ELPISPANDORA Cables: Anyone ever listen?

[Crashem]

Was chatting with Francois at ANAMIGHTYSOUND who is now carrying this cable line from Japan. Hand made. They look crazy. But Francois swears by them. Curious if anyone has tried them out. Would love any feedback.

https://www.elpispandora.com/index.html

 

[dcc]

I had the chance to listen to the Red Miracle RCA in my secondary system when François was at my place a month ago for fine tuning my main system and adding a SUT in my secondary system. I was quite impressed.

 

[Crashem]

Which SUT did you add?

 

[dcc]

On the main system, I added a Consolidated Audio Silver and on the secondary system I added the little Sculpture A. More about on this thread:

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/my-journey-with-suts.31102/#post-664468

 

[whistleraudio]

Look at the pictures on their/his website. There is absolutely no way that one could make two identical cables in a stereo set! As an engineer I am really not sure what to think here. There is also a British brand with a somewhat similar chaotic build-up... or lack of it. (wireonwire.com)

 

[spiritofmusic]

Well, music coming out of R and L channels is never identical, maybe they thought, what the heck?!

 

[dcc]

I had the opportunity of having two pairs of Elpisandora cables in my system last weekend: a pair of RCA Red Miracle II and a pair of XLR Phoenix.

I did a one to one comparison of the Red Miracle II against a pair of RCA Argento Flow which I had been using between my phono stage and my preamp over the last 10 years. The Red Miracle II cables were much better and I purchased them.

I should get the chance to test some other Elpispondora cables in the coming weeks.

 

[Crashem]

Appreciate the comments and look forward to any further thoughts on them.

 

[dcc]

Following the very positive experience with the RCA Elpispandora Red Miracle II which I have been using between the phono stage and the preamp, I asked François from Ana Mighty Sound whether Elpispandora could produce an XLR version of this fantastic cable. Until now, it was only available with RCA connectors. As my new Thrax Libra preamp is a fully balanced design with XLR outputs only, I needed some XLR interconnects.



I had one of my RCA Argento Flow cables converted into a XLR pair by Argento so I could make a fair comparison.

I received the XLR Red Miracle prototype along with two other pairs of demo cables from the higher ranges Diamond Soloist and Daphne Light. After some intensive comparative listening sessions against the Argento Flow cables, I decided to place an order for two pairs of XLR Red Miracle and one pair of Daphne Light. These cables brought a better tonal balance as well as more details and a better imaging compared to the already excellent results from the Argento Flow.



I found that the less expensive XLR Red Miracle were actually better than the Diamond Soloist with a better overall balance. The Daphne Light was a revelation with the TAD CD/SACD player.

The cables got delivered a few days ago and I gave François his demo cables back. To my great surprise, the pair of Daphne Light I received is actually an improved version which is sonically even better. The two pairs of XLR Red Miracle are connected to the Krell power amps and the Weiss DAC respectively.







Elpispandora is currently building me a bespoke pair of Red Miracle with a combination of banana and RCA connectors for my Nagra IVS tape deck They should arrive soon.

I also installed the Elpispandora head shell leads on the SME V in the secondary system. In the past, I had been using Furutech La Source leads but the clips were too large which resulted in contact issues. I had to revert to the rather dreadful SME leads. The Elpispandora head shell leads were installed in a breeze and my Lyra Etna is now shining to its fullest. One of the best upgrades ever.

 

[dcc]

In early December of last year, Nagra announced that they had partnered with Transparent Audio and they were launching audiophile cables for the Nagra IVS tape deck. These single-ended cables are using banana and RCA connectors.



I own a Nagra IVS and the original Nagra stock cables are quite pedestrian. I contacted both Transparent Audio and Nagra. Transparent Audio never replied whereas Nagra immediately informed me that I could purchase the cables through their dealers.

After more than three months of waiting, I still could not get an indication from the Nagra dealer about the price and the availability of these cables. I tried with another Nagra distributor without success.

Elpispandora made me an offer to produce a bespoke version of the Red Miracle II cables for my Nagra IVS. As I already owned 4 pairs of these cables, I felt confident that this would be a significant improvement compared to the Nagra stock cables. The cables landed several days ago.





And indeed, it is a winner. The soundstage is wider and more transparent. The Nagra tape deck is delivering its full sonic capacity.

 

[dcc]

I just received a pair of long XLR cables for connecting my Studer tape deck to the preamp. As I needed more than 3 meters long cables, the sole choice available with Elpispandora was the top of the range Daphne. These cables are quite substantial but are worth every penny. My best source has significantly improved.