AAI Maestoso
Power cables
I got to meet the Maestoso power cable last April and spent three weeks with it. Back then the cable had a black protective mesh through which a deep blue shielding sheath was seen; a combination that gave the cable deep blue look that was complemented by shiny metallic connectors with carbon housings. I thought something like ‘nice looking Chinese copies of the Furutech’s FI-E50´ and let it go. However, there was one thing I could not let go: the way the cable sounded. With passing months, I kept receiving improved versions of the Maestoso, each better than the previous one.
Function and form
Back then, in April, the AAI Maestoso charmed me with its full and rich sound, excellent dynamics, and bottom-to-top ruler flat frequency response. It provided the music with body and grunt, as if it stood on firmer legs than before. Not unlike cooking a creamy sauce; if you compromise with the cream then spices will not make up for it. The Maestoso did not compromise.
The music through the Maestoso had substance and drama, and that was very good for symphonic and other classical pieces that sounded both cathartic and lyrical when the music asked for it. The sound was smooth and enchantingly detailed, and only after days I could detect a small setback: the deep blue version of the Maestoso had realistically deep and wide soundstage with good imaging, so I had always a perfect view of an orchestra or musicians in live sessions. Still, at times, the spatial microresolution could have been better. For instance, an oboist and a flautist appeared to be at the same place. When I reconnected my reference cables, Ansuz Mainz C2, this ambiguity disappeared and both players occupied their own space within the soundstage. With the C2 I could easily hear who was closer and who further back, who was higher and who lower. The microimaging, or the lack of it, lead the deep blue Maestoso version to homogenize the soundstage events a bit.
The new and improved versions of the Maestoso, now in the white protective mesh, have completely removed this setback and challenged my holy trinity of power cables, that is Shunyata-Synergistic-Ansuz trio of flagships.
Bass management
The single layer SACD Engines of Creation (Joe Satriani, Epic) is an impeccably produced piece of music that features more than brutal basslines. The latest version of the AAI Maestoso, on the output of my Stromtank and on the input of my Accuphase SACD player, exhibited transparent sound with precise outlines, firm and punchy bottom end, and pure highs. The first track, Devil´s Slide, piles up layer upon layer of sounds; to decipher those is not an easy task if the result should not end up as a tangled mess of sound. With the Maestoso the track was perfectly legible, each tracking layer separated as it was laid out during mixing. As a bonus, the sound exploded with colors and musicality, as if the player received high-octane fuel into its tank and had more fun with the music. The energy was immense, it had tube-like fullness and punch, digital dynamics and depth, analog colors, and sweet transparency that I only hear occasionally at live concerts.
And what about the homogenization of sound that I noted with the deep blue version of the Maestoso. It was gone, completely. The lateral soundstage and the depth were holographic 3D, included the microimaging. The oboist and the flautist had each its own chair and place in the orchestra, the Maestoso added perfectly nuanced vertical resolution too. At this stage the AAI Maestoso bettered my reference cable.
Clarity & delicacy
Antoine Tamestit is a master of his violin, Stradivari’s model Mahler 1672. In the liner notes to Bellini’s bel canto Norma opera Tamestit enthuses: The sonority [of the violin] is very close to the human voice and it reminds me of an enchanting mezzo soprano singer. The sound color is sweet and honey and beyond that, brilliant. The recording like this shows the best of the Maestoso. So called “high-end” cables often try hard to bring out detail, air, bass punch, or any other sound attribute that makes us, audiophiles, melt with pleasure in our listening rooms. And often it is exactly just one of these attributes that is singled out and differentiates the cable from its competitors. Then enter the AAI Maestoso´s world to find out that most of the high-end competitions sounds erratic in comparison. The Authentic Audio Image cable does exactly what it says with its name: it convincingly conveys the undiluted beauty of real instruments and voices played and sung in real acoustic spaces. It is a cable for music connoisseurs, not for sound freaks. Everything is natural, rather than supernatural. The cable has very precise phrasing and articulation, yet the sound remains alive and smooth. The Tamestit´s viola´s timbre was indeed exceptionally rich and warm, and radiated the resonances of wood and strings. The AAI Maestoso highlighted the musical aspects of the performance, rather than relying on brute force resolution, and it was the captivating beauty of the piece through the Maestoso that became more important than any individual attributes of the sound. Around 3´50 mark a mechanic noise of piano pedals is heard. I know the noises are there because it was the Ansuz Mainz C2 that brought my attention to such subtle nuances. With the Authentic Audio Image Maestoso the noises were less accentuated (still clearly audible though), yet I was rewarded by even more precise spatial relationships between the piano pedal mechanics and the sound generating felt and strings, as well as the Maestoso was better in locking the piano in space in relation to the recording microphone. I heard the same insane imaging with Tamestit’s viola, the Maestoso tracking its movements vs the static microphone.
Tonal accuracy
Lovegood from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt.1 soundtrack (Sony Music) is a remarkable little piece of Alexander Desplat that is not easy to get right. The key is low, the sound muted, the big drum sends ripples through the orchestra; usually this track comes out as a nebulous unresolved mass in which the remains of melody are heard. Every now and then I am revisiting this track when I want to hear what the components are capable of. The best playback of Lovegood that I have heard so far was through semi-active Legacy Aeris full-range speakers that feature rather complicated bass drivers compartment and an outboard DSP processor. The AAI Maestoso in my own system brought me close to it, and the energy of the dark track filled the room in a very resolved way. The Maestoso’s grip on the bass did not favor one octave over another, and the cable provides balanced pressure from the deep sub-bass up to 200Hz where the midrange takes over.
And it is not just music that benefits from the balanced fullness – I could hear it, quite unexpectedly, in the background noise of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here. The DSD authoring from Analogue Productions is a bit too much on Tinkerbell’s side, and it brings along the accentuation of the analogue tape hiss. The hiss stands out during fade-ins and fade-outs, as well as in quiet parts of the music. And it was the tape hiss that became more real with the AAI Maestoso. It was less ‘just hiss’ and more a real tape passing over a recorder head. It was a minor improvement and who cares about the hiss fidelity anyway? Well, this fidelity will mean that the Maestoso certainly does something better than other high-end cables.
Spatial resolution
It was only when I start compiling all my notes about the Maestoso’s performance when I realized I had not received any information whatsoever about the technical details of the cable. What design philosophy is behind it? What if there is an ordinary wire from Home Depot inside? What if the carbon-looking connectors are Chinese bijou from a web shop? And if so, would that change anything on my opinion on the Maestoso?
Well, on several occasions I already wrote that actually I preferred not to know anything about the component under the review. This helps me remove biases that appear if you know the price, or if you know there is solid silver inside, for instance. Not knowing anything means that I can actually listen with unbiased freedom. Still, what if I learn that the Maestoso is built from crap… The text is ready by now and I am not going to change it, so I asked the three smart handcrafters from Povážská Bystrica, Slovakia:
How long did it take to develop the Maestoso?
We believe that to make a progress in audio device development, be it a cable or any other component, it is essential to approach it as if we were making a musical instrument. In instrument-making the technical solutions are well known, yet their implementation is what matters. Often, the materials and how they are processed is the key. For AAI it took a lot of time to investigate different material modifications before we ended up with what we call IST, Interference Suppression Technology. It is a technology that alters properties of materials, especially the electromagnetic and resonant ones, with a positive and audible result. Although it looks like usual marketing promo language on paper, the listening tests have been proving that the path we had chosen was correct.
Copper or silver, and why?
For conductor AAI is using high purity sliver-plated copper and pure silver. The conductors are solid core for we found that stranded wires have unpredictable behavior due to strand EM interactions. We use proprietary dielectric and shielding materials that are a secret of our cable kitchen. Specifically, for the Maestoso power cable the silver-plated copper was employed; this choice was the result of our personal preferences during listening tests. In the Maestoso interconnect, for instance, pure silver solid core conductors are used. All materials are modified with the IST technology.
Are the plugs sourced from Furutech?
Like any other part of a cable the terminations can play a major role in the final performance. We have scrutinized many of the OEM power plugs including the Furutech’s top models and have found their performance unsatisfactorily. The next logical step was to look for a proprietary solution. The plugs are made to our specifications and further modified, including the aforementioned IST treatment. We believe they sound amazing. It is true that Furutech is still acknowledged by many as the final word in plugs. This is not our opinion and our terminations not only are better performing but they are cheaper too.
What is unique about the Maestoso?
We try hard to achieve that our products improve the sound in a balanced way. There are no trade-offs, all the significant and audible improvements in what the listener hears preserve the musicality and the natural sound of recorded instruments and voices. AAI cables can also work great as passive parallel filters – they can be connected to unused power sockets to improve the sound of the whole system.
The hi-fi enthusiasts are always surprised by how competitive a small brand like the Authentic Audio Image can be.
So, my final question that I asked myself: How does the Authentic Audio Image stack up against competition? Well, no matter how many zeroes were on the price tag of any cable that I ever auditioned, the Maestoso has made it to #1 position on the list. Kudos to Slovakia.
Recommended resellers
Authentic Audio Image, Povážská Bystrica, +421 905 694 943
Manufacturer's website: http://www.aai.sk
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-720, McIntosh MCTD600 SACD/CD, Gryphon Ethos
- Amplifiers: TAD-M2500, McIntosh C2700 preamplifier, McIntosh MC1.25kW quad monos, Mola Mola Kula
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Ansuz Signalz C2, Krautwire MAX Pro, Krautwire Numeric Digital, AAI Mestoso XLR, InAkustik Referenz 2404 and Reference LS-2404 AIR, Classe Delta, Gryphon Vantage
- Loudspeakers: TAD Evolution One E1, Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4, Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirit
- Power conditioning: Shunyata Research Denali, Stromtank S-1000, GMG Harmonic Hammer Exclusive, In-Akustik Referenz AC-3500, Ansuz Mainz C2, Ansuz Mainz DTC, Roth Audio Aryia, Synergistic Research Euphoria Level 3, Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 2, Shunyata Research Sigma XC v2 and Omega XC v2
Gallery
AAI Maestoso
I got to meet the Maestoso power cable last April and spent three weeks with it. Back then the cable had a black protective mesh through which a deep blue shielding sheath was seen; a combination that gave the cable deep blue look ...
Recommended resellers
Authentic Audio Image, Povážská Bystrica, +421 905 694 943
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