Charles W.
Sources: DAC Lab12 dac1 reference
Amplifier:Lab12 integre4 MK2
Acoustic Speakers: Cabasse Baltic Evolution
Other: Cabasse Mercure subwoofer
The following review of the Invictus Signal and Speaker Reference cables is the result of the "Ricable Review" initiative. Ricable Review is the program designed by Ricable, created to collect feedback from audiophiles, in order to lead to continuous improvement of the products in the catalog. Last but not least, those who join the program receive a certificate at home, with the purpose of certifying how the customer has become to all intents and purposes part of the " Ricable" family.
The following Feedback was created on the basis of a predefined questionnaire to which the user returned his impressions, in a completely free. We thank Charles for his time.
choose Ricable?
I first encountered review of Ricable's Invictus range in the well-known audiophile site Pursuit Perfect System. I had just upgraded to my new speakers and amplifier and was in quest to upgrade my cables to remove all the bottlenecks in my setup. I made it a mission to try lesser known boutique brands as I found them to provide very high performance to price ratio as compared to the usual brands. I liked what I read about the Invictus range and decided to take advantage of the 20% off Black Friday deal. The money back guarantee sealed the deal as I knew I could always return them if they did not synergize with my setup.
Premium build quality and very high quality plugs. The locking mechanisms for the plugs is a nice touch that even many more expensive cables lack. The connections to the terminals on these plugs are very secure. With my previous speaker cables I had to check the connections from time to time as they might become slightly loose; no such issue with these cables from Ricable. I did encounter an issue setting up the speaker cables. The speaker cables are heavy and initially I was puzzled that no sound were coming out. I had to lift them and loop them behind my speakers for them to work properly; seemed like their weight might cause issues with some speaker terminals.
The Ricable Invictus Speaker Reference and Invictus RCA are compared against my existing Gen II speaker cables and RCA interconnect from the now defunct SoundString. For playback I used Roon/Tidal on my desktop PC connected by USB cable to my Lab12 DAC. The Lab12 DAC is connected to Lab12 integrated with the Invictus Signal RCA. The Invictus Speaker Reference then ran from the integrated to the speakers. I listened to a selection of vocal and classical music first on my previous cables, then I listened to them again with the Ricable cables connected.
The SoundString speaker cables and interconnect that I used were highly regarded and certainly no average performer; honestly I was not expecting much improvement. To my surprise, the Ricable speaker cable and interconnect combo immediately left a positive impression even without any burn-in. Listening to one of my favorite vocal albums, Front Porch by Joy Williams, there was an immediately more relaxing and natural sound that made me listen to the entire album again. The most noticeable gain was felt most in classical music. In the recording of Beethoven's first 3 Symphonies by Compagnia di Punto, the instruments sounded more "correct" and there was a greater coherence overall. And also thankfully, the cables sounded completely neutral as I really did not wish to add further warmth to my setup.
Your conclusions.
I was really pleasantly surprised by Ricable. The prices of the Invictus cables were certainly not inexpensive, but the quality and the sonic improvements they brought to my system were as good as some of much more expensive cables I had sampled. Installing these cables in my setup made my already very good sounding setup even better and I no longer had any desire to upgrade (unless I strike lottery!) I am certainly looking forward to the rest of the cables and cords in the Invictus range.
What did you enjoy?
- Neutral sound
- Clarity
- High quality plugs
- Price
What would you improve?
- Nothing to note
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I first encountered the Invictus range review of Ricable in the well-known audiophile site Pursuit Perfect System. I had just upgraded my new speakers and amplifier and was looking to upgrade my cables to remove all the bottlenecks in my setup. My mission was to try the lesser-known boutique brands as I found that they offered very good value for money compared to the usual brands. I liked what I read about the Invictus range and decided to take advantage of the 20 percent discount during Black Friday. The money back guarantee sealed the deal as I knew I could always return them if they were not in synergy with my setup.
and aesthetics of the product?
Premium build quality and the highest quality connectors. The locking mechanism on the plugs is a nice touch that many more expensive cables also lack. The connections to the terminals of these plugs are very secure. With my previous speaker cables I had to check the connections from time to time because they could loosen slightly; no such problems with these cables Ricable. I did encounter one problem when setting up the speaker cables. The speaker cables are heavy and initially I was puzzled that no sound was coming out. I had to lift them up and connect them behind the speakers for them to work properly; it seemed that their weight might cause problems with some of the speaker terminals.
The Ricable Invictus Speaker Reference and theInvictus RCA are compared with my existing Gen II speaker cables and the now-defunct SoundString RCA interconnect. For playback, I used Roon/Tidal on my desktop PC connected via USB cable to my Lab12 DAC. The Lab12 DAC is connected to the Lab12 integrated with theInvictus Signal RCA. TheInvictus Speaker Reference then goes from the integrated amplifier to the speakers. I listened to a selection of vocal and classical music first with my previous cables, then listened again with the Ricable cables connected.
listening impressions?
The SoundString speaker and interconnect cables I used were highly rated and certainly did not perform average; I honestly did not expect much improvement. To my surprise, the speaker cable combo Ricable and INTERCONNECT left an immediate positive impression even without any break-in. Listening to one of my favorite vocal albums, Front Porch by Joy Williams, there was an immediate sense of a more relaxed and natural sound that made me listen to the entire album again. The most noticeable improvement was felt especially in classical music. In the Punto Company's recording of Beethoven's first 3 Symphonies, the instruments sounded more "correct" and there was more coherence overall. And fortunately, the cables sounded completely neutral since I did not want to add any additional warmth to my setup.
Your conclusions.
I was really pleasantly surprised by Ricable. The prices of the Invictus cables were certainly not cheap, but the quality and sonic improvements they brought to my system were as good as those of much more expensive cables I had tried. Installing these cables in my system has made my already great-sounding system even better, and I have no further desire to upgrade it (unless I were to win the lottery!). I certainly look forward to the rest of the cables in the Invictus range .
What did you like?
- Neutrality of sound
- Clarity
- High quality plugs
- Price
What would you improve?
- Nothing to report
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