AAI Estremo
Power cables
I tasted the all new Estremo range last year, on two remarkable occasions. The first involved a Guarneri violin and a Fazioli concert grand, the second involved my own TAD Revolution One loudspeaker project that I have thoroughly decribed earlier. I'll elaborate on these two occasions, but even though on both the occasions the Estremo components excelled, their designers at Slovakian AAI claimed that some final touches were still needed. It took half a year to finalize them - and I think it was worth the wait.
Function and form
I'm sitting in a listening room, not my own this time, with some 250,000 euros worth of audio components, a good third of which is in cabling, mostly Synergistic Research’s latest top models. I know the room as well as I know my own, and the components too. The unknown is the AAI Estremo loom. There are five of us and we take turns in the listening sweet spot. Why five? Well, for my alibi, of course. To be perfectly honest, we tried the AAI Maestoso (original series) and some prototypes of the Assoluto in this system in the past, although it was before the Maestoso evolved into the Maestoso 2 and the Assoluto was upgraded to the Assoluto+. The result was like when you decide to chase a Ford GT with your family car on a highway. You may manage for a while in dense traffic, but then the road ahead clears and the GT is gone. In high-end parlance, that meant that the then-domestic SR SRXs were simply better and there wasn't much to decide. It's fair to note, however, that the duel was lopsided from the start for AAI, at least with respect to the price tags of the cables where any of the Synergistic Research cables outpriced their AAI counterparts by a factor of four to five.
Bass management
This time it is said to be different. The guys from AAI are confident and when they are asked whether they would mind their cables battling with the new SRX XL loom, they just shrug their shoulders – Why not? So, here comes my idea with the alibi; I need witnesses when I will be explaining to AAI people that the Estremo cables are not bad for their price category. At least that is my initial assumption. Gregory Porter’s Liquid Spirit album (Blue Note 0602537431540) spins in the player, all the Estremos are connected, and I am pushing the PLAY button…
Clarity & delicacy
AAI has a similar approach to – let’s say - Accuphase. There are not radical differences between product lines, nor between their newer and older generations. Why change something that works? So, the focus is on incremental improvements that accumulate and that, over the span of two or three generations, represent a significant advance when compared directly. Those details include both cosmetics, such as the fine printing of Schuko plugs of the Estremo power cables, and the continual advancements in the AAI’s proprietary IST technology that changes the material properties of the conductors and terminations, as well as evolutional steps in design elements – using different signal cable plugs, using different gauge wires, and in the case of the Estremo line, a return to silver-plated copper instead of pure silver. Why? Because it was more sonically rewarding and closer to the benchmark sound. Interestingly, many big cable brands ended up with silver-plated copper for their top models as well, even though these are often cost-no-object cables.
Tonal accuracy
Not always the longer means better. With the Estremo it does. I did not try any extremes as I had 1.5m and 2.0m lengths on hand, but there was clearly audible difference in how the sound was composed and controlled with the longer one. The music had better flow, it was better organized and very life-like. There are theories why longer power cables sound better, and there are theories why shorter cables do. With the Estremo the order of the difference was alike replacing a stereo power amplifier with two monos.
Spatial resolution
This text is an abridged version of the full AAI Estremo review: AAI goes extreme.
Recommended resellers
AAI (Authentic Audio Image), Povážská Bystrica, +421 905 694 943
Manufacturer's website: http://www.aai.sk
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-720, Ayon CD-35 HF Edition
- Amplifiers: TAD-M2500, Audia Flight Strumento No.8
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Numeric Digital, AudioQuest Dragon Zero | Bass, plus all the cables mentioned in the review
- Loudspeakers: TAD Revolution One, Silent Laboratories Melodee
- Power conditioning: Shunyata Research Denali, Stromtank S-1000, Ansuz Mainz C2, AAI Maestoso, AAI Assoluto, Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 2 and SRX XL, Nordost Qv2, QWave and QSine, Diamond Sound E2 grounding, GMG Power X-Blocker Exclusive, IsoTek Syncro V5 Uni, AAI power distribution unit, Synergistic Research Galileo PowerCell SX a Active Ground Block SX
Gallery
AAI Estremo
I tasted the all new Estremo range last year, on two remarkable occasions. The first involved a Guarneri violin and a Fazioli concert grand, the second involved my own TAD Revolution One loudspeaker project that I have thoroughly ...
Recommended resellers
AAI (Authentic Audio Image), Povážská Bystrica, +421 905 694 943
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