Fabio C.
Sources: Marantz SA-10 CD player
Amplifier: Pass Labs INT-250
Acoustic Speakers: Dynaudio Heritage Special
Other: SVS SB2000 Pro subwoofers (pair); Akiko Audio Tuning Stick MKIII; Akiko Audio Triple AC Evolution; Akiko Audio Corelli Network Conditioner (Corundum Edition)
The following review of Invictus Power Reference and XLR 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 Fabio for his time.
Well, I am a very loyal Ricable customer and I know the products having tried them all, starting with the Primus series and taking advantage of the possibility of upgrades later, plus the main reason is that the products, in addition to being beautiful and masterfully constructed, work great, deliver what they promise, and are absolutely value for money.
and aesthetics of the product?
The packaging is, as usual, on a jeweler's level... with black velvet... to be absolutely kept in case of future sale to anyone, in addition, the cables, both Invictus Power Reference and Invictus XLR, have ultra premium finishes, with plugs of a level (and also weight) at the top of the market, with abundant carbon that further embellishes the object, in particular the power cable is of such workmanship that it could also be used as a tow cable for broken-down cars, from the way it looks...
For listening tests I have my own selection of tracks (about thirty) where there are situations, dynamics, frequencies and characteristics ranging in every field: frequency response, dynamics, contrast, noise floor, complex signals, naturalness, impact, sound planes, reverberation, etc. and also I listen to everything for a long time, in this specific case I had to run the (actually the--I have five of them) Power Reference about sixty hours before I could express myself; right out of the box they were no better than the regular Invictus Power I owned before, but after the "infamous break-in" things changed, and not a little.
listening impressions?
The main prerogative of the cable is the quality of the bass that is very deep, firm and detailed, indeed contoured, and then the great naturalness, in general a feeling of effortlessness and everything happens as if it were in reality; the blackness between the instruments has increased as well as the size of the soundstage, in short an improvement that is perceived as refinement, after all theInvictus Power normal was an exceptional cable but the Reference beats it in musicality, detail, bass and fineness of sounds, moreover the micro ambient information is highlighted to the maximum; I would add that the maximum effectiveness was had by the cable that feeds the amplifier, improving its sonic performance by 20%.
As for theInvictus XLR that I use together with a Invictus Signal RCA on the source (to have the two versions of connection and therefore of sound) it is the first XLR that I try so I have no terms of comparison, but I can say that in comparison with Invictus Signal has much more dynamics, more light in general on the mids and highs, everything is tighter and faster, the fundamentals (30-40 Hz) are vibrant but drier, let's say the regular Invicuts is more relaxed, softer, maybe slightly darker and a bit slower but probably the reason is also due to the different circuitry of the balanced output and input compared to the single ended; if we want to make a comparison with tubes, the RCA cable sounds more like a 300b while the balanced XLR is more like an 845.
Your conclusions.
For those who want the ultimate in power connections (and in my humble opinion as an audiophile with 45 years of experience in the field) these are the connections that affect the sound the most, they should be the first cables to buy... and if you have equipment that costs a lot but also gives a lot in terms of sound, give them a nice gift and get theInvictus Power Reference, you will not regret it and most importantly you will never go back.
For the XLR I can only say that it sounds great and if you have the possibility to use this type of connection surely it is a cable worth all its price.
What did you like?
- State-of-the-art sound performance
- Hi-Tech Aesthetics
- Construction
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What would you improve?
- Nothing to report
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