www.hifi-advice.com - The power connector-comparisons continue - part 1 - Furutech versus Oyaide powerconnectors on Lapp cable

This combination sounds very familiar, as it very well should, as I have been using IeGO connectors for quite a while now and they may well be my favourite brand for connectors. Please trust me that I'm saying this not because I used to sell them myself as part of the netkabels.nl website, but because they just are very, very good. So please don't think that I'm raving about these connectors for commercial reasons. Regular readers will probably know better anyway, but let me just state this clearly once more: I would never endorse a brand unless I personally like it. Allright, now let's get back to the review. The IeGO's match very well with the Lapp cable, bringing some extra dynamics and articulation where the Lapp can be a little withdrawn at times. What's more: there could really not be two connectors more apart than the Furutech Fl-E35 rhodiums and these IeGOs. Comparing these two cables makes for such large differences that one would be mistaken for thinking that there are actually two different cables being used. Where the Lapp-Furutech combo sounds subtly refined, fluidly restrained and decidedly non-acoustical in an almost synthetic manner, the Lapp-IeGO combo sounds ALIVE and kicking. There are much better dynamics, more drive, more speed, more of a positive feeling, of living, breathing live-performing musicians, even though they're slightly less well-behaved than they were using the Furutech Rhodium connectors.

In closing

Where does this leave us? At the next review of course! I want to further investigate whether or not connectors are the deciding factor for cable sound. The next step is to compare the Furutech cable with IeGO's attached, to the same cable with original Furutech connectors. But before I go there, I'll compare two Furutech Alpha 3 powercables, one with Rhodium, the other with gold plated connectors in Part 2 of this comparison.

I always like to discover patterns in sound behaviour. With cables as well as with accessories such as connectors. The latter turn out to be a surprisingly large deciding factor for a cable's sound.

To put this to the ultimate test, I took 2 different cables and 2 different connectors and had a super-swapping party. As a part of this swapping party, I threw in Furutech and Lapp cable and IeGO and Furutech connectors, the latter in two tastes. For the Furutech cable part, look here. For the Lapp part, keep on reading!

2x Lapp powercable but with different connectors:

-Lapp power cable with IeGO 24k Gold connectors

-Lapp power cable with Furutech Fl-E35/Fl-25 Rhodium connectors

The two contenders:

Lapp cable with Furutech Fl-E35/Fl-25 Rhodium connectors

Lapp cable with IeGO 8085 24k Gold connectors

Lapp with Furutech Fl-E35 Rhodium connectors

The connectors for this I took from a Furutech Alpha 3 powercable, after they had fallen out of grace versus their gold plated counterparts. Read the Furutech cable review for the details. Fitted to the Lapp cable, the Furutech connectors turned out to almost override the cable's characteristic sound qualities. With these connectors, the cable sounded extremely fluid, highly refined and very subtly detailed. Aspects that I'd previously ascribed to the Furutech cable when these connectors were still attached to it. The Lapp was now much more refined than it used to be with other connectors and it never had better treble than now. But there were downsides too, notably in the bass department. The Lapp is normally very good with bass, being full, deep and articulate at the same time. You could even say that the bass is normally this cable's strongest quality. Well, not so with the Furutech Fl-E35 Rhodium connectors attached. With these connectors, the bass lacks articulation, speed, attack and drive. What speaks for the Fururtech connectors, is a gloriously refined and highly neutral midrange, although I have heard it being more colourful and lively/dynamic with other connectors.

To put it all into perspective:

This Reviewer's Preferences

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