˻ PREMIERE ˼

⌈ MB Audio Cable was founded in 2015 in Turza Śląska by MAREK BROŻEK. The company specializes in the production of audio cables, using copper, silver and a combination of silver and gold. We are testing its RCA analog interconnect called SILVER for the first time. ⌋

TURZA ŚLĄSKA IS KNOWN mainly for its sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima, often referred to as Silesian Fatima. It is a small village with a population of just over 3,600 in the Silesian Province, first mentioned in 1305. However, what is more important to us, I assume, is that it was there that the audiophile company MB Audio Cable, specializing in the production of signal cables, was established.

Although we are used to the most famous brands being based in large centers, many specialist boutique audio companies are associated with small towns. This is interesting from a sociological point of view and valuable to us audiophiles. This is because these companies usually speak with their own “voice” . Although they are part of the audio world and do not operate in a vacuum, modeling themselves on and drawing inspiration from other manufacturers, their approach to product design is usually slightly different, less clichéd.

In this context, let us mention such brands as Pylon Audio (Jarocin), Avatar Audio (Osowicze), Thunder Melody (Henryków), WK Audio (Plichtów), as well as the largest of them, Fezz Audio, located in Juchnowiec Kościelny. And Silesia itself is, after all, a hub for audio manufacturers such as JCAT and Next Level Tech (Wrocław), Verictum (Dąbrowa Górnicza), Closer Acoustics (Katowice) and More Audio (Zabrze). This combination of a company from a small center with its Silesian origins seems to bode well…

▌ Silver

The SILVER MODEL is an analog interconnect. It was introduced to the MB Audio Cable range in 2024 as a “response” – according to the manufacturer – to “the needs of the most demanding audio enthusiasts seeking natural sound with high resolution and detail.” It is available in a balanced version with XLR connectors and an unbalanced version with RCA connectors. The manufacturer's price list includes prices for lengths of 0.5 and 1 m, but – as is often the case with small specialists – it is almost certain that you can order a cable of any length.

Mr Brożek writes:

The idea for the cable was born out of many years of experience and listening tests conducted in our workshop, driven, as is often the case, by a passion for sound and a desire to create a cable that does not impose its own character and allows the system to sound to its full potential.

The cable looks nice, but typical for this class of products – it has a classic gray nylon jacket (you know – Silver :) and the plugs are covered with heat-shrinkable sleeves. The company logo, model name and arrows indicating the correct connection are printed on them – the cable is directional. In the basic price ranges, customization of the so-called “shrinks” is the only available method of describing the cable.

The Silver model's design is based on a group of solid-core conductors made of silver with added gold and a second group made of monocrystalline silver, which, according to the manufacturer, ensures “excellent signal conduction properties”. Teflon is used as the conductor insulator. The conductors are arranged in a helical geometry (Helix), experimentally selected via listening sessions, which is designed to reduce interference between them. Many other companies manufacture their cables in a similar way, but usually at a much higher price, including Shunyata Research and Crystal Cable.

The cable is shielded with dense braiding made of silver-plated copper, which, according to the company, “effectively protects the signal from EMI/RFI interference.” The conductors are soldered to the plugs using high-silver tin with added gold, which is supposed to ensure a “stable, secure, and durable connection”. Plugs are the bottleneck of many cables – good ones are expensive. Here, a really good type has been used, based on a patent called Bullet Plug, which uses very little metal and single ground contact points. KLE (formerly Eichmann Bullet) plugs with silver contacts, characterized by high conductivity ≥101% IACS, were chosen for this purpose.

Cables need to be packaged somehow. Companies adopt various strategies, which can be grouped into categories. MC Audio Cable divides these tasks between several different types of packaging. In cheaper models, such as the Clear model we reviewed in April (more → HERE ˻PL˺), it is transparent packaging. More expensive items, including Silver, come in a wooden box. The company's large logo is engraved on its lid.

Mr. Brożek ends his email to us with the words: “Manual production allows us to maintain full control at every stage of the interconnect's production.” (bold added by the Editor).

▌ THE LISTENING SESSION

THE WAY WE LISTENED • The MB Audio Cable Silver analog interconnect was tested in the “High Fidelity” reference system, connecting the RCA output (WBT Nextgen gold-plated sockets) of the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition SACD player and the input of the Spheris Evo line preamplifier from the same company (again WBT Nextgen gold-plated sockets) . The test was an AAA/BBB/AA comparison with known A and B, with Siltech Triple Crown interconnects (approx. PLN 80,000) acting as ‘B’.

» ALBUMS USED IN THE TEST ⸜ a selection

⸜ ROY HAYNES QUARTET, Out of the Afternoon, Impulse!/UMG Recordings UCGU-9079, „Acoustic Sounds SACD Series”, SHM-SACD ⸜ 1962/2025.
⸜ DIANA KRALL, All For You (A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio), Impulse!/JVC 532 360-9, XRCD24 ⸜ 2010.
⸜ BRIAN ENO, Top Boy Theme, Bat Records/Opal Records/Netflix BRC744, UHQCD ⸜ 2023.
⸜ WHITESNAKE, Lovehunter. EMI United Kingdom 7 52053 2 ⸜ CD ⸜ 1979/?.
⸜ BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB Buena Vista Social Club ★ Edición 25 Aniversario, World Record/BMG WCD05025S, 2 x CD ⸜ 1997/2021.

The SILVER CABLE from MB Audio Cable does not sound like the stereotypical descriptions of silver interconnects found in dusty back issues of Polish audio magazines from the 1990s. It is a cable that produces slightly detached, unobtrusive and very elegant sound that is also open and lively.

When at the beginning of ˻ 1 ˺ Moon Ray, the opening track of the album Out of the Afternoon by drummer ROY HAYNES’ quartet, the drums can be heard in the right channel, we can also hear a response from the Hackensack Studio, where the album was recorded. This is a typical Rudy Van Gelder recording, with a live mix to two channels. The drums were on the right and the piano in the background – and it is from behind the piano that you can hear the reverb in question, picked up by its microphones.

These so-called “leaks” make recordings sound incredibly spacious and authentic. The Polish cable maintained this authenticity, even though it was compared to an interconnect costing many, many (and many more) times more. It presented the cymbals in a sparkling way, but also showed their heavy character, not like tin plates. At the same time, it slightly withdrew the entire sound, showing everything from a more distant perspective.

And everything was lively – that's the most important piece of information. This is because the cable slightly favors the high frequencies. But not the ones responsible for brightening, there are none here, but rather the range of several kHz where sibilants are just developing. In the recording ˻ 1 ˺ I’m An Errand Girl for Rhythm, from DIANA KRALL’s album All For You (A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio), its producer, Tomy Li Puma, left quite a few of them. He didn't mute or fade them out, and the remaster made in 2010 at the JVC studio for the XRCD24 release respected that.

This album sounds somewhat bright, but not harshly so, rather vividly. The Polish cable did not go any further, did not overemphasize the brass, did not bring out the hiss from the pianist's vocals. Instead, it showed great perspective, a large soundstage, built by long reverberations. It was proactive when doing so in the sense that it played with rhythm, allowing the recordings to live, pushing them forward slightly, like an electric motor in the first gear on a bicycle. It was really very good sound.

Another thing that will appeal to you is the way the space is created. It is compressible and dense. This means that if sounds surround us to a certain extent, as in ˻ 1 ˺ Top Boy Theme, the opening track from BRIAN ENO’s album Top Boy with the soundtrack from the Netflix series of the same title, that's how they will be shown. It was really very well arranged and set up, as there was both relaxed sound around me, but also clear sounds on the axis. The Polish cable also shifted the perspective slightly deeper into the scene.

There was also low bass – very low indeed. The electronic descents entering at 1:20 were conceived by Eno not as distinct elements in space, but rather as a low-lying background, introducing an element of horror into the idyllic theme. The Silver interconnect did not go as low as the Siltech, nor did it focus the sound so perfectly, but it did not spoil the impression I am talking about, namely the clash of calm and fear. It is a great bass for the price, which I also heard in the next track on the album, ˻ 2 ˺ But Not This Way, where he is precise and focused. That's how it was with the Polish cable, too.

All of the recordings mentioned above were sophisticated productions, exceptional releases – SHM-SACD in the case of Haynes, XRCD24 in the case of Krall, and finally UHQCD with Eno's music. This helps, even a lot. But these aren't the recordings we listen to every day, are they? At least not all of us. That is why I also enjoyed listening to recordings from regular CD releases, albums recorded in a manner far from “perfect” in terms of sound quality, but excellent in terms of music – such as Lovehunter by WHITESNAKE.

My son and I have this "thing" – once every two or three weeks, we buy one, sometimes two CDs at Paul's Boutique Record Store. Originally designed for LPs, skateboards, etc., the store, currently operating on Bożego Ciała Street (in Cracow), has a rack with CDs in the corner. They are treated as rejects, trash, which is why they are cheap. And although the cases need to be replaced, you can find some cool stuff there, like the aforementioned album, for which Bartek paid 15 PLN. The release is interesting because it comes from the early years of the format – the cover features the Compact Disc logo, and the sound is not compressed (an interesting fact – the Discogs portal censored the cover, which was quite innocent after all :)

The Silver cable sounded really good. There was no heaviness, but there isn't any on the album, nor was there any brightness or harshness. The Polish interconnect sounds very nice. Open and lively, but never irritating. Interestingly, it seemed to me that the cymbal and snare drum hits were slightly smoothed out. It was as if the tested cable did not let through anything that would break the illusion of communing with music and draw attention to the technology. The sound had a strong core on the listening axis, which was well distributed. It did not lump everything together into one “blob.”

▌ Conclusions

I AM IMPRESSED WHEN I HEAR about products such as the interconnect under review. It is well-made, with passion and heart, offering very good sound and an exceptionally low price. And yet it is one of the more expensive cables from this company.

Its sound is lively, open, and resonant. It doesn't lull you to sleep, it's not heavy, it doesn't bring you down. But at the same time, it retains all the features we expect from a high-end cable, because it's well-organized and classy. It's smooth, yet open sound. And it also has an extended bass range. This is usually a problem in cables in this price range, and manufacturers resort to either emphasizing or contouring it. Here, there is none of that, just a smooth, low descent at the bottom of the band.

This cable breathes life into your system without brightening it up. It reveals many details and nuances in recordings without breaking them up. It is suitable for both tube and transistor systems, for lovers of jazz and classical music, but also for rock fans and people who listen to heavy electronic sounds. It is truly versatile. We can also play “non-audiophile” records with it. Although we will want to have the best editions of these as well, because – as demonstrated by listening to the Buena Vista Social Club album released on the 25th anniversary of its premiere – the more “sounds in the sound,” the better the cable performs. I highly recommend it. ●

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THIS TEST HAS BEEN DESIGNED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES adopted by the Association of International Audiophile Publications, an international audio press association concerned with ethical and professional standards in our industry, of which HIGH FIDELITY is a founding member. More about the association and its constituent titles → HERE.

→ www.AIAP-online.org