Introduction
Did you know there’s a group of hardcore audiophiles living and working in the small northern European republic of Latvia that make some of the world’s finest pure silver headphone and IEM cables? Neither did I.
Their company, Lavricables, is more like an audiophile hobbyist collective which, since 2012, has focused on one thing and one thing only: bespoke pure silver cables. They make everything from pure silver interconnects to USB and power cables, and of course offer a range of pure silver cables that are made to order for any headphone or IEM on the market.
Lavricables products come in four tier categories: Reference, Ultimate, Master and Grand. With each step up, the number of cores and core thickness increases, as does topology, damping materials and other design elements. But at their heart, every Lavricables cable is made from pure silver, a material that offers far better conductivity and lower impedance than copper, making for a lively, airy alternative to more traditional copper and silver-plated copper cables.
Lavricables Ultimate V3
Earlier this year Lavricables released the third iteration of the Ultimate cable range. Made from four cores of 24awg 5N purity (as in 99.999% pure) silver strands, the new Ultimate line “looks very similar to the Grand line [with] individually-enamelled silver cores beautifully double twisted with addition of more damping material in the middle.”
In other words, quite a bit of thought has gone into the design revision for these cables, increasing the gauge by one point, and stylistically getting the new products to look and feel as close as possible to the flagship line without the flagship pricetag.
I was kindly sent two Ultimate cables to evaluate, based on the headphones and IEMs I use most often: the Sony MDR-Z1R and Sony IER-Z1R. Lavricables offers different standard configuration options on its website that lets you choose the length, look and terminations of your cables.
In my case I wanted the cables to be long enough but not too long for portable use (1.5m), with the Lavricables carbon Y-splitter (you can also choose a transparent heatshrink splitter if you prefer to keep it simple), locking connectors for the MDR-Z1R and MMCX connectors for the IER-Z1R, both terminated with gold-plated carbon 4.4mm Pentaconn connectors. The total cost for each cable is currently €220 and €215 respectively, which in the world of aftermarket pure silver cables is very reasonable indeed.
Lavricables also offers an interesting ‘burn-in’ service, and since the company recommends a minimum of 150 hours’ burn-in for optimal performance, you can pay an extra €30 per cable to save you the time and trouble at home. Whether or not you believe in cable burn-in, this just goes to show that Lavricables clearly understands their customers, and more importantly their products, and I wouldn’t be surprised if other specialist audio companies started offering a similar service.
Continue to Lavricables Ultimate for Sony MDR-Z1R…
