Lavricables Master Line Sky-blue Review
Lavricables Master Line Sky-blue Review
Kind of Blue
Pros: + Increases detail retrieval and resolution
+ Sound gets more refined with improved dynamics
+ Adds more clarity and opens the soundstage
+ Will highlight all of your chain advantages
+ Excellent build quality and handling experience
+ The sky-blue sleeving is very beautiful looking
+ Zero microphonic noise
+ Made from high quality parts and available for most of the headphones of the market
Cons: – The highly revealing nature will expose all of your chain shortcomings
– Strain relief heat shrinks could be longer and thicker
The review sample was kindly provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review.
I didn’t receive monetary or any other kind of compensation and I don’t use affiliate links.
You can find retail prices for all Lavricables product lines and other information at their website.
Introduction
My first experience with Lavricables was with their Ultimate line, a cable that I have reviewed here.
After that I must admit that I became a loyal customer and I have ordered pure silver cables from the Ultimate line for all the headphones of my collection.
It was a couple of months ago that Konstantin from Lavricables suggested that I should test the new Sky-blue Master line V3 cable with my Meze Elite and HiFiMan Susvara and was kind enough to send me two samples for evaluation.
Regular readers will find some inevitable similarities between the Ultimate cable review and this one.
About Lavricables
Lavricables is a Latvia based company that was created back in 2012 as a hobby.
To ensure the highest quality of their products they use pure silver which is the best conductor available nowadays. Silver is also known for its neutrality, resolution and soundstage openness. Moreover, braided solid core cable geometry allows to eliminate radio frequencies and electromagnetic interferences and with increased number of cores skin effect is also minimized on high frequencies.
Currently they make cables for most of the headphones and IEMs available on the market.
Most of their products are available in three lines: Reference, Ultimate, Master and Grand.
Entry point is the Reference line for anyone who looks to upgrade from the usually low quality stock cables.
More advanced in sonic characteristics and cable geometry is the Ultimate line.
Then the Master line was introduced, offering more premium products and the best possible products are represented by the Grand line.
Silver cables need burn in time
According to Lavricables, it is always important to remember that silver reveals its potential only after 100-150 hours of burn in time (hence they offer burn in services). There are lots of different opinions related to this topic as well as a great amount of technical articles proving that. From their point of view this is a MUST for every cable. Sound characters that might seem in the beginning a bit harsh or even unpleasant on some revealing systems will noticeably change with time and become more relaxed and neutral.
The review samples came already burned by the manufacturer.
My general thoughts about cables
Before reading the review you should probably know that I am not a cable zealot nor a cable denier.
I have a diploma in physics and I certainly trust in measurements and science but don’t think that everything can be measured, especially when it comes to sound. There are a lot of parameters involved and in the end I prefer to trust my ears rather than reading measurements.
When it comes to cables I can easily blind pick differences between speaker cables and I do think that they greatly affect the performance of a sound system.
Interconnects are more related to component matching and their effect can vary from minimal to more substantial depending on the output/input impedance ratio while I would lie by saying that I can hear any sonic differences between power cords.
Thus said this is a purely subjective and not scientifically based review, something that I am asking to be respected.
I am not going to engage into a “do cables make a difference” discussion and such comments will be totally ignored.
Lavricables Master Series Headphone cables
To reveal the potential of any hi-fi setup, the Master line has been introduced by the manufacturer, one step before their flagship Grand line.
The Master line used to be an awg22 hybrid cable and remained unchanged until recently when the new, much improved, version 3 was introduced.
This new cable is quite different from the previous one, still silver but the wire now gained significant flexibility improvement as a result of a new double twisted geometry as found in the Grand line.
Moreover it has a redesigned structure which covers the size and amount of enameled cores and also a small amount of patented alloy cores in the middle.
Furthermore they have also introduced a sky-blue tint of pvc insulation which stands out of the crowd and looks totally amazing.
The cable is highly customizable and you can choose the termination and headphone end plugs, the color, the Y splitter and whether the cable will have a silk sleeving or not.
The review cables
The review samples are two, one cable for the Meze Elite and the other for the HiFiMan Susvara.
The first one has Furutech mini-XLR plugs with rhodium plated pins on the headphone side and is terminated with the Lavricables custom 4.4mm plug with rhodium plated pins.
The other is using standard 2.5mm plugs for the headphone and the Lavricables custom made 4.4mm gold plated plug on the other end.
Build quality
The cable is of the highest quality, it seems ultra durable, is very soft and not stiff, lightweight, easy to handle without getting tangled and has absolutely zero microphonic noise.
The plugs are also of the highest quality and they come well assembled with heat-shrink strain reliefs.
If there is something to complain about, it is that I would have liked a little longer and beefier heat shrinks.
The new sky-blue sleeving is absolutely beautiful, this is one of the best looking cables in the industry and while external appearance will certainly not affect sound performance I know that there are a lot of people who are buying upgrade cables for aesthetic and ergonomic reasons only.
I wish that I had the photographer skills to show how the light radiates through it and changes the color shades.
Before the listening impressions
I Know that many of you are wondering:
Will the Master upgrade cable add more bass to my headphones?
Can I use it to make vocals sound more forward and closer to my liking?
Is it possible to cut a few db in the treble to make my headphones sound smoother?
Should I buy it to equalize the frequency response of my headphones?
I have been reading that silver will add harshness and brightness on my headphones, is this true?
Well, the answer to all the above and similar questions is a definite NO.
Yes NO, you have read it right, the Lavricables Master is not some kind of a passive equalizer and will not change anything regarding the frequency response of your headphones and the electronics behind them.
If you don’t like your headphones frequency response or the synergy of your sound system then you better invest in another headphone or tweak your system or just use a hardware/software equalizer.
But if you love your headphones system and want to squeeze every last drop of performance then keep reading.
Listening impressions
I have been using both cables continuously for more than a couple of months and I have naturally rotated between most of my listening gear.
The Violectric V380², iBasso DX320, Cayin C9, FiiO M17 and Feliks Audio Euforia just to mention a few of them.
The listening metrology was to cycle between the Master and stock cables while keeping detailed notes of all audible differences.
Listening with the Lavricables Master and comparing with the stock cables you can’t fail to notice certain sonic improvements for both headphones.
And I am not only referring to the stock cables that come bundled with the headphones and are of really bad quality (especially the Susvara cable) but also to the Meze Elite copper upgrade cable that is sonically much better than the stock.
Of course most of the differences are not jaw dropping, night and day, you have to be patient and let the cable work its way into your ears.
But after using the cable for a couple of sessions and switching back to the stock it is right then when you immediately realize the audible sonic improvements.
There is a considerable improvement into the overall transparency and the clarity of the sound.
The Master cable is like being more “absent” from the chain, there is this strange feeling that your headphones are directly connected to the amplifier output jack.
The cable allows for more treble extension and resolution without adding any signs of harshness or brightness and without making your headphones sound more analytical than they really are.
You can’t also fail to notice the extra flow of information both to the mids and the bass with improved layering, definition and articulation.
Dynamics also become more contrasted and impactful, it is like that all of the amplifier energy is passing through the cable to the headphones without a single percentage of loss during its way there.
The Susvara and the Elite are already two headphones with a speaker like quality in their soundstage presentation but the Master cable upgraded the experience by adding extra layers of depth, more holographic relief and helping a lot with the imaging.
One strange thing is that while most people believe (including me before trying) that a pure silver cable will add sharpness and a metallic tint to the sound, the truth is by far the opposite.
The timbre gains more in naturalness and realism and the texture becomes more smooth and polished but not shiny.
The better your chain is the more apparent the sonic improvements will become but there is also a catch.
The highly revealing nature of the cable will expose bad quality recordings and will ruthlessly highlight all the disadvantages of your chain.
So if you already love your headphones and your sound system then you are going to love them even more but be careful because by using such a revealing cable there is a great chance that if there was something already bothering you, now it will become a real pain in your ass.
The Elite with the Master cable plugged into the Feliks Audio Euforia fed by the Ideon Audio Ayazi MK2 DAC resulted in an orgasmic listening experience when I revisited my favorite recording of Beethoven’s 9th symphony.
At this point someone would ask about the differences between the Lavricables least expensive Ultimate cable and the Master.
While I can’t offer a direct comparison since the Ultimate is configured for the HiFiMan Arya Stealth and the Focal Clear Mg, i feel confident in saying that both cables enhance the same kind of sonic attributes with the Master adding just a tiny bit more of everything and is a worthwhile upgrade IF you have the headphones and the upstream gear to make use of this little extra percentage of improvement.
In the end
The Lavricables Master Sky-blue is a very beautiful looking and well built cable that offers an excellent handling experience and enhanced sonic qualities compared both to the stock and some other aftermarket cables alike.
Sonic improvements are definitely audible but not night and day so if you have everything else settled down, then the Lavricables Master is the perfect icing on the cake to make sure that you are getting every last drop of performance your system is capable of.
Copyright – Petros Laskis 2022.