Grand line

Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (i5, 256GB SSD, 40GB RAM, Sonoma 14), 4TB external SSD with Thunderbolt 3, Audirvana Studio, Qobuz Sublime, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 & SW-6 switch, Sonnet Pasithea, Laiv Audio Harmony; Active filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Power amplifiers: Vinshine Audio x Kinki Studio Dazzle & Gold Note PA-10 Evo in mono on subwoofer; Headamp: Enleum AMP-23R; Phones: Raal 1995 Immanis; Loudspeakers: Qualio IQ [on loan] Cables: Exact Express Flame, Furutech; Power delivery: 2 x Kinki/Vinshine Tai Hang on amps and source stack, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, AudioQuest FogLifters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat; Room treatment: 2 x PSI Audio AVAA C214 active bass traps
2nd system: Source: FiiO R7 into Soundaware D300Ref SD transport to Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Preamp: Hattor ARP-S; Active analog xover: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box II; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos; Loudspeakers: ModalAkustik MusibBoxx; Subwoofer: Zu Method; Cable loom: Exact Express Earth; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra, Akiko Audio Corelli Corundum & Castello Solo; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Furutech cable lifts, Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
2nd headfi system: DAC: Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe with POW; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Headphones: Raal 1995 Magna, HifiMan Susvara
Desktop system: Source: HP Z2 work station Win11/64; USB bridge: LHY UIP; DAC + Head/preamp: Audalytic DR70 + HP70 both on LHY LPS-80 Dual; Speaker amps: Topping B200 monos; Loudspeakers: Virtual Hifi Viper; Headphones: Final D-8000, aune SR7000, FiiO FT7
Upstairs headfi system: FiiO R7; Headphones: Meze 109 Pro, Fiio FT3
2nd upstairs speaker system: Source: FiiO R7; DAC/pre: COS D1; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-M7; Loudspeakers: Virtual Hifi Cobra [on loan] 2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Dynaudio 18S; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: €769 ex VAT as reviewed

"Hi Srajan, would you be interested in reviewing our totl Grand line cable for Susvara or any other headphone? Best regards, Konstantin Lavriks – Lavricables." Given Susvara's cashet, associating it with the brand's top cable made fiscal sense. However, my Susvara is a 1st-gen oldie. Hello 2.5mm plugs. Those aren't hot-pluggable into any other can of my collection. Meanwhile long 3.5mm plugs without locking pins would suit Final's D7000 planars and Sonorous X dynamics, FiiO's FT7, aune's SR7000 and Meze's 109Pro. Whilst the latter three lack the posh the Latvian leash should love, I had three HifiMan Unveiled models including this HE1000 in-bound. Those too take 3.5mm plugs. Now sense met sensibility. If Konstantin wanted to wrangle up a 3m XLR4 silver-litz braid, I was game for many musical chairs. Truth told, I hadn't been aware of Lavricables though this family business started trading in 2012. But that was nada a 14-year delay couldn't nix 'n' fix now with pix 'n' prose. Shuffle your mortal coil over to their website to admire the available level of customization on offer.

If you think the earth flat and that the God of Abraham made and populated it in six days not moons, then cables of course make no difference. If experience tells you otherwise, the fact that headphones don't fight a losing battle against rooms suggests that over them wiry differences encounter less resistance to perception even though compared to speaker cables, the signal voltages are far lower. In any event, if speaker listeners sweat their cabling, why not their headfi brethren in ears particularly when their transducers come from the sector's top shelf? With Lavri the connection is always pure silver. Like their Polish cable colleagues at Albedo, our Latvians specialize in 5n/6n Ag conductors. Given the many custom options of connectors, splitters, lengths and sleeving, these cables are purely made to order. Sold via their web shoppe, we eliminate middlemen margins. Conductors are either solid core or multi-strand Litz, the latter obviously more pliable so better for portable loads. In mid 2024, the Grand line underwent revision 2. "The original 20-gauge Grand line wire remained unchanged for 4 years. v2 redesigned the wire geometry and the conductive mass is even bigger now. We added a small amount of graphene cores. This combination reveals additional clarity, openness and better texture. There is more weight in the low register and the sound field bigger."

As to finesse items like choice of particular plugs and metallurgy, I'd leave it to Konstantin. He clearly meant to put his best foot forward. He'd know best how to do that. Gold, silver or rhodium plating? Neutrik or Aeco plugs? I had no opinion on these matters. Like a diner trusting his cook, "chef's choice, please". About silver as an electrical conductor, one of its biggest advantages is probably that silver oxide retains 90% conductivity whilst copper and aluminium oxide are insulators. As eventual exposure to oxygen ages a cable, the measurable performance of copper declines far beyond silver. If you're a cable planning to age gracefully, be silver. It's a core tenet of Siltech, too. On the Mohs hardness scale, pure silver ranks ~2.5, pure copper 3, hence copper offers a bit more structural resistance but both metals deform their molecular makeup when drawn in dies. Certain slow-draw processes with very controlled temperature changes create so-called long-grain or single-grain conductors. Their expense goes beyond material value and piles on for more complex time-consuming extrusion protocols.

From Taiwan, gold-plated pure copper connectors without intermediary brass or nickel. Silver or rhodium plating optional.

Then comes purity. Common impurities and contaminants in silver conductors "arise from refining residues, manufacturing processes or environmental exposure. Most common and forming a black tarnish when exposed to sulfur-containing materials like rubber or paper is sulfide which drastically increases contact resistance. Then there are copper, palladium, iron, nickel, zinc, chlorides, nitrates, carbon, grease and glycol. Iron and nickel are ferromagnetics which react to signal voltages by generating a corresponding alternating magnetic field leading to hysteresis, potential resonance effects and power loss due to eddy currents." Annealing is a heat process to make silver more malleable after the extrusion processes left it stiff and brittle. "Heating silver to a dull red glow (~593 to 649°C) allows its crystal lattice to rearrange, relieving stress and restoring a 'dead-soft' state." Do clean soft destressed conductors sound better than dirty stiff ones? Do we think that many little things add up to bigger things? Ticking off all possible x's and o's should reassure those who put premium transducers in ultra-close proximity with their ears in a quest to hear everything and in that pursuit hope for the best purpose-designed cabling. "Do you want us to do the burn-in or prefer to do it on your end? Also, if you wish to audition the cable with your original Susvara, I could provide short 2.5⇒3.5mm pigtails. Finally, since 2024 we now also operate from Portugal not just Latvia. Your cable will ship from Portugal." So someone from the team replaced the Baltic Sea with the Mediterranean. Blame the sun? Incidentally, factory burn-in of 100 or 150hr is a surcharge option for all Lavri customers ticked off upon order entry. So is our choice of cable length, sleeving, splitter and terminations. A day after posting the above, an unexpectedly large carton rang my door. From it emerged my HifiMan shipment with a surprise. Susvara Unveiled was included as well. I'd only known of the Unveiled versions of Ananda, Arya and HE1000. I told Konstantin that now he could omit the pigtails and still see his leash mated to a super-posh load. For FangSound's Dionysus 40wpc über headamp too I already had a tracker. On matters headfi I'd shortly be in the Promised Land. Unlike Moses and his crew, arriving at this confluence had only taken me 24 years in the wilderness since launching 6moons.