ALO Audio SXC-8 vs ALO Audio Litz cables





This was originally first published in the Head pie Campfire Audio Cascade review. This except is now also published as its own piece as many people enquired about the SXC-8 cable.

Also here is an earlier post.
ALO Audio Tinsel, Litz and Reference 8 cables comparisons:

On with the syndicated impressions...!




ALO Audio Litz MMCX to 2.5mm to iBasso CA02 2.5mm to 4.4mm adapter 
versus 
ALO Audio SXC-8 MMCX to 4.4mm.


Hopefully to further shed some light upon the differences between the two cables going out on a side limb here. The important part being they both share the 4.4mm connection, and hence the same iBasso amp 4 unit for consistency.

Using iBasso DX200 with Amp 4. Low gain.
JVC Spiral tips.

Campfire Audio Vega: 
ALO Audio Litz: Bass, though not as heavy as the Cascade, lots of space, extended highs, subtle mids. Excellent resolution and clarity. 
ALO Audio SXC-8: More clarity, increase in space, more body, rich.

Campfire Audio Andromeda:
ALO Audio Litz: Open, wide sound stage, lovely mids, extended in all directions, exquisite layering and timbre. Light.
ALO Audio SXC-8: Lovely body, layering is defined, imaging is definite and clear, deep and full. large sound stage.

Campfire Audio Orion:
ALO Audio Litz: Soft, even, mids, linear.
ALO Audio SXC-8: More definition, slightly wider, still mainly retains linear signature.

Campfire Audio Lyra ii:
ALO Audio Litz: Fairly linear, reference leaning, nice light touch of body, very gentle. Upper bass and lower mids quite complementary towards each other.
ALO Audio SXC-8: More speed, increase in body and timbre, imaging improved, vocals more silky smooth.

Campfire Audio Dorado:
ALO Audio Litz: Bright, and low ended. Medium sound stage at times.
ALO Audio SXC-8: Deep full bass, clear vocals, highs clear but not over extended, mids come up more. Larger sound stage. More depth and body. Smoother.

In summary: The sound stage is increased, mids brought up a tad, more coherency, smoother, overall body has depth and the layering is more defined. Via the better clarity instrument placement and separation is more noticeable.


With the Campfire Audio Cascade


Campfire Audio stock Litz cable (Silver plated copper with cloth jacket) 
versus 
ALO Audio SXC 8 x 22 awg silver plated copper cable

Early impressions after 150 hours.

Cascade stock cable
1: Still a bit bassy, a pad scrunching evened it out a bit.
2: Clean sound, still bass - sub bass.
Deep. Fairly flat. Needs more definition.
3: More delicate. Fairly even. Still that 'boom, boom'.

SXC-8
1: Fuller overall. Still dat bass. But more control(?).
2: Clears it up a bit. Better separation. More space.
3: Bass lingers.

After 300+ hours

Cascade stock cable
It has balanced out more. Bass is tight and controlled. Still full bass. Clean defined sound. Even, not overly dramatic.

ALO Audio SXC-8
Beautiful. fuller, sound stage expanded. Imaging exquisite. Instrument separation and general timbre is excellent. Resolution and detail are greatly improved. Vocals are gorgeous. It comes alive in a sense.

Changing to the SXC-8 made me stay up for another hour past midnight - aural bliss.

*Results may be skewered due to using the iBasso DX200 Amp 1 for stock cable and Amp 4 for the SXC-8.
*I will also experiment with the Vega and Andromeda with MMCX Litz 2.5mm to an iBasso 2.5mm to 4.4mm adapter and also the MMCX to 4.4mm SXC-8 cable ultilizing Amp 4. (see further below past the colorful pictures).










Cable chin slider kludge

The cable Y is quite long so I made a neck slider out of the tiny velcro strips which come wrapped around IEM cables.




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