ANALYSIS PLUS Copper Oval-In
Interconnects
Analysis Plus Copper Oval-IN (1m XLR) brought up images of a hornet to me. There was nothing hornet-like in its sound, rather it looked exactly like it with its black and yellow camouflage. Contrary to a hornet the Copper Oval-IN is a friendly and musical animal that is sonically warm, harmonically rich and timbrally saturated, yet finely resolved and spatially correct. As the result it was delight to audition it.
Function and form
What Analysis Plus engineers say about the design:
Most of the popular cables on the market employ round diameter cables as conductors. Unfortunately, cylindrical cable designs have a number of serious drawbacks, including current bunching, skin effect phenomenon, and frequency effects that lower the performance of the cable. After many computer simulations and other exhaustive tests, we determined that a hollow oval cable constituted the best possible conductor design.The primary advantage of an oval conductor design rather than cylindrical conductor geometry is that the oval shape allows more of the return current to be closer to the outgoing current, thus reducing the negative effects associated with excessive current bunching.
Since the center part of the conductor is not used at high frequencies, we can simply eliminate it. By using a hollow conductor, we help minimize the change in resistance with frequency and the cable becomes more efficient.
Bass management
Along with the hollow oval conductor design in our Oval cable product line, we also determined that a braided conductor was superior to solid core conductors for two significant reasons.
The most obvious advantage of a braided conductor is that it yields a more mechanically reliable cable than solid conductor designs. A woven or braided cable is more flexible and resistant to stress fractures resulting from continual flexing than a solid cable. Braided cable has yet another advantage over solid core conductors. Analysis Plus, Inc., uses a woven pattern in its Oval cables where every wire is statistically as close to the return current as every other wire. The current density is now more evenly distributed between the strands. As a result, the resistance of our Oval cables is extremely constant over a variety of frequencies--much more so than solid-core cylindrical cables.
Clarity & delicacy
After two days in Blue Horizon ProBurn cooker the Copper Oval-IN blended into my line up, as if it had been part of it for ages. There is no sense to compare the Copper Oval-IN with my resident Cardas Clear that is substantially better but also substantially more expensive – the price to performance ratio makes the Analysis Plus an excellent buy, however.
Tonal accuracy
Spatial resolution
In case you are looking for transparency, clarity, deep and wide soundstage, inky backgrounds, transient definition, rhythmic qualities and bottom-to-top balance, then look no further. The Copper Oval-IN does not overplay - it is not bright, it does not have boomy bass and it is not overdetailed – rather it respects silences between notes, natural development of sound and musical realism. Thumbs up for it!
Recommended resellers
Audiostudio s.r.o., Olomouc, tel. +420 608 752 475
Manufacturer's website: http://www.analysis-plus.com
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-78
- Amplifiers: Accuphase C-2410 and Accuphase A-60
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Analysis Plus Oval 9, Analysis Plus Copper Oval-In, Analysis Plus Silver Oval, Cardas Clear, Audioquest Wild Blue Yonder, CrystalConnect Piccolo Diamond, Homegrown Audio DNA
- Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamond
- Power conditioning: Nordost Thor (modified), Nordost Valhalla, Shunyata Research Black Mamba HC CX, Python Z-tron and Cobra Z-tron, Snakeblock
Gallery
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Analysis Plus Copper Oval-IN (1m XLR) brought up images of a hornet to me. There was nothing hornet-like in its sound, rather it looked exactly like it with its black and yellow camouflage. Contrary to a hornet the Copper Oval-IN is ...
Recommended resellers
Audiostudio s.r.o., Olomouc, tel. +420 608 752 475
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