In my latest review, I take a closer look at the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II cables from the renowned and established English manufacturer of high-end audio cables.
For the test, Geoff Merrigan provided a set of the original cables to experience the differences firsthand.
As you will read throughout the review, the Ultra Silver II cables represent a significant step up from the original ones, making the Mark I obsolete.
The Silver Family
The Ultra Silver cables were designed from the ground up to continue the legacy of the uncolored, analog-sounding cables able to at every moment deliver an unaltered complete frequency spectrum with no particular frequency bumps (morphing into EQ as too many cables do), acting as a wide window into the music without causing fatigue, while maintaining timbral, tonal, and color balance.
In contrast to the Tellurium Q Black range, the Ultra Silver series focuses more precisely on the music details, escaping brittleness, while unveiling a loftier level of transparency.
Despite the association with silver—which, for most music lovers and audiophiles, rings a metallic bell (pun intended)—the new Ultra Silver II cables preserve the familiar Tellurium Q smoothness while uncovering additional layers of the music.
The Music
Even at the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II cable price point, audiophiles and music lovers are rightfully demanding a proper, all-you-can-take auditory spectacle.
As the reference albums mentioned below point out, the Ultra Silver II cables justify their existence and deliver a remarkably elevated level of musical performance.
Siamese Soul: Thai Pop Spectacular Vol. 2
With the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II cables in the system, nearly quirky, but blatantly and boldly Thai Pop Spectacular Vol. 2 bloomed with some extraordinarily sonic elegance, avoiding at any point turning the music into bits and bobs, but contrived to keep the liveliness and spirit intact.
Thai Pop Spectacular album joins regional artists from across Thailand, mixing modest pop artists and major stars of the era. Almost unreleased material, that despite being sourced from vinyl, cassettes, and tapes, still offers an incredibly dynamic related music material and calls for a nonordinary (non-of-the-shelf) cable to punctually render a distinctively Thai, yet eclectic mix-and-match of Western instrumentation and genres.
In a grand portion, the Ultra Silver II cables share the refined, grandiose power of the Statement II cables, applaudingly in the absence of lackluster phenomena, that some high-end cables tend to lose, while trickling down materials, and know-how down from the flagships.
Ultra Silver II XLR and speaker cables hold a lot of upper-level Tellurium Q cables virtues and compared to the original version of Ultra Silver, the new Ultra Silver II introduces even more anchor points making an easier recreation of horizontal and vertical expanses as well the more tight timing of hypnotic, often-era-related-offbeat funky hard-grooves.
In contrast to the original series, the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II operates with a higher level of density and better transients.
These and other benefits of the Mark II allow the highly versatile tracks to exist within their micro-universes, retracing each song’s fundamental essentials with a higher degree of sonic freedom, making it easier for them to fully expand without diluting their crux.
Mahler – Symphony No. 10 [performing version by Deryck Cooke]; Simon Rattle conducting the Berlin Philharmonic (1980)
The Tellurium Q cables expertly avoided any dimensional randomness that even some of the far pricier cables could not escape, which is quickly evident with Mahler’s Symphony No. 10.
This is the record I like to crank up the volume for, allowing the attacks of the instruments and the dynamic peaks to fully reach me without being smeared, lost in the listening space, or fading too quickly.
Even at high average loudness, the Silver Ultra II cables maintained their mojo and kept their dynamism intact, invariant at forte fortissimo, without reducing dynamics. Of course, this naturally occurs when the audio system offers the needed potency and can deliver the required power.
The Berlin Philharmonic, under the baton of Simon Rattle, fully bloomed, with the orchestral facets being precisely reproduced with the renowned Tellurium Q intangibility and sonority.
Compared with the original Ultra Silver, the Ultra Silver II revealed another layer of complexity to the already well-established and intricate reproduction of the recording.
For any high-end audio cables, no matter the price, one of the hardest tasks in reproducing orchestral music is to avoid letting the music spread chaotically across the listening space.
When everything is properly set up within the high-end audio system, the orchestra should reach the listener naturally, without emphasizing or shrinking the sonic perspective.
Ultra Silver II cables perform their given task spot-on, without faux sonic add-ons, and within objective orchestral scope.
Nico – Desertshore
The Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II produced a heartening, hauntingly beautiful Desertshore neither taming nor holding back the unruly narrative of this eerie album by Nico.
Without venturing into the realms of over-analysis, the pairing of Ultra Silver II cables fetched a certain something—the very “Zeitgeist”—with a clear and well-balanced presentation, allowing the sonic escapade to evolve minutely.
The Ultra Silver II XLR and speaker cables let the music grab the listener by the eardrums and keep a tight hold focus, preventing attention from drifting away. Of course, this is when they are employed in a synergistic setup.
Building on the foundation of the Ultra Silver, the new Mark II adds a substantial, natural weight to the overall sound (instruments)—a touch of the sublime—impressively expanding the unfatigued shimmer, all within the scope of the raw nature of sound.
James Blake – James Blake
The self-titled debut album by English musician James Blake was released in 2011 and represents an admiringly varied kaleidoscopic entrance into Blake’s close-knit world.
There is something spellbindingly eclectic about Blake’s version of Joni Mitchell’s iconic “A Case of You,” but “Not Long Now” takes you on a completely different kind of journey.
A staggering sonic and musical encounter, with a palpitated nature always at forte, can too quickly become an ear-piercing, brittle sonic attack if the cables are not properly voiced and balanced. This is usually due to a particular frequency of congestion or mismatching of materials.
The free-flow nature of Ultra Silver II cables was further confirmed with another interesting track from the album. “Unluck” was presented vividly, with the necessary grit and rasp, taking the development of the uncommon and complex album structures far beyond the Ultra Silver II’s price range.
Additionally, the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II cables effectively captured the tension of Blake’s self-titled album and revealed layered, multifaceted textures with an impressively high level of density, once again avoiding any blurring effect.
The Conclusion
Introducing a new MK product version is one of the most challenging moments for any manufacturer, as it can lead to two divergent outcomes.
On one hand, the envisioned upgrades could fall short, resulting in a product that sounds inferior to the original. On the other hand, a positive outcome can emerge from careful R&D, where meticulous adjustments to concepts, theories, and materials bring about a significant improvement.
These decisions likely kept managing director Geoff Merrigan on edge. Still, as you’ll discern from this review, the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II cables represent a substantial step forward in many aspects.
Audiophiles are often asked if there’s something magical hidden inside cables. When it comes to Tellurium Q, there’s more to it than just speculated gaps between precious metals as the Ultra Silver II doesn’t start from a blank slate but builds upon an already established heritage and strong foundation.
The secret lies in the juxtaposition of the Ultra Silver’s simplicity and complexity. This is where the second generation of Ultra Silver excels, delivering musical fundamentals with essential accuracy, including precise note attacks, harmonically rich content, and a straightforward, factual rendering of music—all without the dynamic blurring effect that many, even more expensive high-end cables, cannot flee from.
Tellurium Q has already cemented its reputation for quality across various cable ranges, and the Ultra Silver II takes these positive attributes even further.
The Ultra Silver II cables convey music with emotion, free from mechanical imprints, allowing it to flow harmoniously through the conductors. This alone justifies the high praise it receives, regardless of price.
It’s not easy for any high-end audio cable manufacturer to design cables that can fetch the complex dynamics and emotions of music into a sonic delivery free from any imprint. Yet the Ultra Silver II creates an emotion-driven experience unlike many of its peers.
Describing high-end audio cables to someone without the same frame of reference can be challenging. However, the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II doesn’t need much explanation when inserted into an audio system, as its impact is instantly recognizable, even to an untrained ear.
Tellurium Q doesn’t subscribe to the idea of a core sound, which often leads to a narrow sweet spot with a specific sonic imprint. The Ultra Silver II cables don’t alter the original’s potent sonic delivery but, through clever and careful upgrades deliver even better, true-to-life dynamics without unnaturally rebalancing them.
As the music varies, the sonic differences become apparent, ranging from subtle to extreme, without any frequency bumps, timing issues, or disruption to the music’s flow.
Instead of endlessly tweaking every detail, Merrigan and the Tellurium Q team focused on the aspects that matter, where the differences would elevate the MK2 version above the MK1 in the music and not the technical sense.
These qualities set the Ultra Silver II apart, not just from the original but from most other cables on the market.
With too many high-end audio cables, the listener is put in the role of observer of the sound rather than engage with the music. The Tellurium Q cables, however, place you “in” the sound, not “on top of it”. It’s a similar experience to the studio and how digital equalizers act compared to analog ones.
Accuracy and consistency in delivering music are hallmarks of the Ultra Silver II, embodying Tellurium Q’s core belief in phase relationships, which are undoubtedly linked to micro-timing.
The Ultra Silver II doesn’t deliver music from a purely metric perspective but operates with objective musicality and tactile feedback. There’s something extraordinary, a familiar cohesiveness that runs throughout the Tellurium Q portfolio. The music comes together naturally, without restriction on flow or hindrance to its rawness.
With the new Ultra Silver line, Merrigan’s vision and audacity elevate the overall experience, permitting music enjoyment to return through the power of unadulterated reproduction, fostering a deeper connection with the performers.
Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II cables are not a mere upgrade but a full-fledged Tellurium Q product, logically positioned within the company’s lineup.
Merrigan’s open-minded approach doesn’t chase trends or rely on expensive designs to defend against lower-level products. Instead, Tellurium Q’s qualities are interwoven throughout its entire cable portfolio, creating a highly cohesive range.
In context, the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II cables are exceptionally brilliant for the money, entirely focused on the singular joy of connecting with the music. They enable a rare, engaging experience that draws the listener into a state-of-the-art, high-resolution, fatigue-free interaction with the source material.
The new Ultra Silver II lost none of its V1 appeal and has found even more. The sound is undoubtedly more refined, and like all Tellurium Q cables, the Ultra Silver II has an irresistible allure.
The Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II should appeal not only to owners of the original series but also to any music lover or audiophile seeking cables with immense authenticity, fatigue-free sonic projection, and impressively well-balanced timbre, tone, and color of instruments and voices.
Investing time and effort in an updated and upgraded version of an already successful product is one of the best moves any high-end audio manufacturer can make—not just for ROI but for the perhaps instantly intangible, but in reality long-term benefits.
Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II cables deliver on the brand’s renowned value and clever product portfolio. The precise differentiation continues to be a winning strategy for this multiple award-winning, high-end audio cable manufacturer. They undoubtedly deserve the 2024 Mono & Stereo Highly-Recommended Product Award.
To conclude in the Tellurium Q spirit: There is a distinctly British coolness to the Ultra Silver II cables on all fronts. ❖
The Price
- Ultra Silver II XLR £936..03 + VAT
- Ultra Silver II speaker cable 2.5m set that would be £2554 +VAT (£510.80 per single metre +VAT)
Contact
Tellurium Q Ltd
The Willows
Bonds Pool
Langport
Somerset
TA10 9QJ
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1458 251 997
www.telluriumq.com
Email: admin@telluriumq.com