Since I believe that these challenging times should support our own European industry, Melodika makes it easy by offering products at very competitive prices. After a discussion with Mr. Rafał Koc, we decided to test his second from the top, the Sky Blue Series RCA and XLR interconnects and speaker cables. The names of the Melodika ranges reflect the colours of their PVC sleeves and the Sky Blue cables are not particularly thick nor do they weigh much but are nicely made and eye pleasing. Melodika don't divulge many construction details but here is what we know. All Sky Blue models utilize oxygen-free copper conductors of 99.99% purity. The interconnect features twisted cores using two 0.35mm² conductors. Each conductor is insulated with a natural cotton dielectric and PE layer while the outer PVC jacket ensures high mechanical durability and resistance to environmental factors. A dense dual shield protects against EMI and RFI. The first shield is Mylar foil, the second a copper braid with at least 95% coverage as a low-resistance layer. It effectively suppresses lower frequency interference and provides a stable path to ground for induced noise. The Mylar foil's full coverage complements the copper braid layer by limiting higher-frequency interference. The RCA interconnects terminate in new 24k gold-plated plugs with PTFE inserts. Their signature notches improve socket grip, enhance the contact area and connection stability. The plugs solder with high-quality silver solder and assembly ensures proper directionality in accordance with the markings. The XLR version uses Neutrik plugs with silver-plated contacts and an additional ground contact.
The speaker cable too uses two twisted 4N copper runs but now each combines multiple strands around a single solid core. There are three gauge versions. I reviewed SBSC40 (2 x 4mm²) with 170 x 0.15mm and 1 x 1.10mm conductors but there are also the SBSC15 (2 x 1.5 mm² with 70 x 0.15mm strands) and 1 x 0.55mm and the SBSC25 (2 x 2.5mm² with 110 x 0.15mm and 1 x 0.85mm). For its speaker cables, Melodika implement several in-house solutions to improve performance. Many cheap cables sell with bare ends. While this makes installation easier, it provides no oxidation protection so such a cable's performance degrades over time. To protect against this, Melodika developed Solid Grip. Their other solution is called BassCore. "In the Sky Blue series speaker cables, BassCore promotes better bass control. Since a thicker conductor improves low-frequency reproduction, we employ a solid-core conductor and surround it with flexible strands for the mid and high frequencies. This takes advantage of the best sound characteristics of both gauges. Our conductors are Polish copper and the point of the entire design is not to expose them to oxidation. Solid Grip technology involves cold welding by using a press that exerts 2 tons per cm² to avoid soldering. This termination guarantees a durable contact with low resistance and large contact surface. An additional dielectric of polypropylene fibres with low electrical permeability increases the proportion of air in the insulation structure, which reduces capacitance and limits dielectric loss. The whole is complemented by the geometry of twisted cores to reduce susceptibility to interference and promotes a clean signal. Thanks to these solutions, our cables maintain stable parameters across years of use." The Sky Blue speaker cables are available in any length, be it 2m or 10m and terminate standard in bananas or spades then designed 's'.
As always when testing cables, I introduced them one by one not all at once. First a Sky Blue RCA replaced my trusted Soyaton Benchmark between LampizatOr Pacific DAC and GrandiNote Shinai, a class A solid-state integrated. Later I replaced it with the balanced version since both components are true differential circuits. I used the excellent Manu Katché Live in Concert album and "Drum Solo" in particular. It took me a long while to get over the fact that the Sky Blue costs less than 5% of my Soyaton it replaced. No, it did not sound the same or quite as advanced but nevertheless was really good. With Manu's drum solo the sound focused in the lower midrange supported by mid and upper bass. So many things conveyed correctly that I almost didn't care about missing tiny details from slightly lower differentiation and textures not quite as clearly shown.
Pace and rhythm, so important with drumming, delivered properly tight and quite springy. In the other extreme, leading edges were a touch round and slightly slowed, hindering the speed of cymbal crashes-—not enough to spoil the fun but enough to notice when looking for differences. The pleasure though was enhanced by the significant performance energy. Despite minor shortcomings compared to a far costlier competitor, listening to this album with the Sky Blue RCA and later XLR cable was a lot of fun. While in some cases RCA/XLR versions of the same cable can sound slightly different [this also depends on the exact implementation of the active circuits on either end of the cable – Ed.], these sounded the same to decommission any need to specify them in my comments. The next album was Slash's Orgy of the Damned. It's not what you call an audiophile recording but good enough that I truly enjoy it every time I hear it. The rich dense midrange, a nice bite on the guitar, good pace & rhythm, lots of energy and good dynamics particularly on the macro scale made listening with Sky Blue no audiophile experience but again, great fun! The Melodika interconnects did a good job conveying what is most important about such music.
