We are very proud to introduce EWA Starting Point interconnects, by Colin J Wonfor. These cables are designed to outperform anything you care to try against them, at a reasonable price level. This price is determined by the cost of high performance materials, and special design innovations from C J Wonfor.
The result is a cable that can make a home in a truly high end audio system, or enhance and elevate the performance of something a little closer to home. Starting Point gets to where all EWA designs have their genesis: Transparent, high performance designs that get out of the way, letting you experience everything. The starting point of the musical experience.
Starting Point interconnects are available as analogue interconnects (RCA single ended only), and as a Digital co-axial cable. Starting at £95.
Read on for a testimonial:
I've had these cables for a few weeks now, and after a fortnight of burning in, and some careful comparative listening, I'm rather impressed.
But I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual. The "experience" starts with a box. As with the other cables in their range, the cables arrive in a decent, branded cardboard box, with materials to protect the terminations and cables in transit and storage. Nothing over the top; No precious wood caskets, no suedette drawstring bags, no faff, basically. Fit for purpose, and a feeling of quality - That'll do me nicely.
The impressions aren't tarnished when it comes the the RCA cables themselves. Good quality componentry, neatly assembled, and a feeling of, well, 'nice.' The heavens didn't part with an angelic choir descending, but you know when sometimes you get the feeling that something is good? As Colin Chapman said, "If it looks right, it is right." Possibly not the best saying when we're talking about cables, where all the construction and internals are hidden, but EWA have clearly thought about these cables. They may not be extravagant, but they are certainly impressive.
But how do they sound?
My absolute first impressions were, to be honest, not so great as I hoped: Lean to the point of harshness at first, but then they began to settle down and actually changed a fair bit after a few days. I kept swapping back to my go-to cables (Cable Talk Monitor) to check that I wasn't imagining the improvement - I was not. After a couple of weeks, these Starting Point cables definitely have settled down. So what do they settle down to?
Well, in my system, they've settled down to an even-handed, fairly revealing cable. This is really not a cable that you can use to "tune" your system - there is just no significant bias here. Compared to some consumer grade interconnects I have that came with a Denon system I picked up recently, they are a damned good improvement (so much for 'starting point') - much more open, more detail, better dynamic range, just generally better.
Compared with my Cable Talk Monitor cables the Starting Point are sort of like a little brother - doing most of what they do - which is to be expected for the low price. Expecting an entry-level cable from one manufacturer to match high end cables from another company isn't really a fair test; If anything, I did find the EWA cables a little more neutral, The Monitors being a little more forward in the mid-range. Swapping the cables onto my bass amp didn't change my impression of them - they do a good job here too. Detail and texture did not disappoint. My Oyaide Orange cables seemed to give a little better bass presence, but as I've already said elsewhere these seem to be biased to the club scene that they were made for. I'd rather have a really good "all round" cable like Starting Point, than one that sparkles in just one area myself.
Trying some other cables was interesting. For instance, trying some StraightThru cables: Where a lot people report these cables as bright, in my system they were bass monsters. I initially fell into the trap of listening to what was better; Listening again for what wasn't there, the mid and upper detail that the EWA's do well at was somewhat diminished (I'll now have to decide between Oyaide Orange and these StraightThru cables on the bass).
I seem to be rambling a little. What do I think of these EWA Starting Point? I like them. They are not biased to any particular frequency range, they are not going to muddy the presentation, for a basic step-up cable they are so definitely worth a listen. I personally think that they will be a 'first good cable' that will be more than good enough for a lot of people for a very long time - a 'first' cable that makes it into second or even third audio systems. They do need a bit of burn-in time, but once that's accomplished they're just a damned good all-rounder.
There are better, more expensive cables out there, of course there are. But in terms of bang per buck and getting started, these are pretty damned good. Recommended. - Leigh.