The midrange quality too was cause for my smile over acoustic recordings of one of my favorite bands, U2. Though not yet audiophile quality, these are better productions where almost everything happens in the midband, be it Bono's voice or Edge's guitars. Here the Sky Blue could shine and did. Rich, soft and delicate when needed, sharp and powerful when necessary, Bono's voice sounded quite natural, rich and clean as did Edge's guitar. As already suggested, it was the treble where the difference to my Soyaton was a bit more pronounced. Cymbals were not as shiny, fast or sonorous; there wasn't as much air; and spatial effects were somewhat limited though still present. I would say that for the price, imaging and spatial effects were actually excellent. With non-audiophile recordings so most Rock and Blues including the aforementioned Slash, this more cautious approach to treble reproduction was really a good thing. If there was any harshness, brightness or grain in the recording, Sky Blue slightly softened these undesirable features. While compared to its much more expensive Soyaton counterpart the treble seemed limited, objectively it was good enough to enjoy almost any music. That's important. A reading won't become dull or closed-in but stays vivid, just largely devoid of irritating features. It will come in handy with many relatively inexpensive electronics where generic cables either emphasize both extremes or overdo the softening, turning the sound either bright or boring. Considering how many things Melodika Sky Blue Series interconnects do right especially for an inexpensive setup, they are a no-brainer.

Adding speaker cables to the mix replaced my Soyaton Benchmark Mk2. As I soon learned, the speaker cables matched the performance of the interconnects and in some respects enhanced it. One of the surprising qualities was nice bass extension that allowed bass guitar to set the tone and rhythm on Meshell Ndegeocello. It sounded pretty gutsy, powerful yet did not dominate the wonderful Sade-like vocals. Slow The Band's Under Everchanging Sky starts with quite powerful drumming and the Melodika cables surprised again with tight and springy drums. True, percussion wasn't as differentiated as my reference cables do it but that's picking nits, no actual complaint. While the band reminds me of Spyro Gyra or Acoustic Alchemy, they are more energetic and this the Melodika cables conveyed really well. They seemed to add more energy and reach particularly to the bottom of the range. More extension meant stronger support for the midrange, which was even richer and a touch warmer yet the clarity of the presentation remained good. Another quality worth mentioning is how good musical flow was with my Melodika set. For music to sound natural as it did with these cables, flow, coherence, and timing are important. These cables may not be the champion of either but do a solid job for a surprisingly natural feel. That was quite relaxed without strain or nervousness, rather on point with beats even on AC/DC or Led Zeppelin, with really good-sounding vocals, meaty guitars, hefty bass and drums for a truly enjoyable experience. For those who value music over the technical aspects of their recordings, these Polish cables are good enough to engage us with whatever music we listen to.

While I like to call myself a music lover rather than audiophile, I am still audiophile-proud of what I achieved with my system over the years while curating its details within a certain budget. When I review other components, I try to remain as objective as possible but always compare them to my own. I often recognize objective superiority with visitors but that needn't coincide with a perfect personal fit. It's a bit different with budget components which sometimes undermine the overall performance such that it kills my listening enjoyment. That makes an objective assessment more challenging. So was reviewing such super-inexpensive cables particularly painful? Not. If I had to live with them, I actually wouldn't mind. Sure, their performance wasn't even close to what I'm used to yet I had so much fun that the downsides didn't intrude. With real budget kit that's rare. Hence I believe that today's Melodika Sky Blue Series cables are worthy of attention if we don't plan on spending too much. In the past, swapping in significantly cheaper components or cables often took me an adjustment period to get past certain losses. With the Melodika cables I didn't. While my system played less refined, resolved, differentiated and engaging, I still enjoyed myself. The lower sound quality wasn't off-putting or irritating. The key quality was a natural, coherent and easy-going sound that didn't ever try to be 'audiophile' or overly detail-oriented. It is quite forgiving in fact. The presentation is relaxed because these Melodika Sky Blue cables do not pretend to be something they are not. They focus on connecting and engaging us with the tunes. And that they do surprisingly well.