Intro
Contents
Roboli Design is a French company that manufactures and sells audio furniture, audio accessories, electronics such as amplifiers and DACs, and cables. A manufacturer unknown to us, but we get introduced by their cables.
The Belgian distributor for Kora placed a comment under a review of three affordable RCA cables. He combines Kora with Roboli Design cables. In response to my reply, he contacted Roboli Design and they send us cables for review.
We received two cables for review:
An interconnect labelled ‘ROBOLI RCA 100 – Série 1’ for €265 and a phono cable labelled ‘ROBOLI Phono 100 – Série 1’ for €325. The prices are for a one-metre-long cable.
Putting cable reviews into perspective
The difference between cables is many times smaller than the difference between two sets of speakers, amplifiers or turntables. With cables, you can tune the system (slightly) into the direction of what you find pleasant to listen to.
In some systems, the room for the right fit is a bit smaller. A cable can make everything sound a bit more energetic or, conversely, a bit more relaxed; in terms of rhythmic feel, it can make the difference between ‘just right’ and ‘not quite’, or make a system sound a bit dull.
That said: the standard black cable with red and white RCA plugs that you used to find as standard in the box with a new CD player, cassette deck or games console usually sounds awful and harsh. We’ve demonstrated this more than once in various live streams. The materials used and the construction of the cable do indeed make a difference. We have now learnt from the many tests we have carried out that price does not say much about performance.
Break-in period
Opinions are divided on this, but in my experience, cables need a break-in period when they are fresh out of the packaging and haven’t been used yet. There is undoubtedly an element of your own ears getting used to it, but in this case it was clear that it took a long time for the soundstage to open up and fill the room, and for the bass notes to stop doing their own thing somewhere underneath the soundstage.