Post by MartinT on Aug 8, 2020 22:25:40 GMT
This is not so much a (very short) review as some insight into Wireworld's ethos and methodology, which I found fascinating and which led me to taking a chance on one of their cables.
Firstly, my reason for wanting another cable was simply that my system's digital chain culminates in the final input into the LKS DAC, which is an AES cable from my Mutec reclocker. Doing service in this position was an AudioQuest Carbon AES and I had wondered whether, good as it has been, it could be a bottleneck in performance. I searched around for something which might better the AQ yet still not break the bank. Enter Wireworld…
Wireworld's founder, David Salz, believes that no cable is always better than any cable at all. So far, so good and I agree with him entirely (it’s the same argument as for fuses). However, what he has done which I think is different from any other cable vendor is to compare his prototypes with no cable at all by connecting equipment back-to-back using very short links. He has since developed this further by creating a connecting box to switch into circuit any cable he cares to test, compared with no cable. Wireworld cables are, therefore, largely ‘tuned’ by ear rather than being just developed as a laboratory exercise.
The Micro-Platinum Eclipse AES is positioned one down from the flagship Platinum Starlight (and is considerably less expensive). The cable is a 110 ohm balanced digital interconnect using a helix design of OCC-7N solid silver conductors. Attention has been paid to insulation (Composilex 3) and the XLR connectors used, with silver-clad copper alloy pins.
Wireworld create handy charts to help with cable selection. I think I understand what they mean by ‘design efficiency’ and ‘material quality’ but at least they attempt to quantify and rank their cables rather than use a lot of obscure obfuscation. I’ve seen something similar only from Kimber Kable in the past.
Remembering that the AudioQuest Carbon has seen off various other AES cables in the past (except for a Coherent I tried at one point), I used it as the reference for judging differences with the Wireworld. I can hear the differences between them but it's hard to explain in words. The best I can do is that while the AudioQuest is a little obvious, rather like edge enhancement of a JPG photo, the Wireworld is subtle and has finer graduations. It's bringing out all the low-level detail, note decay and subtleties in the music while retaining a calmer demeanour. Foreground detail remains pretty much the same but it's less forward. Front-to-back depth is enhanced and instruments are highly focussed in space. The overall effect is that music sounds very slightly quieter but that dynamic peaks can be quite explosive. The flow, fluidity and coherence of music are all improved, with communication benefits, and there is heightened pleasure with unfamiliar music.
So this cable, having been developed against no cable at all, most definitely removes less from the precious signal and probably passes on lower noise in the form of RFI/EMI to the DAC, too, culminating in extracting more music from the D/A process. I approve of the methodology and I certainly approve of the outcome, for a cable that doesn’t cost the Earth compared with many rivals.
Firstly, my reason for wanting another cable was simply that my system's digital chain culminates in the final input into the LKS DAC, which is an AES cable from my Mutec reclocker. Doing service in this position was an AudioQuest Carbon AES and I had wondered whether, good as it has been, it could be a bottleneck in performance. I searched around for something which might better the AQ yet still not break the bank. Enter Wireworld…
Wireworld's founder, David Salz, believes that no cable is always better than any cable at all. So far, so good and I agree with him entirely (it’s the same argument as for fuses). However, what he has done which I think is different from any other cable vendor is to compare his prototypes with no cable at all by connecting equipment back-to-back using very short links. He has since developed this further by creating a connecting box to switch into circuit any cable he cares to test, compared with no cable. Wireworld cables are, therefore, largely ‘tuned’ by ear rather than being just developed as a laboratory exercise.
The Micro-Platinum Eclipse AES is positioned one down from the flagship Platinum Starlight (and is considerably less expensive). The cable is a 110 ohm balanced digital interconnect using a helix design of OCC-7N solid silver conductors. Attention has been paid to insulation (Composilex 3) and the XLR connectors used, with silver-clad copper alloy pins.
Wireworld create handy charts to help with cable selection. I think I understand what they mean by ‘design efficiency’ and ‘material quality’ but at least they attempt to quantify and rank their cables rather than use a lot of obscure obfuscation. I’ve seen something similar only from Kimber Kable in the past.
Remembering that the AudioQuest Carbon has seen off various other AES cables in the past (except for a Coherent I tried at one point), I used it as the reference for judging differences with the Wireworld. I can hear the differences between them but it's hard to explain in words. The best I can do is that while the AudioQuest is a little obvious, rather like edge enhancement of a JPG photo, the Wireworld is subtle and has finer graduations. It's bringing out all the low-level detail, note decay and subtleties in the music while retaining a calmer demeanour. Foreground detail remains pretty much the same but it's less forward. Front-to-back depth is enhanced and instruments are highly focussed in space. The overall effect is that music sounds very slightly quieter but that dynamic peaks can be quite explosive. The flow, fluidity and coherence of music are all improved, with communication benefits, and there is heightened pleasure with unfamiliar music.
So this cable, having been developed against no cable at all, most definitely removes less from the precious signal and probably passes on lower noise in the form of RFI/EMI to the DAC, too, culminating in extracting more music from the D/A process. I approve of the methodology and I certainly approve of the outcome, for a cable that doesn’t cost the Earth compared with many rivals.
