Sound Analysis.

Eddie^2 ($299, link n/a yet)

Wire Structure:

• Golden Ratio Strands with Shielded Twisted Pair
• 21 AWG

Material:

• Shielding: Silver plated 5N LC-OFC Copper
• Core: High Purity OCC Copper

The cable is 4.4mm terminated and equipped with ConX basic set (2pin 0.78, mmcx).

While testing Eddie^2 with various IEMs, I found its sound characteristics to contribute to the sound of these IEMs with (a sound description relative to IEMs under test):

• Maintaining big, rounded soundstage with spacious imaging.
• Maintaining the black background.
• To my ears, this cable has more emphasis on sub-bass rumble and strong mid-bass punch, mids are kept natural without too much coloring, treble has a bit extra of natural well-controlled crunch.  But despite the low end enhancement, the bass itself kept tight and well controlled without spilling into mids.

Despite being their cheapest “budget” cable, it comes with an additional carry-on mesh bag.

Seraphina ($439, link)

Wire Structure:

• Shielded Twisted pair & S-Z Multi Strands with Shielded Twins Pair
• 21.3 AWG

Material:

• Shielding: Silver plated OFC Copper
• Core: Silver Plated 6N OCC Copper

The cable is 4.4mm terminated and equipped with ConX basic set (2pin 0.78, mmcx).

While testing Seraphina with various IEMs, I found its sound characteristics to contribute to the sound of these IEMs with (a sound description relative to IEMs under test):

• The soundstage here is focused more on depth than width, actually width is slightly reduced; maintains decent imaging.
• Maintaining the black background.
• To my ears, I hear more emphasis on mids, their natural clarity and retrieval of details; bass has a nice sub-bass rumble and tighter mid-bass punch, treble also has extra sparkle, but I hear more emphasis on upper mids and perhaps a little more body in lower mids.

As a side note, Minerva (reviewed next) and Seraphina are close in tonality.  The main difference is Seraphina having a little more bass weight that adds some extra body in lower mids, giving the sound a bit fuller body tonality in mids.

Minerva ($459, link)

Wire Structure:

• Multi Strands Litz with Coaxial Shielding
• 22.7 AWG

Material:

• 4N OCC Silver and Silver Plated 5N LC-OFC

The cable is 4.4mm terminated and equipped with ConX basic set (2pin 0.78, mmcx).

While testing Minerva with various IEMs, I found its sound characteristics to contribute to the sound of these IEMs with (a sound description relative to IEMs under test):

• I found it to maintain a spacious imaging, and the soundstage enhancement with more depth in comparison to width.
• Maintaining the black background.
• To my ears, I hear some extra sub-bass rumble (less than Nadia/Lavinia), a bit slower mid-bass punch, mids are very clean and clear without any coloring and with a slightly more forward presentation, treble has a very well controlled crunch without any harshness to keep high frequencies natural.

Lavinia ($759, link)

Wire structure:

• Shielded Twisted pair & S-Z Strands
• 20.4 AWG

Material:

• Shielding: Silver-plated 5N OFC
• Core: 4N Pure Silver, Gold-plated OCC Copper, Gold-plated 4N Silver, Palladium-plated 4N Silver combined in a 3:1.5:1.5:1 ratio using coaxial multiple reverse twisting technology

The cable is 4.4mm terminated and equipped with ConX 2.0 full set (2pin 0.78, mmcx, a2dc, IPX, Pentaconn ear).

While testing Lavinia with various IEMs, I found its sound characteristics to contribute to the sound of these IEMs with (a sound description relative to IEMs under test):

• Nearly a holographic imaging, round-shaped soundstage without any exaggeration.
• Maintaining the black background.
• To my ears, I hear more emphasis with a stronger sub-bass rumble, smoother lower mids and slightly more revealing upper mids with a bit forward presentation, and a little extra sparkle in treble.

Nadia ($849, link)

Wire Structure:

• Golden Ratio and Multi Strands with Shielded Twisted Pair
• 20.6 AWG

Material:

• Core (positive): 25.5AWG
  • 4N OCC Silver
  • Gold plated 7N OCC Copper
  • Gold plated 4N OCC Silver
  • Gold-Silver Alloy
• Core (negative): 26.5AWG
  • 4N OCC Silver
  • 7N OCC Copper
• Shielding: 24AWG
  • Silver plated 5N LC-OFC Copper

The cable is 4.4mm terminated and equipped with ConX basic set (2pin 0.78, mmcx).

While testing Nadia with various IEMs, I found its sound characteristics to contribute to the sound of these IEMs with (a sound description relative to IEMs under test):

• I can hear a holographic imaging with a very wide-open soundstage expansion.
• Maintains the super black background.
• To my ears, I hear more emphasis on sub-bass rumble and mid-bass punch, more natural detailed transparency in mids (without pulling them back or adding more body to lower mids), and a bit extra natural sparkle in treble.

Conclusion.

As I always mention in my cable reviews, the wire doesn’t have a sound.  Everything will depend on the pair-up synergy since the essence of the cable is to finetune the baseline signature of your IEMs.  There is no magic “EQ” silver bullet or fairy dust behind wires of the cable.  If you are unhappy with the sound of your IEMs, get another pair of monitors with a different sound signature because a cable should not make a night and day difference.  And I’m saying this as a true cable believer.  Also, the higher in price you go, the more diminishing returns you should expect, especially when it comes to cables.

I do not doubt that some look into the cables from a cosmetic/aesthetic perspective, and even Vortex itself refers to these cables as Carry Fashion Sound.  They put a lot of emphasis on eye-candy appeal of these cables, from the colors they use to the original hardware design.  But like I always say, it is not just about the looks, but also what they contribute to the sound.  Each of the Vortex cables I tested with various IEMs contributed to a unique fine-tuning of their sound characteristics.  And considering the original design, manufacturing, and exotic wire materials, Vortex stayed true to their slogan of “affordable luxury”, keeping their pricing quite reasonable.