Here we see my designated drivers: Dragan Domanovic's SAEQ Hyperion Ge amplifier with NOS Germanium input transistors; and Fang Bian's original Susvara with aftermarket fenestrated Dekoni pads and Matt's cable. HifiMan's stock cable would be its obvious comparator. Likewise for the Palma's own cable. The parallel test to make was to add FoH, my abbreviation for the Firewall of HeadFi. Whilst that passive inline filter necessitates a second stretch of XLR4/XLR4 cable, it seems fair to presume that its addition would at best do nothing extra but more likely incur minimal loss from extra connector junctions and length. In any event, that second cable was the only way to add the black box to the mix. It could obviously be any XLR4/XLR4 strip but not having one on hand, Louis had made me a C-MARC stretch.

Hyperion Ge driving HifiMan Susvara with Dekoni pads and Matt's cable.

The first item to now handle is cable girth and from it, conductor mass. Versus the stock HifiMan and Palma cables where all conductors run inside a single thin sheath, Matt's quad rope is more than four times thicker. Should scaled-up copper mass predict anything salient for a headphone? Unless they're ribbons to have a transformer convert voltage to current, how thirsty are cans for current in the first place? I really don't know. In case of doubt, is more merrier? What about the noise-cancelling C-MARC geometry? Without means to separate them, I'd obviously judge both aspects as one. Let's leave cause and effect to the engineers.

Palma 6.3mm and 4.4mm cables, the latter with FiiO XLR4 adapter. HifiMan's look virtually identical.

In the beginning. It's how a good yarn kicks off. Already the Old Testament knew it. Sounds do, too. They have a beginning, middle and end. The leading edge defines the initial rise from silence to sound. Fluidly following is the bloom or sustain. Sooner or later it turns into a slow or rapid fade. Percussion without resonators or oscillating metal can lack virtually all fade. Likewise for true staccato which clips off as suddenly as it starts. We could call suddenness speed and steepness combined. How quickly does a sound rise from zero; how high does it shoot before it levels out? Undamped strings, cymbals and instruments which excel at pianissimo can create lengthy fades. A reverberant acoustic—real or synthetic won't matter—adds decay length. Dynamic range can kick in right on the leading edge; or behind it on a single-note crescendo where the bloom portion exceeds the transient in loudness. All of it is just one aspect of musicianship and playback. It simply happens to be what focuses today's review. Comparing Matt's cable amp-direct to routing through FoH showed a clear shift on the leading/trailing-edge spectrum. Direct was more direct to lean heavier onto the rise; detour had more weight on the falling part of sounds. Soloing Matt's cable gave the presentation a slightly more percussive quality. If that were a news announcer, you'd call his/her enunciation more fastidious. Looping the signal through Foh to mean longer cabling, extra plugs and far more esoterically-shaped ultra-soft super-aged copper inside Louis' black box made the announcer's tongue slightly lazier. Yet her tonality grew a bit more sonorous as though it involved more chest and diaphragm, less throat and teeth.

The Firewall's C-MARC connection standing by to connect Susvara directly to the amp.

If you stood with one foot in front of the other, you could easily feel the sensation of shifting between them. More weight on the front seems to lean slightly forward. It signals a certain inner readiness or alertness. More weight on the back foot feels more relaxed and settled. Shifting weight between transient and decay has exactly the same effect and feel. Think of it slight enough where an onlooker wouldn't notice any rocking to see which foot you favoured. They'd be oblivious to any change in stance. Yet you'd certainly feel it and know. Likewise for adding/subtracting FoH. I'm not sure you'd measure it; and if so, which measurement would show it. But you sense the effect very distinctly. Foh leans back. Over the Forza it feels softer, more reposed and settled. Weightier. The Forza feels more sprung and rhythmically keen. Foh also is denser. It emphasizes more tone mass. More padded outline filler. It gives Matt's cable a bit more air by contrast and from it, more spatial suchness. FoH is wetter and darker.