[TheChairGuy]

I've sampled enough of their wares now to write a pretty neat summary of various items in the line.

Brad Vojtech, the owner of RAL is a bright, earnest guy that has spent a couple decades making his own cable products...and I think his company is about 4 years old now. To his credit, he makes cables full time for the past (almost) 2 years now, a testamonial to his good, well thought of, work. This is a pretty small business folks - few small, specialist cable makers can afford to do this full time without a 'real' job  

In general, I am a cable agnostic.  I have had many more instances of 'sideways' upgrades than actual benefits from cable swaps.  That said, much of my experience with RAL cables has shaken my agnostic beliefs a bit as it has been positive.

By product:

Passage Cryo-Silver™ Reference Power cable - Simply, a must for my MSB.  I've stated this before on this forum, the $169.00 spent on this umbilical power cable was worth as much in benefit as $2000.00 in mods to my transport and MSB's done by Empirical Audio.  That's no swipe at the talents of Steve Nugent over at EA, it just a statement of benefit that the RAL cable made.

Bass solidity and weight of everything improved afterwards...as did resolution. A great $169.00 spent and highly recommended for anyone with MSB, Perp Tech, Musical Fidelity or other gear.  If Brad hasn't made it for your particular gear, he can and relishes the opportunity to.  He's your 'custom' house for cables that you have often no other option for, but bone stock or DIY it.


Paradise Cryo-Silver™ Reference RCA Interconnect cable - I bought my pair before a price increase a while back, and my rating is based on that relative value of things.  

Nothing I've heard/owned before is preferable to it, but I think this one more subjective.  I didn't notice any less hi frequency response ( a sign of high capacitance) than others and they are spooky quiet (as good as my very quiet LAT International's).  I can't give an unqualifed 'buy' rating to these as I believe IC's to be so taste dependent.  But, they are well made, constructed of top notch materials and, at least I, like them and use them (from DAC to preamp).


Precept II Cryo-Silver™ Reference A/C Mains cable - I bought 2 x 0.5 mtr. cables about a month ago.  The results were simply great with my MSB Power Base.  I simply don't know how he eliminates so much AC hash with his cables, but it achieves mightily. Their effect on digital gear is tremendous.

I have the other one on my preamp (my transport has fixed wire - according to Steve Nugent - wouldn't benefit from aftermarket cable becasue the draw is so little) and I like it a bit more than either cheapie 14ga, LAT International AC-2, PS Audio Extreme I've also tried it on.  

Really tho, the tremendous benefit is on digital gear.  For analog, it's nice...but again the benefit to digital can't be overlooked.  It simply wicks away a lot of hash on that type of gear.

Brad told me that NuForce tested a couple cords recently and was pleased enough with their performance to recommend them for their amps.


Prophecy Cryo-Silver™ Reference CAT5/RJ-45 i2s Digital Link cable - I was Brad's first customer for this product, and bought a 0.5mtr version of it long ago.

Versus the Cat5 wiring offered by MSB (between transport and MSB DAC) it offers up greater resolution overall.  I wish I had purchased the 1 meter version as I now need longer...and also believe that 0.5 meter, is insufficient length for digital cable (I have read).  I think one could coax out more performance from 1 meter version, and recommend spending that extra $100 for if you are looking for a super premium digital cable.

Again, this is one of Brad's custom cables...where you have little resources left but to use stock, or go the DIY route.  

Revelation Audio Labs uses excellent quality materials and quite a few innovative technolgies in their design.  Ultimately, you are buying and paying for those super premium parts and meticulous labor that goes into them.

The cables were all acquired as new over the past couple of years.  There are many things one can do with the same $2000.00 to enhance your listening experience, but all of the RAL cables at least merit some consideration.

The power umbilical and Precept II power cables are super enthusiastic recommendations   ...the IC and digital cable have cautionary recommendations, as noted above.

www.RevelationAudioLabs.com is the place to find more about them.  Brad will go to great length in explaining what he does if you'd rather talk it thru with him.

[TheChairGuy]

I recently purchased a used Musical Surroundings Phenomena phono pre-amp and (DC / battery powered) Power Supply.

Although I use a hi output selection of cartridges, I wanted to see how much resistance loading would add to the sonic picture. Turns out it (currently) is a positive step in the right direction, but it wins by nuance, not knockout, over my phono stage in my Dynaco PAS-4

But, having it is a step forward in vinyl sonics and it gives me the future opportunity to possibly try a low output moving coil in the future. It is very quiet....it seems to kick up the signal 40db a lot quieter than the Dynaco can.  Battery power will do that kinda' thing.

As I found with my MSB, the purchase of the outboard power supply was not fully valuable until I added the Revelation Audio Lab's Passage Cryo-Silver Umbilical Power Cable.  Unfortunately, the connectors are different for that cable than with the Phenomena, so I had to again peel open my wallet to by a new length of Passage cable from Brad, with the right terminations for the Phenomena on both ends.

So, Brad's my custom cable guy it seems (you all, too, if you need a 'weird' cable made with a seriously tasty recipe of parts, process and execution) - and this cable achieves half the benefit that the previous MSB by RAL  umbilical did, the Phenomena will vault to leagues better than my current preamp phono section.

I still shake my head in disbelief that a low inductancce cable from RAL for less-than-$200 was the equal of $2000 in Transport and DAC upgrades.  That's nothing to slight Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio as his work is stellar, it's just a major kudo to that Passage cable for all it does on it's very own.  No cable swap has ever been THAT meaningful sonically - none.

I'll know in a couple weeks when it arrives here and check back with everybody then  

[TheChairGuy]

Well, I got it today....the Passage Cryo-Silver™ Reference Power cable. 1 meter in length.

Dang nice construction - as are all the RAL stuff.

I plugged it into the Muscial Surroundings Phenomena amp and battery supply and, oola, a notable betterment was had.  

It is now whisper quiet on either AC or battery stage, the presentation is not as thin, and there is clearly more detail (my daughter was napping in the other room and I was hearing some stuff on a Mike Oldfield track that I hadn't heard ever...tho it's been played a couple dozen times...and I kept thinking it was my daughter moving about in the other room).  I love those nuanced upgrades.

One thing definitely not a nuance is the dynamics.  Whereas the Phenomena and bps was providing a barely better presentation than straight on into my Dynaco PAS-4's phono stage...it is now dramatically and demonstrably better.  It was barely worth the $600 (used) I paid for it on my system....now it really shines.  Only, AFTER inclusion of the RAL cable in the mix.

Everything just sounds more sorted now...closer to the perception of live.

I don't think it was as fully dramatic an upgrade as the addition to my MSB DAC and power supply was....but it is well worth the price here.  

I may find, as I upgrade my VPI/front end, that it's effect may be even more beneficial as the level of resolution is raised. I still get too much shaking/buzzing coming from the motor making it to the plinth and on into the music.

A low inductance, shielded power cable between your amplification device ad outboard power supply seems to be a must to get the best out of it.  The cheapie OEM cord that came with it is likely keeping you from fully enjoying it.  I certainly wish it weren't the case, but it seems to be.

Kudo's to Brad Vojtech and Revelation Audio Labs for crafting another winner