YNWOAN
100% Analogue
WARNING The following is an entirely subjective review of a one metre bit of cable (well, two bits to be precise) and makes comment regarding the 'sound' of said cable. If you believe the only role a cable can take is to carry electricity from one end to the other, then please read no further, as you may be deeply offended!
Actually, I'm far from being a cable zealot myself and am closer to the 'all cables sound the same' group than the 'cables are the single most important part of your hi-fi' brigade. For my part, I do think cables can make a difference, because I've heard them do so, but in general my opinion of speaker cables is that thick stranded copper ones sound better than spindly copper (or silver) ones and most interconnects sound, essentially, the same - irrespective of price. So, with that in mind, read on...........
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Review: Epiphany Acoustics ‘Atratus’ interconnect cable
A few months ago I noticed there was a post on one of the hi-fi forums from a company called Epiphany Acoustics, inviting anyone who would like to try their new interconnect cable FOC, to contact them. I’m always up for a bit of hi-fi fun so I dully sent a PM and thought nothing more about it. Weeks passed and I had quite forgotten about the offer of a loan cable, then I suddenly received a PM saying that said cable would be with me in a couple of days and, indeed, two days later a padded envelope popped through my door. Inside were two individual cables, one metre long, gold plated RCA phono plugs and finished in a rather smart black woven outer braid with a white stripe running through it. This cable is, superficially, quite understated; there was no writing or markings on the cables other than small, colour coded, L and R’s on the plugs (no wooden boxes or flashing LED's). The cables are about 10mm in diameter and are reasonable flexible; they aren’t stiff as such, but they can’t be bent at ninety degrees either. I have since learned that this cable is called ‘Atratus’, is not considered directional, is only available in pre-terminated one metre lengths and is of a dual shielded construction; oh, and it costs £40. Obviously I was curious as to how the cable was constructed and so unscrewed the barrel of the plugs, only to find the insides entirely hidden by a very neatly applied sleeve of heatshrink tubing. Not to be discouraged I contacted Epiphany Acoustics (who, I must admit, I had never heard of till now) and asked for some details; promptly, I received this description:
Since then, and with Epiphany Acoustics permission, I have investigated a bit further. At the centre the cable there are twin, individually insulated, multi-strand, copper conductors (I don’t know the dialectic); these are twisted with cotton filler and wrapped in a tight Mylar tape shield. The two centre conductors are both soldered to the centre pin of the plugs. Around that Mylar shield is a copper braided shield and this also forms the return. There are then two separate layers of soft PVC insulation (at first it looks like one, but is definitely two separate layers which together form a thick outer insulation layer) and around all of that is a polyester woven jacket. The chunky gold plugs are neatly soldered on and then injected with a plastic (looks like PVC) which makes the connection extremely secure and also extremely difficult to get at! I would say that the construction quality is excellent.
Before we go any further, I should perhaps state my feelings regarding interconnect cables and their role in hi-fi. In my many years involved in the world of hi-fi I have seen the interconnect cable go from being an inconsequential afterthought to almost being the primary component of choice, for some! In addition, I have ‘heard’ a lot of different interconnect cables and at a lot of different price points. In general my findings are thus, the differences between cables are significantly overstated and that price has very little bearing on performance. Indeed, I’ve just read a description of the construction of a cable that sounds uncannily similar to the Atratus – the manufacturer describes this other cable as offering ‘outstanding performance’ for only £300 a metre! Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I believe cables don’t do anything; I do think they can sound different – just not as different as cable ‘devotees’ would have you believe. Indeed, my own interconnects have ‘seen off’ some hugely expensive cables (many hundreds of pounds), which barely sounded any different and, if anything, worse.
In fact, such was my lack of enthusiasm that the Atratus cables sat on the island unit in my kitchen for two days before even making it to the hi-fi room (yes, my hi-fi has a room of its own). Even then I couldn’t bring myself to plug it in for another couple of days. Eventually, I had literally nothing better to do and decided to give it a go…
Now, as I only use one source (vinyl) and mostly have Naim amplification, there is only one place such a cable as this can go, and that is between my phonostage and my pre-amp and so I dutifully swopped out my usual interconnect for the Atratus and sat down to listen (noting that the plugs pushed onto the sockets with a pleasing firmness).
Before I say anything about the subjective performance I have something objective to say (shocking, I know, in a cable review). I used the mute control on my pre-amp when swopping the cables over and was struck by the difference between the way the two cables dealt with hum and hiss. I use a very low output MC cartridge and there is a lot of gain in the system. With my normal cable, if I turn up the volume control, with no music playing, I primarily hear a steady low level hum with a background of transistor hiss. The phonostage has an off-board power supply and is positioned away from all transformers, moving cables makes no difference. When I plugged in the Atratus cables I was surprised to find that the hum was reduced almost to nothing; the transistor hiss was no louder, but was now the predominant noise! At first I thought I must have imagined this effect, but repeated switching confirmed that the Atratus did suppress the hum; presumably this is an artifact of the improved shielding over my usual interconnect.
So, I started to listen to some actual music. In all honesty, I was expecting to shortly swop back to my usual cable after hearing very little difference (perhaps none). However, I was in for another surprise; not only did the Atratus instantly strike me as sounding different to my usual cable, it sounded really quite different. My first thought that the system sounded louder, but I knew the volume was exactly the same (as I had used my pre-amps mute facility between changes). The more I listened, the more I concluded that the difference between loud and soft passages seemed increased, as if the dynamic range had expanded. In addition, my usual interconnect sounded quite 'soft' in comparison. Instruments sounded, more sharply etched, quite noticeably so in fact. This last suggests a rising top end or lean presentation, but neither of these were the case. In terms of tonal balance the two interconnects sounded essentially the same. In fact, the Atratus is anything but lean. Voices are very strongly projected and bass has a drive and authority that had somehow escaped my usual cable. It’s not that there was now more bass, it’s more that the bass was delivered with greater impact; actual bass texture and speed was, if anything, better than before – complex drumming was easier to follow and strikes seemed to stand out more clearly and blur into each other less. My system provides very much a front row experience (that’s how I like it), but with the Atratus cable in the system the musicians sounded like they had moved a bit closer still! Every sound seemed more obviously delineated.
What was supposed to be a quick twenty minute listen turned out to be six or seven albums. Not only was it well past my tea time but I was in cable turmoil! Surely I was having some kind of hi-fi break down or had slipped into a parallel universe; surely changing an interconnect just didn’t make anything like the difference I had just heard. Somewhat bewildered I turned off the hi-fi (well, the record deck – I never turn the amps off) and went to get something to eat; suspecting that tomorrow would confirm a temporary mental aberration and that normal order would be returned. However, the next day things were not any different. Numerous times, when listening to records I know well, I was struck by how vivid the sound was, how dynamic it was and how etched, in the space between the speakers, instruments were. I can think of one well known cable manufacturer whose products are renowned for having a warm balance. Whilst the Atratus has strong lower registers, I wouldn’t say it is warm in balance, its upper registers are not muted and the tonal balance is not skewed. In addition, another well known company produces designs noted for their light and lively character, but the Atratus doesn’t achieve its vivacious presentation by curtailing bass weight. I suppose some might feel the Atratus produces an over-hyped version of reality, but I don’t see how a passive item of this type could add to the musical presentation in this way. Even then, I’m not personally on a mission to discover absolute neutrality (whatever that may be), I just want to enjoy listening to music and feel immersed in the event.
So, contrary to my previous beliefs, I have found that a single interconnect can make a significant difference. However, more in line with my previous experience, I have also found that significant cable improvements do not have to cost a lot of money and the £40 that Epiphany Acoustics are asking for the Atratus seems more than reasonable. If you like to imagine you are sat mid theatre (or even listen from outside the theatre as some seem to), then the bold and vivid presentation of the Atratus may not be for you; but if you want to be engrossed in a front seat experience, I wholeheartedly recommend this cable. Perhaps the differences I experienced were specifically due to the lower noise floor of the Atratus, I don’t know; I only tried the cable in one position in my system (the only place it could go). Whatever the reason, the fact remains that it did significantly increase my enjoyment of records I thought I knew inside out (I’m not taking it out of my system – even though it is slightly too short for me). In fact, I’m going for another listen now!
Note: I have absolutely zero involvement with Epiphany Acoustics or anyone associated with the company.
Actually, I'm far from being a cable zealot myself and am closer to the 'all cables sound the same' group than the 'cables are the single most important part of your hi-fi' brigade. For my part, I do think cables can make a difference, because I've heard them do so, but in general my opinion of speaker cables is that thick stranded copper ones sound better than spindly copper (or silver) ones and most interconnects sound, essentially, the same - irrespective of price. So, with that in mind, read on...........
_____________________________________
Review: Epiphany Acoustics ‘Atratus’ interconnect cable
A few months ago I noticed there was a post on one of the hi-fi forums from a company called Epiphany Acoustics, inviting anyone who would like to try their new interconnect cable FOC, to contact them. I’m always up for a bit of hi-fi fun so I dully sent a PM and thought nothing more about it. Weeks passed and I had quite forgotten about the offer of a loan cable, then I suddenly received a PM saying that said cable would be with me in a couple of days and, indeed, two days later a padded envelope popped through my door. Inside were two individual cables, one metre long, gold plated RCA phono plugs and finished in a rather smart black woven outer braid with a white stripe running through it. This cable is, superficially, quite understated; there was no writing or markings on the cables other than small, colour coded, L and R’s on the plugs (no wooden boxes or flashing LED's). The cables are about 10mm in diameter and are reasonable flexible; they aren’t stiff as such, but they can’t be bent at ninety degrees either. I have since learned that this cable is called ‘Atratus’, is not considered directional, is only available in pre-terminated one metre lengths and is of a dual shielded construction; oh, and it costs £40. Obviously I was curious as to how the cable was constructed and so unscrewed the barrel of the plugs, only to find the insides entirely hidden by a very neatly applied sleeve of heatshrink tubing. Not to be discouraged I contacted Epiphany Acoustics (who, I must admit, I had never heard of till now) and asked for some details; promptly, I received this description:
Since then, and with Epiphany Acoustics permission, I have investigated a bit further. At the centre the cable there are twin, individually insulated, multi-strand, copper conductors (I don’t know the dialectic); these are twisted with cotton filler and wrapped in a tight Mylar tape shield. The two centre conductors are both soldered to the centre pin of the plugs. Around that Mylar shield is a copper braided shield and this also forms the return. There are then two separate layers of soft PVC insulation (at first it looks like one, but is definitely two separate layers which together form a thick outer insulation layer) and around all of that is a polyester woven jacket. The chunky gold plugs are neatly soldered on and then injected with a plastic (looks like PVC) which makes the connection extremely secure and also extremely difficult to get at! I would say that the construction quality is excellent.
Before we go any further, I should perhaps state my feelings regarding interconnect cables and their role in hi-fi. In my many years involved in the world of hi-fi I have seen the interconnect cable go from being an inconsequential afterthought to almost being the primary component of choice, for some! In addition, I have ‘heard’ a lot of different interconnect cables and at a lot of different price points. In general my findings are thus, the differences between cables are significantly overstated and that price has very little bearing on performance. Indeed, I’ve just read a description of the construction of a cable that sounds uncannily similar to the Atratus – the manufacturer describes this other cable as offering ‘outstanding performance’ for only £300 a metre! Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I believe cables don’t do anything; I do think they can sound different – just not as different as cable ‘devotees’ would have you believe. Indeed, my own interconnects have ‘seen off’ some hugely expensive cables (many hundreds of pounds), which barely sounded any different and, if anything, worse.
In fact, such was my lack of enthusiasm that the Atratus cables sat on the island unit in my kitchen for two days before even making it to the hi-fi room (yes, my hi-fi has a room of its own). Even then I couldn’t bring myself to plug it in for another couple of days. Eventually, I had literally nothing better to do and decided to give it a go…
Now, as I only use one source (vinyl) and mostly have Naim amplification, there is only one place such a cable as this can go, and that is between my phonostage and my pre-amp and so I dutifully swopped out my usual interconnect for the Atratus and sat down to listen (noting that the plugs pushed onto the sockets with a pleasing firmness).
Before I say anything about the subjective performance I have something objective to say (shocking, I know, in a cable review). I used the mute control on my pre-amp when swopping the cables over and was struck by the difference between the way the two cables dealt with hum and hiss. I use a very low output MC cartridge and there is a lot of gain in the system. With my normal cable, if I turn up the volume control, with no music playing, I primarily hear a steady low level hum with a background of transistor hiss. The phonostage has an off-board power supply and is positioned away from all transformers, moving cables makes no difference. When I plugged in the Atratus cables I was surprised to find that the hum was reduced almost to nothing; the transistor hiss was no louder, but was now the predominant noise! At first I thought I must have imagined this effect, but repeated switching confirmed that the Atratus did suppress the hum; presumably this is an artifact of the improved shielding over my usual interconnect.
So, I started to listen to some actual music. In all honesty, I was expecting to shortly swop back to my usual cable after hearing very little difference (perhaps none). However, I was in for another surprise; not only did the Atratus instantly strike me as sounding different to my usual cable, it sounded really quite different. My first thought that the system sounded louder, but I knew the volume was exactly the same (as I had used my pre-amps mute facility between changes). The more I listened, the more I concluded that the difference between loud and soft passages seemed increased, as if the dynamic range had expanded. In addition, my usual interconnect sounded quite 'soft' in comparison. Instruments sounded, more sharply etched, quite noticeably so in fact. This last suggests a rising top end or lean presentation, but neither of these were the case. In terms of tonal balance the two interconnects sounded essentially the same. In fact, the Atratus is anything but lean. Voices are very strongly projected and bass has a drive and authority that had somehow escaped my usual cable. It’s not that there was now more bass, it’s more that the bass was delivered with greater impact; actual bass texture and speed was, if anything, better than before – complex drumming was easier to follow and strikes seemed to stand out more clearly and blur into each other less. My system provides very much a front row experience (that’s how I like it), but with the Atratus cable in the system the musicians sounded like they had moved a bit closer still! Every sound seemed more obviously delineated.
What was supposed to be a quick twenty minute listen turned out to be six or seven albums. Not only was it well past my tea time but I was in cable turmoil! Surely I was having some kind of hi-fi break down or had slipped into a parallel universe; surely changing an interconnect just didn’t make anything like the difference I had just heard. Somewhat bewildered I turned off the hi-fi (well, the record deck – I never turn the amps off) and went to get something to eat; suspecting that tomorrow would confirm a temporary mental aberration and that normal order would be returned. However, the next day things were not any different. Numerous times, when listening to records I know well, I was struck by how vivid the sound was, how dynamic it was and how etched, in the space between the speakers, instruments were. I can think of one well known cable manufacturer whose products are renowned for having a warm balance. Whilst the Atratus has strong lower registers, I wouldn’t say it is warm in balance, its upper registers are not muted and the tonal balance is not skewed. In addition, another well known company produces designs noted for their light and lively character, but the Atratus doesn’t achieve its vivacious presentation by curtailing bass weight. I suppose some might feel the Atratus produces an over-hyped version of reality, but I don’t see how a passive item of this type could add to the musical presentation in this way. Even then, I’m not personally on a mission to discover absolute neutrality (whatever that may be), I just want to enjoy listening to music and feel immersed in the event.
So, contrary to my previous beliefs, I have found that a single interconnect can make a significant difference. However, more in line with my previous experience, I have also found that significant cable improvements do not have to cost a lot of money and the £40 that Epiphany Acoustics are asking for the Atratus seems more than reasonable. If you like to imagine you are sat mid theatre (or even listen from outside the theatre as some seem to), then the bold and vivid presentation of the Atratus may not be for you; but if you want to be engrossed in a front seat experience, I wholeheartedly recommend this cable. Perhaps the differences I experienced were specifically due to the lower noise floor of the Atratus, I don’t know; I only tried the cable in one position in my system (the only place it could go). Whatever the reason, the fact remains that it did significantly increase my enjoyment of records I thought I knew inside out (I’m not taking it out of my system – even though it is slightly too short for me). In fact, I’m going for another listen now!
Note: I have absolutely zero involvement with Epiphany Acoustics or anyone associated with the company.
