˻ PREMIERE ˼

⌈ AUDIOPHASE is a one-man audio company founded by Mr. KAROL GOLIŃSKI in 2017. One of the hallmarks of the new times is that audio companies are established not only in cities, but also in small centers – this is also the case here. AudioPhase is based in the village of Suków, located in Kielce County. We are testing its most expensive AC power cable called MOMENTUM. ⌋

UITE RECENTLY, IN JULY this year, we tested the then latest AudioPhase AC power cable. As it turns out, final touches were being put on its top-of-the-line and really expensiveMOMENTUM cable at the same time. Even though PLN 7,900 złotych (€1,800) for a 2-metre section is only a starting point for many companies, for AudioPhase it is, for the time being, the final destination point.

It's a cable so new that it was not yet on the manufacturer's website at the time of writing the test. There were, however, other cables with the AudioPhase logo – five power and two USB cables as well as four speaker models. If we took a closer look at them, we might conclude that Karol Goliński, the company owner and designer, is testing different solutions, without becoming attached to one or another technology. It is as if, having decided on the final price, he adjusts the materials and ideas used to it. It doesn't make the company offer coherent, but results in a consistent sound quality for the price you pay. If we buy a more expensive cable or speaker, we will certainly get better sound, and the improvement is determined by how much more we pay.

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| A few simple words with…

KAROL GOLIŃSKI
owner, designer

THE MOMENTUM CABLE TOOK a very long time to develop, with interruptions. I knew from the beginning that this prototype was the basis for my "Top Product", so I was in no hurry to release it to the market. Everything had to be refined to the last detail. Music was to be the priority, while the cable was to be smooth, dense, malleable and characterized by high resolution with lots of information at the same time.

I wanted to make a cable that would be universal and could be used to power a strip, an amplifier, a source and any other electronic devices. After many trials and prototypes, Momentum has just now seen the light of day and can be presented. To bring it even closer to a wider audience, Momentum is now being offered on direct sale at our company. This allowed us to set an attractive price for the end user. You can rent the cable without any obligations to listen to it in your own system. KG

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▌ Momentum

LAST MONTH, while testing the KATHARSIS TECHNOLOGY interconnects, I wrote about how a company's maturity is evidenced, among other things, by the way it packages its products. The times of mediocrity are gone as more and more people have become aware that an audio device can be packaged like Apple products. If someone hasn’t noticed that, it means they do not understand the modern market.

There are several strategies in the way perfectionist audio products are packaged, but the simplest and most common division runs between what can be called "rich" and its opposite – "sparing". However, there is a group of companies that has found the golden means between the two extremes, choosing one point on the axis that runs between them. And such enterprises appear to be the most mature companies with a stabilized offer and customer base, i.e. stores and end users.

The Momentum cable packaging is representative of the sparing option. However, since AudioPhase seems to me to be a mature company, this is not just any box. I looked at it with curiosity and it immediately reminded me of a scene from the movie Intern, starring Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway (Intern, directed by Nancy Meyers, 2015). Jules (Anne Hathaway) shows people working in the packing room of her company how it should be done, so that the buyer feels special and is convinced that someone there, on the "other side" of the credit card really thinks about them.

Of course, I know it's a fairy tale, but a beautiful one. And sometimes some of its aspects can be encountered in the real world as well – when unpacking the Momentum cable from an outer box, we take out another box made of corrugated cardboard from it. This type of packaging is popular in the higher-priced clothing segment, and at home we pull out scarves out of it, for example. A small company logo is placed on the top. Inside we find the cable packed in a cotton pouch, with plugs additionally protected by pouches made of artificial material. If it weren't for them, filling foam and a laminated certificate, we could talk about "eco" packaging.

⸜ TECHNOLOGY One of the external distinguishing features of the Momentum cable is its high flexibility and another one is a large wooden piece with the logo and name in the middle of its run. It features black cotton-looking outer braid and high-end plugs.

The design of the AudioPhase top cable is based on Japanese monocrystalline copper and there are three bundles with the diameter ø of 3 mm2 each. Space between them is filled with Karol's favorite material, cotton. This is also a common choice of Japanese manufacturers. This material is part of a system designed to eliminate vibrations between conductors.

Internal shielding is made of copper foil and copper mesh, which gives, as the manufacturer declares, 100% coverage. Another vibration dampening material that also establishes internal geometry is wound over this, alongside further layers of thick cotton to eliminate external vibrations, additional external copper mesh shielding (100% coverage) and more vibration dampening material that protects the cable from damage as well.

In Karol's word, the cable's outer braid is a blend of two "specially selected" anti-static materials which, as he says, have an impact not only on sound, but also on flexibility that allows for easy routing. As you can see, the design was all about three things: maintaining flexibility, providing the best possible shielding, and dampening vibrations as effectively as possible. The last element that helps with this is the already mentioned wooden piece – the manufacturer refers to it as "the can" – with a logo and serial number. As I read in an email sent to our editorial office, it is of a size and shape chosen after many trials and tests of different wood types; it’s made of American cherry.

The cable is terminated with top FURUTECH FI-50 NCF plugs. They are used by some manufacturers in their top products, e.g. by Siltech in the Triple Crown series. These are plugs with rhodium-plated contacts and an NFC material to reduce vibrations. The designer adds:

However, Momentum is not just about a cable and plugs. The method of the confection itself inside the boxes and the use of passive filtration are also unique. Each cable has an individual serial number, each unit is measured and checked at all production stages, and we have all measurements recorded in our system to identify each product.

The cable is sold only in 2-metre sections because of its design and optimal alignment. I also believe that a length of about two meters for an AC power cable is optimal.

▌ THE LISTENING SESSION

⸜ THE WAY WE LISTENED The AudioPhase MOMENTUM power cable was tested in the "High Fidelity" reference system. It powered the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition SACD player (№ 01/50) and was compared to the Siltech Triple Crown Power reference cable.

The Momentum cable was plugged into an ACOUSTIC REVIVE RTP-4EU ABSOLUTE power strip plugged into Furutech wall outlets via a 2.5-meter Acrolink Mexcel PC-9500 cable. These sockets are powered by a separate line running to a fuse box which contains an HPA fuse. This line is made from a 6-meter section of the Oyaide Tunami Nigo cable.

⸜ Albums used in the test | a selection

⸜ KORTEZ, Bumerang, Jazzboy Records JB 029 2CD, 2 x CD (2015).
⸜ THE CURE, Wish, Fiction records/Sound-Pol SPB CD 015, CD (1992).
⸜ EVA CASSIDY,Songbird, Blix Street Records/JVC VICJ-010-0045, XRCD24 (1998/2010).
⸜ JOE PASS, For Django, Pacific Jazz/EMI Music Japan TOCJ-90027, HQCD (1964/2008).
⸜ KRAFTWERK, 3-D The Catalogue, KlingKlang | Parlophone Records Ltd. 295873424 | 8 x CD (2017).
⸜ THE RED MITCHELL - HAROLD LAND QUINTET, Hear Ye!!!! Hear Ye!!!!, Atlantic/Warner Music Japan WPCR-25159, „Atlantic Records 60th Anniversary”, CD (1962/2007).
⸜ BILLIE HOLIDAY, Body and Soul, Verve Records/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDCD 658, „Original Master Recording”, „Ultradisc II”, Gold CD (1957/1966).

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MOMENTUM “ENTERS” A RECORDING softly, albeit with swing. In this poetic way I wanted to emphasize the nature of this cable's sound (let me remind you: when I say "this cable's sound", I mean "the way it modifies signal"). It is very empathetic to the spirit of music. It tries to enter the fabric of a given piece neither to take it apart into small parts, nor to show exactly and precisely how it is made. The Momentum brings out emotions in the recording, "arranging" sound as it deems right in such a way that it is smooth and fluid.

Ludzie z lodu, a track from the Bumerang album by KORTEZ, sounded warmer and more tangible than with the reference cable. The acoustic guitar that opens this track has a cut-up range and sounds as if it was being played with a capodaster. This makes it somewhat reminiscent of ukulele sound, but with a fuller midrange. The keyboard and percussion instruments sound similar. With the Polish cable, the guitar was close to me and had considerable volume. When Kortez's vocal came in, placed in a massive dome of sound that surrounds the listener on all sides, the dome was close to me, yet had a very large volume.

Such closeness of sound combined with its swing is perhaps one of the most important aspects of the tested cable's sound. The entry of the bass guitar, and then the full-range sound of the other instruments towards the end of the song, was marked strongly and fiercely. It was really strong sound with a lot of volume, i.e. the instruments were large in size and not compressed either between the speakers, or in their acoustic environment.

Kortez’s vocal was recorded with a fair amount of treble. Sibilants are strong here and the voice has a light timbre. And yet one does not get the impression of brightening and shallowness. The sound engineer needed to do this, I believe, to achieve the space I am talking about. Its construction consists not only in adding a long delay, but also modifications in the phase domain, which can be best heard in the upper range. The Polish cable rounded and warmed sibilants, brought elements on the axis closer to me, but did not diminish the power of the recording. I was closer to sounds, but not in a smaller space.

I had a very similar impression of Apart from the album Wish by THE CURE – they are giving a concert on October 20th in Cracow, so I am slowly listening to their recordings. Anyway, Smith’s vocal was slightly closer to me. It was also more pleasant to listen to, as sibilants were rounded. They are a bit sharpened on this album, while with the Momentum cable this was slightly “fixed”.

The cable maintains very good resolution at the same time. The Cure leader’s whisper was recorded on a separate track behind his voice, repeating the main vocal. It is a well-known procedure that was used by Jim Morrison on the band’s debut album, Peter Gabriel on So, and by others. It always makes a big impression if it’s properly implemented.

The Momentum cable showed that on Wish it has great proportions. That's why, when another track with a vocal entered in the third minute, also on the axis, but far at the back of the stage, it was also shown very well, without zooming in on us and without being put out. The recording had a very well preserved, smoothly delivered rhythm. Its reproduction is not easy, even though it may seem so, and yet the tested cable kept everything in check and did not allow the instruments to "go apart" in time.

For all its warmth and promotion of midrange sounds, the Momentum does not extinguish recordings. The loss of some information is often perceived as warmth, which is not the case. Recordings with a lot of information are truly dark, and thus somewhat warm. And that's what the Momentum is like, too. BILLIE HOLIDAY's vocal from the album Body and Soul, released by Mobile Fidelity on a gold CD, with material remastered from the original “master” tape, was thus still a bit bright and clear. However, it also had a lot of “body”, and the instruments behind it were large and tangible. It could be heard that they are further away, that the sound engineer made them quieter for the vocal to be clear. Anyway, they were well-defined with good “presence”.

The album Hear Ye!!!! Hear Ye!!!! by THE RED MITCHELL – HAROLD LAND QUINTET, recorded during three October days, is not recorded as well as recordings from the 1950s. There is no particularly wide bandwidth, and the texture of instruments is not very rich. And yet this music appears attractive, compelling and enticing. These are simply excellent musicians at a time that was good for them, and in a great configuration. I have the CD in a stereo version, released in Japan on the Atlantic record label 60th anniversary, and it retains that inner understanding that prevailed between the musicians.

The Momentum cable showed it in a warm way, with a closely set foreground and slightly shortened reverberations, but it also showed everything I'm talking about, for its special qualities do not come from weaknesses, but are part of this sound concept. The stereo panorama was wide and deep. Resolution and dynamics were very good. So, I did not have the impression of sound "tightening" or slowing down.

▌ Conclusions

THE MONOPHONIC BILLIE HOLIDAY album Body and Soul demonstrated the dexterity with which the Polish cable moves through music. It preserved the volume of the recording, but did not magnify the vocal. The music was warm and you could hear the rounding of the treble, while mid-bass had something "extra" in it, making it big and nice. However, not for a moment did I have the impression that something was magnified or missing.

This is because it’s a nice, “adjusting” cable. Not only does it fit a system well mechanically, as it is flexible, but also in terms of sound, owing to its “forgiving” character. So, it will alleviate problems with high tones and bright treble. At the same time, it will not make sound muddy, as it has high resolution. Its sound can be briefly characterized as follows: maturity, warmth and naturalness. It is very good. ■