arol Goliński, the AUDIOPHASE owner and constructor, has so far been dealing with two aspects of audio: the construction of loudspeakers and AC power cables, and he has been really good at both. Based on the current company offer presented on the AudioPhase website, one can assume that market conditions have forced Mr Goliński to specialize in cables. Some time has passed since the Devil model, a quite inexpensive, fantastic AC power cable, was tested in “High Fidelity” and the AudioPhase offer now includes as many as four cables of this type: the Devil (1,700 PLN for 1.5 m), Hapur (2,995 PLN for 1.8 m), the top-of-the-range F1 (4,995 PLN for 2 m) and the latest Fountainhead model that was not yet presented on the company website at the time of this test.

KAROL GOLIŃSKI
Owner, constructor

The Fountainhead is a cable that has been designed, from the very beginning, with the thought of supplying power to signal sources and preamplifiers. Before taking on its final form, the product had undergone multiple tests with different plugs and topologies. I wanted to construct a cable that would be deprived of its own character and would not dominate the system – one that would be transparent and capable of extracting the most good out of the electronics that it supplies power to.

The cable’s conductor is single-crystal UP-OCC copper and the cross-section of each conductor is 2.08 mm2. I wanted to dampen external interference as effectively as possible, so I used four types of screens. I have also taken care of dampening the cable’s natural vibration. Its design is based on a cotton core and all materials used for production have anti-static properties.

As regards the end of the cable connected to an electrical outlet, the selected plug model is Furutech FI-38 (R), while the IEC is a plug created specially for the cable, i.e. the AudioPhase RHODIUM model. It is based on the high purity of copper which is polished, gold-plated and then rhodium-plated. Inside the plug there is a mixture of piezoelectric minerals whose role is to turn vibrations into heat.

| Fountainhead

The Fountainhead is a cable designed to supply power to devices characterized by low power consumption – preamplifiers and CD, BD and file players. If you know our blood-red Devil model, the Fountainhead may not look too interesting – its outer coating is ordinary black braid. The cable is sent to clients in a simple cardboard box, packed in a little black bag.

The conductors are made of UP-OCC copper. The Ultra-Pure, Ohno Continuous Casting is a process of manufacturing wires that was patented in Japan and has become very popular in the audio industry. Instead of classic heat wire-drawing, casting is applied. It makes it possible to obtain long crystals of high purity (6N) – hence the frequently used name: “single-crystal copper”. The screens that Karol mentions are copper braids and foil. The Fountainhead is flexible, has nicely-looking plugs at its ends and its shape can be easily adjusted.

As for the end of the cable connected to the supplied device, there is a plug designed for AudioPhase, resembling the Wattgate, while the plug at the other end of the cable, connected to an electrical outlet or a power strip, is the rhodium-plated Furutech FI-E38(R). The contacts of the plug which costs almost 600 PLN are made of rhodium-plated OCC copper subjected to the α (Alpha) process. The front of the plug is made of nylon and contains carbon molecules which reduce vibrations and, thus, also mechanical noise; the back is made of polycarbonate.

The Fountainhead power cable was listened to in our reference system where it supplied power to the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition player. The listening session consisted in A/B/A and B/A/B comparisons, where ‘A’ was the reference cable and ‘B’ – the tested one. Our point of reference was the Siltech Triple Crown Power power cable (56,900 PLN/1.5 m). Both cables were connected to the Acoustic Revive RTP-4eu Ultimate power strip.

The power strip is plugged into a wall socket using a 2-metre Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9500 power cable. The system is powered from a separate line, going through the Oyaide Tunami cable to a dedicated fuse in the distribution box. On the system side, the line ends with three identical Furutech FT-SWS (R) wall sockets connected in parallel. I connected the Acrolink cable and the Acoustic Revive power strip to one of them.

The Bassface Swing Trio album was recorded using the direct-to-disc technology, directly onto a copper DMM disc, which was then used to make masters to press a vinyl disc. It means that there was no intermediary either in the form of analogue tape (or, to make things clear, a digital medium). Simultaneously, the same signal was also recorded in the DSD format, thanks to which the music sounds very dynamic and open. That is why it was the first album that I listened to while testing the new AudioPhase cable.

The Fountainhead effortlessly showed what I wrote about earlier – it is an incredibly dynamic recording. After I replaced the Siltech cable with the tested one, the musical message changed, which is probably clear, but it was not a painful experience, despite an enormous difference in price. What changed was not so much sound quality, but it was a different way of sound presentation. Resolution, selectivity, colours – it all was not as good as in the reference cable, but I had not expected anything else, it was normal. Something else was more important, however: despite the change, the essential elements of the musical message were preserved, i.e. its unity, volubility and dynamics.

The Fountainhead moves the perspective further away, at the same time shifting our attention to the foreground situated a little behind the line of loudspeaker base. In this way, music breathes in more air and one gets the impression of larger space – by moving perspective further away, we get some kind of a broader look, at the cost of reduced tangibility, as it is not “here and now” sound. So, instruments have a more rounded and softer contour, as they are not presented close to us, but at a larger distance.

I know that a lot of music lovers prefer the kind of presentation and the kind of perspective shown by the AudioPhase cable, as it moves all the sound further away from us, deep into the stage, thus freeing it from “frames” that loudspeakers put music into. So, if you are looking for the effect of detaching sound from loudspeakers, the tested cable will help you achieve that.

It will also help you model the tone colour. It is because it is pastel and a bit dark, as it smoothens the attack of the treble a little. Generally speaking, it is sound without sharp edges and it is not “angular”. In this way, the cable calms the musical message a little and leads us towards pleasure, encouraging us to have long listening sessions due to its character. It will be heard with each kind of material, but it was the most audible when it came to vocals – Chet Baker from Baker’s Holiday was situated around half a metre behind the line which connects the loudspeakers. What is important, its large volume was preserved and the vocal was solid and meaty.

I think that the midrange, especially its lower part, usually filtered by dry-sounding cables and damaged by badly positioned devices and loudspeakers, will gain the most with this cable. Baker’s vocal is set low in recordings from this album and if the range discussed is not suitably presented, the vocal becomes smaller and less effective. The AudioPhase cable maintained its volume and did not move it back. On top of that, the cable gave the whole material its own individual character, i.e. emphasised the vocal, which I have just mentioned.

The cable does the same trick with commercial recordings where production matters more than sound. One of the mainstream bands that can be mentioned in this context is Maroon 5. The Red Pills Blues album is excellently produced and – as for pop music standards – it sounds great. I like this band – it is some kind of escape for me, so I listened to the latest album with pleasure, too. The Fountainhead smoothened it, calmed down the treble which is a little too hard at times and it also did not let the sound slenderize. The whole thing was set low, it was heavy and deep. I am talking about “depth” here, of course, as it was rather an impression of depth evoked by a proper arrangement of elements in tone and on the stage, but the effect of vividness was achieved.

It was also very easy to hear what the cable does not do – it does not rush forward or emphasize the attack. If I were to refer to stereotypes here (and stereotypes sometimes come in handy), I would say that it sounds warm and dense. It offers good resolution and the musical message has very nice colours. However, selectivity is not one of its strengths and I would not expect a lot of information or details from it.

On the other hand, such a character of the cable makes us listen to any type of music with pleasure. Jazz, classical music, old rock, modern sounds – it all has its own “voice”. However, there is something above it all that “makes them pleasant”, which becomes useful more often that we could expect it, even in the case of such good albums as Songbird with Eva Cassidy’s recordings, made using the XRCD24 technology.

And the bass – it is a cable which nicely shows what is happening at the bottom of the range. Bass guitars are dense, strong and firm, if I may put it this way. When there is only a vocal and an acoustic guitar in a recording, as in some of the recordings from the Cassidy’s album, there will not be too much bass. However, if a producer decided that a recording has to be strong “at the bottom”, e.g. in the case of The Bassface Swing Trio album, the Maroon 5 album or Laurie Anderson’s Homeland, it will sound with strong, rich filling.

Conclusions

I believe that audio products are the reflection of their creators – their taste, sensitivity and skills. So, I again hear what is most important for Karol: tone, fluidity, density, filling. Since one cannot have everything, these elements are most important in the tested cable. It is ordered, very pleasant and friendly sound, which will prove OK with any kind of music. What we do not get with it, however, is a strong blow and a lot of details. However, let me repeat that, it is a specific offer for people who share the cable creator’s vision of reality. It is a mature and well thought-out product which I liked very much.

JASKUŁKE SEXTET
Komeda Recomposed

Record label: Sea Label 378715009
Premiere: March 2018
Format: COMPACT DISC

Photos: press materials | Wojciech Pacuła

Sławomir Jaskułke has everything that a musician might want to have: education – he has a doctoral degree in music arts, in the field of instrumental performance (dissertation title: Harmonic improvisation as a method of shaping and developing a modern language of jazz improvisation based on the authorial compositions, promoter: Włodzimierz Nahorny); experience – he has recorded 14 albums as the leader and several others as a supporting musician, as well as fame – nominations and, finally, one Fryderyk award (2006), and concerts at important venues, e.g. the International Performing Arts Centre in Moscow, the Symphony Hall in Chicago and the Carnegie Hall in New York. We have also contributed to all that a little, reviewing and then giving the Best Sound award in 2015 to the Sea album.

The latest album of the pianist, one of the most important musicians of the Polish Tri-City stage, is not simply another good album of a famous artist. It is a maturity exam for any musician, taken by Jaskułke seriously and with engagement. It is an album generally dedicated to Komeda and especially to his Astigmatic album released in 1966. The 50th anniversary of the release was two years ago and the material that was later recorded on the album had its premiere then, at the Wytwórnia club in Łódź in July 2016. However, the album is only being released now.

Just like Komeda 50 years earlier, Jaskułke also invited young musicians to cooperate with him: Piotr Chęcki (tenor saxophone), Michał Ciesielski (alto saxophone), Emil Miszk (trumpet and flugelhorn), Roman Ślefarski (percussion) and Piotr Kułakowski (double bass).

As the leader says:

The Komeda Recomposed project and the music that I have written for a jazz sextet is an interpretation of and refers to the works of Krzysztof Komeda. Looking back in music is extremely valuable, as it allows us to get to know the language of old masters. It provides great assistance in shaping your own style.

Source: jazzsoul.pl, date of access: 05.09.2018

The recording process was treated in a similar way. As we know, the monumental Komeda’s album, which was released as part of the Polish Jazz Series in 1966, was recorded during one night. It was similar this time – 100% of the material was recorded at one go – one track at a time. Let me remind you that Sławomir Jaskułke took part in recording Zbigniew Namysłowski’s YES! album, which, labelled as number 77, re-opened the series. Recording was easier due to the fact that the band had been playing the material live for the previous two years.

Jaskułke has also been lucky when it comes to the form of his albums. Even the modest cardboard cover of the Sea album reflects the type of music recorded on it. The ON album also looks great, packed in plastic elements. Let me also add that two of his albums, i.e. Moments and Senne, have two editions: Polish and Japanese – Jaskułke also gave concerts in Japan. A lot of tenderness can also be noticed when it comes to the Komeda Recomposed album. Animisiewasz Startt was responsible for its graphic design, while JAZZy Shots by Sisi Cecylia – for photos. Maciej Grochot, aka Animisiewasz Startt, won the third place in the 30/30 competition for the best album cover in 2017 (Sławek Jaskułke, Tokyo solo concert 2016); Rosław Szaybo, among others, was part of the jury.

Although it is a digipack, it is a 3-part one, having a thick booklet in one of the wings. The introduction was written by Jerzy Szczerbakow, while the rest is covered with photos. The graphic design is cool, but even here one can see references to the classics – a similar technique, i.e. applying a one-colour filter to a black-and-white photo had been used by the Blue Note record label. Well-selected details made with spot varnish are a nice element of the design. It is worth paying attention to the “R” letter motif, referring back to the “A” from the Astigmatic album cover (A= Astigmatic, R= Recomposed).

| Sound

Mr Ignacy Gruszecki was the sound engineer, cooperating with Jakub Kutera. The edition, mix and mastering were also carried out by Mr Ignacy Gruszecki at Monochrom Studio Poland. Jaskułke himself says that he is no expert in acoustics and is not interested in it. On the other hand, he knows what sound he wants to obtain on a given album:

That is why, for each recording, I look for a place and a sound engineer who is also important, as he has his vision of the whole project that we are working on. This kind of work involves a lot of details. Recently, for example, I recorded the second part of the contemplative Senne album and worked with Igor Budaj (an excellent sound engineer responsible for the acoustics of the Polish Baltic Frederic Chopin Philharmonic in Gdańsk). With delight, Igor told me about nuances connected with the selection of microphones and recording devices.

Kaśka Paluch, Sławek Jaskułke: mam świadomość swojego czasu i potencjału (Eng. Sławek Jaskułke: I am aware of my time and potential), kultura.onet.pl, date of access 05.09.2018

The sensitivity can be heard in each subsequent recording of the pianist. The Sea album charmed me mostly with its incredible sound, obtained a little bit by chance. It is because it was played on the upright piano in home conditions. It is the case when music and sound unite. As for the album reviewed, Jaskułke used the piano again, but this time as an additional element accompanying the classic Steinway, thanks to which specific, deep and a little oneiric tone colour was introduced. And the album starts with such colour.

It is simply excellent sound! It is soft, dense and full. One can hear that the instrument was recorded using closely placed microphones, as it is intimate and within our reach. The trumpet that enters shortly afterwards sounds similar. It is presented broadly, with strong presence of shit in counter phase, due to which it literally comes out from both sides of the loudspeakers.

It is dark, rather warm sound in which selectivity is not the most important – not because the sound lacks resolution – resolution is very good, indeed. Try to hear “around-the-music” details in the first track at about 2:40 and you will know what I am talking about. The foreground is close to us, except for intros in which long reverberation is applied both to the piano and trumpet. It is sound which resembles recordings made at a small club where microphones are close to instruments and musicians are close to one another.

What was sacrificed in the name of the abovementioned elements is mostly transparency. The sound is clear, but colours are more important here than sound structure. The attack of the percussion foot is fast and strong, but the instrument as a whole is a little “hidden” underneath. As one can see in photos from the session, the drummer was hidden behind a screen, but this is not about being physically hidden, but about setting proportions in exactly this way. Of course, this is an artistic choice and not a mistake, as we are talking about recording. Perhaps because of that, pieces and parts played slowly, legato, come across as the best. The fast Crazy sounds great, but it is not the element that gives sense to the album.

It is very tasty music and equally tasty sound.

Sound quality: 9/10

Award: RED Fingerprint