Opinion 1

Slowly I am coming to the conclusion, that more and more often I prefer stability to being surprised. Surprises are not always positive, what can sometimes result in being disappointed, and this is something nobody wants. This is why I prefer manufacturers, who are true to a certain sound school, which only evolves from model to model, from product line to product line, and its evolution is happening within a clearly defined canon and according to clear ideas. What is also important, when exploring a certain line of products, I do expect that elements included in that line will complement each other not by compensating for their mutual shortcomings, like curing one disease with another, but rather by synergy. So we do exclude inconsistencies but welcome predictability, borderline certainty, that regardless what assortment we get from the portfolio of the “trusted” manufacturer, we will get exactly that, what we expect; that what we got used to by previously reviewed products. This is the kind of approach, that the Indonesian micro-brand Vermouth Audio, represented in Poland by the Gliwice based 4HiFi, who’s top Reference line we explored quite thoroughly. We got started with the analog interconnects RCA/XLR , then tested the power and loudspeaker cables, finally looking at a phono interconnect. Of course, our readers probably immediately noticed, that the picture of the Bali High-End would not be complete without approaching the USB cable, something inevitable in our times, which are based on streaming and playing files. So finishing, for now, our adventure with the Reference line, we have the pleasure to share with you some observations about the USB cable belonging to the top achievements of the mind behind Vermöuth Audio Mr. Hendry Ramli.

Regarding the looks, nobody tried to reinvent the wheel, as trusty, tested solutions were applied. The tested cable was confectioned with proprietary, carbon plugs, and covered with the typical white sheath, opaque, with a single black thread. Performing a vivisection by looking at the published cross-section, under the sheath we find a layer of PVC, a PTFE tape, OFC copper braid with a ground wire, a shield from aluminum-mylar foil, another layer of PTFE and finally we get to the four bundles of OCC copper wires with different cross-sections. The pair of conductors used for signal transmission has an additional PTFE tape layer on top of the Teflon insulation. The power pair did not deserve such treatment.

Moving to the main dish, the sound of the tested interconnect, I could easily do a classic Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V from the review of the analog RCA/XLR and I would not be off by an inch. This is exactly the same author’s cocktail of refinement, juiciness, dynamics and resolution, which makes time stand still. Things that should have been done now get moved to indefinite future, and we automatically switch from analysis mode to pure hedonist enjoyment of listening to known sounds, but presented in a much more attractive form. Looking for analogies, due to a similar price tag and similar sound, I will use my Fidata HFU2 cable as reference, a cable which, on one hand, enchanted, and keeps doing that, with a phenomenal insight into the recording with captivating musicality accompanying that. Yet the Vermouth is going a step or two further in this charming addiction and inability of getting loose from exploring your home library or the vast library of Tidal. True, it does not have that same load of energy at the top of the sound spectrum, like for example the Goldenote Firenze Silver, or such a ruthless linearity like the currently tested, and unfortunately much more expensive Westminster Lab USB Standard, but every time I plugged it into my system … I had all those differences, as those are surely no shortcomings, deep inside the place, where the back loses its name. Just like that. Because the reference always put a smile on my face, a smile of content, coming from the completeness and, in a way, finiteness of the sounds reaching my ears. Interestingly, the pleasure was not the result of exaggerated sweetness, or caramel-like stickiness, but from homogeneity and coherence of the sound.
I will start my arguments supported by individual discs with the, quite innocently beginning, album “Ellengæst” from Crippled Black Phoenix, then, continuing the depressive-catatonic mood, reach for the “Songs of Love and Death” by Me and that Man, and again for the equally dark and difficult to classify, “Beileid” by Bohren & Der Club of Gore. It is hard to conceal, that those are not easy and popular productions, but they have that kind of magnetism and beauty, which you need to grow up to, or finally to create a stereo good enough to hear those assets. This is like with a Martini. Everybody makes his or her own version of it, but only a select few can achieve true balance. Some, like the legendary Agent 007, prefer the „brute” version called Vesper (three parts of Gin, one part of vodka, half a part of Lillete liqueur) or mix dry vermouth with a sweet one (Knickerbocker Martini), something I do not prefer. The tested Vermouth Reference hits the bulls-eye – it is much more elegant and refined. A portion o of dry vermouth (if it has to be elegant then I will recommend Carlo Alberto Riserva Extra Dry), four parts of Gin (here Bombay Sapphire comes to mind) and … three olives. It is consummate, delicate and smooth. And due to the very successful combination of spices … complicated. Because it is about the fact, that the mentioned smoothness or homogeneity do not limit the insight into the recording to any capacity, neither the exploration of the further planes, acoustics of the room, where the recording was made, or tracing the individual instruments in the mix. But to experience that, you need to stand still, to quiet down, and allow the music to carry you forward, and not treat it as a filler for your usual daily routines. They are not ostensive, not shouting or waving their hands for us to notice them. No, there are just there. And it is on us if we want to see them, or will just pass by. Like mushrooms in a forest, unifying with texture and color with the surroundings – but a keen eye will spot them immediately, while others will just walk past murmuring “there is nothing here”. I had similar observations with heavier, and slightly more complicated repertoire, the big symphonic orchestra (Michiyoshi Inoue, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra) taking on “Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 “Leningrad””, as well as the difficult to define metal project “Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic” by The Ocean. The scale and swing of the mentioned recordings were absolutely undisputed. The stage was broad enough to fully contain the massive performing apparatus, and that without any signs of under scaling, and when the big orchestra played crescendo, accompanying the snare drum, you could feel the remainders of your hair raise on your neck. You also better just leave the timbre and definition of the individual instruments aside, as they are a kind of axiom here, they just sound like that live and have this, and no other size. Then we will stop nitpicking and will be able to enjoy the music in complete extasy.
On the other hand, on the mentioned “Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic | Cenozoic”, the tested cable fitted greatly in the truly avantgarde cacophony interwoven with almost jazzy inserts based on playing with silence, or seemingly innocent, “singing” vocals. Although such an explosive combination may seem at least incoherent and jagged, with the Vermouth in the sound path it defended itself brilliantly as a concept album, nothing, even looking from broader perspective, did not shatter the cause and effect sequence, which created a superbly involving tale.

It looks like we have a self-fulfilling prophecy here. I assumed, that Vermouth Audio Reference USB will sound good, or even very good, and that was exactly what happened. Was this a rigged game from the start, or the result of reactive psychosis caused by wishful thinking? Absolutely not. It is just that based on the contacts with other representatives of the Reference series from the Bali manufacturer, I did not expect anything else. Hendry Ramli did it once more; using proven solutions he created another cable with an almost obscene price to performance ratio, but most of all, brilliant sound, which, when you learn to know it, absolutely discourages you from further searches.

Marcin Olszewski

System used in this test:
– CD/DAC: Ayon CD-35 (Preamp + Signature) + Finite Elemente Cerabase compact
– Network player: Lumin U1 Mini
– 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
– 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
– 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
– 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
– Ethernet cables: Neyton CAT7+; Audiomica Anort Consequence + Artoc Ultra Reference + Arago Excellence
– Table: Rogoz Audio 4SM
– Acoustic panels: Vicoustic Flat Panels VMT

Opinion 2

Despite the fights for the one and only truth by the audio-sceptics, chasing every kind of voodoo, based on my hands-on experience, I completely cannot agree with them, that a digital cable does not influence the sound at all, as it carries only ones and zeros. This is my current knowledge, supported by many years of listening, so currently I do not see any chances for a consensus between me and them. But please have no worries, I am very tolerant to others, especially in terms of differently looking at the same phenomena, as well as adopting my point of view by my interlocutors, and I will absolutely not fight them. I will just leave them alone, but whenever I have a chance, I am listening to such accessories, each and every time only confirming my impressions from such sessions. This is the reason, that I probably will surprise no one, when I tell you, that my today’s meeting with the Indonesian cable Vermouth Audio Reference USB did not undermine the credibility of my earlier experience. Even more, it showed clearly, that you can model the structure of the sound of an audio system starting with the cable connecting the file transport or streamer with a DAC. So if you are interested, how the tested guest from the fabulous, Indonesian island Bali fared, I will just mention, that the zero and one transferring USB cable was supplied by the Gliwice based distributor 4HiFi.

The paragraph describing the looks and technical of the tested cable will not be a never ending story, due to its, rather simple, construction. The conductors are, like with other cables from the Reference series, appropriately braided from thin, copper wires of different gauge. Its cross-section shows four – two for the power and two for signal transfer – wires with different thickness, with many different shields and isolators placed on them. I have to confess, that due this attachment to quality, the cable is quite thick. But you should not be alarmed, it is still flexible enough to pose issues with placing in tight spots behind your gear and rack. The exterior is topped off with an external, opaque white braid with a motive of two crossing black strings. The connecting plugs – USB A and B in this case – are proprietary, based on carbon fiber. The complete cable is packaged in a light, linen bag and then placed in a black, cardboard box together with a certificate of authenticity.

Before I start with the descriptive part of the test of the digital interconnect, I will tell you, that my reference is the cable from Italy, the Goldenote Firenze Silver, which uses silver in their conductors. And you know what? It was a very informative confrontation, as I immediately knew, what the tested cable from Bali is capable of in terms of sound. I will not keep this information to the end, I will immediately tell you, that compared to the Italian cable, the South-Asian connector sounded in a brilliant, saturated way. But this happens not in the way of having overweight averaging, as is quite common with other manufacturers searching for musicality. It is just that the manufacturer added some body in the lower and middle range of the sound spectrum, not losing the nice breath of music at all. It is obvious, that he could not leave the upper registers alone, what could allow them to gain too much individuality and become overexcited and completely detached from reality. This is the reason, that the manufacturer stayed committed to the saturated sound, shying a bit away from being completely uncompromised at reproducing shriek sounds in a system featuring his cable, so he coloured the treble a little. This left the insight into the recording intact; the high registers are just in-line with the rest of the sound spectrum, but are absolutely not killing the vitality of the music. I do not know how he achieved this, but in my opinion, he did it brilliantly.

As you can see on the photos, the whole test was performed using a multifunctional device – in general a NAS server with capability of streaming its own database – the Melco N1Z/2EX-H60 (test coming shortly), where I had access to almost unlimited music library, at least in terms of genres. This allowed me to start the test with music almost ideally fitting to the ideas behind the construction of the USB cable, the packed with emotion music of Claudio Monteverdi in the interpretation of Michel Godard “A Trace of Grace”. This confrontation turned out to be a spectacle with a big “S”; as not only female vocals were using the full swing of its capabilities, but the main theme of the second piece, featuring male vocal, as well as the timbre and energy of the Serpent played by the author of the compilation, were the highlights of this disc. Due to the brilliant balance between the smoothness of the treble and their vitality, the mentioned earlier sonic components of the recording had no problems not only with free, but also prolonged decay under the ceiling of the church. This is not always that obvious, as sometimes placing the sounds on good level of saturation impairs their freedom of movement. And here I did not notice anything like. This was the spirit of the sparring with splendid jazz from the live disc “E.S.T. Live in Hamburg”. What can I write about this disc? Noting beyond that again, I got a perfect reproduction of the phenomenal drive, but also the flow between the musicians and good sight on the atmosphere of the event, what resulted in listening to this double album not only from the beginning to the end, but with some repetitions of the most emotional solos of the individuals on stage. After this, time came to listen to something heavier, so I chose the Melco to play something from rock bands like Megadeth and electronics in the likes of The Acid. Due to the sound properties of our tested cable, not so well recorded rock material gained on musicality, while not losing too much of the aggressiveness written in its DNA. Electronic music still offered enough oomph with the energy flowing from the speakers, it just became a tad less stingy. So the only thing I would look for, that is not absolute truth, and would need you to check before buying, would be the nobleness put on the treble. The rest was absolutely convincing.

As you can see from the above test, regardless of the fact, that many music lovers neglect the influence of the USB cable on the final sound of the used stereo system, I, in my system, noticed the upping of the emotionality of the reproduced music, intended by the manufacturer. But cooling off to high emotions from the most malcontent readers, I will just remind you, that the music used for testing showed only very noble actions. This makes me believe, that there are absolutely no counterindications for using this cable for anyone of my target audience. Hence I will just say, that you would really be hard pressed to find any cable of such sound quality that has such good freedom of sound as this connector.

Jacek Pazio

System used in this test:
– CD transport” CEC TL 0 3.0
– Network player: Melco N1Z/2EX-H60
– DAC: dCS Vivaldi DAC 2.0
– Reference clock: Mutec REF 10
– Reclocker: Mutec MC-3+USB
– Shunyata Research Sigma CLOCK
– Shunyata Sigma NR
– Preamplifier: Robert Koda Takumi K-15
– Power amplifier: Gryphon Audio Mephisto Stereo
– Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Consequence
– Speaker Cables: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond
– IC RCA: Hijri „Million”, Vermouth Audio Reference
– IC XLR: Tellurium Q Silver Diamond
– Digital IC: Harmonix HS 102
– Power cables: Harmonix X-DC 350M2R Improved Version, Furutech NanoFlux NCF Furutech DPS-4 + FI-E50 NCF(R)/ FI-50(R), Hijiri Nagomi; Vermouth Audio Reference Power Cord
– 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: SME 30/2
Arm: SME V
Cartridge: MIYAJIMA MADAKE
Step-up: Thrax Trajan
Phonostage: RCM THERIAA

Polish distributor: 4HiFi
Manufacturer: Vermöuth Audio
Price: 1 950,57 PLN / 1m