Cap Wars. RCA Caps Shoot Out. Cardas vs Telos vs Generic.

Un used RCA inputs and outputs on all our hifi equipment acts like a mini antenna for picking up stray RFI and EMI interference. Or so it seems, as it has been a source of endless online debates from the camps of objectivist and subjectivist. Between those who swear by the sonic results they heard and others who seemed indifferent. I referred the subject matter to my very good friend Felix, whose pair of ears, I consider most golden amongst the gold standard. Felix was help full enough to show me the way and how to measure for the minute differences when an RCA cap is inserted on to an un used RCA input/output. We found that the measured difference was just like 0.002 - 0.004mv(miliwatts) less conductivity within an RCA when covered by a cap instead of being left exposed. The million dollar question raised, by the objectivist among my audiophile buddies is, can we hear the said milliwatt difference in measurement? Are our ears really that sensitive? Or are we just being psycho acoustic?

I can't answer any of those questions, all I know is that there is a measure able difference, and I could hear the difference. That alone is all the proof I need, psycho acoustic or otherwise! For everyone else, I cannot help to make up your mind on your behalf, so you'll just need to try it, and decide for yourself .
Top: Telos gold(left) and platinum(right).
Bottom: Cardas(left) and nickel coated generic caps(right).
Telos on top row, note teflon insulation. Cardas(bottom left) and nickel coated generic(bottom right) caps does not have insulation. Note the similar design but the sound is not even closely related.

The Telos RCA caps were all the rage in the last 2 years or so. It caused a stir not only between the objectivist and subjectivist, but also amongst Cardas and Telos camps! We got many request for a shoot out but we never quite managed to do so, not until now that is. Now that Hi-Way Laser is the local dealer for Cardas, I managed to borrow a few from Kenny for the purpose of this interesting shoot out. Not only did I get the RCA caps but I also got the XLR male/female sets as well. And just for comparison's sake, I also threw in some generic nickel plated caps of China origin, I think. It's gonna be a wild ride from here on.

Since I have some Telos Platinum and Gold RCA caps already in use on my system, swapping them with the Cardas and generic caps was easy enough. However, to my very pleasant surprise, I have found that all 4 types of RCA caps gave different sonic cues, but they all did one thing sure, which is lowering the system's noise floor considerably. I hereby give you the subtle sonic characters brought about by the use of the 4 different RCA caps.
Cardas XLR caps on the left, vs Telos gold XLR caps on the right. Top view.

Bottom, note the Telos XLR caps has teflon insulation. Cardas on the left does without insulation.

First up is the generic nickel coated RCA caps. These caps are the cheapest one could find and they do bring down the noise floor of your system if all the un-used RCA input/outputs are covered. However, the lowered noise floor does come at a price. The sound takes a turn towards the darker end of the tonal palette, this is good for balancing overly bright or forward sounding systems. On more tonally balanced systems, the darkened effect also seemed to rob away some of the high frequency sheen, and "air". Transparency also drops a few notches if one uses too many of these. Use them only on RCA tape loops or monitor outs.

Next is the Telos gold RCA caps. Compared to the nickel coated generic caps, the Telos gold caps will also reduce noise floor, however, instead of darkening the sound field, they tend to highlight high frequency details and tonal contrast of the music. These are supremely musical caps to use, and I like them best used on the un used output RCAs of sources. Like my CD player has a variety of coax and other outputs and inputs which I do not use. The Telos gold caps are excellent for that purpose.

Following the Telos gold, is the Telos platinum RCA caps. These platinum coated caps are constructed the very same way as the gold caps, except the different finishing coating used. Sound wise, the Telos platinum RCA goes even further than the gold caps. The use of the platinum coated caps bring out even the lowest level of resolution buried within the musical mix. You can say they are most transparent among this group. However, when used in greater quantities, or should I say too many pairs employed, can result in the music take on an analytical quality. I had found it best to used the Telos platinum caps in the un used RCA inputs of the pre amp section.

Lastly, is the originator of RCA caps, from the Cardas stable. Visually, the Cardas RCA caps looks very similar to the generic nickel coated ones, but upon closer inspection, the material feels subjectively more dense and the finishing coating is of higher quality, on top of that, the Cardas "shell" logo is proudly silk screened on top, for a distinguished appearance. Noise floor reduction aside, I found the sound of the Cardas RCA caps to be the most balanced of the lot. It hasn't the darkness or the tendency for brightness, or an overly analytically quality. The mids seemed to take on more body and presence with the Cardas caps, which is excellent in the context of my system. The down side is however, if one should over use them, the Cardas RCA caps have a tendency to harden the high mid frequency range, which causes shouty mid range with some recordings. I like the Cardas best when used on the un used RCA outputs of my pre amp.
Top: All Telos gold and platinum caps used. Bottom: All Cardas caps used.

My Pass Labs X2.5 pre amp has lots RCA and XLR exposed jacks to cover. That allows me to have infinite RCA/XLR caps tweak options. Perfect for the hifi tweek geek.

The above sonic description of the RCA caps are also applicable to their XLR male/female counter parts. However, due to the inherent superior noise canceling properties of the XLR topology, the degree of effectiveness on gets from capping the un used inputs and outputs seems reduced compared to RCAs, making them offering less value for the money, dollar(or Ringgit if you wish) to sound wise. They do however work if one does wanna go the whole nine yards, like me. Telos offer XLR caps in choices of gold or platinum finishing, while Cardas offers only a standard finishing.
The Cardas caps prices. XLR male/female = RM$149/pair. RCA = RM$25/each.

My conclusion is that all the RCA/XLR caps have their pros and cons when it comes to sonic characteristics. All suffered from the same weakness, is that when too many of the same is used, it tends to over accentuate certain sonic attributes to the extreme which tips the balance towards negativity. Too much of a good thing? I don't know for sure.

What I am very sure is that I got the best results from playing around, with a few pairs of each. In other words, mix & match for best results. For example, I've found the Telos caps to promote high frequency details and when combined with the generic caps which tends to have a darkening effect on tonality, to create an effect of tonal shading and to add dynamic contrast for sculpting the sound stage. Throw in the Cardas to bring out the mid range slightly for some vocal presence enhancement and a more credible 3D staging and imaging illusion can be achieved.

Some of my friends also pointed out that they prefer to leave either the input exposed or just cap the outputs on the pre amp, for a more natural sound. In the context of their system, they felt capping all the un used inputs and outputs resulting in a sound stage that seems un naturally micro managed.

With that, I'd like to point out that your findings, based on the context of your system, may not agree with my conclusion above. I do think however, it's worth the patience and effort trying out to mix & match the RCA caps for best results.

Lastly, the usual YMMV caveat applies to this tweak. Go on and have some fun!

Also do read Odiosleuth's original review of the Telos caps dated 14th May 2009 for a refresher and pricing details. Click "Telos" on our right side bar to see it.

Cardas is sold by Hi-Way Laser, contact Kenny, tel: 019-2813399

Telos is sold by C&O Enterprise, contact John Sin, tel: 012-5269313

Spicing Up Your Hifi with Telos Caps

This is an old post of ours in the blog we previously contributed to.

First up, confession, I do not use a lot of tweak accessories with my hifi. The current items in my system that can be seen as tweaks are generic caps on the rca inputs of my monoblocks, my pre-amp (4 pieces), my cd player's digital output and a trio of finite elemente ceraballs under my pre-amp. If you want to count my finite elemente pagode signature rack as a big tweak, then you are welcome too. :-) My cdp, monoblocks, and speakers sit on the feet and spikes that they come with. All my cables either just dangle there or snake on the floor.

I like to equate audio tweaks to spices in cooking. Spices can't turn a fish dish into beef, but they are instrumental in supplementing and bringing out the true flavours of the main ingredients, and also to help the chef achieve the flavour that he/she aims for. The key, I think, is to use the right kind and the right amount.

I had a ball with Telos' products when Lil'KC and Ken visited me some time ago (see "Talking Torque again..." on April 13). The experience prompted me to call John Sin of C&O Audiophile Enterprise (012-5269313) to request for a complete set of Telos caps for evaluation.

Telos Caps Galore

John is a good sport. He supplied me with all I wanted, including Telos' rca caps, xlr caps (both male and female) and the speaker caps - they are of both the Gold and Platinum varieties, so that I could also do a comparison between the two.

The number of permutations possible for evaluation is limitless of course. One can mix Gold with Platinum, go the whole 9 yards by covering up every speaker, rca, xlr terminal, or cover up some but leave open others.

I got different results with my 2 cd players. Though experience with both was positive, there was a difference in the number of Telos caps I needed to achieve the sound quality I think has best balance of virtues. So I suspect they will be system dependent - you may need more of fewer than me to achieve the final result. Horses for courses.

To start, I took off all the generic caps I was using, and listened to the sound. It was not unlistenable, just that there was some hash in the highs and a slight confusion in the sound.

Telos RCA caps (Platinum above, Gold below)

Then, I proceed to put on the Telos Gold caps on each piece of equipment in sequence, listening for a while at each step, starting with the speaker terminals of my EgglestonWorks The Nine and going upstream. I started to hear discernible difference when I got to the rca inputs on my Pass Labs XA60 monoblocks. Yes, the background got quieter, the sound became a little smoother. This feeling is reinforced more and more as I ventured further up the chain. By the time I finished, the final transformation in sound was really quite pronounced - My system was operating on a velvety dark canvas. The images became more focused, their edges were better defined. The sound was smooth. Decay could be followed easier, take any well recorded vocal music, I used 2v1 and Rickie Lee Jones' 'Pop Pop' albums, and follow each phrase, you can track it until it vanishes into the darkness.

It was an impressive start. The words that easily came to mind to describe the improvements were 'clean', 'clear', 'transparent'.

A day more of listening, I was itching to 'tweak' the sound again. The sound now was controlled, to my ears just a little tight probably. I wanted to add a little liveliness and organic feel in the music, more flow. I pulled out some of the caps and tried out different configurations (well, this sounds easier on paper, like I said, there were a lot of permutations). At the end, I left the speaker caps and a few pairs of caps on my pre-amp out, and achieved what I wanted. In the process, I just need to sacrifice a bit of that background quietness.

Telos XLR caps (female version left, male version right)

Before I could go on to make comparison with the Platinum version, my Meridian developed a fault and had to go back to the dealer. I pressed my Copland CDA822 cd player into service. After a 3-day acclimatization period, I started evaluating the caps again. Suspecting that the Copland's relatively looser sound (the new Meridian has comparatively more defined and denser images) would benefit with more caps (which turned out to be true), I threw all cautions to the wind and put all the speaker, rca and xlr caps on again, where I did not have enough Gold rca caps, I used the Platinum ones.

The transformation was again pronounced - quieter, clearer, cleaner, more defined, tightened and focused images and soundstage.

A couple of days later, while enjoying the sound quality improvement, I felt the music did not involve me as much as before. It was a very polished performance no doubt but probably missed a bit of that something to pull me into the music fully.

I just have to find the right balance point like my previous experience. Rolling things back, I stopped with 3 more pairs of rca caps compared to the equilibrium point with the Meridian. This combination gave me listening bliss thereafter. It made me wondered far and wide into my CD collection, as it made many CDs so listenable.

Telos Speaker Caps

This experience told me that while the Telos caps gave good results, the users might have to experiment for the right number and the right combination for their system. As I said earlier - horses for courses. I also suspect the finite elemente pagode signature rack, which has greatly cleaned up my system's sound, probably warranted fewer caps to be used.

I was not done yet, I went on to compare the Gold to the Platinum version. I replaced all the Gold caps on my pre-amp to the Platinum ones. My goodness, the Platinum version was even more potent. All the earlier improvements were there and made more pronounced. In addition, they added more body and solidity to the sound. Transparency improved further, image edges were so well defined and everything was so easy to 'see'.

The old feeling did resurface though, I enjoyed the hifi attributes, but was not enjoying the music so much. The reason was found in the controlled and slightly sculpted highs. It could be heard on old recordings that have tape hiss (I used Billie Holiday's "Holiday for Lovers" Verve 314 589 932-2) and tracks that have a lot of cymbal works (such as the "Drum Improvisation Track" by Ron Tutt on The Sheffield Lab's Drum & Track Disc, at about 01:00 - 03:00), where the initial strike was heard cleaner and clearer, but the subsequent spread-in-the-air quality was curtailed a tad.

No problem, I was familiar with the routine already, I replaced the Platinum caps with Gold pair by pair. And found the best combination again with 2 pairs of caps reverted back to Gold.

Now, my system can be played louder without harshness, emotion and musical enjoyment was retained as before, even greater improvement in noise level and soundstage definition.

That was fun. These caps are going to stay in my system.

You should go out and get some, their quality is excellent, their price attractive (downright cheap with the Gold rca caps, I paid RM10 each for the generic caps, Telos' cost RM13 each list price, the quality between the two is a wide gulf). Experiment a little, I am quite certain that they will do something positive for you.

Let me leave you with this little cheeky tale - I was chit-chatting with a friend and told him how impressed I was with the caps. He then threw me this - "if an equipment's sound is badly affected by the 'holes' at the back, such that they have to be covered up, the manufacturer should give us as few 'holes' as possible, right? If, rather, the caps could improve the sound by virtue of them being added to the equipment, then the manufacturer should give us many many 'holes', so we can use a lot of caps to improve the sound, right? So, which is which?" I went gaga for a while.

Then I thought, the heck with it, I like the Telos caps, I am enjoying my system, should I care? :-)

List prices of Telos caps:
RCA caps - Gold --------------- RM130/10pcs
RCA caps - Platinum --------- RM250/10pcs
XLR male caps - Gold -------- RM130 /pair
XLR male caps - Platinum -- RM250/pair
XLR female caps - Gold ----- RM130/pair
XLR female caps - Platinum - RM250/pair
Speaker caps - Gold ---------- RM200/4pcs
Speaker caps - Platinum ---- RM350/4pcs

Telos is carried by C&O Audiophile Enterprise 05-5456477 / 012-5269313 (Mr. John Sin)

Posted by hifikaki 14 May '09

Talking Torque Again - An Open Letter to Lil'kc and Ken

This is an old post of ours in the blog we previously contributed to.

Dear Lil'kc and Ken,

Thanks for the time you spent at my place the Sunday before last. I found it both interesting and educational when you demonstrated your approach, or probably more appropriately called your 'philosophy' to sound, in the span of 4 hours or so.

I have taken the last couple of weeks to get a better handle on the sound changes in my system from the 'torquing' you have done on my equipment. I have also been thinking through this experience. I like to share with you my understanding, and please give me your feedback, especially if I have missed out something or have not been correct.

I understand that you aim for a number of key sound characteristics. I identified these as openness & clarity, extended frequency response at both ends, dynamism, and liveliness. This seems to be taken as an 'absolute' reference. I got this when on a couple of occasions lil'kc mentioned about his 'C', which is what he used to call his sound quality target. He used 'C' in contrast with 'A-B', that is that you are not evaluating sound quality through relative comparison (i.e., A-B'ing equipment's performance) but against a fixed standard instead. Am I right? (lil'kc talked about 'C' quite regularly on his blog, I could not understand it till now!) :-)

Since you have this clear target, everything done is aimed directly at its achievement. This was demonstrated in your visit session. The tightening of the screws on the equipment using a torque driver seems to 'liberate' the sound (well, 'tightening' is a misnomer, in fact, the torqued screws are looser than the original tightness that the equipment came with, but now every screw has the same tightness). As the 'torquing' exercise moved upstream, first the loudspeakers, then the amp, then the cdp, openness and dynamism of the sound improved. Then, step by step, a Telos powercord was added to the cdp, existing tweaks were taken off one by one, and tweaks from Telos were added, such as XLR caps, RCA caps and the loudspeakers banana caps. At each step, listening is conducted and the step will be reversed if the change was deemed to have gone overboard from the sound target.

Telos XLR male caps. Female version also available

Slowly but surely, the sound quality edged towards those sound targets mentioned earlier. The volume control edged up too, music was played louder and louder, adding greater dynamics, clarity and excitement to the listening experience.

Honestly, I have never listened to music on my system at such loudness level. Usually I would have found it a little painful aurally at levels like this, but now, the sound was composed and smooth.

The character, dynamic swing and the volume of the sound reminded me a lot about 'Live Sound'. I think I am not wrong to say that your 'C' is actually about that - LIVE.

Telos RCA caps

Swapping tweaks with those from Telos showed that they are pulling in different directions. My existing tweaks seems to work by 'covering up flaws', such as improving smoothness by turn down slightly the upper mids and the highs. However, Telos' pulled the other way, they aim to take the sound already liberated by torquing and expand it even further.

Am I right to say that torquing is the pre-requisite for the use of Telos' tweaks? I could imagine that without torquing, the addition of Telos' caps would not have given the users the full benefits, if at all. If so, then Telos dealers must educate their customers accordingly and probably even perform such a service for them.

Telos' products also seem to give the max effect when they are used as a total solution, as was heard as more and more Telos products were added. Mixing it with other brands again may restrict their full potential. So I think prospective users should be ready to go the whole length eventually.

Telos banana caps for speaker terminals

Ken has been advocating that all tweaks should be re-evaluated after torquing, he is right. I like to bring this one step further - every time a change is made in your system (e.g., adding a new piece of equipment), all tweaks should in fact be re-evaluated. Because if the tweaks do the 'cover-up flaws' thing, as I understand that some do from this experience, and the new change takes away the flaw, leaving the tweak in actually would restrict your system's performance. Not sure if you agree with this tweak novice. :-)

Anyway, I am interested to check out further the efficacy of Telos' tweaks, starting with the caps, as they aren't really expensive. I really must go and get some review samples. :-)

After you left and took away with you all the Telos items, I listened to my system for a few more days. The effects from the torquing were still there, but the performance was different from that during your visit session. I now look forward to do a longer term evaluation of Telos' products.

As it is, the system still sounds pretty good, with just the torquing effects left - 'Live-like', not your full 'C', but a few steps closer. :-)

Yours,
Hifikaki

Posted by hifikaki 13 April '09

Telos Reviews!

This is an old post of ours in the blog we previously contributed to.

Telos Catalog

First off, a general impression,

The Telos products offer first rate build quality, irregardless of price. However, of more interest is the question,"How do they sound like?"

I'll cover the components in review step by step, i.e. by adding one component at a time in to the system. Lastly, summing up with the whole range working together in sync.

Telos RCA caps compared to the "cheapie"

The RCA/XLR Caps : These things worked surprisingly well. When inserted in to all the unused chassis mounted connectors on the pre amp, they inexplicably bring the back ground noise of the system down somewhat, based on my subjective hearing, compared to the el-cheapie black plastic caps that I used, which does nothing for the sound but do keep dust at bay.

Telos XLR caps

The Golden Reference Power Cord : This item feels very heavy gauge. When used to power my CD player, comparing to my resident Isotek powercord, the music seems more energetic, subjectively louder and more alive. Bass was also noticeably more thightly robust. However, it did not bring any harshness or edginess in to the system, and retained all it's other positive sonic traits.

Telos Golden Reference Power Cord

The Golden Reference XLR Interconnect : Substituting my Audioquest Columbia, sending signals from CD player to pre-amp, the Telos GR interconnect was a revelation. It had the transparency to reproduce musical details and nuances in spades, just very slightly short of Maggielurva's Stage III Magnus I was playing with sometime back. This level of reproduction is what I deem critical in reproducing the high end illusion. Also worth mentioning is the very even tonal balance, this is not a cable to be used as an "expensive tone control". The staging and imaging factor was very impressive too. It has the ability to cast a big, deep and holographic sound stage, exceeding physical wall to wall. All vocals and instruments had an convincing "air" around them and their own placement within the sound stage. Some other cables tend to spotlight the center stage, leaving the back end and extreme sides of the staging seemingly a little faded, but not the Telos GR interconnects. The back end and extreme sides of the staging all have their own spotlights, so to speak.

Telos Golden Reference XLR Interconnect

Using all at once : With all the Telos components in used, there was a fundamental change to my system's sonic presentation. It was as if I have upgraded to a bigger pair of speakers and opened up to a bigger room. Bass was tight, full and seemed to dive an octave deeper. Mids are very fluid and open. the highs are extended, delicate, even airy, but never sweetened. Music comes across as very lively and energetic. The Telos GR powercord, when used to power my CD player was noted to be subjectively louder than before, this effect was however, reduced once the Telos GR interconnects were used in tandem. One thing worth mentioning is when most drums are recorded as placed in the back end of the stage, the kick drums always seems a little lacking of energy, the Telos combo, I feel, rightfully restores that feeling of energy, however, it is not to construed as standing out on it's own. It's never distracting, just as in live concerts(remember those Hard Rock Cafe performances?).

Summing up : The Telos components justly retains all the system's strength, namely, warmth, harmonic richness and subtle delicacy. It improves upon in the areas of bass, transparency, tunefulness and most convincing staging and imaging. I had a wonderful time re-discovering some past favorites and new music while the Telos stuff are in my system. I am not sure what they'll do in other systems as they are pretty truthful to source, but they sure fit in to my system like hand in gloves!

contact:
john sin (mobile: 012-5269313)
c&o audiophile enterprise, ipoh

Posted by Panzer 7 November '08