Pros: Great build quality
TOTL tech
Flexible
Looks Great
Best XLR4 connector ever – The CHONK!
Nice Splitter and 3.5mm connectors
Increased soundstage

Cons: No L/R on the 3.5mm (Red/Black)

Overview:

Up for review today is the Lavricables Grand 6n (99.9999% pure – 6 nines, get it?), 20awg (wire thickness – smaller # is bigger), silver (the best conductor of electricity) Rosson RAD-0 5ft upgrade cable. This pure cryo-treated (relieves the stress lines on wires that appear during the manufacturing process) silver multistrand Litz (multistrand individually insulated magnet wires – reduces skin effect and proximity effect) is available here: Lavricables Grand RAD-0. OK, look at the previous two sentences – I’ve never before had to explain that much technology for HEADPHONES, let alone a cable. I’m pretty sure we all just earned our electrical engineering degrees. All kidding aside, Lavricables REALLY knows their wire and cables – that’s a lot of technology for the wires that connect your amp to your headphones. There are cables out there that cost over $3k (if that’s your thing), and I’m not sure any of those can do better than this for less than 1/6th the price – pretty cool.

If you’ve never heard of Lavricables before, they are a company located in Latvia and they sent me the Grand for the RAD-0 in only 4 days for review (VERY fast shipping!) The Grand is available for many other headphones too if you would like to get one for your top-of-the-line headphones. They also have several cheaper lines: the Master Line is a 5n silver cable (99.999%) with awg22 wire (smaller wire diameter), the Ultimate Line is a 4-core 5n with awg24 wire (even smaller wire), and the reference line is a cheaper 5n with awg24 cable for lower-end headphones. Mine came terminated in a balanced 4-pin XLR as requested with RAD-0 3.5mm terminations for each earcup. Like the old Ford Model A joke, you can have any color you want for this cable – as long as it’s silver. You can get it wrapped in a black silk sleeve up to the splitter if you want, but it’s still going to have silver L and R cables. Some of the cheaper lines do have color options if that’s more important to you.

Build Quality / Comfort:

If you have no other reason to buy a cable than the stock one it comes with is terrible quality, get the Grand. This is the best quality cable I’ve ever had and that’s comparing it to the Moon Audio Silver Dragon and the Corpse Cable Gravedigger. The Silver Dragon was decent but started having connection issues in the left ear within a few weeks or getting it (at $500, that shouldn’t happen), and the Corpse cable ($250) is very microphonic and copper instead of silver (different sounds.) The Grand is solidly built and the wires are thick (20awg is thick) but still very flexible with the least amount of microphonics I’ve heard from a cable in recent memory. Oh, and Lavricables says that silver really needs 100-150 hours of burn-in time to sound at its best – they’ll do that for you, but it’ll cost you a bit extra – mine came burned it, thank goodness – I don’t have that kind of free time.

Also, the XLR4 connector is my favorite, I need every headphone to now come with this exact AECO connector. I have never before freaked out about an XLR4 connector, but this thing is just so heavy duty, with a tight fit and THE GREATEST click sound ever when it locks into my Burson. Yeah, that’s the weirdest thing ever to geek out about, but TRY it and tell me it doesn’t make your brain happy when it makes that chonky click sound. The splitter is a cool carbon fiber splitter and the 3.5mm connectors are a nice Lavricables branded metal set of connectors designed specifically for the RAD-0 (which just HAS to be special – it uses it’s own connectors.) I know that’s true because I tried plugging the cable into my JM Audio XTC-Open and they didn’t drive those headphones (a shame because they NEED an aftermarket cable option – no offense JMA.) My only gripe with the 3.5mm connectors is that they don’t say L/R, but they do have red on one (Right) and black on the other (Left.) So, cool tech, good quality, flexible non-microphonic, chonky/clicky XLR4 connector – check. But how does it SOUND?!

Sound / Source / Comparisons:

That’s an absolutely loaded question. Cables are often a source of disagreement between audiophiles where some people say they can hear a difference and other claim they all sound the same. There have been multiple studies done on the topic, so feel free to argue with THOSE people – not me. I swear that Lavricables likes to pick reviewers that are cable skeptics to review their products – it’s either hubris or confidence – I’m not sure yet which one. So, here’s what I’m going to do, I am going to switch back and forth between the Grand, the Gravedigger, and the stock cable at the same volume levels on the same songs to see if I can tell a difference. I’m going into this with no expectations or preconceptions (other than the stock cable being the worst because of the 6.3mm connector – I like balanced more) and as a firm believer that the only things that impact sound are the audio source and the headphones. Let’s see if Lavricables can change my skepticism.

So, for today’s test, I will be using the same 3 songs 3 times – the stuff I do for you guys. I’ll start off each song with the stock cable, then change the volume for the change to balanced and listen to the Gravedigger, then lastly the Grand. So, let’s get this test started!

The first song is one of my favorites for testing bass, and I know it well enough to know when things are missing/different. We’re starting with David Guetta’s “I’m Good (Blue).” The Stock cable requires 85/100% volume on my Burson Conductor 3X Performance (3XP) to match the XLR4’s volume level. The opening bass is pretty muted and in the background here with the hi-hats coming in clearly and the synths coming in very strongly. The sub-bass at 0:38 comes in strongly with good reverberation and very clean mids from the RAD-0 (which already has great mids and highs as is.) The bass at 1:22 comes in harder than the into bass – overall, the song sounds good, like it should with a big soundstage, forward mids, clean highs, and on the RAD-0 a slightly subdued bass. Up next is the Corpse cable at 73/100 on the 3XP. There’s a big difference here. The bass hits harder in the intro with more impact, the soundstage is wider, the mids feel cleaner with more sub-bass and the vocals have more presence – an overall more musical feeling to the song. That could be easily explained by the switch to XLR4, which the RAD-0 is often recommended with. Now, at the same 73/100 volume, the Grand has a little more soundstage and even more bass – everything feels tighter and more controlled. The vocals feel a little farther back, but still clean and crisp. The sub-bass has less reverberation than on the Gravedigger and the mids feel a little further away (bigger soundstage?).

For the mids test song, I’ve picked Limp Bizkit’s “Behind Blue Eyes.” The stock cable opens with good guitars and a good soundstage. The vocals come in clean and clear – no issues with the song, it sounds like it’s supposed to in the mid and high vocals. The guitars aren’t drowned out by the vocals and come in clearly the entire song. As this is an acoustic song, there are no drums, but the bass guitars can be clearly heard in the background. The sound from the Gravedigger has a more open soundstage with more sub-bass presence that the stock cable. The vocals are even clearer and cleaner than on the stock cable. The guitars are impeccable and the RAD-0 really comes into its own with a balanced cable. With the Grand, once again, there is a bigger soundstage and more sub-bass rumble that the stock cable and the Gravedigger didn’t even display. Guitars and vocals still come in clean with more instrument separation than the previous cables. The lower notes on the guitars really come more to the front – a really good representation.

Lastly, the high’s song is going to be Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” which opens with some nice strings before the vocals come in on the stock cable. The bass is there, but it’s missing the rumble you can get from the XLR4 cables. The vocals are also very forward, but kind of muddy with more reverberation than you want from vocals (especially female vocals.) It’s not bad overall, but this song can sound A LOT better. As evidenced by the Gravedigger. The soundstage opens up and the bass can be heard like it’s supposed to. The vocals are cleaner and just as present – it’s clear why these are one of the top copper cables. This is how the song is supposed to sound – there’s a big difference between this and the stock cable. So, how does the Grand sound? After a satisfyingly chonky click, the Grand comes in with the biggest soundstage, great bass, super clean vocals, and beautifully represented strings. It’s the best of the three, though the Gravedigger is close behind.

So, does the silver cable change the sound you hear? I don’t know, there are about 100 forums arguing both yes and no, but my notes above are the best I’ve got. Based on them, yeah, the soundstage increased on every song – the rest of my conclusions could have been more subjective, but the Grand sound great regardless. What did change the sound was the balanced XLR4 – there was certainly a difference there. Since most companies still don’t send balanced cables with their headphones, one of the Lavricables many choices would be a great option to upgrade to a balanced connector.

Conclusion:

If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’re trying to decide on which cable you should get for your headphones, maybe even the RAD-0. Avoid the Moon Audio Silver Dragon, and pick between the Lavricables Grand or the Corpse Cable Gravedigger. Also, get a balanced connector, it does make a difference – on these headphones at least. If you want the cheaper cable that is black, performs at 90% of the capability, is highly microphonic, and is copper instead of silver, get the Gravedigger. If you want the very best build quality, silver coloration, a bigger soundstage, great sound, no microphonics while listening to music, and that chonky/clicky XLR4 connector, get the Grand. This cable is for the people who want NO weakness in their sound chain and who don’t see the need to spend $3,000 on what is basically the same thing from someone else. If you can get a higher quality cable from someone else, I have yet to see it or listen to it.

Wolfhawk’s Rating: 9.5/10