SILVER AUDIO Appassionata

MJ26.04.2009

Interconnects

Silver Audio only makes its products with silver wires made to their specifications from selected raw materials. The mastermind of Silver Audio, Max Kreifeldt, claims that the Teflon insulation is just 25 microns thick and that air remains to be the main 'material' used in the Appassionata's design.

Function and form

92%

Ease of use

53%

Sound

96%

Appearance

Like all other Silver Audio interconnects and speaker ccables the Appassionata is an all silver cable, weaving eight micro-fine around a pTFE air core. Micro-thin conductors drive self-inductance, the origin of the distortion inducing skin effect, down to the lowest feasible value while ensuring a low capacitance. The wires of the Appassionata are visible under a thin translucent jacket that reminds me of an oiled paper.

The cable is light and pretty flexible. The Appassionata uses WBTs or Neutrik's XLRs - I had both versions on hand and could not hear any major difference. The RCA version was a bit more open, but this can only be illusional as increasing the noise threshold of a signal leads to dynamic compression that sounds like the more open sound to an ear.

Bass management

Weight

Slam

Articulation

To sum it up, the Appasionata is not unlike a shrunk fabric reinforced garden hose of 1cm diameter. The fabric are the silver wires that run across each other in 90 degrees angles. Indeed, the Appassionata is 80% air.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail

Air

Transparency

The first impression was that of speed, transparency and detail. The cable was resolving well and brought a lot of ambience into the playback. The details were well integrated in the music, they did not try to be self-indulgent just for the sake of detail itself. I did not hear any frequency lumpiness either - the sound was 'neutral' with just enough juiceness not to be dry. Despite its speed the Appassionata was not thin, transient attacks were nicely delineated and with a good resonating quality. It was easy to enjoy the Appassionata.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre

Dynamics

Temporal resolution

The bass of the Appassionata exhibited the same speed like the rest of the frequency spectrum, it was articulated and punchy. I missed a bit of extra weight - the cable is more on an ethereal side of neutrality than on the earthy one. It may have something to do with the total gauge, but perhaps it is just a tax for the silver conductors. Compared to the Van den Hul The Orchid, that I have reviewed recently, the Appassionata was not so fluid, but definitey it was more transparent overall.

Spatial resolution

Holography

Soundstage width

Soundstage depth

Excellent soundstaging was something that I liked the most with the Appasionata. The soundstage was wide and deep, tha cable threw an impressive 3D space with precise focusing within it. Players of a jazz ensemble were locked in their positions still the cable was capable of communicating the organic glue between them - the ensemble never disintegrated into individualistic exhibitions, rather it was presented as a band. The stage was a bit recessed which contributed to the sense of spaciousness - it was beautiful to listen to choirs through the Appassionata, for example.

So where is a hook? I was not entirely satisfied with how the Appassionata handled sibilants. Though all the "s" were a bit hot I did not see it as an issue, it just gave an extra spark to the sound. However, when I listened to Rebecca Pidgeon's Spanish Harlem I heard too much of "sh". As if there was 'Spanishsh' rather than 'Spanish'. Also with "f" I heard "fff". There is simply a bit of overhang in mids, a bit of energy stored, that smears the legibility of vocals.

Price as reviewed:30 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Audiostudio s.r.o., Olomouc, tel. +420 608 752 475

Manufacturer's website: http://www.silveraudio.com

Associated components

Sources: Accuphase DP-78, Sony SCD-XA5400ES
Amplifiers: Accuphase C-2410 a Accuphase A-60, Plinius SA Reference
Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Homegrown Audio DNA, Cardas Golden Presence
Loudspeakers: Dynaudio Confidence C1, Audio Physic Virgo V
Power conditioning: Nordost Thor (modified), Nordost Valhalla, Furutech Powerflux, Snakeblock

Gallery

89%

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