Introducing Laura
According to Eric, the story behind Ode to Laura is one of experimentation, innovation, camaraderie, and a cost-no-object philosophy to attaining the desired profile for a modern flagship cable. In his own words:
“A lot of the Head-fiers (Damz87, Auricon, Bigbeans, Tokpa…I’m looking at you) will remember Ode To Laura’s developmental phase fondly, as they were a big part of it”, he says.
“During the initial phases of the project, we had developed quite a number of different copper materials to move into prototyping. We then shortlisted the three most prominent ones that we were happy with (their base performance) and temporarily named them ‘α’ ‘β’ ‘γ’. We then brought these raw materials, made into cables without any meaningful geometry or ratios (purely stranded), to multiple Canjams and audiophile meetings for community feedback.
“The idea was to select the one that was most popular, and design geometry and ratios to mitigate the negatives and further enhance the positives. However, there was no clear winner. Many commented the same way: ‘love the dynamism and texture of ‘α’, midrange and lows of ‘β’, and the technicalities and finesse of ‘γ’. It then dawned on us – why not design a method to combine all three.”
The result was Ode to Laura, Eletech’s current co-flagship alongside Sonnet of Adam in the Parnassus Series. Retailing at an eye-watering $2,799, It represents numerous firsts for Eletech, including the first larger-gauge cable profile (22 awg versus the standard 24 awg), and the first to include dedicated shielding as part of the design.
Laura specs:
- 4-wire triple bespoke premium OCC copper blend
- 22 awg, 9 interior core, Kevlar-infused Litz
- Cryogenically treated quadruple strand design with OFC shielding
- Eletech FlexiMax insulation
- Eletech customised bespoke Y-split and connectors (Versa optional)
The shielding was necessitated because of EMF interference caused by the fusion of three different types of copper, and the girth was the result of having to combine the three base materials into a functional yet still very ergonomic cable. But Eric wanted to create more than just a technically-advanced copper flagship, he wanted to make a statement piece:
“Designing the hardware and aesthetics was a huge challenge [with Laura],” he explains. “We wanted to supersede all our previous hardware designs while remaining relevant to the Renaissance theme. We finally settled on a design anchor – Laurels – and built from there. However, because of the intricacy of the hardware design, Ode To Laura remains one of the toughest cables for us to build, mostly due to the high failure rate of CNC machining of each of the parts.”
From a design perspective, Laura is exquisite. Zooming in to its Y-splitter with a macro lens evokes a gasp every time I see the complexity of the flourishes etched into the metal, perfectly symmetrical and precisely anodised and painted. The base colour is a deep, rich copper, flanked by dark ridges and a brilliant sparkle of white in the OtL logo.
While it’s easily the thickest of the three Eletech cables I have on hand, I wouldn’t necessarily call Laura a thicc cable. It feels nicely weighted in hand, not nearly as light and flexible as Adam or Raphael but still very supple, with a smooth, rubbery texture reminiscent of FIR Audio’s brilliant copper-plated silver stock cables for Radon 6 and Electron 12.
The 4.4mm Pentaconn jack is housed in a similarly-bespoke design, and the same angular language is carried through in the 2-pin connectors – in my case, the 2-pin Versa connectors.
While the cable lacks a built-in matching chin slider, Eletech includes a custom-made slider designed together with Pentaconn, which aside from a very clever two-part system that lets you connect it to the cable after the fact, also supposedly has some EMF-shielding properties of its own.
Aside from the slightly visually-mismatched slider, there’s really nothing not to like about Laura’s design. Unless you have a particular penchant for paracord, or prefer vastly thicker cables, the understated but classy colourway, premium materials and exceptional build quality is among the very best I’ve seen in the hobby.
Add to that the mostly invisible, delicately soft ear guides and complete absence of audible microphonics, and Laura is an absolute pleasure to use.
Packaging and accessories
If you read my previous Eletech cable reviews, the Sonnet of Adam review in particular, you’ll know the thought and craftsmanship that goes into an Eletech unboxing experience.
Laura is no different in that regard, and probably the best of the lot, too. It’s shipped in a solid wooden box, magnetically latched, with a dark grey die-cut slipcover decorated in copper flourishes. Removing the slipcover reveals a silk printed series of old-world illustrations, presumably representing scenes from Petrarch’s Laura sonnets, along with a scripted ‘laura’ and Eletech logo.
The inside lid of the box follows a similar theme, with an intricate flourish print overlaid with an English translation of Petrarch’s Sonnet 148:
Let the beautiful laurel grow so, on the green bank, and
let him who planted it, in the sweet shade, write lofty
and joyful thoughts, to the sound of water.
Beneath the lid you’ll find a dark grey-patterned folder with a metal owner’s card and serial number pasted on top. Inside the folder is a high-quality brochure with detailed information on Eletech, its philosophy, people and products.
The good stuff is housed in a third layer beneath the folder. On the left, a grey-textured custom leather case with a thick, easy-glide zipper and safety latch. On the right, the Pentaconn chin slider, along with a cable clasp made from the same leather as the case.
Finally, in and among the other goodies, Eletech includes a gold-painted coin that Google tells me is a replica of an ancient Greek pendant, with the head of Hermes on the one side and a goat on the other. I’m not quite sure about its tie-in with Laura, but it’s a welcome quirk nonetheless.
When you’re buying a premium, luxury product that’s obviously been crafted with love, sweat and tears, you want that feeling of exclusivity and personalisation, even if it’s only fleeting. That’s exactly what you get with Laura. Pride of ownership is an underrated quality, but if you appreciate how privileged we are as audiophiles to have access to this type of gear, niche as it may be, to me that’s a big part of what makes this hobby so special in the first place.
Continue to sound impressions…
