⌈ SOYATON was established in September 2019. Its founder and designer is JULIAN SOJA, a member of the Krakow Sonic Society. The company specializes in the production of high-class connection cables. ⌋

VERY NOW AND THEN I was asked by MY FRIENDS about something that - as it turned out - JULEK SOJA was also asked about, namely why there no tests of any SOYATON cables are to be found in "High fidelity"?

Because, you know, we have known each other with Julian for quite some time, we are friends, we meet from time to time, and most of all, we both are members of the KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY, he was invited to during our first visit at his place (Meeting #120: ADAM CZERWIŃSKI and AC RECORDS – tape, test pressing, LP, see HERE).

The answer turned out to be simple, but only after we finally got the courage to ask this question - we created this „clinch” ourselves. As it turned out, Julek, being a gentle and unimposing man, did not want to put pressure on me - that's one side. The second one, that is me, had exactly the same fears, and although I am probably less sensitive to the well being of others than the owner of Soyaton, I did not want to impose anything on him.

And so we stayed in this blissful, self-limiting state until I invited Julian to my place to listen to Santana's album as part of the 129th KSS meeting. Then we finally got it talked through and agreed that if he was going to come to me, there was no reason for him not to bring his interconnects with him ... And so he did.

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| A few simple words…

JULIAN SOJA
Owner, designer

▬ Julian Soja fills in a certificate for the cable he brought for a test – some Santana’s CDs on the table…

WOJCIECH PACUŁA Why did the SOYATON company came to be?
JULIAN SOJA Well, simply put - because of my love of music. This is where it all started and this is the main driving force behind my actions. When asked if I am an audiophile or a music lover, my answer is always the same: first of all I am a music lover. What would be the point of being an audiophile if you didn't love the music you want to listen to in as good as accurate way possible?

Being infected with audiophilism, over the years I have built a very good system - through arduous trials, dozens of tests and comparisons. But I still had the feeling that I wasn't getting everything it really had to offer. It is obvious that the cables (themselves) do not play, but EVERY system (not only audio ones) is only as good as its weakest link. And the cabling of the system consists often of tens of meters of wires through which both the electric current powering each element and the audio signal are sent, from the source to the speakers reproducing sound for us. Therefore, without even a hint of exaggeration, I claim on my website that cabling is the real bloodstream of the audio system.

▬ Julian emphasizes that one of the most important aspects of cable design are listening sessions in his listening room - most Polish cable manufacturers rely on random auditions in random systems.

Unfortunately, each of the cables that I managed to buy or borrow for testing still left me unsatisfied. So there was nothing else left for me to do but try and make some myself. There were dozens, maybe even hundreds, of trials and ideas, because I tested a lot of elements - from various conductors and layers, through various diameters, strands, insulation, plugs and solders.

And finally the day came when I made yet another prototype of speaker cables and connected them to my system. I plugged them in, played quietly some music from the tuner (I did not have a cable break-ins machine back then) and left it for several hours to break in. After the initial break-in, I turned on the turntable, sat down and turned up the volume. And shortly after that I said to myself: holy ****!

After a few nights of listening, I was sure that I managed to make the cable too good to leave it only to myself or make it available to some colleagues as a garage product. Unfortunately, it was quite a turbulent and hot period in my corporate career (I have worked in the banking sector for over 25 years) and I was unable to pursue this idea. Only about two years later, when, after another merger, I decided it was time to leave the corporate world, it was time to start my own business (in September 2019).

WP How do you position this interconnect in your current lineup?
JS SOYATON currently offers only one line of cables - I called it Benchmark. This word in English means a 'reference point'. In my case, it has a double meaning - firstly, it is a benchmark in the SOAYTON offer (because when I was introducing it to the market, I was not sure whether the next versions would be better and more expensive, or slightly worse, but also cheaper - let me share good news - a higher and even better model is already in the works for over a year and it will probably still take a while to conclude the process, because - I admit immodestly - that it is simply very difficult to improve such a good cable :), and secondly, I wanted them to become a reference point, < b>a specific reference for other manufacturers in the industry.

▬ Julian Soja visiting HIGH FIDELITY.

WP Will you show us your workshop? JS No, I don't think it makes sense. The tooling needed for production probably looks very similar to what most manufacturers use, so it's not the secret behind the success and quality of my cables.

In the case of the SOYATON cables success is determined by the idea, an intuition (which elements to combine), persistence and attendance (i.e. the number of trials and tests). But there is also one more very important element of this puzzle - listening tests. We must remember that audio is an industry in which neither numbers, nor measurement results, nor the most beautiful photos or renders make the sound. Ultimately, there is only one thing that matters - what influence a given element of the system has on its sound, what does it contribute to it. It is the ear that decides, period.

Therefore, it is extremely important to test products (prototypes) in the best and most neutral conditions. It is of course natural that in home conditions a malfunctioning component can bring the desired effect by eliminating the opposite disadvantage of another component or room, but I think that in the case of an audio manufacturer it is unacceptable, and that is why I have devoted so much attention to refining the Green Cave, i.e. the listening room where SOAYATON cables are tested. ♦

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▌ Benchmark

SOYATON CABLES ARE JULIAN'S ORIGINAL DESIGNS. Through trials, auditions and measurements at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, he selected materials and strands, which he later "refined" with the selection of plugs. Copper wire is bought in Japan through an American intermediary - Soyaton is too small to be able to buy directly. This is OCC copper, so a monocrystalline type, used in most cables from the Land of the Rising Sun.

However, this copper is coated in the USA with 24-carat gold - an idea practiced by Julek, rarely used by other companies. After choosing the material, the next complication in cable design is the combination of diameter, number of runs and strand, not to mention the dielectric. Julek usually uses two or three runs intertwined with each other. The runs are coated with a colorless varnish, which gives a multi-Litz cable, and then each of them is insulated with a thin tube, i.e. - effectively - with air, and two or three of these are inserted into a silicone tube that absorbs vibrations. The outer braid is a Techflex.

Heat-shrinkable sleeves stretched over the plugs are something of a "stop" sign. They also act as a cable’s direction indicator. The cables are not shielded, and the EMI/RFI immunity is ensured by the strand itself. By request, Julian adds such a shielding - it will be useful, for example, for a turntable; cost: 200 EURs. The interconnects are terminated with excellent KLE (Keith Louis Eichmann) CLASSIC BULLET plugs with contacts made of silver-plated copper.

▌ SOUND

⸜ HOW WE LISTENED The Soyaton interconnect test was perform as listening sessions and an A/B/A and B/A/B comparison, with A and B known. The reference point were two top interconnects: SILTECH TRIPLE CROWN made of pure, monocrystalline silver (EUR 20,000/1m) and the alloy of monocrystalline silver and gold CRYSTAL CABLE ABSOLUTE DREAM (9900 EUR/1m). Siltech delivered signal from the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition SACD player, and the Crystal Cable from the RCM Audio Sensor Prelude IC phono preamplifier - both to the Ayon Audio Spheris III preamplifier.

To give the Soyaton Benchmark a proper context let me mention a few most popular interconnects from the same price range:

⸜ Siltech Classic 770i (wtyki WBT0110 Ag): 9490 zł/1 m | 12 490 zł/1,5 m
⸜ Acoustic Revive RCA 1.0 Triple C-FM (1,8 × 1,4 mm): 9900 zł/1 m
⸜ Nordost FREY 2: 6819 zł/1 m i 8289 zł/1,5 m | 3490 zł za każde kolejne 0,5 m
⸜ Wireworld GOLD ECLIPSE 8: 7519 zł/1 m | 10 809 zł/1,5 m
⸜ KBL Sound RED CORONA: 8799 zł/1 m | 10 689 zł/1,5 m

Recordings used for the test | a selection

→ SACD/CD
⸜ JEAN-MICHEL JARRE, Magnetic Fields, Dreyfus Disques/Epic EPC 488138 2, CD (1981/1997)
⸜ JOHN SCOFIELD, Swallow Tales, ECM Records /Universal Music LLC (Japan) UCCE-1183, CD (2020);
⸜ PATRICIA BARBER, Companion, Premonition Records/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDSACD 2023, SACD/CD (1999/2003);
⸜ TSUYOSHI YAMAMOTO TRIO, Live at the Misty, Three Blind Mice/Sony Music Direct (Japan) MHCP-10038, SACD/CD (1974/2006)

→ LONG PLAY
⸜ ADAM CZERWIŃSKI & DAREK OLESZKIEWICZ, Feat. LARRY KOONSE, Pictures, AC Records 017/2020, № 109/600, GREY WAX, 180 g LP (2020)
⸜ DIANA KRALL, This Dream Of You, Verve Records 602507445416, TEST PRESS 2 x 180 g LP (2020);
⸜ TANGERINE DREAM, Thief, soundtrack, Elektra/Audio Fidelity AFZLP 221, „Numbered Edition | № 0033”, 180 g LP (1991/2015)
⸜ THE ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO, The Spiritual, Freedom/ORG Music RGM-2121, „Record Store Day 2019”, Limited Edition, 180 g RED WAX LP (1972/2019)

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IT IS SO THAT YOU NEED TO PAY FOR HIGH QUALITY. There are no exceptions to this rule, none. If someone thinks that for a fraction of a price of a high-end product they are able to produce a similar-sounding product, then they are either lying or should keep thinking about it. You can get closer to something much more expensive with a DIY product, but only get closer and only with a single unit - a commercial product is something completely different than a single prototype for your own needs, as everyone who has tried to enter the audio market surely knows.

The best products must be expensive because they use costly materials, there are research and development costs, and production and sales costs. Sometimes, however, as in the case of Julek Soja's cables, there is something else that has to be added to this equation, something that cannot be quantified, and which is commonly perceived as talent, intuition, the sixth sense, or whatever you want to call it. The Benchmark interconnect really sounds better than its price would suggest.

On the one hand, its sound is different from that of the Siltech Triple Crown, and on the other hand, it is similar to it, so its character is not as easy to grasp as in the case of 99% of other cables. It is, above all, a low sound. I write from time to time about my reluctance to listen to devices and products that deliver an in-depth analyses of every recording put out on a display - it may be useful in a recording studio, because it saves time and money, but when listening to the music at home it is simply a horrible experience. And the Soyaton cable offers an exactly opposite experience.

Its sound can be described as dense and low. The Siltech presents a wider band, in the sense that it does not focus so much on the midrange and lower midrange upper bass area. But it is precisely by emphasizing this part of the range that the Polish interconnect sounds in such an energetic way, with such a large volume. The accents I am talking about are not strong. Neither the double bass from the TSUYOSHI YAMAMOTO TRIO’s Live at the Misty, recorded in concert conditions, so a bit lightly, was not too heavy, and the timbre of JOHN SCOFIELD's guitar, recorded on the Swallow Tales by Tyler McDiarmid in The James L. Dolan Recording Studio in New York, was not exaggerated even though it was recorded quite low and massive.

It is more about the overall impression than an easy-to-grasp change. After some time its character is clear and repetitive, but it is still more of an "accent" than a "modification". So we get a low, dense and energetic sound with it. It perfectly shows the mass and gravitational power of bass guitars and double basses, such as - for example - ones recorded during the PATRICIA BARBER’s live performance at the Green Mill Club. It sounded very low and dynamic, that is, as it should have.

The Benchmark also brings the perspective we look at the recordings from closer to us. And again - not significantly, I mean in the comparison to the cable costing PLN 90,000, but still. The Siltech throws more space behind the performers, presents everything in a lighter way, i.e. less focused on the foreground. Only that with the Soyaton cable it didn't bother me. It just felt like a different flavor. It was not as resolving sound as with the reference cable, to make it clear, but it was also much more resolving, really a lot more than I would have expected from a cable for the money.

It is important that the tested interconnect does not impose its vision on the recordings, and if anything, it does it sensitively. The sonic character I am talking about is in a sense "next to" the music. Because neither the quite low sound of the double bass from the Barber disc, nor the dark sounding remaster of the Magnetic Fields by Jean-Michel Jarre were deepened, these two "densities" and "darknesses" were not added. And this is the best indicator of a cable’s class. When we listen carefully, we are able to tell that it sounds one way or the other, but when listening to music (listening to the music and listening session to assess an audio component are two different activities) cable’s advantages are used to emphasize its beauty, its energy and its colors.

I HEARD A VERY SIMILAR SET OF FEATURES comparing the Benchmark to the silver-gold Crystal Cable and listening to music from LP records. I confirmed a slight approximation of the foreground, lowering the midrange, but also excellent dynamics of the Polish interconnect. Its ability to convey a fast attack and to stop it is incredibly good. And I started the listening session with an album designed for such comparisons, i.e. THE ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO’s The Spiritual. The presentation from it displayed a close foreground, was explosive and tangible.

Interestingly, I could hardly hear the pops&crack that appear from time to time. As with the best turntables, with the reviewed cable they were somehow moved further away, beyond the music. It was not about cutting off the treble or warming it up. That, maybe I should finally say it clearly, is not a cable that would warm anything up. It is simply not bright, but natural. Percussion instruments that can be heard on the album almost all the time, small drums placed around the room, natural reverberation of the studio, all of this was rendered really well by the Benchmark.

▌ SUMMARY

THE FEATURES WHICH I MENTIONED, i.e. density, closeness, dynamics, beautiful colors and preserved naturalness of sound, were all summed up when listening to the DIANA KRALL’s This Dream Of You from the double Test Press (with an autograph ...). The test pressings are slightly brighter than the final release. The Benchmark did not show this difference as clearly as the reference cable. It’s just that it was not so because it dimmed or withdrew something, but because it saturated the lower midrange.

It presented Krall's vocal close to me, as it did with ANTHONY WILSON's guitar. But it placed the strings far back, nicely showing that they were recorded at a different stage of the album's production, but also not demonizing this fact. Because it is an incredibly pleasant cable to listen to, supporting the recordings, not standing in their way. It does not try to modify the sound, but emphasizes features specific for each particular recording. It focuses our attention on the lower midrange, but also gives us a great insight into the depth of the stage and impresses with very high dynamics.

It's not as resolving and selective as the most expensive cables I have (and know), that's clear. On the other hand, it does not fall behind in this respect as much as other cables. As a result, we get a true high-end product at extremely attractive price, which can be used in the most expensive audio systems. So the cable receives our RED Fingerprint award - bravo! ■