My soya sauce

Despite of all that, cable receives the most polarized views in audio community. To the believers, cable is the road to sonic heaven. To the unbelievers, it is merely a transmission of voltage signal to the speakers, a straight wire. That's all it does, that's all it supposedly do, the rest are gutter chat. Which camp are you in?

Seasoning, anyone?

Beyond any doubt, cables bring about drastic audible difference. How would cables not matter? Indeed, 99% of the cables are tone control. The cable quest is both daunting and costly endeavour, your mileage may vary in a different system has never been so true. Master of the cable or slave to the cable, be reasonable in your expectations. Arabian Nights, cable epic makes great story. Like soya sauce to sashimi, cable is a seasoning you can't have without.

Quite frankly, all fingers are pointing at my PCOCC speaker cables right now. In a midsize floorstanding speaker based system like mine, their shortcomings take a toll on my system performance. What a drag! Tara Labs RSC speaker cable validates just that, the lacklustre came from midbass and downwards and hence peculiar tonal balance, the notorious big speakers small sound syndrome. Tell me about it!

Star quad cable, dressed in Techflex, a plastic net mesh curbing vibrations, my Tara Labs feels substantial in weight. A good sign, weight means substance. Comes in bi-wiring configuration, it bettered than a single run speaker cable and jumpers, the later just another cost cutting measure. More juice flow to the speakers will always sound better. Due to solid core by design, the cables are not flexible. Forget about using them in a tight room. Took me an hour to clean up the connectors, arranging them, plugging them, providing adequate support and isolation, all these were done with great care. I subscribed to "a happy cable rewards".

The roaring bass

Going strength to strength, Tara Labs adds vigour to the roaring bass. On Damien Rice's O debuted in 2002, this is a CD I normally avoid playing to save my embarrassments. Arranged with a great diversity of sound and gruelling low energies, you will sure melt in your chair. Not to mention Damien's masculine voice, "The blower's daugther" and "Valcano" packed with so much emotions. You are going to love this. Humongous, chewy and long bass grunt, my system is now sure footed. Couple with bursting dynamic, the rhythm is fascinating. The rise and retreat are fast and effortlessly. Be mindful of your volume, this recording has unbelievable gain that you don't want your neighbour to ring your bell.

The stage is set

Moving on, the projected images were floating in musical space and time. Still head like portrait on a wall is a fallacy, the artist swings and nods head along with the music. On close inspection, you will detect the subtle variation of loudness during the singing. On Jennifer Warnes's "Famous Blue Raincoat", an album that require no further introduction. I like to draw your attention to the not so popular "A Singer Must Die". Be prepared to receive the chorale at the background. Opens with melancholy, helpless and desolation, though not a difficult track to play by any audiophile standard, the system sensationally depict the singing heads. The localisation of alto, tenor, bass and soprano sections are vivid, creating big sound in lateral and front to back soundstage. I'm glad my proud Little Rascal doesn't feast on detail. Honestly, I don't care too much about soundstage, but the musical presentation, no hi fish etched detail kind of presentation. By the way, soundstage is a creation by the mixing and mastering engineers. We all listen to recorded music through the ears of these professionals.

In spite of all that, I welcome warmth. Warmth fleshes out humane quality and defuses coldness and sterility. You would want to avoid the later foe. On Nneena Freelon's Homefree album, man! This CD begs to play loud! "Skylark" starts with stunning two double bass quickies. I gathered both upright bass's micro dynamic and timbre richness, the sudden change of bass notes with each plucking of gut strings and the resonance from the f holes raise the hair on the back of my neck. I scored a decent mark on top to bottom note articulation with little truncated bass.

Big voice from a rather petite stature, Nneena could accentuate her voice sharply with no sweat. Her wide vocal range injects energy and swing to turn standard into her own songs. It didn't go unaware that this recording quality is unexpected high especially coming out from Concord Jazz, with dynamics and transient were delivered in spades. It reminded me of Sheffield Lab recording. Likewise, the romantic Radka Toneff's Butterfly album, both have incredible vocal dynamic swing for the extra umphhhhh.

No evaluation is complete without classical music, the subject of examination is tonal linearity. Mahler Symphony No. 5, New Philharmonia Orchestra by Sir John Barbiroli is regarded by many the standard, orchestral colour, balance, diversity and explosiveness.

I enjoy the acoustic richness of orchestral works. On this masterpiece, the communications between the sections, spatial soundstage, transition, suspense, drama and transient attack is well captured. Strings, woodwind, brass and percussion display good clarity in a scaled down size. I have a third row seat and glad that my system devoid of any serious mischievous, collapses or crash considering this huge piece from Mr. Gustav Mahler.

Salute for their wonderful works

When I start out to blog, I wanted to write responsibly. Perfect cable doesn't exist. A suitable cable in a system compliment the sound. Never mind about people's thoughts, your system is here to serve you, not your guests. They come, they go and they have zero stake. Do your homework, trust your ears and if you like your friend's sound, invite him over to assess and seek tips.

I hold dearly to coherency is musically correct, the rest of the goodies will come by themselves. The addition of Tara Labs further enhances my sonic foothold, with big bass as extra bonus. The sound is organic and balanced, nothing stick out. A good bass is a good balance of bass volume, articulation and extension. The day of shy bass is now a thing of the past, I'll drink for that, cheer! Most of all, none of the sterile sound of modern hi fi. Make music music, not any more with additive. Hallelujah!