Opinion 1

While a battery will for most people associate with a furry rabbit from the commercials, the audiophiles will probably think about a certain American cable brand. Because it was Audioquest, which became synonymous with battery powered shielding called DBS, Dielectric Bias System, which polarizes the dielectric with 72V. But as you can probably imagine, this idea of using external power sources for isolation of transferred signals from any evil trying to deform them, became quite popular, and we can find different iterations in products from Synergistic Research (like the old MPC (Mini Power Coupler)/Galileo MPC) or the futuristic Schnerzingers. But since the last Audio Video Show, we can add another player to this pool. I am talking about the French Esprit Audio, you know probably from the room polarizer Nova, from which portfolio we could have a closer look at XLR interconnects, loudspeaker and power cables from the Lumina series, dedicated to discerning buyers, who do not want to ruin their home budgets completely.

During the review of the Nova, we did not talk too much about the contents of the French catalogue. So now would be a good idea to mention it, especially because the brand is not yet very known here and just started to build up its footprint. But as it turns out, Esprit Audio has a very broad offering and it exists since quite a few years. In a logical, and alphabetical order, the guys from Confolens start with the Alpha series; then comes Beta … and Kappa. (It looks like they left space for some intermediate items). And then, for unknown reasons, they gotten away from the Greek alphabet naming the next levels of their products Eterna, Celesta, Aura (here debuts active polarization), Eureka, Lumina, Gaia, which encompasses only two versions (patiently waiting for their turn) off the power strip Volta and the top L’Esprit. Do you think it is a lot? It is, especially for, a quite small and young manufacturer. But wait, it’s not young. You just need to look at their birth certificate to discover, that while the company was completely unknown in Poland, Esprit Audio is present on the local, and later world, market since over 25 years! Yes, ladies and gentlemen! Please imagine that Richard Cesari, the culprit of this whole ado started to make cables for himself and his friends and later friends of friends in 1995. And officially, the commercial banner was put on the mast in 1997. In his cables, Richard uses only copper. With 5N purity (in the series Alpha, Beta and Kappa) and 6N (in the higher series), ordered from one of the Japanese manufacturers. The price range in which he operates is very wide because it starts on the level of 799 PLN for 1.5m for the power cable Alpha (an exceptional cable for low power electronics) and finishes beyond 200,000 PLN for the loudspeaker cable L’Esprit.

As you can see for yourself, in the Lumina we have distinguished black color in a wide range of structures, and shades. The carcasses of the plugs tempt with their glossy depth, the dense braided conductive sensually iridescent, and the carbon „grille” of the polarization modules and the massive muffs (in the speaker cables) give the whole a slightly „sporty” character. On the other hand, ferrite barrels covered with a matte heat-shrinkable sleeve are decorated with gold pictograms with directionality marking, belonging to a specific generation… and here’s an interesting fact, because both XLRs and speakers are G9 and in turn powering the G8, at least on the day of writing this epistle (12-13/12/2023) on the manufacturer’s website, because all units delivered to us were marked as G9.
As for the nuances of a structural nature, in the Lumina we are dealing with conductors made of 6N copper (99.9999%) and the best thick-silvered (40 μm) confection, while when it comes to deeper vivisection, in XLRs we are dealing with conductors consisting of strands with a diameter of 0.24 mm and symmetrical geometry and a dielectric with an asymmetrical weave. Shielding is „partial”. The loudspeaker cable, on the other hand, uses 6420 wires with a diameter of 0.08 mm each, symmetrical geometry and an asymmetrically braided dielectric. A layer of air is also used as additional insulation, and the shield, as in interconnects, is also partial. What’s the deal with this partiality? The fact that ⅓ of the conductor run is unshielded, ⅓ of the shield is single and ⅓ of the shield is double-layered. One big unknown, however, is the power cable, because despite strenuous efforts, the manufacturer was not kind enough to release the information about the number, or cross-section, of the conductors used, only mentioning the asymmetrical arrangement of the conductors and the asymmetrical splicing of the dielectric. The common denominator, with the exception of phono and digital cables (coax, AES/EBU, USB and Ethernet), is of course the proprietary dielectric polarization system introduced in 1999 working with a voltage of 12V. Why this and not, for example, like in the Audioquest, 72V? Well, like everything in Esprit Audio, it results from in-depth analyses, measurements and, of course, listening sessions, on the basis of which, comparing the effectiveness, advantages and disadvantages of voltages in the 3-180V range, it was the 12 that turned out to be the one that met most, if not all, of the requirements set for it.

As it usually happens with such a wide range of products, not only did the whole thing require a thorough accommodation to have similar time spent in our systems, but the listening sessions themselves could not be limited to spontaneously plugging everything in, and then clumsily attempt to diagnose not only what and how has changed, but also what is responsible for these changes. This is why, quite perversely, having already a very successful contact with the Alphas, which open the French catalogue, I took her older and nobler siblings for a ride. And… while in case of interconnects and speaker wires of all kinds, I am completely indifferent to the used voltage “turbocharging”, in the case of 230V I treat such things with extreme caution. Apparently, nothing alarming happened with the Hurricanes, but let’s be honest – Audioquest is so recognizable and popular on a global scale, that if only someone had at least blown up their fuses somewhere because of the DBS, then certainly not only me, but also most of the audio enthusiasts would know about it. Meanwhile, taking on the Esprit, there was absolutely none of such recognizability, also from our side it was a kind of debut with their products. It doesn’t matter, fortune favors the bold, especially that the far-sighted Audio-Mix team made us happy with not one, but three copies of the Lumina Power, so half-jokingly, half-seriously, I could say that up to three times is the trick and I had fun playing an electric version of the Russian roulette. Fortunately, since you are reading these words, there were no anomalies, the French cables „worked” like the most ordinary „passive” competition, and as for their sound qualities, … From the very first bars of „Something Ominous” by the Parisian band Molybaron, not only by ear, but also by heart (fortunately the wallet was in another room) they showed the phenomenal drive, timing and energy of the music, bringing dynamics, both on a macro and micro scale, to the highest level. You could just feel that the Luminas have no limitations in transmitting emotions, hidden in the source material within the sometimes difficult to grasp piles of sounds. It was hellishly fast, strong, and at the same time the sound did not miss saturation nor information about their native texture. And although at first glance it would seem that the French cables sound surprisingly transparent and in their own way only release the layers of energy hidden in the electronics powered by them, in absolute terms, I mean, compared to my Furutech NanoFlux-NCF, it turned out that they have something they are hiding. I am talking about a very subtle saturation and a certain golden touch, which is a more sophisticated and delicate version of warming up the sound. This does not mean any obvious lowering of the tonal balance, or a pushing out the midrange by force, favoring its edge with higher bass, but only a certain organicity, where there is no denying that it is very pleasing to the listener’s ears; organicity, which makes the listener inclined more towards a purely hedonistic synthesis and savoring the sounds reaching his ears, rather than to meticulous analysis and breaking down each component into atoms. As a result, they were not as resolving as the exotic South Korean Hemingway Z-core β(Beta) Power, but they had something of the sophistication and freedom of the Asian competition. On slightly more civilized repertoire, i.e. „En El Amor” by Nataša Mirković, Michel Godard and Jarrod Cagwin, the ability to play with silence and faithfulness to the acoustics of the room, in which the material was recorded, was also clearly shown. Due to this, we could enjoy the full spectrum of all kinds of reflections and feel the intensity of the reverberation aura of both the vocal parts and the accompanying instruments. And the real icing on the cake was the clarity of the „mechanics” of the serpent, or percussion, which were not impressionistic smears, but precisely drawn installations and complicated cause-and-effect sequences, which finally formed a well-defined whole.

On the other hand, the solo XLRs, while maintaining the trademark style of playing, which we came to learn during testing of the power family, allowed themselves to focus mainly on the attractiveness of the midrange, which, as you can easily guess, means emphasizing the sensuality and sex appeal of the vocalists, as well as the depth of the timbre of the voices of the representatives of the uglier sex. In fact, even The Hu’s overtone gurgling on „Rumble of Thunder” sounded somehow more „human”, although it was still impossible to deny its fascinating wildness and raw authenticity. Similarly, Tom Waits („One from the heart”) or Barb Jungr („Love Me Tender”), whose voices have retained their characteristic roughness and raspiness, had the level of their euphoniousness increased, and we moved from a purely mechanical performance, because how would you describe playing a file or a CD, we smoothly and imperceptibly moved to the intensity proper to physical participation in a recording/performance/concert. Thus, we are dealing with the so-called palpability, but not through an artificial approximation of the foreground characters, or attempts to place vocalists and soloists on the knees of listeners, something we know from pseudo-audiophile samplers, but through skillful operation of the „throttle”, or better said, through the release of the full energy charge and the full scale of emission.

When it comes to the loudspeaker cables, available with both bananas and spades, which, I dare to say, from the entire French assortment provided by Audio-Mix, marked their presence in my system most intensively, they acted as a kind of energy booster to the edges of the reproduced sound spectrum. Interestingly, it wasn’t a classic “V”, or as some people call it „U” shape, where the bass and the treble take everything, while the midrange only pathetically whines about the leftovers from the master’s table, but more the accentuation, the release of the dormant reserves of energy in them, instead of a true boost. Therefore, put against them and directly compared, most of the competition will usually sound a bit too shy, non-committed, or even in a withdrawn and distanced way. This is difficult to understand, it looks as if they wound not quite be sure how far they can go. And the Luminas allow themselves, if not everything, then really a lot. It is enough to reach for „Entropy” by the Australian Acolyte to make everything clear. Despite the power of the low end (drums, bass + electronics) and the almost ecstatic treble – the guitar riffs are courageous and the keyboards can show their claws, but the midrange, in which the charismatic Morgan Leigh Brown mainly operates, lacks nothing at all. Not only is it perfectly sewn with the edges, but it doesn’t hide behind them, but also doesn’t try to get ahead, and maybe this aspect is the reason why the Lumina speaker cables can be perceived as favoring the bottom and top. After all, if most of the cables available on the market expose the midrange and push it out, sometimes far beyond the limits of common sense, then a delinquent who does not duplicate such activities is considered to be a bit defective in this aspect, although what is true and the actual state of affairs is proven by listening and possibly objective analysis.

On the other hand, the massive attack of the French cavalry – the complete wiring – from the wall socket to the Lumina loudspeaker cables, gave the effect of … No, not too much exaggeration, as one could presume when adding up the features of individual components, but their evident synergy. In addition, this synergy is built on an absolutely black, velvety and impenetrable background, where the individual components are somehow untainted by possible anomalies that could distort and deform the final image. And here is a surprise, because the presence of blackening of the background during the listening sessions of single cables was perhaps not so much negligible, but unobtrusively present, and not particularly attention-grabbing. But it’s like with a place, water, or air, which we take for granted, until we run out of them. Of course, it is indisputable that the above-average spontaneity and vitality of the message offered by the French cabling should be noted, but not in terms of exaggeration, or even caricature of disproportion, but in terms of a certain expression, either native or authorial. It is also not a stereotypical, „specific” form of French expression, which was labeled on BC Acoustique, Cabasse, Focal (then JM Lab) or Triangle loudspeakers years ago, but only very skilful squeezing of all the best from the reproduced material, but whether you will like such intensity of the sound is a completely different question.

To sum things up, I would like to express my astonishment from the late appearance of Esprit Audio cables on our domestic market. Fortunately, there is luck in leisure, so I am enthusiastic about their presence here, as a kind of manifestation of freshness, including a metaphorical one – despite over 25 years on the global market, „fresh blood” in our, somewhat hermetic, audio-world. And as for the representatives of the Lumina series, I have no choice but to encourage you to listen to them in your own systems, because they seem to be a very intriguing alternative to the competition well established in Poland, and at the same time they are so rationally priced that the relation of their sound qualities (visual as well) to the expected prices does not raise the slightest controversy. And you will admit that, nowadays, it is not so common when the positioning of a product is based on its real quality and sound, and not only on the price.

Marcin Olszewski

System used in this test:
– CD/DAC: Ayon CD-35 (Preamp + Signature) + Finite Elemente Cerabase compact
– Network player: Lumin U2 Mini + Omicron Magic Dream Classic + I-O Data Soundgenic HDL-RA4TB
– Digital source selector: Audio Authority 1177
– Integrated amplifier: Vitus Audio RI-101 MkII
– Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Contour 30 + Brass Spike Receptacle Acoustic Revive SPU-8 + Base Audio Quartz platforms
– IC RCA: Furutech FA-13S; phono NEO d+ RCA Class B Stereo + Ground (1m)
– IC XLR: Organic Audio; Vermöuth Audio Reference; Furutech DAS-4.1
– Digital IC: Fadel art DigiLitz; Harmonic Technology Cyberlink Copper; Apogee Wyde Eye; Monster Cable Interlink LightSpeed 200
– USB cables: Wireworld Starlight; Fidata HFU2; Vermöuth Audio Reference
– Speaker cables: Signal Projects Hydra + SHUBI Custom Acoustic Stands MMS-1
– 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; Esprit Audio Alpha
– 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
– Ethernet cables: Neyton CAT7+; Audiomica Anort Consequence + Artoc Ultra Reference + Arago Excellence; Furutech LAN-8 NCF; Next Level Tech NxLT Lan Flame
– Table: Solid Tech Radius Duo 3
– Acoustic panels: Vicoustic Flat Panels VMT

Opinion 2

You do not have to ambitiously follow the recently fashionable plenary sessions of our parliament to realize that we live in very dynamic times. It is enough to look at the activities of business entities related to our hobby with a reasonable degree of prudence. Of course, I’m referring to the activities announced by domestic distributors every now and then, related to expanding their offer with new, from their point of view, interesting, manufacturers’ views on the issue of providing us with the best possible sound in the shackles of our own four walls. Yes, translating from Polish to ours, it’s all about introducing fresh ideas related to audio into our market. And one of the results of this type of action is the today’s hero, in the form of the French brand Esprit Audio, from whose portfolio, a short while ago, we managed to acquire the Nova room polarizer for testing. The mentioned device turned out to be so interesting in action that right after returning it to the distributor, we agreed on another test of this brand’s products. And since Audio-Mix is a very good partner, this time, to our delight, they offered a full set of cabling for our review, from the power supply, through the XLR signal, to the Esprit Audio Lumina series loudspeakers. Interesting? If so, I have no choice but to invite those of you interested to read the following few paragraphs.

As is usually the case, also here, the cabling from one product line is based on the same package of semi-finished products in the vast majority of its construction, and the only variables are the thickness and number of conductors used, as well as insulation and shielding materials. Of course, an important component of the construction of each of them is the task they were designed to perform, which is clearly defined by the plugs used. Therefore, following the manufacturer’s information, I will briefly mention that the conductors are copper. These, in a proprietary process, have been asymmetrically twisted, additionally supplemented with an asymmetrically arranged dielectric. The next step was the use of air insulation, then partial shielding, and finally the whole thing was polarized with 12V batteries attached to the cable. As for the plugs themselves, they are the company’s own silver-plated Esprit designs. Concluding the paragraph about construction, I cannot fail to mention, that it is very important for the founder of this brand to produce each cable by hand, which allows them to guarantee solidity, quality and, above all, repeatability of each piece. Finally, the products reach the potential customer in eye-pleasing, aesthetic boxes.

I mentioned at the very beginning that the distributor took care of a full set of wiring, from power cables, through interconnects to loudspeaker wiring. It is a nice move, because it allows you to check not a partial, but the complete idea for music, as proposed by the manufacturer. One cable in the maze of the competition can sometimes be shouted down, or dominated, and here we play open cards from the very first moment. So what did the Esprit version of sound look like? Well, in the good sense of the word, expressively. And this is in a literal sense, because plugging the whole set into the system changed the priorities of music projection in an interesting way. Don’t worry, it was still a good sound, but the edges of the sound spectrum were emphasized. Suddenly, it became more explicit in the domain of energy and sharpness of the drawing of the lowest registers, with the support of openness and sonority of the treble, but this was so successful that, fortunately, everything went on without the feeling of exaggeration. And while in the beginning I was worried about the effect of fatigue after a few hours of communing with music, all in all, such approach showed me two important aspects, without becoming obtrusive. The first turned out to be the ability to listen much quieter, while preserving the perceived blow of the music and its clarity, while the second was the injection of a nicely received additional drive. And while it would seem that such approach would promote only rock or electronic music in the style of AC/DC’s „Power Up” or Yello’s „Touch”, things turned out a bit differently during the tests. What do I mean? I’m not going to dwell on the music, which is full of artistic guitar and electronic aggression for the obvious reasons of making good use of the strong reproduction of the edges of the sound spectrum, but I will write a few sentences about other genres. Well, yes, so far, in my perfectly tuned private system, a bit of magic has been transformed into a greater pursuit of accentuating timing, but in the end it was not turning my previous configuration efforts upside down, but just showing a different point of view on the individual components of the presentation. Of course, it’s about putting more emphasis on the edge and energy of the bass, along with the volatility and sharpness of the upper range. In jazz music of RGG „Szymanowski” and vocal music – Cassandra Wilson „New Moon Daughter” this should be the nail in the proverbial coffin – well-made albums and any cranking up of their clarity should end in a sound drama, but here everything went well. Yes, there was more of everything, but still within the boundaries of good taste. Stronger and sharper, but still interesting. Whether it is for everybody for a lifetime remains the matter of conscious choices. Nevertheless, it should be taken into account, that if a system is at the level of evident madness, reacting very strongly to minor events like the removal of stand from under any component, reacts so interestingly to such changes in cabling, we can talk about an evident success. And the success is even greater, as no one demands to use the whole set of wiring, but based on tests when placed in various places in the system we can determine what, where and in what quantity we need. And as you know, you can never have too much freedom to play your beloved music, which is why the above performance, despite strong accents, is without any problem considered very successful, because it gives a rare opportunity to spice up the presentation, which is sometimes boring or even in a stage like being administered muscle relaxants like Pavulon.

Who would I recommend the reviewed Esprit Audio Lumina cabling set to? I think it’s clear as day, that wherever we notice a lack of energy and freshness in the reproduced music. It will be an obvious shot of adrenaline, without which music only is there. And music is supposed to move us. And it doesn’t matter what genre it is, rock or jazz or anything else. Each and every one of them is supposed to offer a spark and a powerful punch. That’s why it’s nice to be able to tweak such things a bit with the help of proper cabling. Does this mean that the rest of the audio systems should avoid the use of this manufacturer’s products? Don’t worry, as my case shows, it’s worth at least trying, and it may turn out that an extra pinch of spice is what we’ve been looking for since dawn of time. So don’t be afraid, because only hyperactive systems may turn out to be in toxic relationship with those cables. The rest have a good chance of finding a compromise. If not with a full set of cables, then perhaps with single wires. But it will depend on the specific case. So let’s get to work.

Jacek Pazio

System used in this test:
Source:
– transport: CEC TL 0 3.0
– streamer: Lumin U2 Mini + 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 Apex 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”, Siltech Classic Legend 880i
Digital IC: Hijiri HDG-X Milion
Ethernet cable: NxLT LAN FLAME
Power cables: Hijiri Takumi Maestro, Furutech Project-V1, 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, Synergistic Research Galileo SX AC
– Table: BASE AUDIO 2
– 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
– Phonostage: Sensor 2 mk II
– Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer: DS Audio ES-001
– Tape recorder: Studer A80

Distributor: Audio-Mix
Manufacturer: Esprit
Prices
Esprit Audio Lumina XLR: 26 499 PLN / 2×1,2m; 34 999 PLN / 2×1,8m
Esprit Audio Lumina Speaker: 21 999 PLN/ 2x2m; 25 999 PLN / 2×2,5m; 39 999 PLN / 2x3m
Esprit Audio Lumina Power: 17 499 PLN / 1,5m; 21 999 PLN/2m