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Back to Ocellia. It means that their speaker cables will work best with systems that are slightly overweight in the bass or—and this would be my advice—when mated with Ocellia interconnects for full-on system synergy. This second configuration will bring far more than faster livelier bass. It will add Ocellia's exceptional soundstaging and imaging as well as an uncanny naturalness of tone.


I'd just downloaded Convivium Ensemble's very touching and sober recording of Corelli's Sonata for violin and cello from Qobuz. This Hyperion two-disc set is superbly recorded as is typical for the label. There's tremendous presence of the instruments yet no sense of being under a microscope. Direct and reflected sounds are perfectly balanced to preserve the full musicality of the instruments without sounding dry or sterile. When replacing any of the Ocellia cables it seemed that my system took a step back from what I heard with the full Ocellia loom.


If I added a Liveline cable anywhere I gained a little speed but lost tonal development and richness in the midrange. If I put in a Zu Varial or Libtec I lost some resolution and control. The Genesis cables were closest but did not quite matcd the full-bodied yet natural harmonic development of the Ocellias.

Just to be clear, none of these changes translated to anything disastrous - not even close. It's simply that when you finally achieve a fine sense of balance in your system, it's easier to notice when you are moving away from that synergy. That balance may not suite every taste and system but it seems to me that somebody who fancies triodes and high sensitivity speakers cannot be insensitive to what these cables do. They reinforce the type of musical intimacy, 3D visualization, tonal richness and overall naturalness of acoustic instruments such systems are known for. At the other end, somebody who looks for hyper realism by expecting hifi to deliver more in-the-face details than can be heard at a concert will likely be less convinced of Ocellia's charms. This does not mean that these cables are not fully resolved. They are. They simply favor balance over microscopic inspection. They get you to listen to the whole, not the constituents of the performance. If that's what you are after, they are a real treat.


The USB cable as should be expected fell within this family sound quite perfectly lthough I heard far more differences here than I did with the speaker or power cables. This probably speaks to the relative quality of the Audioquest Carbon and Coffee as well as Oyaide Neo I had as starting points. They are good value but not necessarily top spread whilst my Genesis analog cables are amongst the finest available to render the Ocellias more of a bargain despite the fact that nobody could reasonably call them cheap. To summarize the qualities of the USB cable, I would invoke a gigantic soundstage, a magnificent midrange and richness of tone, powerful bass and a treble that's just slightly subdued. Except for this last element you could take my descriptions of the analog interconnects and transcribe them for the USB cable.

I was initially taken aback a little by what I perceived as less resolution than the other USB cables I own but in truth I was just getting used to a much lower level of digital glare even compared to the Audioquest Coffee which actually sounds more natural and liberated than the cheaper Carbon. The yet cheaper Oyaide Neo does nothing wrong but is targeted at a different crowd. Its tonal shortcomings while not obvious on the Gorillaz made themselves known when switching to acoustic instruments. This had digital glare return especially on string instruments though it does dynamics very well. That said, at half the price of Audioquest's Coffee the Neo left very little under the table and I have no issue recommending it to somebody looking for an upgrade to a generic USB cable on a tight budget. The Ocellia and Coffee though are in a different league, particularly so the Ocellia.