ne of the arguments against expensive cables used in high-end audio systems is based on the common knowledge of the cables that are used in recording studios. Long story short – usually they use cheap ones. The conclusion some draw from this would be this: if the recording was prepared using inexpensive professional cables often several meters long, the reproduction of the same material could be performed using similar interconnects and power cables.

That's not a particularly smart reasoning - if you apply same one to old films you might conclude that these should be displayed on old projectors invented for the tapes these films were originally recorded on, the old recordings should be played using the equipment and speakers on which they were recorded, etc., doubling this way all the errors recorded with the sound in the recording studio. We know - maybe outside the world of "anachrophiles" - that it is a dead end and it is clear that on our side of the recipient of some recording we should try to get the maximum quality and information out of what we get from producers. Using the same cables on THIS side would result in adding even more same errors to those that already appeared during recording, and yet the audio system reproducing the music should introduce as few distortions as possible.

Mastering session of Lotus album in Sony Japan Studio; photo Acoustic Revive

Sometimes, however, it is possible to sneak high-end cabling into the “pro” world. For example, Mr. Ken Ishiguro, the owner of Acoustic Revive, achieved that and his products are used during the recording sessions of renown artists and at prestigious concerts, eg during the Montereux Festival 2014, or in the recordings of some Japanese musicians (HERE and HERE) and for remastering sessions of the older materials.

The company's greatest success in this respect is the new edition of the Santana's Lotus (1974) album. This concert was first remastered ten years ago using some Acoustic Revive cables. This year, the latest version of this recording was released, made from original multi-track tapes to DSD 11.4 MHz and remastered in ultrahigh resolution PCM, using the full Acoustic Revive cabling and all the accessories from this company.

The result is stunning, and the material appeared on three SACD / CD discs in the 7 "Mini LP format. As our friend, Yoshi Hontani, a representative of this company outside of Japan, wrote, "compared to the material remastered ten years ago, the sound has been significantly improved in all aspects, such as intensity, consistency and imaging." I am sure that this experience was a direct impulse that led to the creation of Mr. Ishiguro's new series of cables featuring the latest type of copper: PC Triple-C / EX.

Acoustic Revive cables and accessories next to mixing console; note that there are as many as two RPC-1 power filters; photo Acoustic Revive

| RCA-1.0 ABSOLUTE-FM

The latest series of Acoustic Revive cables uses a conductor developed by the same group of engineers who in the past introduced PCOCC-A copper, and some time ago its successor (replacement), PC-Triple C copper (Pure Copper - Continuous Crystal Construction), FCM (Fine Chemicals & Materials),, which is part of the Furukawa corporation. This time they combined copper and silver, and the named the conductor PC-Triple C / EX (Pure Copper-Continuous Crystal Construction / EXTRA); a silver layer of 5N purity (99.999%) is applied on the PC-Triple C copper core.

It is not, however, silver-plated copper, as in all other such cables. If you remember how the PC-Triple C is made, i.e. by forging, not pulling, the matter will be simple - the silver layer is forged on copper. As a result, there is no transition layer in which copper particles mix with silver ones. According to the manufacturer, it is very important, because it allows for controlled signal transmission with regard to the skin effect. This type of conductor has a unique conductivity of 105.0% IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard), where 100% IACS equals the conductivity of 58,108 MS / m at 20 °C (more HERE).

The problem is a limited production volume - it is complicated and time and energy consuming, and thus expensive. If I understand correctly, Acoustic Revive is the first company to use this conductor in their cables. The first of a series of interconnects, analog and digital, is the analog RCA interconnect RCA-1.0 Absolute-FM. 'FM' at the end informs you about the use of FINEMET sleeves in the plugs. As I wrote before, it is an expensive element by the Hitachi Metals, Ltd. It is an amorphous metal obtained by rapid cooling of a molten alloy, which consists of: Fe, Si, B and small amounts of Cu and Nb. By heating the alloy to a temperature higher than its crystallization temperature, the metal changes its structure to nanocrystalline. Its purpose is to filter high-frequency interference.

The cable is more flexible than both Triple-C FM cables from this company, but it looks exactly the same, i.e. it features a black mesh sleeve and is terminated with, custom made for Acoustic Revive, rhodium-plated plugs with body made of aluminum and carbon fiber braid. They are slightly different from the ones used previously and it's the only element that distinguishes them from the copper cables of this manufacturer. The cable is directional, the correct connection is marked on the heat-shrink sleeves.

The Acoustic Revive RCA-1.0 Absolute-FM was tested in our reference system, connecting output of the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition Super Audio CD Player and the input of the Ayon Audio Spheris III preamplifier. It was compared to two other Acoustic Revive cables, i.e. RCA-1.0 Triple C-FM and RCA-1.0 Triple C-FM (1,8x1,4) plus to two other interconnects, the Crystal Cable Absolute Dream and Siltech Triple Crown. It was an A/B/A and B/A/A comparison with A and B known. Let me add that I was breaking this cable in for two month in my headphone system with Ayon Audio HA-3 headphone amplifier and HiFiMAN HE-1000 v2 headphones.

Silver is a metal with specific connotations in the literature devoted to audio cabling. It is associated with a bright, precise, poorly filled sound. On the other hand, it is extremely resolving and dynamic. As always, this stereotype has its beginning in something real. For a very long time cables made of silver or silver-plated copper actually sounded much like that. As it turned out, the problem was insufficient purity of the material, as well as the way it was made. Since then, a lot has changed, and the industry has come up with some solutions that guarantee a good start for cable designers.

First of all, it's about the way the conductor is made. The PCOCC-A copper, which is ultra-fine material cast in such a way to obtain very long crystals, has gained enormous popularity. Also, silver conductors are made differently – in the past they were prepared by jewelry specialists, not the signal transmission. Now silver cables like Siltech and silver cables with the addition of gold such as Crystal Cable are among the best you can find on the market.

But also copper, used properly, can sound unbelievably well, which has been proven by companies such as Acrolink, Kubala-Sosna, Tara Labs and reviewed Acoustic Revive. Until now, the combination of these two metals, i.e. silver and copper using silver-plating on copper, although done by some companies very cleverly, was not – at least for me and beyond a few exceptions - a step in the right direction. It offered something different, but this different was not better enough.

The Absolute cable took me by surprise. Its sound is very, very similar to the top Siltech Triple Crown I use in my system. It's not that these cables are the same, I'm far from such conclusions. But the thing is in the sonic character, or the way the sound is formed. The sound is a bit dark and yet it delivers a lot of information in the treble area. This seeming illogicality results from commonly used audiophile terms not matching the reality - for a while now the sound of audio products from the top shelf has been so sophisticated that I believe we need some new terms to describe it properly.

In this case, it's all about combining the dark character and a lot of information in the treble. This is the same direction that most top-high-end devices that I've dealt with recently, also follows such as the TechDAS Air Force One turntable, Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition Player, Kondo On-Gaku amplifier, YG Acoustics Carmel 2 loudspeakers, or Siltech Triple Crown cable. It's amazing how this – after all not so crazy expensive - cable comes to similar "conclusions"!

It is amazingly resolving and at the same tome the details are just a secondary feature of this sound. When you hear cymbals, there is this thick, real sound in front of you without an underlined attack phase. With Acoustic Revive, even the incredibly warm Absolute Dream by Crystal Cable delivers a stronger attack, and it is not so coherent up to the very top. Due to the above-average amount of information, the sound is large, solid and dense. We mainly perceive its saturation, and only then details. That's why I'm talking about a dark sound and high energy of treble.

The other band's extreme is very similar. The cable delivers extended and juicy low end, which is exactly the opposite of what the stereotype would suggest, and to what we have become accustomed to listening to silver-plated cables from the lower shelves for years. There is even some extra extension to the lower end, if I had to say something about it; or maybe it is just accurate, exactly as it is supposed to be? Because it is also very selective and resolving. Crystal cables show everything - remember that we are talking about top-high-end level! - in a more veiled way. Mr Ishiguro's cable dives deeper into the mix, without breaking the relationship between the sounds.

Perhaps this is why it is a rhythmic and direct sound - the energy that goes hand in hand with saturation gives an immediate sound with low-set foreground. Siltech delivers similar performance, adding to this refinement and much better defined depth of the soundstage. But the classic Triple-C sounds in a more coarse way compared with the new Acoustic Revive cable. It also has a strong, resolved top, but it is more one-dimensional, it is not as dark as here. The Triple-C cables, especially the oval conductor versions, are unique interconnects, do not make a reduction error. It's just that Absolute goes even further, same as when the Acrolink 7N-PC9500 power cable showed me some issues with the previously praised, 7N-PC9300.

The combination of energy, resolution and dynamics is a recipe for live and true performance. And that's how it actually is with new Acoustic Revive. The performers are "present" and multidimensional, with a three-dimensional body, with nice tonality, texture. In comparison, the Crystal Cable shows everything further away from listener, more distant. The back of the stage is presented also in a quit clear way, but it's not as well defined as by Siltech, and even as by the classic Triple-C cables. But also from the latter, the new version differs in a better "understanding" of the relationship between reverberation and direct sounds, and with richer tone rendering.

Because the tone and timbre are simply excellent. It's refined, full-band performance, I'd even say "widened" beyond full-band. This will seem to be the case when you replace some other cable from the same or lower price range with Absolute. With this cable everything comes alive, thickens, fills up. The attack of the sound seems to be slightly rounded – it's an impression resulting from the fact that sharpness and excessive contouring never occur. So the sound is balanced and leveled from the very top, to the very bottom, and it is difficult for me to point out and part of the range that is in any way emphasized, or withdrawn, or where there would be less energy.

Summary

It should already be clear that the PC-Triple C / EX conductors are something special - a valuable development of PC-Triple C copper. The sound is richer, denser and darker with them. And at the same time more energetic and involving. The high price of its production will probably be a deterrent for most companies, however, those that decide to use it will gain an advantage over the competition. And if the execution will be done so well as by Acoustic Revive in the RCA-1.0 Absolute-FM cable, it will result in a unique, ie mature and all-round sound for still - as for high-end – reasonable price.

The basic problem of this cable is its non-distinctive appearance and similarity to all previous Acoustic Revive cables. It seems to me that this is the moment when some other, more distinctive packaging should be considered and the same goes for the appearance of the cable itself. Well deserved, self-explanatory RED Fingerprint.