More than that, there was very fine detail on Antonio Forcione & Sabina Sciubba's Meet Me in London. I'd heard that record several times before. I won't say that now I heard it as though for the first time but, there were moments which grabbed my attention more. I liked Forcione's guitar texture and extension with lots of detail that didn't ruin or run over her voice. Speaking of detail, one strange thing happened to me and my dear cat Charlie Brown. The two of us love listening to Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem under Gardiner, especially his second record. While we concentrated on the choir in the "Selig sind, die das Leid tragen" movement, the harp suddenly showed up in the middle of our living room. Unbidden, both of us turned our heads toward the sound. That was new.

But Skogrand's Beethoven was about more than just resolution. It had pellucidness, clarity and excellent transparency. And, it had very low noise in particular. The micro dynamics in orchestral pieces like Mahler or Schubert's Eight's reminded me of Nordost Odin interconnects which had had the most impressive dynamic range in my cable experiences thus far. For macro dynamics, slam and impact, with my cables I couldn't tell the difference. With one exception. Lars Danielsson's bass in "Caecilie Norby" from his Just the Two of Us album exhibits pitch definition and impact which drove me nuts most of the time with most of my interconnects before. Those problems were gone now and the bass was no longer mushy or poorly defined.


Together with the Skogrand Beethoven, I was also fascinated by the  Wagner power cord's ability of precise imaging. I am not talking about pinpoint separation with large orchestral pieces but small ensembles. There now was a more accurate picture for the instruments or vocals. A quick example. I have had a hard time placing my speakers. I prefer the nearfield scenario but exact centre imaging has always been difficult to optimize. I had already convinced myself that the problem was my room which had no acoustical treatment. But with the Wagner, the same placement was easier to end up with a nailed-down centre fill. It no longer was blurred, unfocused or shortchanged the vocals. Charming!


Any drawbacks? Absolutely. Think anatomy. These are very thick, heavy, rigid cables and almost as hard as a nail. They need plenty of room behind your rack. The weighty interconnects can pry loose RCA inputs on your CD player, amp or DAC. That's in fact what happened to my Aqua HiFi La Scala. And the price? Good grief. At this moment, Skogrand's Beethoven wants $22'000, the Wagner $2'500. Steep? Like hell. For whom could these be then? First, ignore all reviews. Clear your mind. Stay away from cognitive biases or the bandwagon effect. Remember Sartre: "L'enfer, c'est les autres". Hell is the others. Review your budget. My decision-making mechanism for buying new hifi toys usually works on the cost vs. priority diagram which I've adapted from the Neil Russell-Jones book.


Armed with this perspective, I acquired the ATC SCM 40Mk2, Harbeth SHL5 Plus and Fostex GX100Ltd as speakers, the Aqua HiFi La Scala Mk2 as DAC, the ATC SIA2-150 and Ayon Spirit 3 as amps, a Devialet 120 as integrated amp with DAC, an Auralic Aries as transport, Ear Stream cables as cables and the Get Better Sound book from Jim Smith in 2015. I couldn't be happier with my choices. Observably, in my diagram there is no room for Skogrand at this time but I hope this will change in the near future if perhaps not dramatically so. But if you are blessed with a higher limit/cost than I, Skogrand cables should be on your audition list. If you have any hesitation, keep in mind their 30-day money back guarantee which not many others offer. That shows quiet confidence.
In one way or another, most hifi components try to show off, even play at macho. Speakers, amplifiers, digital… they all have their own reading or opinion about things. Plus, we don't all hear the same. Then our tastes differ. In short, there can't possibly be an ironclad right or wrong about hifi. Still, I love to believe in the Italian adage "traduttore, traditore." The translator is the traitor. Thus I, a fortiori, prefer neutrality. I know that no technology can convey the real sound in our living rooms 100% without compromise. I doubt it ever will. Plus, you'd need ‘perfect' recordings to being with. Just so, showing character should not be a band aid. Music can be reproduced warmer or cooler, detail can be augmented, the soundstage can be aggrandized and so forth. One simply cannot make music more musical than it already is. Ergo, for any apparatus, inaudibility ought to be the goal. At this juncture, these Skogrand cables were the most impressive interconnects I've met so far. Here we have a cable which listens instead of speaks. One day I really must meet Knut Skogrand, shake his hand, congratulate him on his designs and then whisper in his ear: "Reduce the price so I can afford to buy one for myself."

Skogrand Cables website