In 2020 we were introduced to a for our new cable brand: Ricable. At this Italian manufacturer, everything revolves around feeling and experience, as befits a good Italian company. From that country, but via Omera in Vlaardingen, we received a large box with various cables for review. We are not only charmed by the entire look & feel, the fresh orange color of these cables has mainly had a positive influence on our mood.
Ricable from Italy For many of you, Italy will evoke many pleasant thoughts. Some people will immediately think of a delicious Chianti when it comes to Italy, on hot days like the past few weeks maybe a sparkling bottle of Prosecco and true gourmets will undoubtedly have their mouths watered at the thought of a blissful Barolo. The car enthusiasts among you will be thrilled by the beautiful lines of a Maserati Quattroporte or the V 12 – orchestra of a thoroughbred Ferrari. Even the German accent of the new generation Lamborghini V 10 engines cannot quench the love for the Gallardo and Huracán models. Italy breathes emotion in many areas.
For many, Italian territory equates to sacred ground for anything that elevates normal life to a premium lifestyle. It is with good reason that many multinationals based outside Italy eagerly make use of Italian design studios or respond to this sentiment when branding new product lines with Italian-sounding brands and color schemes. And then of course we have the authentic Italian companies, including various globally respected hi-fi manufacturers. Despite the Italian brands that have been doing serious business for many years, not all music lovers will be equally familiar with all of these parties. Maybe Sonus faber, Audia Flight or Gold Note sound familiar, but it ends there. The same goes for Ricable, the authentic Italian cable manufacturer you may not have heard of before. Until today.
Premium Unpacking Party At the very end of winter we receive a large box from Oleggio, located in the north of Italy «. Given the developments at that time, we first put the large box in storage for about seven days as a precaution. On the day we finally get to open the box, it feels a bit like the Christmas ritual during our childhood. First impatiently open a door of the December calendar every day and with a view of the packages under the Christmas tree, wait for the moment that the scissors are allowed in.
After opening the first box, we were positively surprised to find four brown cardboard boxes with a product sticker and a shiny gold quality control sticker. When opening these boxes, we expect to find a plastic bag or blister containing the cable. Completely unexpected, our eye falls on a beautiful product packaging that is more similar to a box of an exclusive Swiss watch than to the packaging of a hi-fi audio cable. The product packaging is enclosed in a matte cardboard wrapper with an Italian flag, chic spot UV lacquer and an openwork ellipse with a glossy chrome Ricable logo.
After carefully sliding the th box out of the wrapper, we take the lid with a subtle die-cut weave. Our eye falls on the beautiful orange Dedalus RCA Signal Cable. This is held together by a cable tie with brand name and again an Italian flag. The bottom of the package and the top of the lid are lined with soft-finished foam rubber, and the package features a Lifetime Warranty card.
Believe us, convey it such an experience is really only reserved for Italians. Now the packaging and the entire experience during unpacking is a nice plus, in the end it is mainly about the build quality and the gain in sound quality that the content of the packaging brings us. Premium Build Ricable cabling is entirely handcrafted in the home country. In order to deliver the highest possible quality, the cable is checked and measured after each step in the production process. The basis for the Dedalus cabling originates from the AM-RCC conductors that have been further developed into MARC conductors for the Dedalus, Invictus and Magnus cable series.
These new conductors are made of 7n copper (99. 99999% purity) and are made up of tiny veins. Ricable then chooses for each cable for its own cable geometry and sometimes unconventional insulation materials with perfect dielectric properties for audio application.
The Dedalus speaker cable, like the mains power cable, is fitted with two twisted 6.4mm2 7n MASC copper conductors with R-TEC insulation. For the speaker cable, Ricable uses RNR technology with Germanium semiconductor material that protects the conductors against influences of EMI / RFI. This reduces the level of the background noise and, according to the manufacturer, background details remain clearly visible. The power cables are double shielded by a mix of copper, aluminum and mylar. This keeps the influences of EMI / RFI to an absolute minimum.
Are you still there? Yes, always difficult with those technical terms. Without becoming even more technical, according to the manufacturer, this construction method has the advantage that the soundstage, transparency and detail thus substantially increases, without affecting the neutrality of the hi-fi set.
Ricable does not opt for ready-made connectors that negate the sound quality of its cables, but for high-quality copper connectors. These connectors are manufactured with CNC technology and equipped with a 26 – carat gold protective coating against corrosion. Ricable therefore deliberately opts for a significantly more expensive production method, but if you want to profile yourself as a cable manufacturer in the current hard-won market, this may also be the only right way.
At Ricable, the concern for quality goes so far that the connection between cable and solder contact in the plugs sealed airtight with a dot of glue to protect this connection against corrosion for a long time. Great class. This cabling exudes craftsmanship in all areas.
Look and feel The build quality and the fit of plugs and connectors of the cabling is very good . The cabling has a beautifully braided orange sheath and is assembled with high-quality materials. The analog and digital interlinks are not interchangeable and therefore the digital interlink has a jacket with a different color. The cabling is wonderfully smooth, so that we can easily route it behind the set. The RCA connectors slide friction-free over the chassis parts and after tightening the locking mechanism they clamp perfectly to the chassis part. Also unscrewing is no problem.
The banana plugs of the speaker cables are made of copper tellurium alloy and clamps excellent. The plug parts of the mains cables have OFC copper contacts and the grip of the connectors is made of solid aluminum on both sides. We experience a premium-plus level of quality and, moreover, these plug parts stop the effects of unwanted radiation very effectively. With this, these Ricable cables can easily compete with the major players in the market.
Listening For this review we have the powercable connected to the power supply unit of our Bryston BP 26 preamplifier, we have included the RCA cables between our BDA3 DAC and the amplification. The BDP3 network player is connected to the DAC by means of the digital Dedalus interconnect. Our Usher Dancer Mini 2s are controlled by two 7B3 mono blocks and the beautiful orange Dedalus loudspeaker cable stands out in between. Now it is time to listen to the sound and sound effects of this cabling on our reference set.
Since hi-fi cables always need a little while to â ???? on soundâ ???? to come, we will give the cabling at least a week to get used to the new Dutch environment before giving an opinion.
Now something happens that almost never happens. Contrary to most cabling that we have reviewed in recent years, our set, which is partly equipped with Ricable cabling, immediately sounds remarkably good. We have been listening to various albums from our music collection for a long time from the start of recording. We notice that this cabling reproduces these albums musically and very relaxed. The reproduction in the low is powerful and even the lowest frequencies can be heard perfectly. The sound image is not quite as we are used to when cold out of the box, but the sound is less analytical in character than before.
Over the next few days, we notice that the definition, detail and top-end each increase a fraction while playing in, but this is not such that this will affect every listener or every listener. audio set will be equally discernible. They are more very subtle nuances in sound. However, the sound image does improve. This becomes wider, slightly deeper and especially the placement in the sound image improves considerably. We also hear more speed in the music, which increases the realism of stringed instruments and vocals. In total we estimate an increase of a few percent compared to our reference cabling, but it is precisely these few percent that give us a â ???? wowâ ???? moment. Time to get the review forms.
Love for pings or for the music? Nowadays hi-fi authors are mainly technical listeners who listen far too often to pings and the place where those pings are located. Whether the ping does not sound loud or sharp and whether we can detect other unheard pings besides the ping. And we can then enjoy it intensely. But this technical way of listening is not fun at all, in fairness. But: even now something happens that never actually happens. Armed with pen and paper, we set up albums and then completely forget that we have to take notes. We listen to â € œthe musicâ € and not to that pin that is somewhere and of which we have to determine that the pin with these cables is displayed at exactly the right place and size.
We listen without realizing to warm bass lines, music lines, background nuances and rhythmic variations. Piano music is moved to a higher level. We not only feel the deep foundation, but also experience the attack of the hammers and through the speed with which the music is reproduced we listen to the music in the finest details. We immerse ourselves in it without being bothered by possible sharp edges in vocals, the possible lack of a bit of top-end or that the ping in question might disappear in the background. We just don’t pay attention. During each attempted listening session that follows, a similar ritual takes place. We always commit ourselves to exactly 2: 45 minutes at -say- track 6 to listen to whether that unique kraakje sounds realistic to us at t rack 12 to realize that we (again) forgot to listen to those specific elements.
Focus on the small details This cabling shows us the experience music albums with a very pleasant and excellently balanced sound. We listen to an extra level in the deepest layer in combination with a bone-dry mid bass. Percussion has a significant impact and sounds wonderfully dry. The midrange is reproduced with excellent definition so that rasps and tufts of an instrument are wonderfully released in the music. The treble is reproduced subtly and in detail without the treble receiving an unwanted boost.
To give a few handles, we would like to highlight a few highlights. Electric guitar, in this case in the track Minor Details from Jan Akkerman’s album of the same name, has an authentic raw sound. Every guitarist will have the idea of listening to a guitarist with a portable guitar amp and a backing track in the living room. So authentic.
One of the tracks that we also like to put on is Me And My Monkey on the album Escapology by Robbie Williams. Not a high-quality musical piece, but a track that is placed very wide and deep in space. Despite this extreme breadth and complexity of the song, all elements are clearly separated from each other and rendered with a sharp focus.
After this we switch to Bloody Buccaneers from the Golden Earring. When listening to the track Going To The Run, our neck hairs stand up again and again. The song sounds lively, rich, deep and open. Hay’s vocals are strongly bundled from the musical center and due to excellent definition we can focus our attention fully on the bass lines and the typical playing style of bass player Rinus. However, this album has the disadvantage that with a less well-balanced set at higher volumes it can quickly start â ???? scream â ???? by drowning out the powerful lead vocals. This time the volume can be turned up a few peat.
Final verdict While we wired the cabling after the listening sessions Taking it one by one from the set, it becomes clear to us what differences the individual cables have compared to our own reference. The Ricable mains cable takes the musical stage a big step into the foreground and adds a considerable amount of realism and precision. The interlinks make the sound balance warmer and more pleasant to listen to. In combination with these interlinks the bass has more energy, the vocals are put back half a step and the whole sounds especially more musical. The digital interconnect lets the music play without any sharp edges. Finally, the speaker cables. Despite the length of three meters per side, the sound image is wide, deep and the focus is significantly sharper than with our current speaker cabling. Especially the speed and excellent phase behavior of these speaker cables are remarkable. In a general sense we can say that the combination of cabling presents our music more directly and with more involvement.
The level of finish, choice of materials, the sound quality delivered and the fact that this cabling is manufactured entirely by hand in Italy gives us the impression of playing with the most exclusive cable line from Ricable. Although the Dedalus cable line belongs to the high-end series of the manufacturer, this is not the most exclusive variant in the product range. The Ricable Dedalus RCA cable from a stereo meter costs … 325 Euro . Both speaker cables with a length of 3 meters? 552 Euro. The 1.5 meter mains power cable costs only 441 euro. One meter coaxial digital cable: 212 Euro. All prices include VAT. No idea how to interpret this, but we are certainly quite enthusiastic about this.
Conclusion The entire The experience surrounding the Ricable products makes our musical heart beat faster. The brand affects us differently than usual. It’s those little details that matter. This starts with the packaging and further translates into excellent quality of the product itself. With this Dedalus cabling from Ricable we listen to a classic piece of violin music in which the violinist plays an exclusive Stradivarius, not like a musician with just any violin, but experience the compositions with our heart without even thinking about the musician, let alone the instrument. In our opinion, this is the best compliment a manufacturer can receive.
Sound quality: 5 out of 5
Finishing: 5 out of 5
Presentation: 5 out of 5
Price / Performance: 5 out of 5
More information: Â www.ricable.nl | Importer: Â Omera â ???? Hifi and Streaming Media
