STAGE III CONCEPTS A.S.P. Ckahron
Interconnects
The cryptic name of these interconnects can be decoded as follows: A.S.P. stands for “Absolute Signal Purity” and Ckahron (what a terrible spelling) is a name of a ferryman in ancient Greek mythology. I don’t think that Ckahron is an apt name for this product – it should have been called Obliterator, for it virtually obliterated any cable that dared challenge it.
Function and form
The goal of Stage III was to suspend the wires in ‘air’, so that they don’t touch anything. This is unachievable, of course, as the conductor must be supported in a way or another, yet, by using a twisted silver/palladium ribbon the touchpoints are minimized (3% of the wire is in contact with the insulating tube according to the specifications). Stage III claims that palladium possesses low susceptibility to EMI which is one of the main reasons why other interconnects pick up noise. Although palladium is worse conductor than silver or copper and intuition says it cannot work well, the proof of the concept is in how the Ckahron sounds. The Ag/Pd negative and positive ribbons are twisted in a helix, complemented with a silver ground conductor, and sealed in what Stage III calls “a semi-vacuum chamber”. This structure is wrapped in Teflon, shielded by silver braid and protected by several layers of damping and protective materials (Nylon, Tygon, ceramic granulate, and Aspis plated Nylon, used in military tactical vests). So far, I have been describing one cable run; the Ckahron uses three that are loosely twisted and end up in custom-made polymer housings. From the housings only three thinner twisted bundles of conductors, wrapped in a protective mesh, continue into terminations. These are Stage III’s own ‘Hyperion’ low-mass pure silver XLR (or RCA) connectors. The company says the connectors are manufactured in their own facility and use carbon and ceramic infused polymer material and Teflon insulation.
As you can read, the engineering of these cables is a real overkill, and I do like the level of attention that went into both electrical and mechanical parts of the job. The only part of the storytelling that is not sustainable, is the one about the semi-vacuum. Stage III claims that they remove “most of the air”but, technically-speaking, this is nonsense. Either there is no air or there is. Let’s accept the fact that there is no vacuum inside the Ckahron which is good in fact, because I never trusted the stories of Tara Labs about vacuum-filled cables, that would implode or suck the air in use. This way I am not afraid to grab the cable and bend it behind the rack.
The craftsmanship is industrial and American, so don’t expect polished look of European high-end. The Ckahron interconnects are massive and rugged, yet surprisingly lightweight and flexible for how big they are. The Ckahron comes in its own travel case; after installation the case comes in handy for storing nuclear waste, for example.
Bass management
60 seconds into the first track (Natalie Merchant, The Peppery Man, The Life of Sound, Elac/InAkustik) and I got literally blown away. I had to pause for a while to process the sound. It is important to frame this experience in the proper context: the Stage III Ckahron was not auditoned in isolation, it was not a single cable I had under scrutiny. By the time its playtime came, it'd had three forerunners - the top models from Synergistic Research, Crystal Connect and Siltech. This way I could better grasp the differences and benchmark the cables to each other. But as an old saying goes, the man proposes, the God disposes. While each competitor represented a sonic nirvana on its own, albeit each a little different nirvana, the Ckahron redefined the way I experienced the playback.
It's kind of hard to describe, but while up until then I'd always been conscious of the fact I was assessing the electronics interconnected by cables, the moment the Stage III Ckahron came into the play, all electronics just vanished. By ‘vanishing’ I don't mean that the speakers disappeared, they weren't there anymore as they were really good speakers, but the rest of the playback chain disappeared too. Suddenly as if there was no reason for the physical presence of all those pieces of gear in the room; they were removed and replaced by a completely different room, now with live musicians inside. I know it sounds like a cliché, yet this time it was different. The perception of liveliness was so strong that the ears convinced the eyes that I was witnessing a performance, not a hi-fi room. The room was filled with sound the to the least cubic inch with music, rather than sound, and everything was much more vivid and immediate than I had ever heard from any cable before.
Clarity & delicacy
Was the Ckahron outperforming the competitors in every single attribute? Not exactly. For instance, the Synergistic Research SRX interconnect rendered fantastic female vocals. The SRX was also the only cable capable of challenging the Ckahron in three-dimensionality, although its soundstaging was that of ‘the-best-of-high-end’ style, rather than utterly natural ‘no-electronics-playing-here’ version of the Stage III. The transient behaviour of the Ckahron was on pair with the best in class, yet I know crisper and surgically more precise interconnects from the top echelon of Ansuz and Nordost. However, the Ckahron’s transient detail was so naturally integrated that it did not step between the emotions and technology, and this was quite unique.
The way the Ckahron builds the sound was exceptional, indeed. It did not throw the soundstage, rather it threw multiple soundstages, one for each instrument and voice, that connected only in the listener’s ears. Huh, what’s the difference, you may ask. The difference was quite remarkable – it felt like there was no crosstalk between the instruments, no electric mist in the white spots of the soundstage. The instruments had their full autonomy in the deep and wide three-dimensional field, both spatial and temporal, and the final result was very visceral and physical. The Ckahron’s grounded the music with very accomplished bottom end, so the images were hefty, yet superbly clear.
Tonal accuracy
I wish I had some version of the Stealth Audio’s Sakra on hand during the listening sessions. As I remember my experience with the Sakra V12 (these days available in V17 build), it could also exhibit this effortless and delicate naturalness. The Stage III Ckahron reminded me of the Sakra in another aspect too: the way the sounds faded out into silence. A stroke on the guitar’s strings, a bow on the cello, all these sounds stood out and were traceable way longer than with other interconnects, limited only by sensitivity of the recording microphones. And what was hilarious – even the faintest sounds maintained three-dimensionality and full-bodied sound. One can hear such a thing only at a live performance. Apparently, this information is also encoded in zeroes and ones, and a cable like the Ckahron is needed to unveil it.
Spatial resolution
The way the A.S.P. Ckahron (I will never get used to such a name) redefines listening is, at least for my ears, fundamental. Hearing your favourite tracks through the Ckahron poses a question about the whole audio business purpose. There used to be one, originally: to recreate an authentic performance in the comfort of our homes. Over time, with audio companies popping out like mushrooms, and with fiercer competition, this spirit has been somehow lost. Too many products were designed to impress a listener on day 1 and wanting him to get rid of them after a month. The Stage III Concepts Ckahron is like stopping for a while in the street, where a band of young musicians performs for fun. The sound is not remarkable, it just is. Nothing spectacular, nothing to write home about. But wait, swap the Ckahron for (any) other cable and the band leaves and it becomes clear that the sound is reproduced now.
The Ckahron is massive and expensive. No way to hide it from your spouse. If you want to avoid explaining why you have spent money on a cable, you’d better avoid trying it. Because if you give it a listen, the decision between the cable and the spouse is not difficult.
Recommended resellers
Dreamaudio, Bratislava, +421 907 838 806
Manufacturer's website: http://www.stage3concepts.com
Associated components
- Sources: Taiko Extreme, Ypsilon 1000SE DAC Silver Edition, QSA Switch, Kuzma Stabi R, 4Point Single raménko, DS Audio Grand Master vložka, DS Audio Equalizer
- Amplifiers: Ypsilon PST 100MkII Silver Edition pre, Ypsilon Hyperion monobloky,
- Loudspeakers: YG Acoustics Sonja 2.3i
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Siltech Triple Crown, Vyda Laboratories Orion, Vyda Laboratories Koral, Stage 3 Xphynx, Synergistic Research SRX, Crystal Cable Van Gogh
- Power conditioning: Pilium DCF, Torus Power AVR2 16 Elite Series, Stage 3, Siltech Ruby Mountain, DS Audio ION-001
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