
Another note on the number of cores:
“In general with number of cores you would get a bit better microdynamics, deeper low end register, slightly wider soundstage.”
I can definitely hear a difference between silver and copper, I am still unsure whether I can hear a difference between the raw and the 150 hrs+ sound of my Master silver cable.
I am tempted to say I can hear a difference after burn in, but I can’t prove it since I don’t have a raw Master silver cable here to compare to.
What I think is a difference after using the cable for 150 hrs is that the sound is less bright and less harsh. It is definitely more rounded and much fuller; filled up with a more natural and balanced body versus the thinner and less balanced sound of the stock cable. This silver cable sounds surprisingly balanced, full and natural without a hint of harshness or brightness.
The general preconception regarding silver cables is that they make the sound brighter. After trying this 12 core silver cable from Lavricables I have to disagree. Perhaps the initial impression was a brighter sound, but after 150 hrs this is all gone.
What remains is a more balanced, airier sound; a much fuller and more rounded more natural sound. This might have something to do with the 12 cores as well. A lot of silver cables are only 8 cores which might sound thinner and brighter.
On the stock copper cable the mids are a little bit more forward; the bass seems to be punchier bur emptier. Switching to the silver cable it feels like the sound from the copper cable is just an ‘empty shell’. It punches without content and body.
The silver cable offers a much fuller, more balanced and more natural sound. Overall it is much more pleasing to my ears.
If I would want to exaggerate; the copper feels thin like the sound was coming from a box. The 12 core silver cable offers a much more natural sound which is fuller and closer to reality. Also, there is an undeniable improvement in clarity. This 12 core silver cable just sounds more natural compared to the stock cable and the overall balance is more pleasing.
Conclusion:
We are not talking about night and day differences here. The Empyrean is still extremely enjoyable with the stock cable. I would never spend £500+ on aftermarket cables, but around £300 I think the improvements both in ergonomics and sound is worth my money.
In my opinion a cable upgrade must be the last one of your upgrades. Once you have got an amp and a DAC you absolutely love, consider reaching for the last 5% or 10% by buying a silver upgrade cable. In my experience Lavricables offer outstanding quality for the price.
Source: Head-Fi
Reference Silver Audeze iSine LCD-i4 iSine 10 20 upgrade cable
I am most assuredly so very pleased with the cables. I can suggest no improvements and have no suggestions since I find the cables to be most superior to any I have purchased including far superior to custom headphone cables and factory headphone cables for my Audeze LCD i4 headset. There is marked improvement in sound quality and clarity with a warmer tubey sound. I use my Lavricables lcdi4 with my Hugo2 chord sac amp as well as with my McIntosh mha50 dac amp as well as with my Woo audio portable tube amp. I use streaming Tidal high def source on my iPhone XS. With all of my dac amps the Lavricables of my Lcd i4 headset gives superior sound compared to the factory cable as well as compared to another custom cable. I also own a set of Audeze mx4 headsets I use with custom Kimber cables and look forward to replacing my Kimber cables with Lavricables cables. The Lavricables pure silver design along with the technical expertise of handmade construction yields an unheard of subjective sound reproduction. The attention to detail is amazing. You will not be disappointed with your Lavricables headphone cables. Price is not an issue for me and in my opinion no matter what I paid for headphone cables in the past my Lavricables are indeed the best.
Source: Facebook
Ultimate Silver Dual Headed USB interconnect cable
Looking for the perfect connection between the music storage, a notebook with foobar2000, and my Devialet Expert 200, I opted for an USB cable, not for Devialet Air over Ethernet or Wi-Fi. In my setup this is the most reliable connection with the shortest response times for foobar2000 remote control using an Android tablet.
It turns out that the sound quality of an USB audio connection depends on the cable used, so I did a systematic comparison test. Available were a standard USB computer cable, an AQVox USB cable and an Ultimate Silver Dual USB Interconnect from Lavricables.com. All cables were compared only after a break in period of at least 100 hours as an audio USB connection. A difference by breaking in was only noticeable with the Lavricables Ultimate, but there very clearly.
The USB computer cable has always worked reliably, the sound was fine, no emphasis on a particular frequency range. However, there was no warmth compared to the AQVox, timing and localization of the instruments were not optimal.
The revelation for me is the Ultimate Silver Dual USB Interconnect from Lavricables: the space contained in high-quality recordings gains in size and contour, the precision of the performance is terrific! I discover micro-details that were previously hidden, there is no sharpness in sibilants, yet crystal clear and sparkling heights.
I have deliberately chosen this cable construction because here the data lines are shielded and kept separate from the power lines, but only 1 USB A plug is used. So I can additionally use an ifi iSilencer 3.0 at the output of the notebook, which I knew would improve the sound with cheap USB cables. In my setup the effect of the iSilencer with all USB cables was about the same, even the fantastic Ultimate Silver Dual USB Interconnect by Lavricables improves further. For me, this combination is by far the best connection for the feeding of my Devialet, and compared to well-known suppliers (Kimber KS2436, Audioquest Diamond, …) at a VERY decent price!
Source: devialetchat.com
Reference Silver Lightning to Chord Hugo Mojo interconnect cable
I received my cable today from Lavricables and am thrilled with it. Namely an apple Lightening to Micro USB. At first I was somewhat sceptical. That said, soon as I heard the first few notes with my Mojo and iPhone 6S and Senn IE800 I knew how much better everything sounded, notably superior than before with Apple’s CCK in the chain. I would also like to add, before buying this cable, my Mojo connected to my Mac Pro sounded much better than my iPhone, this confused me, whilst I use a 5v feed and re-clocker in this system, the gap was too big for my liking. I could only conclude the CCK was holding back the sound, hence I looked for an alternative.
I am very happy to have found Lavricables and will be placing another order soon for my AQ DragonFly Red DAC. I was immediately impressed with their customer service. This is no snake oil, the real deal. Buy with confidence and become more immersed into the music. Thank you, it has been a pleasure. You have a new very happy customer.
To summarise:
Service: 10/10
Build Quality: 10/10
Value: 10/10.
Best wishes.
Pedro
Source: Facebook
ONE RING (cable) TO RULE THEM ALL
For all Apple iDevice owners using the Chord Mojo, I just received this silver interconnect from Lavricables. I am using an iPod Touch 6th generation (also tested it with an iPhone 6) running iOS 9.1 and it works flawlessly with iTunes, TuneShell and Onkyo HiFi Player apps.
I do not want to start a cable war discussion but I also honestly believe in a material sonic improvement using this interconnect (especially in the clarity) from using Apple’s CCK connection. My cost including shipping for the cable was $100. For a pure silver interconnect that is very reasonable price compared to even standard interconnects.
Source: Head-Fi
Ultimate Silver Dual Headed USB interconnect cable
Such an unbeatable and sick passion for audio perfection led my to upgrade the blue USB cable that came with my iFi iDAC2 to something more elaborate. Much more elaborate! I entrusted this task for Lavricables who does a exceptional job at making custom high-quality pure silver cabling for almost any application. Customers love them because of unbeatable prices, lighting-fast communication and dispatchment. To be honest, this is now my go-to when I will be in need of high-end cabling for my future projects.
What I ordered exactly was dual headed (data + power) version of USB cable. This is pinnacle of USB audio geometry, very similar to iFi’s very own Gemini cables. My order was quite custom (30 cm) and Lavricables were nice enough to even mark the power line with very subtle red dot. This will be useful for future integration with iUSB3.0, not so much for using in par with a laptop. Okay, mates, to say that cable looks good, decent is say nothing.. This piece of equipment is breathtaking!!1! Very simple yet so elegant design that I, as being minimalist, dig so so much. Nylon sleeving can also be ordered in a selection of colors but black looks best for in tandem with silver DAC unit, creating a refreshing contrast, in my humble opinion. I am informed that even plugs used are absolutely top-notch with golden plated solder side, not only body and pins as usual.
Using of dual-headed USB cable is very easy. After connection the power line first, all of the DAC lights turn on, but wait, player cannot see it as a audio device, logically requesting us to connect the data line afterwards. Artisan recommends burning in cable at least 100-150 hours but I wasn’t so patient and started my critical listening much earlier. I believe my observations will be amplified as time flies.
Disclaimer: I want to point out that heard improvements objectively ranged from subtle to minor. This is probably being held on by HD598’s which are not the most transparent and high-end choice, hence they were the first link in my chain. I feel drivers are performing at almost fully potential of theirs and there are nothing more to expect, however dramatic that sounds. I believe after more serious upgrade (HD700/800/800S – I am looking at you!) differences will be more obvious and I wouldn’t hesitate to test that one more time. This is very enjoyable.
I have done several A/B tests with familiar to me high-quality audiophile records (Alexis Cole, Amber Rubarth, Jazz At The Pawnshop) and every time I would switch cables improvements were obvious and undeniable. First and foremost, the subjective flow of my music is now more smooth, analog and calm (that term wasn’t clear for me until I experienced that by myself). Yes, there is indeed less harshness, there is much more enjoyment from blind, critical listening and the timing and pace is toe-tapping. The entire spectrum sounds much more natural and life-like, details are much more easier to find and follow. Such improvements are usually really weird to understand for most, but they are the most rewarding to experience. It’s almost as different as when one has head-ache and feels irritated and when one feels absolutely healthy and peaceful. Sound stage has become slightly bigger and dynamic range is improved as well. E.g. some louder and impactful passages now are now really impactful, it’s touching and even heart-shaking. And this leads to the improvements in the regions of bass. Now I can really tell that my precious and ever evolving HD598 rig can deliver really juicy, tight and unbelievable for these cans bass (obviously, most depending on source material).
To wrap things up I want say that I am very delighted returning customer and I recommend for every avid music (and beautiful design) lover to try these beauties for themselves. Even more, for a price of 2-3 hi-res albums this is absolute bargain for a one of the best pure silver USB cables on the marked. Beautiful, not-overpriced, terrific sounding, custom made investment for those purists, who wants to extract the last drop from their precious collection and gear. And I will return to wonders of this cable after some more revealing cans will be in my disposal, or maybe iUSB3.0 power conditioner (I will need to order one more cable then!).
Anyways, this was just a little step towards the Olympus of my audio nirvana. Important, beautiful upgrade in await of next one, iFi iPurifier 2.
Source: Head-Fi
Ultimate Silver Sony MDR-ZX2 MDR-Z7 upgrade cable
This post is dedicated to silver cables and it sonic improvements. Thank you Lavricables (a head-fier fellow) and from this eBay transaction that I was able to purchase this cables with better price, faster communications, but on top of all, thank you for your superb understanding about your cables and sonic characteristic, a true audiophile at heart. Well recommended if you want fast custom job, fast shipping, experienced by myself that the cables is solid core and silver all the way through by magnifier and some cuts as I wanted to see if it was not any silver plated crap! Anyways, here is the link. Feel free to delete if inappropriate
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultimate-Pure-Solid-Silver-99-999-Sony-MDR-ZX2-MDR-Z7-upgrade-cable-Lavricables-/171899128159?hash=item2805fc895f
After 75 hours and I think my silver cables is burn-in enough, so I am going to give a review here as observed from TRRS ZX2 + Z7
Sound sig overall : The same characteristic in my Z7 review but with improvements, vocal carry more emotions, each instruments are with more spaces, bass is with more energy, and mid is even more fluidity and flow….I didn’t think it was possible….but it is eargasm to the max.
Now, let’s move onto closer examinations of these improvements in order of the most obvious to the least
Mids: String instruments and vocal now carry the emotions at it heart…you know how guitar work ? For example ? When you play a note, the vibration caused the sounds but it is not exactly one perfect tone that you are playing …..it varies in its tonality body and the energy flows, and exactly this reason the artist always control the tone with repeatable finger pressure for emotions ! Exactly, this effect popped in my face. Now I say that with better flows and accuracy, this won’t be such easy tells. The same effect for vocals. The whole Mids is going forward and vocals slightly relaxed back a little bit, but with more energy, details, and this super continuous flows…..just eargasm. Period.
Bass: faster pace, much more articulated, sub-bass is no longer slow, and muddy. Mid bass is now playing with authority, faster pace, better housing resonance produced but beat with faster pace for better controlled tonality and accuracy ! Sub-bass would pressurize my ears that I can totally feel it, rumbles and different drum sizes housing resonances can now be easier tell a part. I feel like bass has taken another level of air, space, rhythm, speed, accuracy ! Still carry the same boom, but less bloom…lol, the same rumbles but much more accurate because I can tell so many different sub-bass tones.
Highs: So, So, So, super vividly smooth and energized, so spacious…oh my ghost the airy appearances of some hand chimes. It came out with more details compares to stock cables. Like stock cables had a silk drape around it, also edgy…I don’t call it harsh but edgy…like a square tone, where as here it is super smooth as a Hexagon shape, it gets edgy only where it needs be. Clear, detailed, analytical, but yet relaxed because it is airy and not edgy that offend my ear drums…….I didn’t know it would get this good….! It is an addiction….lol. For a guy who once was cheaper out and skeptical about cables…..I can’t go without quality silver anymore.
Sound Stage: Larger with even better placements, which make instruments layers easily be spotted and imagined. Satisfying ! Breathe taking
Sound Space: I said it got a slight hint of 3rd dimension with stock cables….here imagine you are being suspended in mid-air, and instruments, sound effects are floating around you. I can hear the fading effect from further away to closer in my face, ascending and descending effects. I never thought that hearing music would make me turn my head around to see if it was my wife calling, and through the music and the isolation of my HP it turned to be wishper sounds lol….you know those distant effect of a female (uh, ah) in electric and dances ? I don’t mean porn …lol. Super and duper submersive 3rd dimension.
Overall: articulated bass, more energy and flows, more detailed highs and relaxed high spectrums tonality. Superb !!!
Source: Head-Fi
Reference Silver Lightning interconnect cable for Oppo HA-2 Centrance Mini-M8
Lavricables New Iphone cable
The controversy about audio cables making a difference on how your audio systems sound will never end!
I have been an audiophile for more than 20 years, I have listened to cables that cost thousands and some that cost very little, and have found that some of each, the expensive and the not so expensive make a big difference in how my systems sound. I will call myself a believer. I have had experience with all kinds of cable designs and different conductor materials. From expending countless hours comparing different cables I have come to the conclusion that conductor material is the most important part of any cable, then the design geometry, connectors and shielding play an equally smaller part. Silver is the best conductor material due to its physical properties when transmitting an electric signal.
I asked Lavricables to make me a USB type A to lighting cable which I will use to connect my iPhone 6 to my OPPO HA-2 portable DAC and headphone amplifier.
Lavricables quickly found a lighting connector and made the cable. I received it in a couple of weeks and immediately preceded to burn it in. After about 200 hours of playing music from my old iPhone 5S to the HA-2 both receiving constant charge I quickly compared it to the Oppo stock adapter which is made of cooper. The difference was easy to hear, the most obvious improvement was an increased amount of detail accompanied by smoother, more natural sounding highs and more controlled bass. The bass was tighter and controlled, the Mids more real sounding with more detail in the upper and lower midranges. When listening to Jazz at the pawnshop the cymbals, and metal brushes sounded more real, with much higher detail when compared to the stock cable that came with my Oppo amp. All the micro details were just simply more present, easier to pin point them and feel the instruments and enjoy them separately, they way the recording is supposed to be reproduced.
The cable is beautifully made as you can see in the pictures and quality is top of the line, Lavricables take pride in making easy on the eye, high quality long lasting products that provide joy to their users.
Lavricables use 6N silver solid core conductor braided into 4 core which delivers RFI and EMI rejection and provides low capacitance for the cable. 4% silver solder is used to make all of the cables, and Teflon insulation gives predominant air dielectric and is known as one of the best insulator for bare audio cables.
I use my iPhone – Oppo system together with my beloved Aurisonics 1plus hybrid, universal IEMS at work while I am typing my daily notes on the computer. I mainly play Tidal Hi -Fi which I enjoy greatly due to it’s good sound and large amount of music available.
This cable was the final piece of my portable system, one that has been greatly improved by using this cable because of its ability to pass through more of the sound being reproduced by my iPhone. This cable has allowed me to get more involved into the music due to its ability to present more and easier to hear details in each track, tighter and more detailed bass, fuller more real sounding natural vocals .
The physical make up of the cable is fantastic, it is flexible enough to use my 2 component as a stack without any fear of the cable being damaged. It also holds no shape due to no cable memory and it is easy to use in different positions, whether you use your set up as a stack or side by side.
The price of the cable is $70 shipped to the US, which I consider a great bargain after comparing to other companies prices.
Source: Head-Fi
Ultimate Silver speaker cables
Ultimate Silver 14 core speaker cables (15.04.14 J.Luis)
The silver cables arrived yesterday in perfect condition.
Even if I hadn’t the time to test them properly, I can already tell you that they suit well the system to which they were aimed, and already fulfill the purpose expected : Transparency and openness while keeping the fullness of the overall sound. I’ve compared them on few songs with a pair of Cardas SE series which sound really good on a second amplifier ( direct, but nice and honest) and yours keep all the qualities but add a bit more refinement to the sound : comparable bass impact (probably a bit tighter) , more refined highs and of course quite better transparency that translates into more air and bigger sound-stage. If silver cables really need break-in, they can only get better…
I also liked a lot the choice of Z-type BFA plugs, because of material but also because of the small mass between the cable and the binding posts (like spades with the comfort of bananas). Congratulations, this is a very good choice for your cables. In my case they were the perfect choice. They fit tightly inside the holes that in my amp are directly located on the over-sized binding’s post rods, which were presumibly designed for large gauge bare cables.
Thanks again Lavricables, this has been a very pleasant transaction.
Best regard from Switzerland !
Source: Facebook
Ultimate Silver Denon D600 D7100 upgrade cable
Ultimate Silver Denon D600/ D7100 upgrade cable (Alan)
The cable arrived yesterday. I am extremely impressed with the quality of your workmanship. You made a superb job of splitting the cable and re plaiting it. The fit of the plugs into the headphone sockets is excellent, probably better than the fit of the plugs on Denon’s own cable. I am used to having to run in silver cables for a good few hours before they perform properly, as I use them as interconnects on my main system. I set up the headphones to run in the cable, and before leaving them put them on to check they were OK. Within 10 seconds I could tell there was a vast improvement in sound quality. I was expecting the cable to be much better than the ‘portable’ cable supplied by Denon, but was staggered by how much better it is than the main ‘Hifi’ cable they supplied. I ran the cable in for several hours, but then couldn’t resist having a ‘listening session’, and spent the next six hours listening over tracks that I am well used to. The clarity and detail is amazing, I was hearing background sounds in the recording studios, and every breath of the artists and finger movements on the instruments. The rhythm and ‘musicality’ is great, and the ‘position’ of the instrument and artists within your head is like actually being in the concert/studio. I’ve never experienced this from headphones before.
Well done.
Source: Facebook
Denon D7100 Ultimate upgrade cables (30.12.15)
Many thanks, Lavricables, for the cables.
Again, this is just such a great improvement over the original cables with much better musicality and a way more organic sound (my sennheiser amp & denon cans combo had a degree of “cold” edgyness to it which is now just gone, almost like replacing a neon tube with candle light) and there’s just so much more depth in the soundstage and everything sounds sort of like holographic with a bodily presence! And again, I find the cables are absolutely beautifully made. A real joy!
I’m so happy with these cables that I’d like to order yet another one from you. Sorry for the fragmented ordering. There is a Swiss saying: Appetite comes with eating
Source: Facebook
Ultimate Silver RCA Interconnects
Ultimate 10 core RCA cables (13.11.13 Thom P.)
I have been busy enjoying the new improved sound of my system and allowing the cables to burn in.
Its not easy to compare just the 10 or 14 core in isolation as the cable lengths are different but here are my impressions.
Firstly both are outstanding cables, the effect of changing over from OFC copper or my previous cheap silver interconnect is just like having a totally new and better Hi-Fi system.
The 1 meter 10 core is bright and clear, the tonal colours of midrange instruments are clearly presented, the atmosphere of the recording is revealed and attention is drawn to the clean accurate high frequencies. The cable excels at portraying the coherent feeling of the piece of music.
Changing over to the 0.6 meter 14 core, causes a surprising transformation. The first impression is of a change in the presentation away from the high frequencies and towards the midrange and bass which acquire a solidity and authority which you do not realise was missing until you hear it. Instead of focussing on the overall pace and shape of the piece of music, your attention is drawn to the tone and feeling of the individual instruments, the sound picture is opened out revealing the inner detail, the individual acoustics of the elements of the recording. Transient response, which was already to a high standard is improved even further, the attack on percussive instruments becomes very realistic. Sometimes I looked around feeling that someone had entered the room or was knocking on the door, but it was just the bass drum or voices in the recording. Some might find this cable too analytical and prefer the simpler presentation of the 10 core. The difference is rather like comparing a high definition photo to a 3D Xray of the same object.
Regards,
Paul
Source: Facebook
Reference Silver PSB M4U1, M4U2
PSB M4U1 upgrade cable (8.02.15 Frank C.)
Intrigued on reading about the benefits of custom cable I decided to find a suitable replacement lead for my headphones.
Using ebay as a starting point I searched the site for PSB accessories and sure enough came on just the right upgrade cable needed.
“Lavricables” were from initial order to final delivery helpful, informative, patient and honest (I paid twice for it by mistake but before I realised and contacted him the overpayment had been returned to my account).
As for the cable itself it arrived within a week not just enclosed in bubble wrap in an envelope as expected but within it’s own cloth pouch as well. Although still “bedding in” there is still a noticeable improvement in sound. This short summary doesn’t do justice to the positive experience I’ve had from this company. Take the plunge like I did safe in the knowledge you won’t be “ripped off”, will be investing in a quality product at a fantastic price which your ears and wallet will thank you for. If I say anymore it’ll sound like I’m a salesman for Lavricables but trust me they’re the real deal and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !
Source: Facebook