The LessLoss credo is straightforward. That reflects in their designs. It's all about trimming as much high-frequency noise as possible without introducing coloration. This noble policy is backed by in-house technology that keeps getting ever more refined and efficient. Over the years they have found ways to successfully apply it to various hifi system junctures. If you know and like one LessLoss cable for what it does, its siblings will feel enjoyably familiar and just as likeable. This largely explains my personal fondness for this stuff. It's safe, predictable and elevates my sound without changing its core flavour. That's really useful. The Stellar didn't alter this status quo either. It couldn't. It's a LessLoss. But was it any better than the already very good Classic? This is today's Hamlet question.
Let's address it one step at a time. C-MARC increases background cleanliness, resolution, focus, accuracy, dynamics and transients and secures neutral timbre. If this glossary resembles randomly picked audiophile terms thrown into one bag, it's not. This C-MARC description is consequential. High-frequency noise isn't a mere background buzz we hear on speakers. It manifests itself as sluggishness, strong coloration, loose bass, bloated imaging, harshness, brittleness, sharpness, artificial damping and poor pigmentation. Listening fatigue follows sound that feels off. To simplify, noise masks musical details and their tangible organic context. Remove the culprit and presto, more data, beauty and vivaciousness resurface to influence the entire perspective. These seemingly mutually exclusive things really go hand in hand. It just takes specialist tech to achieve.
Most cables I sampled over the years were groomed either for mellowness, softness and warmth or speed, openness and precision. In this context LessLoss occupy roughly the middle, with a gentle nod towards the first group. These Lithuanian cables are terrific grit removers and tone injectors so spot-on for systems geared predominantly for high agility, lucidity, radiance, aeration, dynamics and image specificity yet at a cost to textural fill and elasticity which prevents bloom and steals heft. Conversely, systems primed for colour, juiciness, gravity, calm, density, dark atmospherics and intimacy will have these features further reinforced. Then it's up to us to decide whether its too much of the same or not. In my room I haven't yet heard a hardware combo that clearly disliked these cables. Their detail extraction atop all else is why. There's still more to it, though. My mono amps are a bit thick, calm and organic. My speakers and DAC are the opposite. My preamp and streamer sit somewhere in between. It's all about balance. Once secured, personal comfort kicks in and the urge to upgrade disappears.
My system's overall profile didn't change at all whether I used Stellar, Classic Entropic Process or their captive Classic sibling under the Boenicke banner. The newcomer wasn't designed to reinvent this wheel but to make it closer to "perfectly round" thus smoother and "easier to turn". Against the captive Boenicke, Stellar was springier and juicier. It produced bass somewhat lighter on bloom yet lower on reach to feel more elastic, tight, impactful and controlled. I never considered Boenicke's M2 power cables coarse yet Stella showed how much more saturated, vivid and enjoyable individual colours and tones could still get.
