Recalling the various stages of the Faber's installation in my system, I found remarkable the consistency of changes I heard in that each additional La Potenza steadily progressed the sound in the same direction and the coherence of the presentation snapped more and more into focus. This confirmed for me that sticking to a single cable brand makes it easier to understand what direction to take. One might think that the accumulation of several elements acting similarly even if in a positive fashion could cause a 'too much of a good thing' problem. This would be true if the effect of these elements was an alteration of the sonic balance such as a stronger bass, smoother treble, a denser midrange or an emphasis on a certain characteristic like detail extraction. However, the beauty of Faber's gear is that it acts as a means to subtract less and less from the signal, therefore with each new element of the loom it was as if I heard more and more information that was on the original recording in the first place.
If a hifi system and its room are well balanced, the more information is exposed, the richer, more uplifting and realistic the listening experience becomes. In my audiophile journey I have used cables and interconnects as equalizers to compensate for shortcomings but now conclude that if something needs to be mitigated or compensated, the most effective approach though by no means easiest is to find the culprit(s) of the issue and move on to better more synergistic equipment. Using cables or other accessories as facilitators of synergy works in many cases in an editorializing way. That can be attractive as a quick band-aid like sweeping dust under the carpet but could backfire in the long run, preventing the system from healthily progressing as it could. Faber's Cables and Power equipment are not for the sorcerer's apprentice who enjoys accessories as tuning devices. Rather, they are best suited to celebrate a well curated system by allowing it to perform at its very best, transporting the signal in the most pristine way whilst ridding it of electrical contamination. The La Potenza flagship line, while certainly not inexpensive, is intended for systems already at the bleeding edge of performance.
In my setup these products elevated both the technical elements and emotional engagement by a significant degree. How they managed was by opening a seemingly boundless window for the sound to flow. The clarity and resolution La Potenza provides is thoroughly musical in that it does not rely on artificial sharpening or brightening; on the contrary it carries with it organic fluidity. The details of the music reveal on the scale of real experience, not under a microscope or dazzling light. Light and shade portray faithfully to form three-dimensional objects. At both extremes of the frequency spectrum La Potenza's immense bandwidth results in realistically shaping time and space. Rhythmic pulse and decay trails define the timbral signature of performers while also mapping the space they play within. The ability to convey listening pleasure through immaculate, uncompromised technical prowess and not at the expense of it is the very definition of true high-end audio. In that sense I can only give my highest recommendation to Faber's Cables and Faber's Power La Potenza products.
June 2, 2026 one year past the above published. While my review of the Faber's Cable loom thoroughly covered their La Potenza flagship range of power cords and analog interconnects, it fell somewhat short of my signal path's digital portion. The two digital cables I then had at my disposal were the SixthSenseSpecial USB and Ethernet cable. I decided to omit the former from the review loom since it would have made for an inferior connection between my Taiko Olympus server and LampizatOr Horizon360 DAC being optimized around the proprietary XDMI Taiko protocol. As for Faber's Ethernet link, it didn't offer any exciting differences to my own Sablon cable which I interpreted as a kind of insensitivity my music server allegedly exhibits especially when paired with its stablemate, the Extreme Switch. Since research on digital cables plays a significant role in Faber's endeavours and given the consistently good feedback customers leave for his digital wires, Fabrizio decided to develop his own flagship XDMI cable for the La Potenza range. While at it, the team decided to also push the envelope of the Ethernet link to La Potenza status. I was promptly provided with both which happily revised my impressions. I first tried the Ethernet cable where the difference between La Potenza and SixthSenseSpecial was so apparent from the very first notes that I was taken aback considering my previous attempt. I heard an immediate release of previously unnoticed tension, a harmonically richer more colourful sound which made the original cable seem greyish by contrast. HF extension and a sense of unrestricted grain-free information flow, a trademark of my Faber's Cables analog experience, now clearly emerged. The Faber's loom in my system had grown a new permanent member. Fabrizio was happy to confirm my impressions with his own ears but he too was puzzled by the delta of improvement, unexpected even by the proud designer. A few days after collecting the SixthSenseSpecial Ethernet cable, Fabrizio called to inform me that they discovered a flaw in my original sample. A significant element of its design, i.e. the noise-drain earth conductor, hadn't been attached properly. This of course means that my impressions of the SixthSenseSpecial Ethernet cable should be discarded.
Next came the La Potenza XDMI which I compared to my KBL Sound EXtrema, the flagship of the Polish company. With the XDMI connection in place, I finally harnessed a complete La Potenza loom plus their power distributor and ground box. This missing link brought an uptick in clarity, detail was easier made out, the tonal palette was slightly cooler and perceived HF extension greater. On the other hand, the KBL Sound offered more saturation and weight. Note attack and decay seemed more defined with the La Potenza while the KBL presented a slightly softer dynamic ascent but longer decay trails. While the analytical part of my brain thought the Faber's Cables more proficient, I found myself subjectively preferring one presentation to the other depending on genre and recording technique—and to a degree that has me uncomfortable designating one the superior performer over the other.
