˻ PREMIERE ˼

⌈ AVATAR AUDIO is a company run by CZARIUSZ ANDREJCZUK, whose core offer consists of loudspeakers. Their design differs from the solutions commonly used today; these are ideas from the 1950s-70s taken to the extreme. The company's offer also includes a set of cabling designed to get the most out of these speakers. It is the first time that we are testing a speaker cable from the top series of this manufacturer. ⌋

vatar Audio's DREAMLINK No. 1 SPEAKER CABLE is a complementary part of the company's cabling system, including an RCA interconnect from the same, top-of-the-range series from the manufacturer; its test was issued two months ago (HF № 225, more → HERE). As written then by me, we are talking about the most expensive cables in the portfolio, although these are still quite affordable products. We will pay PLN 4800 for the interconnect and PLN 16 200 for the speaker cable.

▌ DreamLink Number One

THIS CABLE IS DELIVERED TO US in a large wooden box. The front is engraved with the logo and the cable description is glued underneath. Inside, the box has been lined with a red soft material and the cables are inserted into two bags of red fabric. The set is neat and aesthetically pleasing. The fact that both cables, for the left and right channels, fit into one box and, in addition, into small pouches, is due to their exceptional flexibility. Arranging the cable in the system should therefore not be difficult.

Flexibility is flexibility, but the DreamLinks No. 1 are relatively heavy, because of their large brass bushings. This is one of the elements that sets these designs apart from others. According to Czariusz, head and designer of Avatar Audio, they include ferrite filters to suppress electromagnetic interference. There are bushings on both cables, but the negative is on the speaker side and the positive is on the amplifier side. The cable is directional, the signal should run according to the direction of the inscriptions on the bushings.

According to the manufacturer, the conductor is made of "extremely pure copper, in addition processed physically and chemically". Also the plugs are made of copper, gold-plated, with "as little metal as possible (where possible metal is replaced by plastic)". The length of the cable is a non-standard 2.7m, and I assume this length results from listening. In the final refinement of the sound, short sections were cut from the cable and a sound evaluation was made each time.

▌ LISTENING

⸜ HOW WE LISTENED The Avatar Audio speaker cable was tested in the "High Fidelity" reference system. SOULUTION 710 power amplifier and the HARBETH M40.1 loudspeakers were connected with it and the cable was compared to the SILTECH TRIPLE CROWN and CRYSTAL CABLE ART SERIES DA VINCI cables. The tested cables were arranged on Acoustic Revive RCI-3 stands together with the reference cables.

⸜ Płyty użyte w teście | wybór

⸜ TOOL, 10,000 Days, Sony BMG Music Entertainment 819912, CCD (2006).
⸜ ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, I Robot, Arista/Sony Music Japan SICP 30168, 2 x BSCD2 CD (1977/2013).
⸜ TSUYOSHI YAMAMOTO TRIO, Autumn In Seattle, First Impression Music FIM UHD 043, seria „UltraHD 32-bit Mastering”, CD (2001/2011).
⸜ KAZUMI WATANABE, Jazz Impressions, Ewe Records EWSA 0163, SACD/CD (2009).
⸜ WARSAW STOMPERS, New Orlean’s Stompers, Polskie Nagrania „Muza”/Warner Music Poland 9 02959602 0, CD (1965/2016).

»«

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE heavy rock bands, TOOL, with 10,000 Days being one of my favourite its albums - this is where I started listening to Czariusz's cables. Not to spite him - he is a authority in baroque music - nor to impress anyone. I just wanted to apply a certain research technique of exposing the listener to sounds not heard for a long time. And I haven't listened to Tool for a long time.

It gave me a fresh look on the sound of my system and also allowed me to come up with my first, still provisional theses about how the tested cable sounds. And it sounds embodied reminiscent of a large, exuberant blooming flower. The opening track of the aforementioned disc begins with two guitars - one playing in mono, on the listening axis, and the other, stereo, spread across the channels by means of an effect. And from time to time, little toy - yes you can hear it - cymbals are struck softly underneath.

After switching to the DreamLink No. 1, from both Siltech and Crystal Cable, the sound came closer to me and filled in the room. Namely, that the midrange and its transition with the bass was stronger. The guitars became a bit heavier, while the cymbals sounded slightly quieter. At the same time, they were not dimmed; this is not a cable that would lose information. But I had the impression that the sound engineer who mixed the music had withdrawn them a little in the pan, giving more space to the guitars.

It also constitutes a heavily saturated sound. Therefore, listened to with the tested cable, the title track from I Robot THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, in the 2013 remaster, released in Japan on two Blu-spec CD-2 (BSCD2) discs, sounded thick with bottom. The saturation I'm talking about consisted of brightening of some of the low midrange. But I didn't perceive this as colouration, which I found very interesting. I listened to this rendition a bit like a new version of a well-known piece, sitting curious and engaged.

WE’RE FACED WITH A PRETTY CLOSE foreground, high saturation and a voiced but also creamy top end. Therefore, the vocalisation that begins the first track on I Robot was almost within hand’s reach. Admittedly, it could be heard in the background, as that's where it was placed by the album's producers, but it wasn't 'thin' either. In the sense that it was quite solid and clear both in the set but also well contained.

On the Parsons disc, I also noticed something I took for granted with the Tool album without paying attention to it, namely the perfect phase sound coherence. Nothing here fights with each other for our attention, doesn't stand in front of the mix. Actually, it is the whole message that is emotionally charged and therefore seems large and close to us. Thanks to the coherence involved, the sound is wide and deep. The soundstage is also large, but at this point I am referring to solids rather than space.

What's cool about this sound is that the top is strong here and balances the saturated midrange and nicely filled bottom end. I've heard this before with Tool, which is recorded quite dark and with strong compression, but also with an Alan Parsons album. The drums in I Robot are recorded in mono, as if the musician wanted to save the tracks on the analogue tape recorder for showy guitars and synths. The Avatar Audio cable played it clearly, without blending into the background or softening it. Yes, the attack was slightly rounded, but this did not translate into an amount of information.

That's why, unique in its sound, TSUYOSHI YAMAMOTO's piano from his trio's disc, entitled Autumn In Seattle, contained what I expected from it. That is: a strong entry, nearing on overdrive, and a strong fill-in. It sounded similar to what I've heard with Siltech and Crystal Cable. Resolution was what the expensive reference cables were clearly better at with these discs. And I guess that, ultimately, is what the quest for perfection is all about. After all, information builds everything - from timbre to dynamics and stereo image.

The price difference between Number One and Triple Crown and Da Vinci is astronomical, so it could not be otherwise. However, the difference in resolution was not so great. The Polish cable is so well "aligned" internally that when listened to without an expensive reference point it will not show this at all. All the more so because it is such an internally consistent sound, such well arranged message. Because of how well it does the job, we focus on the details, but on the message itself. With Avatar's Number One, we listen less to the sound and more to the music.

The cable has an even tonal balance and very good dynamics, and its bass is full and dense. It is not as well differentiated as the bands above, but - again - only if we relate this to an expensive reference point. In its price range, the overall performance is excellent. For all that, the bass differentiation from disc to disc was very good. The other bass sounded different from the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio album, and different from KAZUMI WATANABE's Jazz Impressions disc. The latter was more rumbling and reached lower end, while the former had a lighter fill-in.

▌ Summary

THE CD FINISHING MY TEST New Orleans's Stompers by the group WARSAW STOMPERS, released in 1965 with the number one album as part of the "Polish Jazz" series, is a mono and rather flat recording. Jacek Gawłowski of JG Mastering Lab did his best to get something out of it and was successful, I believe. However, we can't change the physics, which is why this is a rather light and not fully saturated sound.

The Number One cable handled this brilliantly. It did not enlarge the sound sources, nor did it deepen their sound. And yet, despite everything, I listened to this album comforted. The sonorous, slightly 'golden' treble and clear upper midrange had the charm for which I listen this album to. Delightfully old-faschioned it has a vibrancy, a lust for life, a momentum that is absent from most contemporary and not only jazz productions. And Avatar followed this without interfering with dynamics or timbre.

And this is what I thank you for – please listen to the Avatar Audio cable in your systems, no matter how much you have invested in it, because it is worth it. ●