Review #97 - Visus HDMI Cable - Ricable Review
Gil P.
Sources: Sony SCD-XA5400ES CD player.
Amplifier: Emotiva XSP-1 Gen 2 preamplifier; Emotiva XPA-DR1 Differential Reference Monoblock amplifier
Acoustic Speakers: SwanS F2.2+
Other: Bryston BDA-3 DAC; Marantz AV7703 Home Theater Controller; Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Player
The following review of the Visus HDMI cable 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 their impressions, in a completely free. We thank Gil for his time.
choose Ricable?
The seriousness of the brand in terms of laying claims based on factual use of proven materials. No magical BS like Audioquest and many others. The value proposition was also at par with what others offer. The factory direct selling also is a plus for me as it makes the products more competitive in terms of price, most of the time.
Cable looks high quality but I am dissapointed with the clear finish on the terminals. One of them has a micro bubble showing and neither terminal came protected during shipping, exposing them to possible scratching. The cable offers exception performance but the terminals could use some improvement only in terms of appearance. The rest of tha cable is 100% to my satisfaction. Connecters are solid and connect to my equipment with a firm feel.
I tested against my older Lifatec glass HDMI cable. The improvements stated earlier in the comments came from evaluating both cables as I switched back-and forth with minimal delay. I listened to several DSD SACD recordings that had very high resolution, so I could focus on the added details the cable could possibly pull from them.
Using this cable to connect my Sony transport to my Bryston DAC, sending DSD signal without PCM conversion. As I was not expecting a big improvement in terms of sound from a digital interface, I was still left quite surprised by the added details created around the individual instruments, as well as added micro-detailing coming from the recording itself. I've never had any problems with "hand-shaking" from my source to my DAC, something that sometimes happens when transferring a DSD signal in it's original form because of copy protection. The soundstage also gained a little bit in terms of depth and precision of instrument location.
Your conclusions.
I will be keeping Ricable in my reference list of products for future upgrades in my ultra-fidelity chain. They offer solidly built products using premium materials that around known for delivering best in class transfer of analog or digital signals. Some of your cables are quite expensive, but the no hassle free return policy makes my feel more confident to try them in my own system to see if I actually hear an improvement when investing such sums of money.
What did you enjoy?
- Overall performance
- Solid built
- More technology than all others in this price range
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What would you improve?
- As noted in my product finish details
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The seriousness of the brand in terms of claims based on concrete use of proven materials. No magic gimmicks like AudioQuest and many others. The value proposition was also on par with what others offer. Factory direct sales is also a plus for me as it makes the products more price competitive in most cases.
and aesthetics of the product?
The cable appears to be of high quality but I am disappointed in the transparent finish of the terminals. Microbubbles are visible on one of them and neither terminal was protected during shipping, exposing them to possible scratches. The cable offers outstanding performance but the terminals could be improved only in terms of appearance. The rest of the cable is 100% to my satisfaction. The connectors are solid and connect to my equipment with a firm feel.
I did a comparison with my old Lifatec glass HDMI cable. The improvements stated earlier in the comments came from evaluating both cables while alternating back and forth with minimal delay. I listened to several DSD SACD recordings with very high resolution, so I was able to focus on the additional detail the cable would get out of them.
listening impressions?
I use this cable to connect my Sony transport to my Bryston DAC, sending the DSD signal without PCM conversion. Since I did not expect much improvement in sound from a digital interface, I was still quite surprised by the added details created around individual instruments, as well as the added microdetails from the recording itself. I never had any problems withhand-shaking from the source to the DAC, which sometimes happens when transferring a DSD signal in its original form because of copy protection. The soundstage also gained something in terms of depth and accuracy of instrument position.
Your conclusions.
I will keep Ricable on my product reference list for future upgrades to my high-fidelity chain. They offer solidly constructed products using top-quality materials known to offer best-in-class analog or digital signal transfer. Some of your cables are quite expensive, but the no-hassle return policy makes me feel more confident in trying them in my system to see if I actually hear an improvement when I invest such sums of money.
What did you enjoy?
- Overall performance
- Solid construction
- More technology than competitors in the same range
-
What would you improve?
- As reported, in the finishing details of my product.
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