Sablon Audio - Corona Reserva power cord and Panatela Reserva speakercables

Introduction

I asked Mark Coles of Sablon Audio to tell me a bit more about his company, his design philosophies and sonic goals. Here is his response in verbatim,

"Sablon Audio started five years ago, when its founder Mark Coles reached the stage in life where he believed he could make better high end cables than the numerous examples he had bought over his audiophile 'career'. Sablon's ambition is to give best of breed performance across all cable applications at a much lower price point than its peers, by removing the distributor function and selling either directly or via enthusiast dealers.

The name 'Sablon' comes from the French word for 'sand', a happy memory of my childhood growing up on the beautiful beaches of a small island called Jersey. The product naming hierarchy is based around cigars since others had beaten me to 'wine' themes! The Panatela range covers the signal cables, whilst Corona is used for the thicker power cables. The latest model range has been designated Reserva as it is an extra special edition. 

All designs are formed using solid engineering principles, and executed with a blend of exceptionally high grade wires and connectors, finished in sonically non-invasive covers. Prototypes are evaluated on a broad range of systems, from Kondo to N-core, from Avantgarde to Zu, from Lampizator to Wadia, by testers with diverse musical preferences. Their insights are collated and evaluated in the context of their systems and tastes, before iteratively progressing towards a final design which will delight the majority of audiophiles. Part science, part art. This approach has been vindicated by awards from 6Moons and Positive Feedback for both the original Panatela / Corona range 3 years ago and again, more recently, for the latest Reserva models.

Key sonic objectives are to achieve exceptionally high level of resolution, whilst maintaining musical engagement and an even response over the full frequency range. This requires a low noise floor and sympathetic electrical characteristics. Sablon doesn't publish test data as I believe that not all that matters measures and that our ears are far more sophisticated measuring devices.

I sometimes use the analogy that designing audio cables is rather like being a chef as one needs to continually sample and adjust seasonings to achieve a desired overall flavour. A key element of my approach is to build Sablon cables by hand from carefully selected individual wires rather than simply chop lengths of bulk cord off a reel. This approach is more time consuming to build but gives more flexibility in finding better sounding conductors. By having a deep understanding of the sonic qualities of each individual component, one is able to combine the virtues of wire / plugs / geometry / cover synergistically. Inevitably, there is a sonic synergy when using a complete loom of Sablon cables on account of shared design values and this also replicates the context in which they have been developed.

The Corona Reserva power cord under review represents several generations of development of the popular Corona model range. I had literally run out of scope to enhance the earlier Gran Corona cord without replacing the wire itself and, essentially changing the DNA of that cable. It was a big step, however a necessary one. I managed to find an exceptionally high purity copper wire with great transparency and musical qualities, and this is deployed in a braided geometry using 7awg / 10mm sq per polarity together with a shielded ground line. A laboratory grade carbon-based noise reduction agent is applied and the exceptional Oyaide 004 platinum / beryllium plugs are fitted. The outer cover is a sleek Havana bronze woven material, with the overall form factor now being slim and highly flexible. As for the resulting sound quality, well I will leave Eric to tell you about this......."

Description

The Corona Reserva power cord and Panatela Reserva speaker cable are quite unusual and stand out in the world of high end audio cables. Both are very light, extremely flexible and easy to route. They also lack the usual macho trappings - no Anaconda girth, nor fancy box / flight case. While these cables are not cheap, they are not exorbitantly priced. If you so wish to purchase them, you need not resort to a life of crime to finance your acquisition. 

The Corona Reserva came finished in a nice fabric cover, and was terminated with the excellent Oyaide P/C 004 plugs. Finishing was professional, with neatly applied heatshrink and construction - no home made looks here.

I really appreciate the flexibility of these cables after having dealt with too many power cords with a mind of their own !

The speaker cables had an interesting feature - short fly leads on the speaker end to facilitate biwiring. My review sample came terminated with spades, and banana plugs for the flying leads. If your speakers are single wired, you can simply attach the flying leads into the main speaker terminal, assuming you are dealing with five-way binding posts. If you have any special needs, get in touch with Mark to have something custom made for you. My review set was terminated with Xhadow plugs, although Mark later informed me that he would be making switch to Oyaide plugs for future production. I rather liked this feature - you save the cost of having to buy a set of biwiring jumpers.

A close-up of the speaker fly leads

The cables were run-in by Mark before shipping, but I still felt that they needed a week or two of use to settle in. They probably didn't like the long flight in the cargo hold of the plane as they traveled halfway across the world from the United Kingdom to Singapore !

Sound Quality

The power cord after the initial settling-in time (about two weeks use) struck me as having a dense and warm tone, with a nice glow to the music. I put down the words, "warm, dense and liquid" in my notepad. After an additional month of use, the sound opened up further, gaining control and speed, leaving only a very subtle glow. This cable could be a poster child for cable break-in - there was a marked difference after extended use.

My evaluation period happened to coincide with a personal buying spree of fountain pen inks. Hence it seems appropriate to draw some analogies between this cable and ink of the finest and most exquisite level. The Corona Reserva would therefore be best described as an ink with outstanding density and vibrancy, with beautiful shading. I did not test the Corona Reserva for water resistance though - Mark would have my head !

Bass quality is outstanding with a deep powerful response, coupled with tight control and just the right amount of wetness. Substituting the Sablon with other cables I had on hand showed just how good the Sablon was in this respect. 

Vocals were presented with a slightly laidback quality, with a natural voicing. There was no emphasis of sibilance, and neither was there smoothing over of detail - the vibrato effect of my favourite singers were delivered in a crystal-clear fashion. 

The top-end was very well behaved and detailed, with excellent clarity, control and lack of hash. The balance between the transient and decay was ideal, without any undue emphasis on either aspect.

The Sablon had fine resolving power, with very good retrieval of micro-detail. This was presented in a very natural way, without the overly etched presentation or tipped-up balance that some lesser cables sound in an effort to sound more detailed. Throughout the frequency range, I observed a natural fluidity and lack of grain that I generally observed only with only the finest cables.

Another key strength of the Sablon was it's ability to convey the three-dimensionality of the instruments and vocals, with a lifelike reproduction of both the instrument / voice and how they filled up the surrounding acoustic space. 

These cables just sounded so right after the many hours of listening I put on them. I found them to have it all - powerful bass, natural midrange and high frequencies, good dynamics, and excellent detail. Tonally, they were very close to neutral, with a very subtle shading of warmth and liquidity.

I really loved the way they reproduced the music in my system. Piano had grandeur and impact on the lower notes, and outstanding attack and harmonics on the higher notes. Similarly, Hillary Hahn's bow glided gracefully across her violin strings yet seared with such burning intensity when required, while the low notes from Janos Starker's cello carried great authority and articulation.  

I found the Panatela speaker cables to sound very much like their power cord sibling, save for one caveat - the effect of the deep bass response seemed more obvious here. Due to the difficulty in changing the speaker cables on my main system (my Vivid Giya G4 have underside mounted terminals - changing cables is really a two person job), I tried the Corona Reserva in my main system, and both the Corona and Panatela Reserva in my bedroom system. I found their performance to be consistent in both systems, and their combined use to be synergistic.

Good as the Sablon twins were, they do not have universal appeal. Some audiophiles like a more "raw" presentation and may find the Sablon to be too civilised and well behaved. I tend to lean somewhat towards the middle, and found the Sablon to be just nice.    

Conclusion

I was suitably impressed with the Corona Reserva power cord and Panatela Reserva speaker cables - impressed enough that I have arranged with Mark to purchase some cables from him. 

Sablon's pricing may not be seen as affordable by many, but I can assure you that their products deliver outstanding value for money given the level of performance offered.

This will certainly not be the last word from me on Sablon Audio - Mark has shipped to me a number of his other products. Needless to say, a review on a full Sablon loom will be forthcoming.

Highly Recommended

Sablon Audio

website : http://www.sablonaudio.com

e-mail : contact@sablonaudio.com

Corona Reserva power cord

5 foot length with Oyaide P/C 004 US plugs

Price - USD 1,950 

Panatela Reserva speaker cables

8 foot length

Price - USD 2,950

All prices include expedited worldwide shipping

  

X Audio - Official Opening of their new showroom

A warmest congratulations to Swee and Ryan on the official opening of their new showroom !

X Audio Pte Ltd recently took over the adjoining shop space to their current unit. This is a much larger space and has the requisite floor area to nicely showcase larger speakers such as the Vivid Giya G2. 

The decor is pleasantly done, with a good amount of attention paid to acoustic treatment. Swee mentioned to me that he is not yet done on that front, so we can look forward to even better sound in the future.

Let's have the pictures do the talking this time.

Various equipment stand at attention - ready to greet visitors.

  

Accuphase P-4200 power amplifier.

Vivid Giya G4 in Austin Yellow.

Swee and Ryan (L-R) of X Audio Pte Ltd.

Sharp eyes would have noticed the Accuphase amplifiers in some of the pictures. X Audio has been appointed an authorised reseller of Accuphase. It's fantastic to have another place to listen to these Japanese beauties. 

X Audio has grown considerably in stature over the years - today they represent some of the finest audio brands in the industry. They are easily without peer (locally) in distribution of Japanese audio brands such as Acrolink, Acoustic Revive, AET, CSE and Oyaide (just to name a few), and other top names such as Acoustic Energy, AMG, MSB Technology, Octave Audio, Usher Audio, Vivid Audio, Wadax, etc.

Do pay them a visit - Swee and Ryan are always ready to help share their passion for audio with their customers.

X Audio Pte Ltd
1 Jalan Anak Bukit
#01-01S Bukit Timah Plaza
Singapore 588996
Tel: +65-6466 2642 
http://www.xaudio.com.sg

Sony TA-A1ES Integrated Amplifier

Introduction

The Sony TA-A1ES (I will refer to this as the "A1ES") integrated amplifier arrived at my doorstep together with the HAP-Z1ES. There has not been much news or reviews of the A1ES which in my opinion, is a great pity - this is really something quite special.

A trickle of products in recent years suggests that Sony is quite serious about re-entering the high end audio arena, and judging from the quality of products I've evaluated (the A1ES included), they are certainly on-track.

Description

The A1ES is a compact unit, measuring 430 mm x 130 mm x 420 mm (W x H x D). The dimensions are quite deceptive, and lifting it out of the box required a fair amount of effort - I found out later that the unit weighs 17 kg.

This is a wide bandwith design (10 Hz to 100 KHz), with 60 watts per channel on tap. Some noteworthy design features include a discrete component preamp circuit, a smart bias system, and a separate headamp circuit also utilising discrete components. To maintain sonic purity, the A1ES utilises a single pair of transistors per channel. I was reminded of a very interesting conversation I had with another leading manufacturer that believed strongly in the merits of this approach versus multiple transistors in parallel. 

The smart bias system varies bias according to volume position in order to reduce excessive heat while maintaining transistor linearity. Conventional class A operation amplifiers are highly inefficient, with high power consumption and heat when idle. Varying the bias across the output devices is not a new idea, with various approaches in the past, e.g. varying bias with the signal level and/or output current, or having multiple bias steps. These approaches have the advantage of reducing bias at low signal / load levels, which reduces heat levels considerably. I found the Sony to run quite hot - you wonder how much hotter it would run without any form of bias management ! 

A knob next to the headphone jack selects the impedance range of the headphone used. The low impedance headphone setting selects low gain, and correspondingly, medium and high gain for the mid and high impedance settings. This helps address the problem of high levels of noise, and excessively "hot" volume control for low impedance headphones / IEMs, and insufficiently volume into high impedance headphones. The headamp circuit puts out a very healthy 500 mw per channel, into 8 ohm or 150 ohm loads, and 250 mw into 300 ohm loads. This should allow it to drive most headphones on the market, except some very unfriendly loads like some of the magnetic planar headphone models out there. 

A speaker impedance setting on the rear panel toggles between two positions, 4 ohms and 8 ohms. The manual does not explain why this is required, but a wild guess is that it alters the smart bias curve based on a rudimentary estimation of current draw.

Feature wise, five line level inputs are provided, one of which are balanced. An auto standby switch allows the amplifier to switch off when no signal is sensed for a while. The unit comes with a remote control. The over-sized speaker binding posts had the most smooth operation I've come across regardless of price. 

Sound

Paired with my Monitor Audio GX100 speakers, the A1ES struck me as having a supremely confident and effortless sound. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of grip and control the Sony had over the speakers. This turned out to be the forte of the Sony - it had a punchy and fast bottom end that is really quite uncommon for a product in it's price range. 

The midrange had a slightly laidback quality, with a subtle sweetness. Female vocals were reproduced with a silky tone that was natural and free from grain. I found the A1ES to be very easy on the ear over long listening sessions - perfect for unwinding but maybe not if you like a more forward and incisive tone. 

High frequencies were clean and detailed, with a good "sparkle" and sense of air. I found the balance to be just right, with good behaviour and "bite" when required. One point worth noting is that both high and low frequencies would best be described as slightly dry - make sure this is paired with sympathetic equipment. 

I also found the A1ES to be highly resolving, with very good detail retrieval and precise imaging and staging. Image sizes were on the smaller side though, and flatter in perspective compared to my reference equipment (my Gryphon Diablo - let's not forget that the Diablo's price tag is many times a multiple of the Sony)

I tried hooking up a pair Thiel CS 2.7 speakers next (with the speaker switch set to 4 ohms) - results were quite good, but somehow the Thiels did not sound as effortless and spacious as the Monitor Audios. Possibly, the Sony should be paired with easier loads.

I also took the headamp stage for a spin - very nice indeed. I am sure it would be good enough to replace a mid-range headphone amp. Much of my observations above apply to the headamp stage when paired with my Beyer DT880 headphones (250 ohm version). 

Conclusion

The drawbacks noted above are very minor in the context of the price level of the Sony. In fact, I found the A1ES to be way off the charts in the value-for-money stakes. Audiophiles exasperated at the ever rising cost of equipment really should look at the A1ES. 

It keeps your system as simple as possible and delivers a glimpse into high-end performance, at a cheerful price that puts this within the reach of most audiophiles. For the money, it really doesn't get any better than this !

Highly Recommended and Best Buy

A big thanks goes to Sony Singapore for supplying the review set, and it's media partner Waggener Edstrom for making all necessary arrangements.

Recommended Consumer Price - S$ 2,499.