By now I am sure the Tellurium Q company doesn`t need a special introduction anymore, their products have gained nothing but highest praise from the writer staff at Mono &S tereo as well as elsewhere and all this deservedly.
Each of the three Tellurium Q cables that were reviewed at Mono & Stereo achieved stunning results and this – in the absolute terms, regardless of price! So far we have tried the following Tellurium Q cables:
– Tellurium Q Black Diamond speaker cables
– Tellurium Q Silver Diamond speaker cables
– Tellurium Q Ultra Silver digital (RCA) cable
The Black Diamond speaker cables were the first Tellurium Q product that showed their extraordinary sonic capabilities here at Mono&Stereo but as good as they were, the Silver Diamond speaker cables were even better and this quite unexpectedly.
All Tellurium Q cable products have apparently one thing in common: they are designed to combat phase distortion. As the listening tests suggest, phase distortion is quite common among audio components and the cables are no exception. Phase distortion may not be the only issue the cables deal with but to keep it low seems to be very important in an attempt to keep the signal unaltered as much as possible.
Enter the Tellurium Q digital cables…
The Tellurium Q top of the range is called Silver Diamond and as luck would have it, we got the following cables for a review:
– Tellurium Q Silver Diamond USB cable – Tellurium Q Silver Diamond (RCA) digital cable – Tellurium Q Ultra Silver Waveform™ II (RCA) digital cable – Tellurium Q Ultra Silver USB cable – Tellurium Q Ultra Silver Jumpers / Bi-wire Links
The Silver Diamond USB cable and Silver Diamond (RCA) digital cables are completely new models in the Tellurium Q cable range.
From the Tellurium Q website: “Just like all our cables the digital RCA cables are hand built in Britain for performance. Some think that the idea that improving the signal path for digital signals is a waste of time. However a digital signal is not a 1 or 0 as is often thought but an analogue pulse and so the same care and consideration has to be taken with the construction of a digital cable as with a pure analogue cable. The 1 or 0 is result of the signal being “read” and that is the binary piece of information not the electronic signal in the wire. That is the way we think of it and why we build the cables the way that we do.
Here is a simple and non-technical way to view a digital signal in a wire and while not what happens it is a more accurate model than a one or zero. A single electron is not enough to trigger a response from audio equipment. So we need to think about the signal as a “swarm” of electrons almost with a shape. To turn a signal on or off requires a small amount of time and a magnitude of the “swarm” is necessary, the shape of which is affected by many factors and which in turn affects leading and trailing edges as they are read. However as we said, while a little closer to the truth this is still not what actually happens.
Our Waveform series has been refined and radically reworked to give an even purer signal path than before with the development of Waveform II.”
Knowing the differences between the Black Diamond and Silver Diamond speaker cables, I was really highly excited this time when these digital cables arrived.
The fit and finish of all the Tellurium Q cables was excellent as usual; design-wise they are beautifully made as well. The overall construction seems sturdy and secure, nothing appears loose or flabby.
There isn`t much info available about the Tellurium Q range of cables except that the cables with the “Silver” designation aren`t completely silver, only silver plated. The thickness of this silver plating remains unknown as well as the main cable structure and materials used for the wire signal transfer.
If we as music lovers and audiophiles are interested only in cables` sonic performances, then these things don`t matter anyway or may even contribute to prejudices, prior to listening.
The advancements in cable design seem quite big in recent years (especially with Tellurium Q cables) and to predict their sound performance based on internal construction is hardly possible, well…it is plain impossible.
With these things in mind I have approached the test and just let myself surprise…
THE SOUND
During the last few months some interesting digital cables proved their abilities in my system, some of them officially, some of them unofficially. The sound quality differences between them were quite noticeable and so were the price differences. The clever constructional details like various measures to minimize the vibration, choice of wire and mechanical layout, the art and process of Cryogenic treatment, etc, all contributed to varying levels of sound performance that could be more or less easily noticed.
For testing the sonic performances of digital cables, a top notch digital source is mandatory and luckily the Totaldac d1-dual represents precisely that: a fantastic tool (it is a phenomenal music making machine too) which enables easy assessment of cables` sonic performances.
The first cable on the “test bench” was the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver Waveform™ II (RCA) digital cable. After inserting it into the system, I couldn`t resist to smile and my grin was ear-to-ear. There are times when we audiophiles and music lovers think there is hardly anything that could surprise us, well…the Ultra Silver RCA digital cable proved to be a darn big surprise. For this review the STATE OF THE ART Tellurium Q Silver Diamond speaker cables were used as well because they are currently the most transparent speaker cables that I have ever tried and are practically ideal to show the changes upstream.
The first impression of the Ultra Silver Waveform™ II digital cable was: incredibly organic, transparent and refined! The amount of musical information this cable dug out seemed nigh impossible at first but after the initial shock I simply began to enjoy its utterly natural sonic delivery. In a sense it was very difficult to dissect the sound into numberless audiophile criteria because the sound was so holistically homogeneous, natural and self evident that trying to pin down the various aspects of reproduction quality seemed quite, err…in a sense, pointless. This cable`s main strength is actually in its ability to seduce the listener into absorbing the musical message – and leave the cheap audiophile pondering aside.
In the case of the Ultra Silver Waveform™ II digital cable the music really came out as a whole and not as a sum of different parts – if that makes sense.
Still, to do them justice in this review, let me say that they possessed staggering sonic qualities in practically every regard. From the lowest bass all the way up to the highest frequencies, the Ultra Silver Waveform™ II digital cable showed reproduction skills of the highest order. It simultaneously exhibited power and grip, depth and control, thunderous raw energy and utmost refinement – when needed. Compared to other cables that I have tried in my system, the Ultra Silver Waveform™ II digital cable seemed substantially more capable in terms of the upper frequency extension, resolution and minutiae detail retrieval. It served all this information with a silky glove: absolutely smooth and convincingly real.
The natural harmonic structure of instruments and voices was beautifully preserved and this is more than welcome with digital music formats which in itself are mostly prone to sterility.
With such staggering resolution and transparency capabilities comes a breathtakingly realistic 3D staging performance. The depth layering was astonishing, likewise the width and height; the holographic precision of every performer was better than ever before.
The fantastic micro and macro dynamic responsiveness injected life into every recording, even mediocre ones.
After listening to the Ultra Silver Waveform™ II digital cable for a few days, I was really tempted to give it the highest possible Mono&Stereo rating but I was aware of another higher ranked digital cable in the Tellurium Q hierarchy: the Silver Diamond RCA digital cable .
Everything that was written above for the Ultra Silver RCA, is actually valid for the Ultra Silver USB cable as well. Considering the differences in source (CD VS PC), these two cables give the same performances and overall sonic character. Just like the Ultra Silver RCA, the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver USB cable offers tremendous performance.
After all that I thought to myself: what else could Silver Diamond possibly bring?¨Is there actually anything to improve upon the already phenomenal Ultra Silver Waveform™ II performance?
Upon inserting the Silver Diamond RCA digital cable the answer became immediately obvious: a resounding yes.
Just when I thought the limits were reached – the Silver Diamond went further!
I wouldn`t say the differences between Ultra Silver and Silver Diamond were huge but still they were obvious and impossible to overhear. In particular the extension at the extremes was even better and the openness of the midrange spectrum helped to cast an even more believable sonic picture. The vocals were sensationally immediate and alive sounding; the human touch was highly authentic. The bass spectrum gained in punch and control and the instruments had even more body and thus seemed even more realistic – despite being already exemplary with the Ultra Silver RCA cable.
The uppermost octaves seemed even more open and limitless in their extension with the Silver Diamond and this in turn gave even more airy presentation of various recording venues.
With this cable I got truly lost in my CD musical collection. Album after album I discovered familiar music anew; hours passed by like minutes, I just couldn`t stop listening. The listening perspective was markedly different and much more intimate as ever before (with any other coaxial cable), in my view.
The Silver Diamond USB cable was nearly identical to the Silver Diamond RCA in its sonic performance except that the bass from the CD, fed through the coaxial seemed just slightly more firm but this probably reflects the difference in the medium: CD versus PC but at the end of the day it was negligible anyway.
Within the realm of USB audio cable performance, the Silver Diamond USB cable quickly established itself as a new reference by which all others will be measured.
Its performance levels were absolutely on par with the one experienced by its brother, the Silver Diamond RCA digital cable. The common denominator was the sheer sonic realism/believability of the reproduced music material. When the superb transparency is served with extreme refinement, the results are simply world class and such was indeed the case with the Silver Diamond brotherhood: these two cables represent the current state of the art in digital cable performance – beyond any doubt.
The Tellurium Q Ultra Silver Jumpers / Bi-wire Links maintain all the sonic qualities of the phenomenal Ultra Silver digital cable but at the speaker level. If your speakers use bi-wiring terminals fitted with ordinary jumpers/biwire links and you are using single wire cables then by all means you should try the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver Jumpers / Bi-wire Links. I think you`ll be surprised at the unlocked sonic potential of your speakers.
Another great way of using the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver Jumpers / Bi-wire Links is of course for the outboard crossovers; here the advantages could be even more obvious.
THE MUSIC
I would like to bring your attention to one exceptional young female singer from Genova, Italy: Andrea Celeste. Andrea was recently our guest at Mono&Stereo event in Ljubljana when her life partner Roberto Vigo came to demonstrate his studio masterpieces on analog tapes. It was this occasion that we have had a privilege to experience Andrea`s gorgeous voice – live. Andrea sings passionately since her childhood and this is evident up to the present day.
“Her unique style and her distinctive timbre have been a passport to international events like the Trussardi Fashion Show (Turin 2008). Celeste performed in theatres, clubs, jazz festivals and private concerts in Italy and abroad. She shared the stage with such great artists as Dado Moroni, Vittorio De Scalzi, Andrea Pozza, Mauro Grossi, Ares Tavolazzi, Roberto Gatto and Rosario Bonaccorso. In the same period she sang at the Valbadia Jazz Festival and made her debut at the Montecarlo Jazz Festival (Monaco 2008) with the Alessandro Collina Trio, along with some of the most recognizable names of the international jazz scene: Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, Raul Midon and many more.
In the spring of 2009 the album “Enter Eyes” was released, featuring a duet with Andrea Pozza, one of the world most acclaimed jazz pianists. Produced by Roberto Vigo, issued by Incipit Records and released by Egea, the album features cover versions of jazz standards and of timeless pop and jazz songs along with Andrea Pozza’s gorgeous compositions: “Dancing Fog” and “I’ll Be There For You”, with lyrics by Andrea Celeste. The sound is simple and charming, piano and voice blend together producing a smooth and dreamy mood.”
Here, the beautiful rendition of “Blackbird” (J. Lennon – P. McCartney) from the album “Enter Eyes”:
Another two gems:
It was exciting to experience her beautiful voice through the magnificent Tellurium Q digital cabling, be it USB or coaxial, her voice always possessed a magic presence – she was in the room in front of me and I was enchanted. The musical production of Roberto Vigo is simply flawless and the sound quality leaves nothing to be desired.
On to some instrumental guitar music, the Tony Rice and John Carlini record “River Suite for Two Guitars“ is a highly acclaimed album recorded for the Sugar Hill label in 1995. Both Rice and Carlini played in the legendary David Grisman Quintet, previously.
Tony Rice is the most influential and important guitarist of the Bluegrass genre and has recorded some groundbreaking Jazz influenced Bluegrass instrumental records like
Mar West (1980), Still Inside (1981) and Backwaters (1982).
The “River Suite for Two Guitars“ was recorded in a minimalistic way, Rice’s guitar appears on the left speaker, Carlini’s on the right, but even without this convenience both guitarists’ styles are easily discernible. The lead often changes every verse, keeping even quieter songs varied and layered; both players also provide tasteful and complex accompaniment to each other. The production is excellent, allowing the music to stand on its own and the sound of the acoustic guitars is beautifully captured.
With the Tellurium Q cabling, every nuance was rendered effortlessly and the acoustic guitars were reproduced with uncannily realistic presence.
Moving into orchestral Flamenco, the Tomatito & Orquesta Nacional De España / Josep Pons – Sonanta Suite is a must hear for any music lover. Below is a link to “Al Final Tu Seras Mio” sung by Tomatito`s daughter Mari Angeles Fernández Torres:
José Fernández Torres, known as Tomatito (born Almería, 1958), is a Spanish flamenco guitarist. Having started his career accompanying famed flamenco singer Camarón de la Isla (with Paco de Lucía), he has made a number of collaborative albums and six solo albums, two of which have won Latin Grammy Awards.
The “Sonanta Suite “ album is phenomenally recorded and the music itself is simply enchanting. The Tellurium Q cabling showed in a striking way what was hidden in the “grooves”; reproducing the complex orchestrations and solo parts in a highly delicate manner and with tons of emotions. These are indeed the most musically involving cables – period!
CONCLUSION
The Tellurium Q company has once again proved their products belong at the top of current cabling offerings.
No matter how secretive or even mystic their approach may seem, the indisputable fact is their cables show a level of reproduction quality so far unheard of.
The Tellurium Q Ultra Silver Waveform™ II (RCA) and the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver USB cable get the Mono and Stereo Best Buy status and the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver Jumpers / Bi-wire Links get my highest recommendation.
The other two cables, the Tellurium Q Silver Diamond USB cable and the Tellurium Q Silver Diamond (RCA) digital cable will immediately join the Tellurium Q Silver Diamond speaker cables – in the Upper Echelon Class!
