Switching to the Red Dragon S500 amplifiers in bridge-tied mode, the density of the Lumina midrange was an evidently blessed affair. The clarity of these class D amps was in fact a perfect ploy for Richard Cesari’s organic interconnects. By contrast, the Grimm TPM sounded really thin and lacking in flavour. That said, I don't wish to describe my Esprit loaners as cables that really added something of their own. Their attractive tonal diversity was quite removed from the kind of ‘midrange ecstasy’ that is provided by some big Cardas cables. Listening once again to the Red Hot Audiophile 2010 SACD sampler and especially "Amazing Grace" featuring Norwegian singer Sigvart Dagsland and organist Iver Kleive, the level of detail in the last octave of the church organ was simply visceral. When voice and pipe organ blend so easily and effortlessly, the sensation to be present at the recording session becomes uniquely keen. It's difficult and infrequent to reproduce, on the same equipment, the very bottom end with sufficient sound pressure and detail and at the same time preserve the clarity and separation of upper bandwidth information. Only a very good interconnect achieves this kind of seamless and demonstrative results. Of course, the Lumina power cords and speaker wires added themselves into this stunning performance. The interconnects simply reinforced the overall result of delivering a very convincing sound. Neutrality per se remains elusive since none of us can know it as such. Here I would propose that the Lumina loom’s action would be better for lucid systems and perhaps less so for speakers and/or electronics with undue bass emphasis. In theory, price-matched components and speakers should not present any dangers of nonlinear results.

 S/PDIF. Using such cables in my case becomes more and more unusual due to my personal digital sources with integral D/A converters. Second, my digital connectivity options are rather large and include USB, Ethernet, I²S, AES-EBU and wireless. For legacy disc transports of course, S/PDIF remains a valid option. Here its sonic impact can outdo the role of a good pair of analog cables. Power DACs and true digital amplifiers with PCM/PWM conversion are newer candidates for S/PDIF use. This was the case for a small Chinese direct-digital amp I used with both my Lumin S1 and Esoteric K-03. Don't believe for a moment that this lightweight 100w/8Ω QLS100 box was underpowered for my big Giya speakers. Perhaps only a very limited number of audiophiles have yet tried this kind of non-intuitive combination but I can insure you, this QLS Hifi kit is even more surprising than the small Tripath amps I reviewed a decade ago. Its direct pricing from China is completely ridiculous yet competes with very ambitious analogue gear. With the Vivid G1, the results were not far removed from following the Lumin with my Coincident direct-heated triode pre and two bridged Luxman amps.

But today isn’t about revealing what could be a serious forward step using full-on digital amplification. It's to compare the Esprit Eterna digital cable with others like it. Each of the four digital cables I had provided different and distinctive results. Perhaps the most neutral was the Esprit with a very coherent soundstage, high resolution and good timbre. My reference Skywire 2000 RCA also delivered very good results, albeit a bit less neutral and more on the warm side. My Radial BNC sounded a bit thin, with artificial clarity in the mids. The worst was definitely the Legato digital cable, delivering a very poor image and unstructured sound. This hierarchy did not change when I tried the S/PDIF input of my Esoteric K-03 SACD player. It also repeated itself with the new C8+ flagship DAC from Metronome Technologies. The difference was particularly obvious on voices which were more organic and life-like with the Esprit and Skywire. Listening to Francis Poulenc's Concerto in D-minor for Two Pianos played by Claire Chevallier and Katerina Chrobokova for Zig-Zag Territoires (Anima Eterna Brugge conducted by  Jos van Immerseel), the Esprit was the best at recreating a realistic soundstage with precise focus for both pianists and the various orchestral registers. In comparison to my Skywire 2000 reference, the Esprit also was a bit more neutral on timbres and slightly more dynamic.

Conclusion. My opinion of high-end audio cables has changed during these last few years. I no longer look for spectacular effects as might have been the case in the past. My personal experience with far too many fancy cables has me think that there is no possible artifact without its own drawback. The drawback effect of the trade invariably loses appeal over the longer term whilst amounting to further silly expenses to correct it again. That precisely is the scenario you should have in mind when fixed to spend insane amounts of money on new cables. And insane amounts are what Richard Cesari requires for such a degree of quality. Fortunately, his complete loom definitely is a far more long-term investment. That’s because the set works seamlessly across the bandwidth and avoids any unnatural shifts whilst significantly increasing control over silence, detail, precision and soundstaging scale. Should I define a hierarchy between the various constituents of this loom, perhaps the top of the podium should go to the power cords. I found it unusual how they concentrated visceral energy with bass control and midrange clarity at the same time. These were the best power cords I have ever used thus far. They boost the performance of electronics which benefit from a more accurate or robust power supply, whatever their price.

Esprit Audio website