GRACELINE WAGNER REFERENCE CABLE LOOM - REVIEW
GRACELINE WAGNER REFERENCE CABLES
Cables and wires are not excavators or curators of detail. Nor do they provide additional transparency, resolution, air, ambiance, and/or other technical insights from the musical information—the ones and zeroes, the analog waveform—via CDs, streaming, albums, tapes, etc. which one eventually hears.
Cables and wires are, in fact, translators and interpreters of the musical information. In this respect, they communicate information between the various audio components from source to amplification to speakers to the listener. Their purview is simply to correctly, accurately translate what they are being ‘told’. Though unlike translators and interpreters of languages, cables and wires can also convey spatial cues—air, ambiance and space in given venues or studios or, at least, some measure of their volume. Cables and wires also translate information with regard to the interplay, positioning of various performers, where they are and the distance between them—their relative spacing, ‘layering’. There are, of course, differing skill levels between cables and wires with regard to their ability to translate musical information. I have owned some of the worst and some of the best cables and wires with regard to their abilities as translators, interpreters of the musical information.
The worst cables and wires which have acted as translators/interpreters badly translated, misinterpreted the information. This misinterpretation left out critical bits of information technical, spatial, musical from component to component, which resulted in a multitude of maladies—a lack of transparency, detail, resolution, ambiance, air, musicality, tonal/timbral accuracy as well as frequency spectrum integrity.
The best cables and wires, on the other-hand, have translated/interpreted the information in a ‘whole-cloth’ approach, which effectively rendered CDs, streams, albums, tapes, etc. from component to component to one’s ears, as they were meant to be heard and experienced, as best they could.
What I relay via this review is my experience with a cable loom which is the best translator of musical information I have owned, reviewed, or heard. This is the BlackCat GraceLine Wagner Reference cables.
REFRAIN: Unlike most reviews, this review will be non-sequential, as it will start with how the equipment actually sounds and not the process of physically “undressing” it and/or laying out its various accoutrement, specifications, etc. Think of this review then, as a non-linear movie—Memento, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, etc—that, likewise, starts at the end and winds its way to the beginning.
The Review System
Shanling ONIX XST20 SACD/CD Transport
Bricasti Design M1SE DAC w/ethernet
Rega P10 Turntable w/Apheta cartridge
Aurorasound Step-Up Transformer
Gold Note PH-10 Phono-Preamplifier
Gold Note PSU-10 Power Supply
Allnic ASRA 7500 Headphone Amplifier/Integrated
Allnic HPA-300B Headphone Amplifier/Integrated
Aurorasound HFSA-01 Integrated/Headphone Amplifier
Lyric Audio Ti 100 MkII Integrated
BlackCat Graceline TRON AES/EBU and SPDIF Digital Cables
BlackCat Graceline Wagner Reference RCA Interconnects
BlackCat Graceline Wagner Reference Speaker Cables
RSX Technology BEYOND and MAX Power Cords
Meze Audio Empyrean II Headphones
Meze Audio POET Headphones
Devore Fidelity Orangutan O/96 Speakers
TORUS RM20 Power Conditioner
SEISMION Amplifier Stand (powered)
The Sound
The Graceline Wagner Reference Cables are on another level, entirely, in terms their ability to translate aliveness, openness, transparency than all my reference cables, now my prior reference cables. This ability results in more detail, a wealth of spatial cues across components than I am used to hearing. The air, the ambiance, the space translated by these cables is outstanding, as information I had only believed electrostatic headphones or speakers were able to offer up, now came forward. This is information my prior reference cables of past years could not match.
The Wagner Reference cables immediately created a chasm in the level of performance between my reference cables and even Graceline’s own Level-2 cable loom. Performances are beautifully lain out before me with a level of realism, naturalness of tone, timbre, and texture, and greater dimensionality—width, depth, height, space—which render performances more ‘alive’ than they’ve ever been. And the snap of transients are dynamic tight, detailed, attention grabbing. Together with the intricate details of a given performance—the interplay between musicians, a singer’s nuanced delivery of lyrics, the spatial cues of the venue—all come together or are translated in the most natural way possible. Yes, this term ‘natural’ you will read often across this review.
Further, the Wager Reference cables translate a level of tonal/timbral differentiation, via the colors and shadings it presents, which lend greater credibility to instruments and singers and as a result they are more real, more apparent, more alive. The other reference cables, in this respect, seem monochromatic in regard to their translation/interpretation of the music. The Wager Reference cables are the box of 124 crayons, relative, to the box of 24 crayons offered by the other reference cables.
There is not a musical genre which does not benefit from the Wagner Reference cables, which are able to communicate greater detail at lower volume and even greater quiet, blackness, which gives further insight and connection to the music.
BasS
To begin to understand the ability of the Wagner Reference cables with regard to ‘translating’ bass is, perhaps, to start with word association. Gravitas. Weight. Force. Propulsiveness. Differentiation.
With the Wagner Reference cables in system bass was more available, in every respect. It was more substantive, more taunt, more transparent, and resolving. It’s as if the Wager Reference cables lifted all prior limitations of my reference cables, which had been, in fact, limiting the the system’s bass to the music’s detriment. Amazing!
Further, the Wagner Reference cables differentiate bass via their translation of tonal and timbral shadings and colors, which speaks to a more natural response and not a one or two-note bass response. The effect results in bass which is more nuanced, more refined in its ability to easily bring the upright bass, bass guitar, tympani, drums, etc. to life in the most, well, natural, more believable, and in a more dimensional way. And those ‘ephemeral’ images which had been buried deep within the soundstage were brought to relevance, to life by a better translation of frequency. This had the effect of deepening the soundstage.
MidrangE
Imagine sitting in a small cafe, listening to a rather exceptional guitarist, and you are close enough to hear her fingers traveling along strings, the fretboard, the body of the guitar. And when her voice comes, the lyrics emerge across lips, with breath, air, presence, and texture and one’s heart and mind are engaged. This would, of course, be the epitome of a natural performance and without the need for a translator.
In the course of the Wagner Reference cable review I have listened to and re-listened to countless singers ranging from Sarah Vaughn to Rickie Lee Jones to Tracey Chapman to Boz Scaggs to Michael Franks to Stevie Wonder. The Wagner Reference cable’s translation places performers and voices in space with presence, in-room physicality, and a dimensionality, which is breathtaking. In addition to the presence of performers brought forth, there came greater insight into the music in the form of previously unheard or unnoticed detail, spatial cues, micro-detail, and a refinement which were now a part of the performance. Again, in this—the translation of voices—the Wagner Reference cables have had no peer, regardless of price. Bravo!
Treble+
The Wagner Reference cables translates treble information with all the resolve, the transparency, the detail, the nuance, which my digital reference sources are able to communicate. The result was more air, atmosphere, and space, far above my current reference cables, which have all been very good. The Wager Reference cables also translate the quiet, the space in-between, the ‘blackness’ in ways the prior reference cables simply could not match. This coupled with their translation of nuance, refinement, articulation of the ‘delicate’, the micro-details, left the other cables wanting in comparison, and less natural.
The ultimate treble tests for me are a suite of ECM titles, which I use to ascertain treble+ resolution. These ECM titles are excellently recorded and can be a torture test for digital front ends unable to properly communicate treble+ information. In this my digital front-end has proven itself tantamount in many respects, though not all to the Grimm Audio MU2. However, if one’s digital front end is not up to task, the treble+ segments—cymbals, crash cymbals or their metal on metal interplay will, in fact, sound like something ‘frying’ on a too-hot skillet or a sheet of paper being crushed into a ball—grainy, rough, abrasive, non-resolved. This was not a problem for my digital front-end. However, how well this treble+ information was translated relative to my reference cables was the intent. Across the ECM suite of Bobo Stenson’s Goodbye, Tomasz Stanko’s Suspended Nights, Tord Gustavsen’s Seeing, Changing Places, The Other Side the Wagner Reference cables easily proved their expertise above all other cables as translators of all treble+ information.
The Wagner Reference cables translated more treble+ detail across these various albums and, in particular, Goodbye, which has an abundance of treble+ information, and it did this effortlessly! There was no back and forth needed to understand this, it was immediately apparent and this was with less than 72 hours of burn-in. Again, the Wagner Reference cables did this with musical and technical acumen, spatial cues, which together communicated naturalness. Yes, naturalness appears quite often across my notes and there’s a reason for this, which speaks to the Wagner Reference cable’s, well, ‘chops’ at translating or ‘bringing’ the music to life. Superb!
The Design—Look and Feel
The BlackCat Wagner Reference cables are fine in terms of diameter/width and weight in comparison to the typical ‘garden-hose-sized’ reference cables, which tend to be both gargantuan and weighty. Nonetheless, in their more refined appearance they lose absolutely nothing and gain much with regard to their potency, the technical acumen, their musicality. and
Their fabric sheaths are composed of a multi-color blue and red weave, which lend to their aesthetic appeal, their subtle beauty. And they tend to clean up the overall inter-connections of one’s stereo system in a nice and tidy manner.
As per Mayu’s description of the Wagner Reference cables’ construction, she provides the following:
“The structure of the Wagner Reference cable combines a tri-axial arrangement of open-braided, matrixed wire-tubes separated by layers of insulation, in a termination arrangement that keeps capacitance fundamentally low and velocity reasonably high (due to the air content of our unique AERON insulator). The Wagner Reference cable is also all copper, where Mezame, the Graceline Level-3, cable has some silver.”
The Wagner Reference cable’s modus operandi is to achieve smooth tone “without losing resolution to bring the vortex of sounds from low to high as thick as Wagner could bring”.
Conclusion
The Graceline Wagner Reference cables as translators of information—digital and analog—are the best I have yet heard. The key is their outstanding ability to translate every aspect of musical, technical, and spatial information from component to component to one’s ears, to the sole benefit of the music. They provide a superb translation of musical information beyond the ability of my various reference cables, which, in comparison, are not nearly as convincing or dimensional or as natural. The Wagner Reference cables simply allow the music to flow as it was intended.
The Graceline Wagner References are an epiphany akin to the epiphanies I experienced with the Grimm Audio MU2 streamer, the Audiomat Opera Integrated, the STAX SR-X9000 electrostatic headphones, the HiFiMan Susvara (original) planar magnetic headphones, and the Accustic Arts Player II CD Player. Once you’ve heard them, it’s very difficult to consider another as their match.
The Graceline Wagner Reference cable loom is extraordinary and shows itself on a level above other reference cables, which I have had the pleasure of owning, reviewing, and hearing these past years. They receive, easily so, our Diamond Award and our Breakthrough Award for innovative excellence. I do believe they are the first cable to do so. Bravo!
Pros: Their ability to easily interpret, translate all the musical, technical, and spatial information of one’s music like no other cable I have yet heard.
Cons: They are not inexpensive.
The Company
BlackCat Cables
GraceLine Wagner Reference RCA Interconnects (1.5m, 2.0m): $4,995, $5,995
GraceLine Wagner Reference Speaker Cable (1.5m, 2.0m): $5,295, $6,295
P.O. Box 2653
Cumming,
GA 30028
mayu@blackcatcable.com
sales@blackcatcable.com
