BLOG #17: AN ANNOUNCEMENT: From Now On A New Generation Connecting Cable Will Be Used With Our StereoPravda “SPearphone” Series Of In-The-Ear Monitors.

From now on our StereoPravda “SPearphone” SB-6 and SB-7/7A In-The-Ear monitors will be coming with a new custom cable built for us in Japan by our long term partner and friend Chris Sommovigo (of widely known, for the last 20+ years, in narrow audiophile circles Stereovox and Stereolab cable companies).

The influence of a headphone or an earphone connecting cable’s sound on the total sound of a portable music system is much more pronounced than the influence of a separate connecting cable on the sound of a home audio system.
There are two main reasons for that: first, in the former case there is only one cable, so its effect on the total sound is cumulative versus a spread individual input from a single cable in a multiple cable home installation.
The second reason is that in the absence of the sonically most influential audio system component – the room – the whole scale of audio components’ influence on the total sound immediately readjusts itself on a new scale of much smaller sonic increments, in which various connecting cables’ sonic differences become much more pronounced.

That’s why for us, because of the absolute sonic pretensions of our ear monitors, our long term cooperation with Chris Sommovigo, who’s got a well earned reputation of a cable “guru” on the international audiophile scene, becomes a necessary condition to reach our goals: to transfer the best virtues of home High End Audio to its portable technological platform.

It’s a ninth generation earphone cable that Chris custom built for us (the first generation one dates back to 2009):

http://stereopravda.com/blog/94/

Compared to the preceding 8th generation earphone cable we’ve been using for SB-6 and SB7/7A since 2014 this new one is dramatically improved, both sonically, and in its mechanical properties, specifically defined by the cable’s intended application (including the “tear and wear” department).

Because of the original electrical construction of our IEM as fully differential and “two-way”, the earphone must be equipped with two electrical lines per stereo channel.
Therefore, as the new cable has got 32 individually isolated ultra thin conductors braided with tight tolerances over its core (vs 16 in its previous incarnation), the total number of conductors is split into four groups of 8 conductors per line, 16 per stereo channel.
It’s got special new core material and a protective shell from a new material.
Despite being twice as thick in gauge, compared to its predecessor, the new cable is very soft and seems even lighter.
Actually, the thicker diameter happened to be an unexpected blessing, as it makes the cable much more manageable and, with its more appropriate core material and construction, less prone to mechanical noise and forming cable “hernias”, which would eventually lead to the cable conductor ruptures.
Combined with the twice as many conductors than before, the new cable’s mechanical construction makes this cable completely indestructible for years of heavy portable use.

Soundwise, the new cable continues Chris’ trademarked tradition of “soulful” music rendering.
But even compared with its predecessor, the new cable is a few notches up in every sonic department: more sharply focused resolution, more spacious soundstage with better layering, more subtlety in dynamics, better music images’ definition, more weight and less pronounced sibilance effects.

From the first few seconds of exposure to Chris Sommovigo’s efforts (via his Illuminati S/PDIF original “brass vase”-connectors job more than twenty years ago) I would always use his products as a benchmark, a litmus test, if you will, to check out the validity of my own audio solutions.
If I wouldn’t have heard an improvement putting his cables in an audio system, I always knew that there is something wrong with it.
And vice versa: a synergy with Chris’ cable would indicate to me that I am on a right path while installing or tweaking an audio system.

And this new custom cable is not an exception.
Once again, the increased synergy between this new 9th generation connecting cable from Chris Sommovigo and our IEM design confirmed to me that we’re on the right tracks regarding our “SPearphone” solutions.

We will continue to keep the prices for SB-7/7A the same as before.
For the legacy owners of our IEMs in the field we currently provide a generous connecting cable upgrade program.
Please, get in touch with us for the details of it.

19.07.2016 // Author:  (Bigmisha) // Number of views:  3945