V R in the V R WORKSHOP stands for 'Violinist's Reference'. Founded in 2012 by a violinist, Mr. Yeo Wee Soon, is based in Singapore. It's one of those micro-companies run by a passionate making products mostly for himself and his friends. Its products are handmade and expensive. But that's how it is in the world of luxury products - the smaller the supply, the more manual labor in it, the higher the price.

We tested these cables for the first time in December 2012, just after the company was founded. The interconnect and speaker cable of the Milstein series proved to offer high performance. These were product made by an artisan for other people of art. Far from "perfection" they focused the emotions in music, on natural sound, actually on the “artisan” side of it rather than on technical one. So they were not meant for everyone. But – let me repeat - such are the products of companies of this type. They are an expression of the personality of the maker created for those who share his vision of the world.

MILSTEN | SERAPHIM

The lineup is split into two parts: the "entry level", i.e. Seraphim series, for "medium-budget and high-end systems", and Milstein, which is "the best company has to offer" (quotes for the company's website). The Seraphim series is divided into four levels: Level 1, Level 2, and so on.

There is not too much information on the website and its appearance has nothing to do with the luxury products that it presents. But - I have to remind you again, for which I'm sorry – this is one of the features of those who came into audio business out of their passion for music, who do not have the money for promotion. For them, such "trinkets" as a website, and even the packaging and finishing of products is secondary to the performance. And if they have to choose between taking the time to improve the sound or those other details, they choose the former.

So you will not find almost any information about the reviewed cables. All we know is their price and what we see. Having said that I can tell you that Milstein cable has a small diameter and is designed to power sources of low power requirements such as: CD / SACD players, file players, preamps, and headphone amplifiers. Upon order manufacturer can prepare a special version for more power-hungry devices such as amplifiers.

It features a cotton outer sleeve and is terminated with heavy plugs made of chrome-plated brass and carbon braid. The contacts are not gold-plated, perhaps rhodium-plated. These are made in one of the Taiwanese factories. They look very similar to those used – among others - by Furutech and Acrolink. Disassembling the plug revealed three thin, solid-core copper wires.

The Seraphim cable looks different. It is very thick and consists of two twisted, thick cables in black PVC mesh. In the UK and US versions the plugs are made by the same company of aluminum, with silver contacts. Apparently, this company does not offer the Schuko version, so for the cable for our market, Mr. Yeo Wee Soon decided to use a Viborg plug with rhodium-plated contacts. Disassembling revealed that there are two thick runs of copper and silver plated copper per each cable. I do not know if that was the idea, but each of the cables is split at the end and only half its screwed to the plug.

Cables are not particularly good looking, but - I promise, this is the last time – let me say again that it's a common feature of products made by tiny companies. This is not a rule though. I do not know what is a standard box customers receive it in as for this test it was sent in a single, plastic bag.

Analogue Interconnect
SERAPHIM Level 1

Price: 1500 USD

Together with two power cables Mr. Yeo Wee Soon sent me a RCA interconnect, so I decided to take a look at it too in this power cables review.

I know very little about its design. However, some clues come from the plugs and the weight of this cable. The former are unique Bullet Plugs, now sold under the KLE Innovations (KLEI) brand by Mr Keith Louis Eichmann, their creator. These are made entirely of plastic, and the contacts areas are as small as possible. The cable is incredibly light, which suggests that it was built with very thin conductors, in dielectrics, perhaps in the form of tubes. It seems that the cable is not shielded. All these elements were originally developed for Eichmann Technologies cables.

The V R Workshop IC can be treated as a foretaste of what power cables have to offer. Its sound is incredibly palpable. It delivers big phantom images, distinct foreground and almost warm, completely “non-mechanical” music playback. This is a coherent, smooth sound, focus primarily on the midrange and also lower part of the band. The top end is weaker than even with Crystal Cable Absolute Dream, which is one of the warmest cables I know. The resolution and selectivity are good, but it is what distinguishes this cables from, for example, the Acoustic Revive Triple-C interconnect. I'd say this is a cable especially for fans of classic, preferably chamber music and vocals.

The power cables were compared to my reference ones, i.e. Acoustic Revive Power Reference Triple-C and Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9500.

They were plugged into Acoustic Revive RTP-4EU Ultimate power distributor placed on the Asura QRS L1 platform. This was a A/B/A comparison with A and B known.

Recordings used for the test (a sele- ction)

• Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1
• Ballades, Seog-Jin Cho, London Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music LCC UCCG-1755, SHM-CD (2016)
• Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington, The Stockholm Concert, Jazz World JWD 102.213, CD (1994)
• Frank Sinatra, Nice’n’Easy, Capitol Records/Mobile Fidelity UDCD 790, “24kt Gold Collectors Edition”, Gold-CD (1960/2002)
• Oscar Peterson Trio, Oscar Peterson Trio at the Concertgebouw, Verve/Universal Music Japan UCCV-9220, “Oscar Peterson Happy 80th Birthday!”, CD (1957/2005).
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Missarum Liber Primus, wyk. Coro Polifonico, dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, dyr. Roberti Gabbiani, Fonè 033 3SACD, 3 x SACD/CD (2003)
• Josquin Desprez, Missa D’ung aultere amer, Motets & Chansons, wyk. Almere, Andrew Lawrence-King, Obsidian CD701, CD (2007)
• Orchestral Manouver in the Dark, The Punishment of Luxury, White Noise | RCA Deutschland Sony Music Entertainment Germany GmbH 5435492, CD (2017)
• Palestrina, Missa Papae Marcelli | Motets, wyk. Sistine Chapel Choir, dyr. Massimo Palombella, Deutsche Grammophon 479 6131, CD (2016)
• Vivaldi, 5 Concerti for Bassoon, Strings & Continuo, wyk. Milan Turković, I Solisti Italiani, Denon Co-78921, „Mastersonic | One-Point Recording”, CD (1994) w: Welcome to the Concert. The high End reference Sound, Denon Co-78921-25, „Mastersonic | One-Point Recording”, 5 x CD (1994)

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Japanese issues available at

Milstein

The Milstein cable, designed for sources, sounds in a very mature way. In its sound there are no tricks, there is no desire to induce the "wow!" effect, it is definitely not about quickly impressing the listener. I would say that in a quick comparison with some impressive cable it may seem bland. Until one listens to it more carefully, for a longer time, preferably in one's own audio system.

Its value lies primarily in the excellent presentation of the foreground. It's a cable that makes everything bigger and closer to us. Only with one album, with poorly recorded material from the Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington concert in Stockholm, the sound seemed smaller, and the vocal was placed further away from me, presented from a greater perspective - I have no idea why. With all other recordings, the foreground was more powerful, more palpable, which was especially noticeable with the recordings of Nice'N'Easy by Sinatra.

Still, it's not a cable that always sounds the same - it treated differently the new OMD album, where it slightly eased the attack of treble, smoothed out the active entrances of instruments, or differently a live recording by Oscar Peterson Trio, where it moved the music closer to me and spaced instruments wider than the reference cable did.

Because that's how you will have to approach this, i.e. to balance your expectations and consider what your present cable has to offer. The Millstein is not particularly resolving or selective. It plays with bigger plans and does not really convey small changes to the space relations. But it also presents a very coherent, slightly warm, primarily based on the midrange version of world of recordings, with which everything is interesting, because it's happening "here and now" rather than on the "sound stage" behind the speakers. The bass extension is good, but this cable is not a master of emphasizing of what's going on in both range extremes.

Seraphim

This power cable, although it looks so different, uses different plugs, features a completely different design than Milstein, it still sounds like its twin brother. Used against recommendation, i.e. Millstein powering the amplifier, and Seraphim the CD player, they both still present their advantages, but in a less convincing manner, as if through a smoky glass. When I got back to the “correct” arrangement they immediately presented their best qualities again.

Which is density and fluidity of the sound. I'm pretty sure that Mr. Yeo Wee Soon during his listening sessions had a following picture in front of him: a full, big sound with wonderfully differentiated tone. The latter for the first few moments seems "too" pleasant, "too" natural. But as we all know the sound can never be too natural and such an impression is an effect of this moment of transition between the two types of presentation. After a while you will realize that most other cables sound, compared to Seraphim, not natural enough, not pleasant enough.

In terms of tone shaping, almost tangible foreground sounds, Seraphim and Milstein go in the direction set by two best cables I know, i.e. Siltech Triple Crown and Harmonix X-DC Studio Master Million Maestro. There are a lot of differences between them, especially in terms of differentiation, resolution, but they do have this particular feature in common. Seraphim also has a special ability to catch attention. The two cables it was compared with were not so “fleshy". They delivered a better, farther, deeper view into music, they extended bass and treble more, but when it came to the sound of individual instruments, it was the Seraphim that presented a better show.

Summary

Such cables are not created by accident or in rush. Both - but also the interconnect - share the same advantages and disadvantages. In fact, both have the same sonic character and the same tasks have been set for them. It's about richness, tangibility and great tone differentiation. The tonal balance is shifted towards lower midrange and the upper treble is not particularly active.

The resolution and selectivity are not particularly refined and you have to hear it in your system to decide whether you like this direction or not. And if you do, then it is worth to keep those cables, because although they are very expensive, they do what they do perfectly. Because both cables, especially together, turn "music" into a "musical spectacle", despite the fact that at first glance these are not cables that are designed to impress listener. If you decide you like them it's going to be a long-term relationship.