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At this point I indulged in a little front end cable swapping to see how the Aequilibrium speaker cables would react. Back to the Madison interconnects. The Aequilibrium passed the character changes on to amount largely to a slightly cooler tonal balance. That small alteration however was not enough to supplant the Arkana signature which continued to warm up the sonic picture by shifting attention downwards in the spectrum and slightly softening the transient edge. On to the power cords. The AC cables on the Tortuga Audio preamp and Wyred4Sound server were left untouched throughout since they are more specialized for their power supplies plus one length of Audio Art SE was left in to service the Bel Canto amplifier for my first round of AC trials. Gray first. The Corona Magi was given the task of feeding the Wyred4Sound DAC-2, a component that is guilty of a bit of snobbery when it comes to power cords. With the DAC-2 it’s not a matter of price but whether or not the character of the power cord meshes with EJ Sarmento’s vision of how the DAC should sound. Get it right and the DAC opens up a treasure trove of fast response and dynamic lightning. Get it wrong and the Wyred will quickly telegraph the error. The Arkana replaced a run of $240 DH Labs Power Plus cord which had successfully logged some time. The DH Labs paired with the Wyred produces a detailed mildly warm presentation with outstanding soundstaging and good transient snap. What happened with the Corona Magi?

Upon installation the system showed that break-in would be required. The addition of the Corona displayed oversized forward images crowded into the centre of the soundstage as though the musicians had decided to do a football huddle. Tonal balance was skewed further into the lower spectrum, exhibiting thick sluggish bass. I had strong doubts that Arkana had intended this result so the system was run unattended for several days to see how the sound would evolve. As the hours wound on, the mid bass hump diminished and performers proceeded to disperse further apart in a broader deeper soundstage. Images were still proportionally large but rock solid in terms of dimensional density. The Corona Magi was beneficial in increasing the amount of acoustical envelope but applied that information through the midrange down into the upper bass, making performance content priority and venue information secondary. It was well represented when instruments played but stop the music and the hall rapidly sunk into inky darkness. Added artificial air was of course an exception.


Did the frequency character change significantly after break-in? Yes and all for the better. Bass bloat fell away and the Corona Magi setup settled into an organic balance, very smooth and very mellow in the ascending octaves. Although the high frequencies seemed diminished, pink noise testing showed them to be suitably flat. Over the listening period the upper midrange gained a little more prominence and showed convincing dynamic swing. The Arkana signature's mild midrange through upper bass bias was in full effect, drawing intense listening focus in that region. Lower bass evolved into lean and mean with excellent definition. Dynamics and resolution were a mixed bag. Transient edge felt soft, robbing music of a bit of excitement. The dichotomy here was that the cable actually produced very wide dynamic swings. This made the Arkana combo smooth, a touch warm and quite forgiving of material. Pop recordings from the 80s and 90s which normally come off a bit lean were reproduced with a considerably weightier less aggressive balance. Acoustical instrumental benefited from that rich dark character but quick light’n’lively material was consistently transcribed to that same flavour of sweetness and density. In this combination the system was the opposite of etched. It was powerful, dense and dynamic but always polite enough to curb unpleasant intrusions.

Last on the check sheet was the blue Suprema Flamen cord. To keep the exercise consistent, it replaced the Corona Magi feeding the DAC-2. The Suprema ranks second from the bottom of Arkana’s power cables at more than twice the price of the entry Aureum Medium and less than half that of the Corona Magi. Who now turned up the lights in the concert hall? This was very different indeed, with far more hall illumination. The upper midrange and highs had greater proportion and a faster leading edge. There was more sheer frequency and absolute dynamic contrast with hard-hitting punch and fine resolution. The Wyred4Sound DAC-2 still held on a bit to the AURALiC density but it was a lot more playful now. The downside was that both my ears and pink noise showed some elevation in the upper range. Since these results occurred immediately upon insertion, it was time to wait and see how bright a performer our Flamen would become. Things wore in nicely, becoming a little smoother on top without losing much edge or exuberance. The combination of more upper mid energy and greater amounts of dynamic gradation in that range translated as more hall information and longer decays. Better leading edge attack meant more jump factor and more metal on instruments like triangle and guitar strings. Under the same circumstances the Magi cord emphasized more reverberation and less instantaneous attack on the same triangle, more body on the guitar. The Corona also built a much darker hall around the performers than the feistier Flamen. Think soft sultry jazz dive versus mirror-ball jumpin’ jive joint for a very different interpretation of the event. Stage width was closer to the Cinerama soundscape of the DH Lab and equal in depth. Projection was slightly superior as was dimensionality. 


Once I was convinced that the Flamen was burning at the proper temperature, the Corona Magi leashed to the Bel Canto amplifier. Out came the stalwart Audio Art SE AC cable. In this position the Corona required far less break-in and now sang with a distinctly different voice than it had on the DAC-2. Yes it was still somewhat mellow but here the effect was supportive of the rest of the chain, preserving the brighter dynamics of the Suprema Flamen in front, adding a touch of smoothness and carving out somewhat more sophistication in instrument localization. The very dark venue it had introduced at the DAC stage was not repeated. The overall sound still drew the ear’s attention into the midrange through upper bass where it built dimensionality and warmth but to a lesser degree. It now called upon better articulation and attack from the upper mids on up, taking advantage of the improved frequency range and dynamic swing to provide more natural snap and life. As a final reference check of the Flamen, I gave it to the Bel Canto, swapping back the DH Labs on the Wyred. The new combination revealed the Flamen as more transparency oriented, emphasizing a little more depth over projection and demonstrating a leaner response from the upper bass on down than the Audio Art SE and considerably more than the Corona Magi. Articulation was good, hall acoustic remained brightly lit but in this application the Suprema Flamen was outgunned on density and propulsive weight. Like its bigger brother, performance was very much application dependant and as such unpredictable. The Flamen went back on the Wyred and the Corona Magi returned to the Bel Canto where each had natural affinities.

In this final setup the complete Arkana loom played to full advantage. The cables demonstrated an epitome of organic sophistication. There was an analogue feel to the digital setup which was very close to vinyl in flavour - sweet, with a slight bias in the documented bands, very dense dimensionally and attired with the proper accoutrements of dynamic and soundstage refinement appropriate to the price tag. That ‘vinyl analog’ feel was strong enough to prompt me to question the manufacturer. "The vinyl effect you describe is the result of using metals with another kind of crystal lattice, hence you don't hear the grain effect inherent in conventional metals such as copper, silver, gold." If you think Grado rather than moving coil in terms of cartridges; or classic Conrad Johnson rather than Audio Research in amplification terms… you’ll have a good idea what Arkana bring to the equation on frequency and dynamic character and to what degree.


How did the Arkana Physical Research cables compare to my current wiring? First they were the priciest wires to have graced the system. Closest in cost were the Madison Audio Labs E3 Extreme 2 speaker cables at $1’200 Canadian (double run) and the E3 Extreme 1 interconnects at $1’194. That’s still quite a wide price gap but in a lucky stroke of fate was not dissimilar in basic temperament. Indeed the Arkana signature was eerily similar to The Madison Extreme Standard 1 in several respects and that interconnect sits further down in Madison’s tier of products. Both favour the mid through upper bass range and both treat hall acoustics in a darker fashion. Both do intense 3D vivid dimensionality. The upper-end Madison cables perform a minor course correction, lose some of that intoxicating Technicolor density and lean towards a more classically neutral stance. The Arkana cables stick to that basic organic character and build layers of refinement and dynamic power to reinforce those properties with successive loom additions.

For differences, the Arkana Exquisotor interconnects were both smoother and quieter than the Madison. Ceramic cable clamps closed the gap quite a bit but the Exquisotor still had the edge. On speed I would give the nod to the Madison Audio Lab E3Extreme 1. It too is a smooth cable but it can define a steep transient with a little more precision. Dynamics and resolution were mixed. Both cables resolve to an exceptional degree but where the Arkana translates it as dimensional solidity, the Madison attempts more of a balancing act between instrument and venue. Both interpretations are valid but I found the extra density of the Exquisotor a little more compelling. To the dynamic question, the Arkana managed to extract a few more layers. On tonal balance the E3 Extreme 1 played it closer to textbook neutral, the Exquisotor a touch more organic and acoustically correct but not necessarily accurate to the recording. Did the Exquisotor beautify the presentation a tad? Perhaps but on many recordings being convincing may be more desirable than being absolutely correct.