All cables sound alike. Been there. Done that. Smelled the bullshit. It is of course perfectly possible to compare two arbitrary strips and hear no difference. But add a zero to work through 20 different cables. That'll crack the naysayer's armour. But even the right two specimens will do. It's simply impossible to predict in advance which two will be most divergent when starting with 20. Matt's Forza leash still unnamed when I wrote this was the right such sample versus the HifiMan and Palma stock leashes. It did its thing no matter the ancillaries. The effect was obvious. It shifted emphasis from the front foot of tonal attacks to the back foot of tonal fades. If sounds were like bubbles, it fleshed out their hollows. And to revisit the earlier image of dynamic range, it grew faster grass whenever recordings didn't look like redacted Secret Service reports of fat black lines wiping out all nuance [see right-most example below].
female vocals with string quartet | vocal trio | complex electronica | large-scale Cuban salsa band ¹
¹ Contrary to common belief, recorded dynamic range isn't a function of perceived constant loudness, musical complexity or performer head count. In the above four examples, the small-scale ensembles with female vocals exhibit the broadest dynamic range whilst the seemingly far 'louder' electronica track and big salsa band have from very little to zero dynamic range.
Via its RCA outputs, the Cen.Grand DAC in the left rack feeds the headphone amps below the iMac. Its XLR outputs feed the active crossover prior to the four speaker/sub amps.
Lastly, Forza bass was more hung. Unlike a hung jury, that's a fine result. As Matt put it, "this cable was made from scratch with headphones in mind. It's not simply a modified C-Marc interconnect or LessLoss hookup wire. It was a long and somewhat painful journey when headphone cables are a bit of a different beast. It took me several prototypes but I'm very happy with the outcome." He should be. One flexible cable accomplishes what it takes many audiophiles years of buying 'n' selling to do whilst they chase tonal moisture and rich image density without undermining resolution or rhythmic drive. Or as Louis put it who furnished Matt with the raw material, "you can't get to Matt's quality by buying our C-MARC bulk and a solder pot, liquid flux and an iron. But you can still make great cable."
In my book, the meet between LessLoss' modified C-MARC platform and Mateusz Przychodzien of Warsaw's Forza Audioworks boutique leading us to today's 'C.Matt' cable was most fortuitous. At an estimated €1'250/1.5m, the outcome should presuppose €3K+ headphones to rationalize its expense. With today's HeadFi market no longer short on suitable suspects, Forza's flagship cable has many prospective takers. It really deserves to be discovered by those fanatics who suspect that they've not yet maxed out what their cans can do.
In the most primitive terms, big drivers make big sound. Why couldn't bigger cables make bigger sound? Although alarmingly generalized as though fat cables are guaranteed to be better—the slinky Crystal cables long ago burst that bubble—here there's something about more conductor mass, lower impedance, higher current and resultant gains in bass power, dynamic headroom and tone weight quite aside from the noise-cancelling action of more detail and microdynamic nuance. To conclude properly, I had to wait on Matt recovering from a holiday bug to give us finals on the cable's name, look and price. Depending on how much he wanted to give away, Louis even intimated that there might be more to say about this version of C-MARC.
It's obviously grotesquely geeky to devote 5 pages to a costly can cord. But potency warranted the exercise. Unlike speakers, headphones don't have positional leeway. We can't move them about a room for our best tuning. But often we can swap the earpads and stock wiring. That harness is typically made to a strict price so generic. Now a correct alternative will open up unexpected performance headroom. Being very familiar with Matt's previous best, I can confidently say that he's now elevated his game by working with even more advanced already very well-proven ingredients.
"About the conductor itself, I don't have much more than what's already in your review except for this. The cable underwent several mechanical iterations. First prototypes were easy on microphonics and already very good on sound. They were also quite stiff and thinner than I wanted so with Louis we moved from there. Each new iteration grew its diameter a bit mainly due to the increase in core size around which locates the C-MARC braid. The outer sleeve got bigger as a result but the rope braid didn't feel stiff and the finished product isn't cumbersome. The conductor itself is a special C-MARC braid different than the LessLoss hookup wiring. I'd like to not go deep into that and explain how exactly it varies but it had to be different for my cable to acquire the desired mechanical properties: high slinkiness, low mass and non-existent microphonics. Finally, LessLoss hookup wiring doesn't feature Entropic processing but my wire has it which for headphones makes a difference noticeable enough to be worth the extra expense. Pricing will be €1'250/1.5m for most headphones though some like HD800 and Utopia could be slightly more. An additional meter is €490 and the cable's project name is Medicine which will stay as the final name."
With Soundaware 12wpc class A P1x amplifier, Palma Audio DHS-1 headphone, LessLoss Firewall for Headphones and C-MARC cable connecting it all.
That's the antithesis of bitter medicine. Here's the final fully dressed look. Over & out.
