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Oyaide Neo Class A RCA cables.

G

GruntPuppy

pfm Member
Oyaide-RCA-Class_A-2_1024x1024.jpg


I bought a pair of these in their 1m version, and right now I'm wondering how long it's going to take for them to burn in, because, honestly, if this is as good as they get, I'm disappointed.

It's not question of their manufacture - the colour is a bit of a shock at first, but considering their initial market is for DJ's, it makes sense. The bright orange makes it easy to see, the two cinch bands make it easy to route these cables and keep them tidy. Mine didn't come with the velcro. They feature flat-geometry, OCC copper conductors, and well-made RCA plugs, with covers on the plugs that are comfortable to use but not too thick to make them practical. If I was going to nitpick, I'd say that colour-coding them black and silver instead of using red for one of them doesn't sit right with me, but that's a minor thing.

I've been using them to drive firstly my bass frequencies amp, and then my 80hz up amp. On the bass frequencies I've compared them to some custom Mogami-based interconnects, and some custom SHB interconnects. Compared to the Mogamis (which are my current go-to cables, I had a bunch made up, and I've generally been very, very happy with their sonically neutral and accurate behaviour) they're immediately louder, but this comes at a price. In the lower frequencies role, the bass notes have less impact; they're still present, but the attack of the notes is blunted. There's less definition than either of my go-to cables.

Well, bugger. I had high hopes for these, I've seen a couple of audiophile websites (and a few yootoob videos too) recommend these as the best thing since Sliced Amstrad (Damn you, Alan Sugar! I will NEVER forgive you for that "stereo" system my parents bought me). Contrary to what may be read on the internet, these cables are not "all that".

Half an hour of listening is probably not a fair test of these cables - but in the bass role, they're stealing music. It's the only way I can describe it. I can't take any more! Anyone who knows me well knows that I get audio-induced migraines, and I can feel one bubbling under... So, whither now? I need to give these things a chance to bed in, so I swap them onto the 80hz up side of my system.

That's better(ish). These cables have an excellent mid-range performance. Vocals are incredibly well presented, drums and lower frequency cymbals sound like they should (in the 80hz up range at least). The Hammond(ish) organ on Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' "Red Right Hand" sounds right, the comb used as percussion on the track is well defined, and yet there's still something not quite right.

A change of music shows the problem. Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" gets a play, and confirms the excellent midrange, but at the higher end of the frequency the problem with very low frequencies is mirrored. A change back to Nick Cave - "let love in" - and the normally sparkling synth piano sounds like it needs a trip through the carwash.

Don't get me wrong, these cables are not the worst thing that I've heard. Their midrange performance is pretty damn good, right now I'm listening to "Red Right Hand" - and Nick Cave's voice as he growls his way through is more than acceptable - it stands out. Billie Eilish's first album again shows fantastic treatment of the midrange - the angst-ridden vocals of "When The Party's Over" are heart-breakingly portrayed. There's a lot to like about the way these cables hold the middle ground. Could I recommend them, though?

At the moment, no. An excellent midrange is an excellent place to start, but the mediocre treatment of the upper and lower frequencies is, sadly, unacceptable. I hope that they'll improve in performance as they burn in, but I'm honestly not sure that they'll improve to that extent. Back to the SHB's on the bass frequencies, I'm going to give the Oyaide Class A's a few more days on the high frequencies, to see if they'll bed in any better. Time will tell (and a bit of Santana - Supernatural). If your bass and high treble frequencies need taming, these cables could be the filter you need.

I do want to give the Oyaide Neo "class S" cables a try at some point - their "top end" in the range, but finding them at a decent price is difficult. The one place that gives a decent price on them (about £60 a pair rather than the £100+ everywhere else charges) is sold out.

The quest for acceptable sub £100 (1m length) RCA interconnects continues, sadly. Any recommendations gratefully received. The "Class A" cables hold their own as a sub-£50 interconnect, but honestly? I can't say they sparkled for me. At least, not yet.

Oyaide Neo D+ Class A RCA cable - price paid, £47 delivered for a 1m pair.
 
I hope you will come back here in a weeks time when the cable has had a few more hours on it, and give us an update, oh and I don't mind the orange colour.
 
Deleted due to a double post, not my fault this time surprisingly, but the site did not move on from when I pressed the post button
 
Salamander said:
Deleted due to a double post, not my fault this time surprisingly, but the site did not move on from when I pressed the post button
Click to expand...

Not a problem. I'm planning on digging out a bunch of my old CD's to give this system a thorough workout over the next few days.
 
There's only one really significant set of reasons why cables might sound different, and that's if they are engineered in ways that affect their characteristic impedance.
These Oyaide appear to use a flattened, ribbon geometry, as opposed to the usual round shape of most coaxial cables.
This will have a significant effect on LCR values - assuming a 10mm wide ribbon separated from the screen by ~1mm (hard to find much data since Oyaide don't seem to have updated their English language website since 2011!) that may yield as much as 100x less inductance and a corresponding ~100x increase in capacitance.
That is significant, and will affect the sound, favouring higher over lower frequencies.

I can't imagine any process by which conductors or dielectric will 'burn-in' to any appreciable extent, so suggest what you hear now is what you'll always hear.
 
earlofsodbury said:
There's only one really significant set of reasons why cables might sound different, and that's if they are engineered in ways that affect their characteristic impedance.
These Oyaide appear to use a flattened, ribbon geometry, as opposed to the usual round shape of most coaxial cables.
This will have a significant effect on LCR values - assuming a 10mm wide ribbon separated from the screen by ~1mm (hard to find much data since Oyaide don't seem to have updated their English language website since 2011!) that may yield as much as 100x less inductance and a corresponding ~100x increase in capacitance.
That is significant, and will affect the sound, favouring higher over lower frequencies.

I can't imagine any process by which conductors or dielectric will 'burn-in' to any appreciable extent, so suggest what you hear now is what you'll always hear.
Click to expand...

I bloody hope not! What I'm hearing is downright unacceptable in it's treatment of the extremes of the frequency range- notes at the top end lack attack [edit - cymbals are coming good, I left this post dormant for a while before completing it], I'll give it a few more days then back-to-back comparison with the good ol' mogamis to make sure I'm not imagining things (right now my main rack is turned around 90 degrees and protruding into the room, because I'm still measuring up for custom power cables, figuring out how to mount my wychwood power strip to a hifi stand, and planning the finishing touches to the system - I can swap a pair of rca's very rapidly - even with fumbly fingers about 20 secs max).
 
Your ears may becoming habituated, but the cable itself isn't going to change, there is no physical mechanism for it to do so.

I imagine it is (as advertised) popular with "professional DJs" because most of them have spent too long battering their hearing with headphones turned-up too loud.
 
Well, a goodly few days down the road, and I'm a little saddened by the Oyaides. OCC copper, decent quality connects, and a cable I can at best describe as mediocre. The oyaides have all the right ingredients, but sadly the recipe is lacking. My mogamis are better, as are my SHB's. I'll be comparing with some NOS Talk Cables Monitor interconnects today or tomorrow. I've also got some Van Damme interconnects to try.
 
FWIW, Van Damme make some great speaker cables - their technically-excellent and affordable 'Hifi Series' use up to 6mm of ultra-pure copper in a widely spaced figure-8 which keeps LCR super-low (a mite lower than their better known blue and black series) - there is nowhere else (sane) to go in terms of technically-meritorious speaker wire characteristics - but almost all of their signal cables are pretty average: technically adequate, but with just one standout: their Silver Series 'Lo-Cap' - which as the name hints, is an uncommonly low-capacitance design which achieves its numbers not by thinning the signal conductor to angel-pube thinness, but by increasing overall diameter. So it's a fat-bastard (another reason I like it...), but it works well, especially over longer runs, and of course isn't pisstake-expensive...

The Oyaide is an outgroup in terms of its odd layup, but most of the rest around this broad price-point will be electrically very similar, and so will sound similar.

Cables are a really bad way to tweak how your system sounds...
 
earlofsodbury said:
FWIW, Van Damme make some great speaker cables - their technically-excellent and affordable 'Hifi Series' use up to 6mm of ultra-pure copper in a widely spaced figure-8 which keeps LCR super-low (a mite lower than their better known blue and black series) - there is nowhere else (sane) to go in terms of technically-meritorious speaker wire characteristics - but almost all of their signal cables are pretty average: technically adequate, but with just one standout: their Silver Series 'Lo-Cap' - which as the name hints, is an uncommonly low-capacitance design which achieves its numbers not by thinning the signal conductor to angel-pube thinness, but by increasing overall diameter. So it's a fat-bastard (another reason I like it...), but it works well, especially over longer runs, and of course isn't pisstake-expensive...

The Oyaide is an outgroup in terms of its odd layup, but most of the rest around this broad price-point will be electrically very similar, and so will sound similar.

Cables are a really bad way to tweak how your system sounds...
Click to expand...


The lo-caps have crossed my radar previously, haven't gotten around to trying some yet. I only have RCA's running from my pre to my power amps, other connections are HDMI or digital so far. There will be a record player at some point, but for now that's all the RCA cabling I have to worry about - 2 pairs, basically. I've previously found Adcom power amps to be quite sensitive to cable choice, both speaker and interconnect cables. My big regret is I didn't buy two pairs of the SHB cables at the time.

I am, I suspect, having a great deal of fun with the cable comparisons. Once I find the synergy I'm after, I'll start working on the media server side of things. And re-doing the sub grilles (and sticking on the woodgrain vinyl). And re-doing the racks. Yes, I said racks. And getting custom mounts for one mains filter block. And covering the faces of the two other mains filters. And getting mains leads made up. Not much to go now!
 
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