By Michael Miguest
Last year I did a review on SOUND DESIGN LABS' Joule Case Reference Series Power Conditioners. Sound Design Labs ( SDL) is the brain child of Donald Smith. Years ago, Donald worked with Dynamic Design Cables and after leaving Dynamic Design, he continued to develop and design new products which were more efficacious and more transformational than those in the High-End Audio Market Place. This prompted Donald to create his own company, Sound Design Labs. Don's Reference Power Conditioners allows whatever component plugged into it to produce sound that in my opinion, is more "Correct" in every parameter than any other product available today. SDL products are revolutionary and are based on Don's commitment to sound (pun intended) scientific principles, his "Golden Ears", and his genuine love of music. Don's goal with all of his products is insuring that Sound Design Labs and 'Musicality' are synonymous.
This review is for his High Performance HPC-4 True Balanced and Single-Ended Cables. Most of us in this hobby are familiar with the High-End Audio 'usual suspects' when it comes to "Uber Expensive" and "Expensive" audio inter-connect cables. I'm referring to the Argento, Kubala-Sosna, Transparent, Nordost, MIT and more that constitute the cable Merry-go-Round for the ostentatious and closed-minded Audiophiles. It's a Merry-go-Round because all of these uber expensive and expensive Cable Manufacturers tell you that their products are the "BEST Audio Cable You Can Buy". SDL tells you their High-Performance cables are the most "Musically Correct Cables You Can Buy".
There is a difference between music that sounds "Great" and music that sounds like "Music". All of the the usual cable suspects deliver great sound. However, until you experience the HPC-4 cables, you will be forever locked into the cable Merry-go-Round and never experience the sound of "real music". I have experience with all of the usual suspects and I can assure you that none of them allows you to hear the music with the "Correctness" that Sound Design Labs' cables deliver. For those Audiophiles who are open-minded enough to audition Donald Smith's (SDL) HPC-4 cables, I am completely confident that you will get off the cable Merry-go-Round. Too many in this hobby fail to understand that "Price is not always proportional to Satisfaction" and "All that glitters is not Gold". Sound Design Labs' products are the most "Musically Correct" I have heard at any price.
The Merry-go-Round symbolism I've talked about here brings to mind the childhood fairy tale "Goldilocks and the three bears". I think it's quite apropos and simplistically drives home my message. Symbolically, Goldilocks will represent Music Lovers, Papa Bear will represents all the uber expensive High-End cables, Momma Bear will represent all the expensive High-End cables, and Baby Bear will represents Sound Design Labs High-Performance, High-End cables. Audiophiles will continue on the cable Merry-go-Round going back and forth between Papa and Momma Bear in search of a cable that delivers that "Real Musical" presentation from their systems. Goldilocks (Music Lovers) found fault with whatever she sampled with regard to Papa and Momma Bear. However, everything she sampled with regard to Baby Bear was "Just Right". The single-ended RCA HPC-4 Signature is currently $1200.00 and the HPC-4 True Balanced is $1400.00. http://www.sounddesignlabs.org/
RSS Feed
