[ REVIEW ]
FOR LISTENING, NOT LOOKS SUPRA Trico Coaxial Digital Cable
It has all the visual appeal of porridge, which is to say, none at all. What the SUPRA Trico does possess are impressive measurements, and it’s cables like this that stand out to parishioners from the church of data.
The unfortunate position the Trico finds itself in is there are as exciting - if you can believe it - and less expensive digital cables which also make lab-tested claims (in the interest of moving words along, see the Notes for numbers). However, even at double the retail price of Canare or Belden wire, 1m of Trico is still a budget friendly $100.
Our favorite amongst a lot is the Canare LV-61S, which we may revisit sometime, although the Trico performs above that grade. Something interesting is that the character of the sound isn’t notably different from the Canare, but, it is more tightly packaged. Slightly more detailed and extended. Cohesive. An ensemble performance plays as one, not many, although the increased sense of depth helps you better pick out the performers.
These characteristics are consistent as you move up in DACs. Sometimes it takes a more sophisticated converter to reveal the nature of a cable, though this isn’t that case. It’s clear even on a Musical Fidelity V90, an entry-level model.
The take away is the improvements the Trico offers are for more particular listeners or people who enjoy extended listening sessions. Subtle, but significant for people getting involved.
That’s all good news. We’re looking at a generic, but more qualified digital cable that establishes expectations at its price. If you’re building up a system, Supra Trico is a sensible step in that direction.
Great.
★★★★☆
Manufacturer: SUPRA Cables (jenving.com)
Price: 1m ($100)
Notes: There are a lot of reasonably priced generic digital cables that are on-spec and made for studios. What first intrigued us about this particular cable was its Product of the Year and Best Buy awards in Hifi Choice magazine.
Besides Canare (Japanese stock) and Belden (American), you could also look at Van Damme (UK), Gotham (Switzerland), Mogami (Japanese), Gepco (American), and Monoprice (Chinese). Different brands, different sources, different companies. Supra? They’re Swedish.
The numbers, from Supra: 75 ohm impedance (+/- 1.5 Ohm upto 100 MHz), 58 pF/metre capacitance, insulated with PE foam (leading to a propagation velocity of 0.78 light speed). The silver plated signal carrying inner conductor enhances the high frequency properties of the cable, leading to an extremely low level of attenuation: 0.6 dB per 100 metres at 1.0 MHz and just 7.1 dB per 100 metres at 100 MHz.
