Listening

And it all starts with a modest cardboard box.

   I decided to test the cable in a few locations, so that there’s no doubt. I started with a typical modern option, that is, a headphone amplifier connected with a transducer. The transducer was the tried and true Phasemation HD192 with its amazing K2 processor, whereas the amplifier, also tried, having good opinion, Sugden HA-4. It would make no sense to listen to them with just Sulek, so I brought two other interconnects and two pairs of headphones. The interconnects are the old time heroes, one I still use, van den Hul First Ultimate, with its pleasant warmth and high culture that can smooth out even very rough device issues, the other also from the same price level, costing about six thousands, and for contrary in silver, Acoustic Zen Silver Reference. The headphones I picked also are contrasting, on the one hand I brought the calm OPPO PM-2 model with spacious sound full of air, on the other super clear, super dynamic, sparkling and very fast McIntosh MHP1000.

At the computer

For a start, lets take van den Hul. All about it met my expectations, it played well, with high culture, so if I didn’t want to make any comparisons, I would simply accept the fact of listening to a great headset in two different versions, the versatile characteristics of which I presented in the review of OPPO PM-2.

But comparisons are the core of audiophilism, and although some might say they consume too much time that should be devoted to music, without them our knowledge would be much limited. Tautologically, you might say incomparably limited. Therefore the power of comparison is visible even in the language, and when it comes to the cables, once again you could hear things easy to foresee. The silver cable from a high shelf (but not the top, occupied by Acoustic Zen) showed the typical advantages of silver – liveliness, dynamics, clear picture, flickering light with bright color and expression, both of music itself and the details. In a nutshell, you could feel the light and revived atmosphere. The sounds started to spark, the space expanded and gained some fresh air. Before that, it was stuffy and gloomy, although you couldn’t actually feel that. What dominated was the realism – so close and tangible – but only after switching the cables you could feel the freshness, gleam, faster musical pulse and higher amplitude jumps. OPPO headphones were very pleased by that, the cable suited them very well. Their spacious sound carried on the waves of air gained vigor and expression, and with all that the overall experience was what? Yes, that’s right – it was more thrilling. You simply listened to it with more pleasure, with more emotions. It wasn’t just good music – great even – but electrifying. And only in such a case you can say that something is really good and it’s really worth listening to. Or maybe it’s not? After all, time flies like an arrow. You just can’t break away, and other things are lost. As a result you can mess something up. I’m glad I don’t mess up in such situations, as listening to music is my profession. Good for me, isn’t it? But still, the listening session took far too long for diagnostic needs and I was running late. It’s just that the music was really outstanding.

But it’s unimportant in the end – only Sulek RCA Audio IC counts.

The silver cable didn’t make such an impression on McIntosh headphones, which already have the liveliness, gleam, clarity and all the rest. There was a risk that these values will be multiplied and intensified to such a degree they will no longer be enjoyable. Luckily, it was not the case and McIntosh headphones with the silver cable played better than with van den Hul. But that’s just my opinion, I would say there was more action, whereas someone preferring rather calm sound could pick van den Hul. I wouldn’t, but someone could. However, Acoustic Zen has been defended by DAC with its exceptionally spacious sound and the amplifier with exceptionally high culture with its pure A class that didn’t allow for any overdoing. The standard of excellent sound was kept, but OPPO visibly gained much more.

So now  Sulek’s turn. And Sulek is just different. Made of copper – with all the characteristics typical of copper. But in a very good sense. To keep the order, again I started with OPPO which perfectly highlighted the differences between copper and silver, that is, copper played more dark, calmer, fuller, warmer with prolonged phrases. It’s like switching from twist to waltz or replace two dimensions with three. The comparisons are exaggerated, but they show the nature of changes. The changes made OPPO headphones switch from lively to calm sound, more distanced from first person. Away from personal jiggling around and towards admiring someone else’s beauty. Music was no longer vibrating ecstatically, it began to flow. The silverish dynamic foam has been replaced with iridescent waves of melody, carrying more weight. The style is a matter of taste, but I preferred the silver one. But just slightly, and at the same time it was more tiring and more demanding during very long sessions, but still spectacular. In contrast, the carbon van den Hul has been beaten by Sulek’s copper on its own field. Its culture, fulfillment, color, light, and most of all, space turned out to be worse. Somewhat diminished, without color, not deep enough. For the silver cable, it was no competition, although with other device configuration it would definitely pose a threat, but here, all three signal path components were to its disadvantage. Sulek’s copper, however, appeared to be a tough competition, and the longer I listened to it, the more I forgot about Acoustic Zen’s performance. I could feel smoothness, depth and melody. It was a superior sound in a calm, audially enhanced manner. Quite warm, but not overstated, outstandingly melodic, musically rich and expressed through long decay time of sounds bearing great intensity. Top class.

But the best is yet to be heard, because here comes McIntosh headphones. Such a difference, as they gained much more. Just like OPPOs were optimal with silver with its high dynamics, to the dynamic and spectacular McInsosh, the copper from Sulek Audio proved to be the missing link to perfection. It all played so spectacular that I was speechless. Well, well, my audiophile companion living in my head – this is it. Pure perfection. Momentarily – right at the beginning – there was noticeable holography. What OPPOs manifested as just longer decay and more centered listening position, here it was nothing short of magic on stage. The sounds attacked from different distances and you could hear the effect we call the miracle of space depth. It affected not only the scene, but also the sounds. They also have become cubical, and the tones were visibly flowing instead of just being sustained. And the sounds themselves… About them you could say they gained something you could compare to pouring them into a green bottle. Not that they’ve become green, but you know what I’m talking about. They’ve gained charm, lure, singularity, depth. It was magic, enchantment in the purest form.

Honestly, the exterior of the interconnect can not reminiscent of the most prominent representatives of this kind…

The distributor of Sulek Audio praises the cables, telling stories of how many cables thought to be outstanding he is given in exchange for them. I won’t drop names, because I haven’t verify that, but I can believe that an experienced audiophile, who is no longer impressed by names, because he already knows better than to fall for big names (it’s not the names that win the game, as our famous soccer coach, Kazimierz Gorski, used to say), without a blink would give away an expensive stuff from a famous brand once they’ve heard the superiority of the unknown cables. Because what good is a name when it plays worse? You’re going to wear it on your head? And the copper interconnect from Sulek Audio is indeed audacious and can knock much more expensive competition into a cocked hat. Once you plug it into the system, it kicks like a mule. I won’t say that it defeated the referential CrystalCable Absolute Dream, because it hasn’t. But first, it’s ten times cheaper, and second, the difference was rather slight. The crystal silver with superb insulation was somewhat clearer, more transparent and dynamic, but it was the same class, and the difference was mainly in style. At the same time, the two cables serve different purposes. The flagship CrystalCable is useful mainly where everything else is well optimized and you just have to expose it. Whereas Sulek Audio is perfect where you need to improve musicality, give sounds some depth, prolong the decay time, restore loudness, make the coloring more pleasant, chase away annoying brightness and unpleasant trebles. Let’s be clear. It’s not achieved through reducing, suppressing or manipulation. It works like a filter, often enhancing one, and as such it will improve, not suppress the clarity, and will harness the bandwidth and enrich the coloring. It won’t reduce anything, but it will improve what’s already there, at the same time highlighting what has been hidden before. It’s like a good charm, not a screen. It won’t take away anything or give something in exchange. The changes are only positive, which sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. For all this Sulek Audio demands six thousands and they get it. And not for a pretty face or just a braided copper cable.