Opinion 1

Already Albert Einstein himself said “It is madness to do the same over and over and expect different results”, so having done some in-depth testing on the influence of plugs on the sound of the Furutech FP-3TS762 cable, we could easily claim, that we have authoritatively confirmed such differences exist, and we do not need to fuss about that anymore, just taking it for granted. And in case our word would not be enough for that, we could always take support from Oyaide, who had their, until recently, only power cable TUNAMI GPX available with two different plug sets – the P/C-046 Special Edition “Italian Red” as well as the P/C-004 Special Edition “Aspirin White”. Although in case of Oyaide, both options are quite close together in terms of pricing (2490 vs 3490PLN), the connectors of the plugs P/C-046 are made from phosphor-bronze covered with gold and palladium, while the P/C-004 from beryllium-copper coated with platinum and palladium; for the earlier mentioned Furutech, the change of plugs has the character of an obvious upgrade. This means a change from the quite low priced rhodium plated FI-28R/FI-E38R to the then top of the line piezo-ceramic FI-50 NCF (R) series. Leaving those metallurgical nuances aside, we have never touched the, maybe not directly superiority, but at least a discernible difference between gold and rhodium coated pins, something that causes a very heavy polarization between consumers, who do hear the influence of power cables on sound (and I will not mention the non-hearing ones; and those, who deny the ability of hearing anything anyway, who do not even bother listening to those items at all, I will keep under a thick cover). But better late than never. As you know we have started cooperating, with which I mean exploring their products, with the Polish cable manufacture David Laboga Custom Audio, so it would be a deep sin of negligence, if we would turn a blind eye to the fact, that in their catalog there are identical cable models with both types of confection. In this way we finally get closer to the finale of this introductory paragraph, which unexpectedly turned out a bit long, as while we are remembering the nice listening session with the GR-AC-Connect power cord equipped with the 48 (R) NCF plugs, we now have it’s sibling fitted with the 46 (G) G-AC.

We managed to present you with the genealogy and the description of visual aesthetics as well as the very sparse information on the construction of the cables during the test of the DLCA (David Laboga Custom Audio) GR-AC-Connect, so I would like to direct all of you interested in those to that test. For the others, I will just mention, that the cables are placed inside a grey-black-brown protective sheath (Viablue Stone?) and have much more visually appealing massive splitters, which have the function of anti-resonance isolators and carry the printed information about the purpose, manufacturer, model and length. Of course, in both cases, the differences are only regarding the name and the plugs themselves. I will just also mention, that the name and the plugs have no influence on aesthetics (although the rhodium 48 are high-gloss polished, and the gold 46 are satin-brushed) or mechanics of the cable – both are easy to place, despite their quite significant weight.

Before I move to the part devoted to the eventual changes and differences of the sound between the tested cables, I would like to digress a little, to shed some extra light on the situation. The first is not only a suggestion, but a recommendation from the manufacturer to use the G-AC for the sources (especially the digital ones) while the GR-AC for the amplification. But to make things less rosy – here comes digression no. 2 – my personal preferences and habits. When someone from our readers is wondering, what this has to do with all of this, let me explain, that they do have a lot. Most of the cabling I use is rhodium plated, and used mostly to supply digital sources, while the amplification is powered by a cable with gold coated plugs. Moving to the details – from the double, rhodium coated power socket in the wall (a dedicated power line running from a separate circuit breaker), the Furutech FT-SWS-D (R) NCF, to the power amplifier Bryston 4B3 runs the Acoustic Zen Gargantua II, equipped with gold plugs, and the Furutech FP-3TS762/Fi-50 NCF(R)/FI-50M NCF(R) goes from the mentioned socket to the Furutech e-TP60ER power strip. From this strip we have another Furutech FP-3TS762 with FI-28R/FI-E38R plugs to the streamer, and the Furutech Nanoflux Power NCF to the Ayon CD/DAC/Pre. So in short this is completely the other way round and in opposition to the recommendation of David. But in line with the saying that no-one should tell me what to do, I came to the conclusion, that this configuration fares better in my system/is more to my liking, and I will stick to my version, when putting rhodium to gold.
Now when I had two equivalent solutions at my disposal, there was no excuse for anything else, than to put my preferences into my pocket, and try to confront theory with practice with an open mind. The beginning was easy to foresee, as during the previous test, the GR-AC was so convincing, that the Gargantua, which had to make place for it, almost felt enjoyment before a great journey, as it came very close to being evicted, feeling the domination of the Laboga. It was hard to give a different verdict, when the rhodium Laboga offered a more resolved sound, with bigger volume and better control. The second stage remained more of an unknown, when I planned to replace the Furutech Nanoflux Power NCF, which is a much better cable than the Acoustic Zen, with the golden G-AC-Connect. But if you said “A” you need to say “B”. A quick exchange of cabling and … things got different, but not worse. Yes, yes. I was surprised myself, and could not believe my conclusions coming from the listening session, but this is how it was. Of course the character of the narration changed, as some elements of golden juiciness and sweetness appeared, but the motoric and timing did not lose anything from their immediacy. The effect could be compared to that, what is achieved by decanting good and heavy wines (for example an Uruguay Tannat), where the initial roughness and spiciness flows into an enchanting roundness and fullness of the bouquet. Interestingly, the contours were drawn with a slightly softer line, but let me underline this word – slightly, like moving from a 4H to 3H pencil, and not the 2B one, but the majority of changes pertained to the midrange, and to a lesser extent, to the treble. For example on the “Round M: Monteverdi meets Jazz” the vocal of Roberta Mameli was more sensual, or, in more descriptive terms, based on my, not necessarily stereotypical, associations, I could claim it became more … “Italian”, more temperamental and fiery. I observed similar differences comparing the G-AC with the GR-AC, so please allow me, that from now on, the descriptions will be about the changes between those two cables. The upper registers were a bit more sparkling and, in a way, warmer. But let me assure you – this was not a result of this part of the sound spectrum being withdrawn, or cut, as the volume of information remained untouched, only the slider for the timbre was moved from the neutral, studio lighting towards a golden sunset. The change was maybe cosmetic, but every photographer knows, that just after sunrise and before the sunset, the warm and soft lighting makes the best job. And that is the case here, the content does not change, but the perspective or the optics encompassing it, does.
To be sure, that the mentioned golden touch and accented sensuality does not become detrimental for a repertoire that does not have anything in common with sensuality, I took a disc, that I do not know when became 40 years old, “The Number of the Beast” from Iron Maiden. For those not familiar with classics, I will just mention, that this is a kind of energetic playing based on catchy riffs, high octane rhythmic section and the first album of the group with Bruce Dickinson behind the microphone. In short a joyful heavy metal with a disputable quality of recording, to which I return only for sentimental reasons, and not when wanting to experience any audiophile mystery. However with the G-AC I got very close to this state of sacred exultation, and I do not know why. The miracle did finally not happen, and I did not get any depth of stage, as you could only discern maybe three, very shallow layers, but the usually tinny treble and dry midrange went through a successful metamorphosis regarding their refinement and fleshiness. Tissue appeared on the bony skeleton, the drums and percussion, to which Clive Burr was saying goodbye, gained some extra Jules. In this case it turned out, that things did not just get different, but just plain better.

During the summary I just want to make sure, I have written, that I prefer the rhodium coated plugs. Because I did mention that, yes? And I could still claim, that I will not change my mind. But the problem is, that David Laboga has planted a grain of doubt in my, seemingly well grounded, belief. A grain, that for now is just a small “but”, so I am not doing any major moves, but I cannot exclude the situation, that the golden version of David Laboga Custom Audio G-AC-Connect will finally find its place in my system. However I am not sure, if this cable will end in the back of the tube source, or the solid state power amplifier, as I am used to certain sound, or the specific setup of my system would require that. But this is for sure not just my defiance. Time will tell, but for now I warmly recommend to perform your own, personal comparisons, as with those two cables, when responding to the question which one of those a statistical listener would like to keep, the most common answer will be … both. And if you do not believe me, please listen for yourself – in the end, the whole game is about listening.

Marcin Olszewski

System used in this test:
– CD/DAC: Ayon CD-35 (Preamp + Signature) + Finite Elemente Cerabase compact
– Network player: Lumin U1 Mini + I-O Data Soundgenic HDL-RA4TB
– Digital source selector: Audio Authority 1177
– Turntable: Kuzma Stabi S + Kuzma Stogi + Dynavector DV-10X5
– Phonostage: Tellurium Q Iridium MM/MC Phono Pre Amp
– Power amplifier: Bryston 4B³ + Graphite Audio IC-35 Isolation Cones
– Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Contour 30 + Brass Spike Receptacle Acoustic Revive SPU-8 + Base Audio Quartz platforms
– IC RCA: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond
– IC XLR: Organic Audio; Vermöuth Audio Reference; Acrolink 7N-A2070 Leggenda
– Digital IC: Fadel art DigiLitz; Harmonic Technology Cyberlink Copper; Apogee Wyde Eye; Monster Cable Interlink LightSpeed 200
– USB cables: Wireworld Starlight; Goldenote Firenze Silver; Fidata HFU2; Vermöuth Audio Reference
– Speaker cables: Signal Projects Hydra; Vermöuth Audio Reference Loudspeaker Cable
– Power cables: Furutech FP-3TS762 / FI-28R / FI-E38R; Organic Audio Power + Furutech CF-080 Damping Ring; Acoustic Zen Gargantua II; Furutech Nanoflux Power NCF
– Power distribution board: Furutech e-TP60ER + Furutech FP-3TS762 / Fi-50 NCF(R) /FI-50M NCF(R)
– Wall power socket: Furutech FT-SWS(R)
– Anti-vibration platform: Franc Audio Accessories Wood Block Slim Platform
– Switch: Silent Angel Bonn N8 + Silent Angel S28 + Silent Angel Forester F1 + Luna Cables Gris DC; Innuos PhoenixNet
– Ethernet cables: Neyton CAT7+; Audiomica Anort Consequence + Artoc Ultra Reference + Arago Excellence; Furutech LAN-8 NCF
– Table: Solid Tech Radius Duo 3
– Acoustic panels: Vicoustic Flat Panels VMT

Opinion 2

If you are at least a bit acquainted with the theme of our hobby, you surely know, that the case of influence of cabling on the final sound of an audio setup, is still debated and controversial amongst many specimens of the homo sapiens. Yes, the opponents agree, that those are inevitable, but only as suppliers of power and analog or digital signals, but with a categorical denial of their influence on the modeling of the sound of connected electronics. Unfortunately they do not take on any arguments, that for example different weave or thickness of the conductor, or its shielding, do have an influence. They just deny it. Of course, we live in a free society, and anyone is free to think and do what he or she pleases. But when those people disagree with us – us, who absolutely know the influence of the complex construction of the cables on our setups – what do you think, they will say, when we are testing identical cables, but with different plugs? Rest assured, I know their answer. And for us it would be fairly disappointing. So let them remain in their lucky realm of not hearing those changes, while inviting the music lovers being on my side of the barricade to the comparison of two different plugs from the catalog of the Japanese Furutech applied on identical power cable from David Laboga Custom Audio. Are you interested? If yes, then I can only tell you, that the Polish manufacturer supplied us with two power cords. One of those we tested recently, it was the GR-AC with rhodium coated plugs, and its counterpart with gold plated plugs – the G-AC.

Of course, similar to our previous encounter, also this time, the knowledge about the internals of the tested cable is very sparse. The only thing we do know, is, that it is made using woven copper conductors of different purity and cross-section. There is no available knowledge about the shielding or isolation. However the rectangular boxes on the cable do not hide any circuitry, that would model the sound, they just cover the place, where the thicker inner cable changes diameter, to become smaller as it reaches the plugs. They are also used as carrier of the company logo and cable name. Similar to the cable with the rhodium plugs, the gold plated version is 1.8 meters long and is packaged in a wooden box, with foam upholstering, what boosts the product’s exclusivity.

So did the identical cables with different plugs really influence the final sound of the same system? Well, this really depends on the position you take, but their other influence was immediately audible, from the very first notes. Of course, those were not changes on the level of changing speakers, like the tube Avantgarde Acoustic to representatives of the British school by Harbeth, but the correction of the sound was evident. If I would try to describe it very shortly, then I would say that the sound got more noble. This however did not happen through mudding, as it often happens, but by lifting the level of the body of the reproduced music. What is important, this happened without any losses in terms of freedom of presentation and breath, but by raising the overall saturation and warmth. What does this mean? Seemingly nothing much, but if you are trying to raise the timbre of your system, things look very different. Compared to the rhodium version, which was brilliantly balancing the weight and resolution of the sound, while reproducing the attack very well, the golden version moved the sound in the direction of upping the emotionality of the music. But with one important remark – this process did not degrade anything in its path. Yes, the line delineating the virtual sources got a bit thicker, and the attach was not as fast as a F-16 jet, but in conjunction with the increase of the content of music within the music, I perceived those changes as something expected. This could look as wishful thinking, when we put it against the similar, yet unsuccessful attempts of the competition, but I absolutely assure you, it did happen in reality. The music shone with a bigger amount of colors, the individual sounds, while being a bit rounder, decayed longer, and the vocals was full of intimate artefacts. You could only dive into the music listened to, and forget about the world around you. And I must confess, that it is exactly what happened with me. This is such a narcotic way of presentation, that regardless of having an even more coherent one on a daily basis, I caught myself on having my soul get free from the body, as instead of listening to just one piece, I got up from my chair to change the repertoire, only when the laser returned to the resting position after finishing scanning the whole disc. And it did not matter, if I listened to something easy and nice like Melody Gardot, contemplative jazz or rock madness, every time the system fared brilliantly. On one hand it enchanted with a full palette of colors, on the other, it did not destroy the impression of good dynamics of the music listened to. Of course, as I had my master in my head, I knew, how much I was pushed away from it by the cable with the golden plugs. Fortunately for it, it managed to never cross the thin line of moving into overinterpretation, and I do not really know, how it has done that. But it did, and won. It had a different shade and weight, but still defended itself in every case.

So where would I see the tested cable? I think, it can fit everywhere without problems. But it would do best in systems, which require a tad more of emotion. And it is not about mudding of the sound, but about upping it’s essence without any side effects. And what about the rest of the population of music lovers? Of course all of you, who are looking for attack and transparency, might be a bit disappointed, but if you will not be overly mischievous in your assessment, even when you are looking for something a bit different, you will see why the tested David Laboga Custom Audio was equipped with golden plugs in the version G-AC-Connect.

Jacek Pazio

System used in this test:
Source:
– transport: CEC TL 0 3.0
– streamer: Melco N1A/2EX + switch Silent Angel Bonn N8
– DAC: dCS Vivaldi DAC 2.0
– Master clock: Mutec REF 10 SE-120
– reclocker: Mutec MC-3+USB
– Shunyata Research Omega Clock
– Shunyata Sigma V2 NR
– Preamplifier: Gryphon Audio Pandora
– Power amplifier: Gryphon Audio Mephisto Stereo
– Loudspeakers: Gauder Akustik Berlina RC-11 Black Edition
– Speaker Cables: Synergistic Research Galileo SX SC
– IC RCA: Hijiri Million „Kiwami”, Vermouth Audio Reference
– IC XLR: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Hijiri Milion „Kiwami”
– Digital IC: Hijiri HDG-X Milion
– Power cables: Hijiri Takumi Maestro, Furutech NanoFlux NCF, Furutech DPS-4.1 + FI-E50 NCF(R)/ FI-50(R), Hijiri Nagomi, Vermouth Audio Reference Power Cord, Acrolink 8N-PC8100 Performante
– Table: SOLID BASE VI
– Accessories: Harmonix TU 505EX MK II, Stillpoints ULTRA SS, Stillpoints ULTRA MINI, antivibration platform by SOLID TECH, Harmonix AC Enacom Improved for 100-240V, Harmonix Room Tuning Mini Disk RFA-80i
– Power distribution board: POWER BASE HIGH END
– Acoustic treatments by Artnovion
Analog stage:
Drive: Clearaudio Concept
Cartridge: Essence MC
Step-up: Thrax Trajan
Phonostage: Sensor 2 mk II

Manufacturer: David Laboga Custom Audio
Prices (Net)
David Laboga Custom Audio GR-AC-Connect: 1,8m / 2710 € (EU), 2840 € (UK), 2710€ (US); + 650€ each additional 50cm
David Laboga Custom Audio G-AC-Connect: 1,8m / 2560 € (EU), 2690 € (UK), 2560€ (US); + 650€ each additional 50cm