Echole - a cable chronicle

Re-tread

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Mar 8, 2020
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Greetings all. I typically keep a low public profile, however, I had a recent learning experience that bears sharing – and the story of my journey may help/encourage others as they look ahead. Does this cable chronicle warrant its own thread? I’m not sure, but I did not want to take an existing thread OT. So, from one quiet person, here goes my attempt at sharing something that was profound for me with the readers on this forum. The root topic is my entrance and trek into the world of Echole cables.

With new equipment recently arriving (in 2019 & 2020), I was in the midst of transitioning my kit from SE interconnects to XLR interconnects. I’ve had enough past experience with various cables of copper, silver, and hybrids, that I had a general “feel” of what characteristics certain materials present. I considered many cables from the usual candidates, many of which are held in high esteem (and with good reason). This story is no jab at any other manufacture or customers’ experiences, there of.

Before I get into it, I would like to add that audio cabling is such a nebulous world*, as it is very subjective, due to individual preferences, kit synergy, room conditions, buyer expectations, and many other contextual variables (gains stages, impedance matching, etc.). In reality, I would be taking a chance in any direction I invested in. So for me, it all started from a humble inquiry about 5-months ago with Echole proprietor, Kerem Kucukaslan. From that nascent beginning, my journey began, even though I did know it yet, or, where it would end.

I knew I wanted to start with my interconnects, now going from SE to XLR. I needed two pairs: DAC to Pre; and Pre to Monoblocks. Kerem and I discussed my kit, and my goals, and he suggested I start with 2 pairs of the “Signature” XLR interconnects, third in the Echole lineup from the entry point. Once these arrived, they took considerable time to break-in. At 400-hours, they were definitely full ON; but by 600-hours, I detected no more ‘hesitation’, as they finally relented effortlessly from there on. Patience brings good things for those willing to persevere. I will save you all the subjective superlatives (you can read those online), but let’s just distill it down to… these Signature XLR’s were… in one word: Magnificent. Deep, wide, real intonations, timbre, ease, clarity, space, drive, and musical flow.

After this experience, I realized this “is” the direction I want to go. Thus, my next weakest link was (unfortunately for me) my line-level subwoofer cables, being fed from my Pre to my Sub via RCA interconnects. Before going to the Echole sub cables, there was incoherence between my sub and my monitors (sort of like, “out of sync”), offering a dis-jointed sound scape. Quantitatively, the sub had a lot of drive, but qualitatively (in hindsight) it was murky, dirty, in-congruent as a whole. I needed to address this issue. I discussed with Kerem, and he sent me an Echole Sub cable for my trial and feedback. I gave him a full initial report of his Sub cable: anemic, no drive, low empirical energy. But, what sound was presented was much clearer and tuneful. However, I had to increase my sub’s roll-off point, and gain, to compensate for this recent energy depletion. Kerem asked me for a few technical specifications of my sub, which I promptly provided. On the same day, he and his team devised and began building a second sub cable, and shipped it to me in the USA within 1-week at no additional cost. THIS ONE, was it. This second Echole Sub cable he sent was amazing. It completely solved every issue I ever had with my sub. Now, the sub and monitors are in lock-step, coherent, and I cannot detect any hand-off at the crossover point. It is truly amazing. This sub cable literally “made” my system work**. I would have never thought “rectifying” an small ancillary, in-congruent sub cable would make a system 100% whole again. From this point on, he had my total attention. How could someone half-way around the world fix my in-congruent sub cable issue? I am still astonished by this feat.

- Interconnects: check! Magnificent
- Sub Cables: check! Amazing

At this point, I think I was hooked. So, what could be next…? I went in the direction of speaker cables. I needed 8’ length, and (for my monitors) jumpers. Kerem said again - no problem. As luck would have it, he provided an 8’ demo pair of “Limited Edition” SpC, and began construction of new LE Jumpers for me on the same day… just for me to try. He had everything delivered here (including a beautiful wooden storage/presentation box) in a week’s time. Again, impressive. Shipping from half-way around the world with new LE jumpers in a week. Can it get any better…? Yes.

How did these speaker cables sound? Well, distilling it down once again: Majestic. Elaborating a bit, here are some of my actual 2nd day listening notes:

“I heard many new things, and everything had much more clarity and nuance from the recorded source. I can hear closer to the root impact of the propagation. For example, I can hear the brushes on the snare drum, the fingers sticking on the double upright bass, the hammer of the piano chord strike, and of course the entire depth of the soundstage is much deeper. Underwhelming on first impression, but in 5-min… entrancing, immersive, soothing, evocative, and present. Music and the event. It becomes: “a musical event”. It is all there: Nuance, depth, liquidity, scale, range, timbre, clarity. Nothing is bright, hot, or standing out. Pleasant, real, dynamic, and musical. Also, it sounds “full” at very low volumes – great for the elusive “low level listening” experience. The master attenuation does not need to be lessened to enjoy the full breathe and weight. It is all there from the get-go. This is where we are now. If I had to summarize your creation in 1-word it would be: Majestic."

So, there we have it:

- Interconnects: check! Magnificent
- Sub Cables: check! Amazing
- Speaker Cables: check! Majestic

Well, I am now at a peak of my personal mountain, with an amazing perspective, that is fresh and new to me. This may be my personal Everest. I am not a swapper, so I suspect I will be with this set-up for the next +20 years. From here, I would like to thank Kerem for his effort, attentiveness, commitment, and creativity in providing me and my family with such a musical solution***. In the future, I will be considering the Echole Power Cables as a possibility. If they were free, I would be trying them now. However, this trek has taught me (once again), that good thing come to those who have patience and perseverance. I am not sure if this report will help anyone else, however, it just might.

Foot Notes:
* Perhaps financially risky, or intimidating - due to lack of base knowledge/experience. I believe unintentional “group think” can occur in this space, too.

** It is recommended by several manufactures (and I have now observed) that a sub cable should be from the same maker as the other system cabling, to solve the “congruency” problem, like: phase angle, amplitude characteristics, and congruency. I now completely agree, as per the experience with my “line-level” use-case.

*** I am not affiliated with Echole in any way, and have never met Kerem. I am only a recent customer and journeyman.
 
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Ovenmitt

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Nov 21, 2017
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Very nice post for such a quiet person;)..... I’ve had very good experiences with Echole products and agree that
Kerem is very much a gentleman. The only advice I can offer is to Check your gold card before you try the power cables.... they might be even more addictive.
 

Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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Thank you for telling us about your cable journey, Re-tread. Selecting cables can be a confusing morass, so I am glad you navigated the labyrinth successfully!
 

Steve Vu

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Oct 26, 2020
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I am also using Echole power, xlr and speaker cables. They are really amazing.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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Great story...and passionate, efficient manufacturers who are both businessfolk and artists is a rare combination. Have read nothing but superlatives about Kerem's total dedication to his businesses.
 
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kodomo

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Kerem is also the owner of Absolare as some of you may already know. He is a dedicated, hard working, quality business owner.
 

Re-tread

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Mar 8, 2020
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Thank you for telling us about your cable journey, Re-tread. Selecting cables can be a confusing morass, so I am glad you navigated the labyrinth successfully!
Hi Ron, Labyrinth is a good metaphor for it: unexpected twists and turns down uncertain paths, some leading to potential dead ends. Need breadcrumbs to find your way back to the last wrong turn.

Happy Holidays!
 
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Re-tread

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Mar 8, 2020
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Very nice post for such a quiet person;)..... I’ve had very good experiences with Echole products and agree that
Kerem is very much a gentleman. The only advice I can offer is to Check your gold card before you try the power cables.... they might be even more addictive.
Thanks, Ovenmitt. I don't mind sharing (and I actually enjoy the craft of writing), but I am a bit social media 'adverse'. Yes, I have heard many good things about Echole PC's (some say even better than their SpC and IC's), but I had to address the other encumbered arterial problems first. I hope to get to the PC's at a later date. Also, having a nascent 100% digital Front-End system, I would like to focus some attention on mitigating some of the digital noise upstream coming into my server.
 
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amadeus

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I have together whit Stealth Audio Cables for many years also Echole Cables in my systems the interconnect and the power cords both are wonderful full bodied transparant and airy cables highly musical.
 

Re-tread

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Mar 8, 2020
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Greetings! Just a brief interim update: The Echole LE SpC & LE jumpers are now clocking-in around the 225-hour mark of play time, and they are fully fleshing-out the soundscape with complete grandeur and majestic grace (a slightly untechnical description, if you kindly allow me some poetic license). Along the way, there were very slight bouts of 'up and down' break-in behavior during the settle-in period (which are to be expected), however the LE's are now stabilizing with amazing depth, nuance and ease, just completely serving the music.

Transformational: YES.

Maybe someday I will be able to work a few Echole PC's into the rig, as I have high confidence they would be great in my system (as reported by many others)!

Happy Holidays!

Note: Of course, all of the above comments are purely my subjective opinion, as experienced when listening within my setup. As they say, YMMV.
 
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Re-tread

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Mar 8, 2020
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Great story...and passionate, efficient manufacturers who are both businessfolk and artists is a rare combination. Have read nothing but superlatives about Kerem's total dedication to his businesses.
Greetings LL21, My dealings and virtual interactions to date with Kerem and Echole correlate with these observations, likewise.

Happy Holidays!
 
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Re-tread

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Mar 8, 2020
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Greetings! Just a brief interim update to this thread/journey:

Clocking-in just over the magical 600-hour mark of play time today, I feel the Echole LE SpC & LE jumpers are now fully broken-in. Just last week (I noted around the 560-hour mark) I recognized they finally have no hesitation remaining in any way -- their break-in process was complete. These LE SpC's are now completely stable, fluid, and holographic - with amazing depth, nuance and ease, just completely serving the music. Delighted? - Yes!

Incidentally, the Echole sub cables now have 740-hours of play time. With these custom RCA Interconnects finally breaking-in around 550-hours likewise, I was able to recently reduce the Sub's gain and cross-over point just a bit, now as the bass signal is fully flowing with grace, ease, and clarity. In essence, I could attenuate the sub's output just a bit, now that the sub interconnects were fully flowing. As a byproduct, this enables the lower-mids region from the monitors to clean up even more, cleaning the whole soundscape from top to bottom. The sub is now crossing seamlessly at 46Hz.

Note: For me, 560-hours has been the seemingly repeatable duration to fully break-in the Echoles cables. And, completely worth the effort.

Echole Summary:
- Interconnects: Completed
- Sub Cables: Completed
- Speaker Cables: Completed
- Power Cables: ....Next to try......

Next Echole endeavor: I hope to try the Echole Power Cables later this year, and will update this thread when possible. Fingers crossed. My system could use a few new PC's (like 8), but I hope to start with just two, to get my aural toes wet. In the meantime, I hope to enhance my nascent 100% digital Front-End system by mitigating the incoming noise on the ethernet signal.

In closing, I hope everyone is staying safe during this extended COVID episode. I know health and family safety is much more important than pursuing audio reproduction, however, this diversion (audio pursuit/hobby) for me has been a semi-healthy mental "release valve" during this epoch.

Please be well and stay safe.
 
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2Windows

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Sep 20, 2020
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Echole's website seems to be out of date, the top of the line according to the website is the Omnia version, but browsing the web it seems to have a version called Limited Edition and another Infinity. It would be nice to have this updated information on Echole cables.

Echole cables seens to be great, their website dont have updated information but doing a search on another websites, the Infinity is the flagship, and Limited Edition is right bellow infinity one.
 
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Re-tread

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Echole's website seems to be out of date, the top of the line according to the website is the Omnia version, but browsing the web it seems to have a version called Limited Edition and another Infinity. It would be nice to have this updated information on Echole cables.

Echole cables seens to be great, their website dont have updated information but doing a search on another websites, the Infinity is the flagship, and Limited Edition is right bellow infinity one.
Greetings 2Windows,

You are correct with your assertion of the models as you move up the line: Omina -> Limited Edition -> Infinity (at the top). If you have a dealer in your area, I believe you can get the pricing to the entire line of cables. If you have no dealer in your area, you can reach out to the company (Echole, USA), and I believe someone will respond with the information you are looking for. Kerem is the owner/proprietor, and he and his staff are generally very responsive. All my interactions to date with Kerem have all been positive.

Hope that incidental advice/comment helps.
 
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Cellcbern

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Greetings! Just a brief interim update to this thread/journey:

Clocking-in just over the magical 600-hour mark of play time today, I feel the Echole LE SpC & LE jumpers are now fully broken-in. Just last week (I noted around the 560-hour mark) I recognized they finally have no hesitation remaining in any way -- their break-in process was complete. These LE SpC's are now completely stable, fluid, and holographic - with amazing depth, nuance and ease, just completely serving the music. Delighted? - Yes!

Incidentally, the Echole sub cables now have 740-hours of play time. With these custom RCA Interconnects finally breaking-in around 550-hours likewise, I was able to recently reduce the Sub's gain and cross-over point just a bit, now as the bass signal is fully flowing with grace, ease, and clarity. In essence, I could attenuate the sub's output just a bit, now that the sub interconnects were fully flowing. As a byproduct, this enables the lower-mids region from the monitors to clean up even more, cleaning the whole soundscape from top to bottom. The sub is now crossing seamlessly at 46Hz.

Note: For me, 560-hours has been the seemingly repeatable duration to fully break-in the Echoles cables. And, completely worth the effort.

Echole Summary:
- Interconnects: Completed
- Sub Cables: Completed
- Speaker Cables: Completed
- Power Cables: ....Next to try......

Next Echole endeavor: I hope to try the Echole Power Cables later this year, and will update this thread when possible. Fingers crossed. My system could use a few new PC's (like 8), but I hope to start with just two, to get my aural toes wet. In the meantime, I hope to enhance my nascent 100% digital Front-End system by mitigating the incoming noise on the ethernet signal.

In closing, I hope everyone is staying safe during this extended COVID episode. I know health and family safety is much more important than pursuing audio reproduction, however, this diversion (audio pursuit/hobby) for me has been a semi-healthy mental "release valve" during this epoch.

Please be well and stay safe.
I have the Echole Omnia PC on my Modwright modified Marantz SA8005 sacd player, and an Echole Signature PC on its separate tube rectified PS 9.0 power supply. These are the best sounding/most musical power cords I've ever had on these components. These two PC's, like the Hemingway Audio Z-Core Beta PC on my Pathos TT amp, beat every PC I've ever heard when it comes to realistic timbre/tonality, and natural midrange weight and warmth, while doing everything else you could want from a PC superbly. I borrowed a Fono Acustica PC from a friend and it had a similar sonic signature to the Echole and Hemingway, which reinforces my suspicion that the exotic made in-house conductor alloys used by these three cable makers (all of which include gold and silver among other metals) are fundamentally more musical than cooper, silver, and copper/silver combinations. Looking forward to trying interconnects and speaker cables from one of these firms.
 
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Re-tread

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I have the Echole Omnia PC on my Modwright modified Marantz SA8005 sacd player, and an Echole Signature PC on its separate tube rectified PS 9.0 power supply. These are the best sounding/most musical power cords I've ever had on these components. These two PC's, like the Hemingway Audio Z-Core Beta PC on my Pathos TT amp, beat every PC I've ever heard when it comes to realistic timbre/tonality, and natural midrange weight and warmth, while doing everything else you could want from a PC superbly. I borrowed a Fono Acustica PC from a friend and it had a similar sonic signature to the Echole and Hemingway, which reinforces my suspicion that the exotic made in-house conductor alloys used by these three cable makers (all of which include gold and silver among other metals) are fundamentally more musical than cooper, silver, and copper/silver combinations. Looking forward to trying interconnects and speaker cables from one of these firms.

Greetings Cellcbern,

Welcome to the thread. Glad you are having a very positive experience with your Echole PC's, even when you compared them with other top-tier contenders. Likewise, the Echole cables I have tried sound very natural and balanced also - with none of the usual hot-spots, or, weaknesses. Deep music just FLOWs through them.

Regarding the "exotic alloys" employed, I believe Kerem is really on to something special with his unique, proprietary blend of Ag/Au/Pd metals. He spends a lot of time designing and listening (thousands of hours) to the Echole products being developed (including dielectics and connectors) - and "this listening" is an invaluable step when producing them. So, my take on this is: Echole’s experience with precision materials coupled with extensive listening trials yields extra-ordinary results; and, the end results seem to really satisfy the "human ear". As always, YMMV.

All the best, and stay safe.

Re-tread
 
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2Windows

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I need a digital interconnect, thinking about silver, gold, palladium of the echole cables, does anyone know if echole have digital interconnect 75 ohm with BNC connectors?
 

LL21

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I need a digital interconnect, thinking about silver, gold, palladium of the echole cables, does anyone know if echole have digital interconnect 75 ohm with BNC connectors?
Looks like they do?
Link here:
From their website:

"Some critics have defined Echole’s new Infinity line as a ‘component’ 20 years ahead of its time. Without doubt, this is the most expensively designed, and manufactured cable with the thickest Silver, Gold and Palladium solid core wire in the entire Echole range.
The studio or the concert hall is brought to your home. As one world famous critic has put it, the Echole’s Infinity line is a time machine, which reveals the emotions of the performance, and the potential for realism in any high-end audio system and presents what is truly possible in the ultra-high end. The standard parameters of the audiophile world cease to exist, as there is an overwhelming sense of pure music and pure performance where the qualities of ‘being human’ are present.

Infinity Digital Interconnect (per channel):?
2 runs of Teflon insulated, 2.10 mm solid core INFINITY grade Silver/Gold/Palladium custom structured alloy, hand braided and fully symmetrical. Precisely designed for digital signals.????
Termination: : Rhodium plated, Furutech terminations – RCA / XLR / BNC."
 

Re-tread

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Mar 8, 2020
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Greetings all. If helpful, I would like to supplement and broaden the information above with a little more detail. Upon review of Echole's website today, there seems to be a total of 7 different levels of "Digital" interconnects currently being offered, as you move up the line, from entry-level to the top. I'll try to elaborate a bit below…

The various, progressive "levels" that offer "Digital" interconnects are: Obsession > Signature > Omina > Limited Edition > Infinity. The photo below of the "Digital Interconnect" section depicts these 5 levels (image shows a still of the Infinity, as referenced above):

Screen Shot 2021-11-27 at 8.42.52 PM.png

However, Echole recently released 2 offerings within each of the Omina and Limited Edition levels, expanding the range of options to include: Omina 1, Omina 2, Limited Edition 1, Limited Edition 2. I don't know the precise differences between the intra-family models, however, I'm sure a company dealer/rep could enlighten via inquiry. You might want to get pricing on these 7 cables as well, to help guide your budget considerations, as I suspect they will increase as you go up the line. Hope that incidental information is helpful.

I am not affiliated with Echole, except as a customer, but have some familiarity with a few of their products. As they say, YMMV.

Cheers,
Re-tread
 
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