Siltech Master Crown - Positive Feedback

The Dutch company Siltech is one of the leading manufacturers of audio cables. For years, with its Triple Crown series, along with a handful of other manufacturers, it dictated the terms in the high-end. This May, however, it unveiled its new top-of-the-line Master Crown series. Twice as expensive. Gabi van der Kley (CEO) and Viktor De Leeuw (COO) came to Krakow to present it to us.

Motto: One more time, Siltech has surpassed the boundaries of the audio technology and is presenting the revolutionary Master Crown. Engineered to deliver an unbeatable performance and musicality www.siltechcables.com.

However I intended to open this text, however I tried to think about it, sooner or later it always came down to the matter of the price of the new cables. After all, the interconnect, speaker cables and the three AC power cables we listened to cost a little over 1,200,000 PLN.

Siltech Master Crown before they were plugged in, Triple Crown behind them

And, believe me, I have tried at least six different openings. And I've tried it not because it's a problem, at least for those with money, but because of a lack of awareness of how the high-end works, that is, of what the principle called "the law of diminishing returns" really is. The Encyclopedia of Management defines it this way:

The law of diminishing returns affirms that the addition of a larger amount of one factor of production inevitably yields decreased per-unit incremental returns. Or, putting it differently, the ultimate product of each unit of a factor decreases as the amount of that factor increases with all other factors unchanged.

Entry: Prawo malejących przychodów in: Encyklopedia Zarządzania, MFILES.pl, accessed: 4.10.2024.

The idea is, in a nutshell, that the more we spend on a product (I'm sticking to audio), the more we get (better sound), and that this relationship is described by an asymptotic curve. At first it rises quite fast, then the rise gets slower and slower, and then it reaches an (almost) flattening. That is, although in each step up we spend similar money, the quality progress is lesser and lesser, until the curve becomes an almost flat line, when even very large expenditures give a minimal increase in sound quality. So much for the definition.

Only that this is a wrong definition, and being precise, its misapplication. For this economic principle assumes that the observer is always in the same place, that is, at point "zero," from which he started. And yet, being an audiophile means constantly learning, growing, changing, that is, moving once with the sound along this curve. Each time, our "zero" is in a different place.

And this is something that many apologists and lovers of the above principle forget: "it works [when] all the factors of production are fixed, and one of them is variable over time," is the second part of the definition. And the most important addition: "That's why it is used only in the short term, because in the long term all factors of production are variable." That is, changing the observer's consciousness breaks this relationship.

From experience, I will say that it looks completely different from what is said by those who, for some reason, defend the law of declining revenues like independence. Well, as the listener (the 'observer') becomes more and more experienced, he moves on an upward curve. Each time he spends more money his zero point is also somewhere else, and so he looks at this transaction (it's an exchange—money for sound quality) from a different point. Each time, therefore, better sound costs him the same amount. Even at the point where, it would seem, the curve is expropriated, because he then takes off from the top high-end level.

Siltech Master Crown speaker cable connected to Dynaudio Confidence 50, placed on a custom platform

And now we can already return to Siltech's Master Crown series. For it might seem that the quality gain over the Triple Crown series, given the twofold increase in price, will be illusory. Ladies and gentlemen, anticipating the listening description I will say: nonsense! The change in sound between the two series is as great as between the Double Crown and Triple series, Crown and Double Crown and so on. I will say more—in my opinion, this is the biggest leap in quality in the entire range of this Dutch company.

Siltech writes about its new series and I concur:

For over four decades, Siltech has been synonymous with uncompromising quality and unmatched performance in the high end audio world. The Master Crown Series represents the apogee of our endless quest for perfection, setting new standards of excellence in the industry. It took almost a decade since our last flagship cable series, eventually discovering a new force affecting sonic performance. We immediately realized this is a level never heard before.

The bar is set very high, however, Siltech's PhDs, engineers and technicians emphasize with pride that the results they have obtained have exceeded their wildest expectations. Thanks to revolutionary technology, they have achieved something they could only dream of before: they have crossed out the last barrier standing in the way of eliminating the influence of wiring on sound quality.

Siltech Master Crown, op. cit.

Technology

One thing to realize as soon as you take the cables out of their fantastic boxes, is their flexibility. You see, the speaker cables, interconnects and power cables that are part of the Triple Crown series, cables I've been enjoying in my system for 9 years, since 2015, are very stiff. If you plug it into your system once, with some effort to set up the equipment, this is acceptable. In my case, however, it's a big problem; premiere of this series at KSS HERE.

That's why, when I once spoke with Edwin van der Kley, that is Siltech's head and chief engineer, about how the sound of its then most expensive cables could be improved, he said something like: "Well, you know, I've been doing tests, and if one were to enlarge the number of conductors used in the Triple Crown, one could get a sound improvement of about 15-20%". As he added, these would be cables that would have to be bent in a special device and permanently; more HERE.

The meeting gave us an opportunity to hand our guests, Victor on the left, and Gabi on the right – the 20 for XX Awards

Another idea to improve sound quality with existing cables was to insert a buffer amplifier into the setup with a gain of 1, which was later found in Crystal Cable Minissimo Forte loudspeakers; more HERE. It provided only current, not voltage, but made the speakers' crossover input largely independent of the cables. As Edwin said at the time, this was one of his most important developments in years.

However, this is something that audiophiles find difficult to accept. After all, we are taught from "toddlerhood" that the simpler the amplification circuit, the better, and that every additional element changes the sound, implicitly: for the worse. At the same time, it does not matter whether this is actually the case because statistically it is true. And I think it was the failure to convince the market of the buffer amplifier solution that was one of the impulses to develop brand new top cables.

Work on the Master Crown series took the company as long as three years. These cables are built from conductors with a larger total cross-section than in the previous flagship. However, their outer diameter has increased minimally, and their flexibility is incomparably greater. They are based on S10+ silver, a newer generation than in the Triple Crown. It has even higher conductivity than the previous S9, while maintaining a monocrystalline structure from the beginning to the end of the cable.

The interconnect is built with four such conductors, uses solution that company calls Balanced Grounding and Zero Crossing Distortion and features changed plugs. The first is a new development and consists in the fact that not only the conductors, but also their shielding is now of balanced construction, in both XLR and RCA versions. The second name describes a topology that, based on years of research into electromagnetic interference, is designed to help eliminate crosstalk between positive and negative signals. And finally, the silver plugs, made of the same type of silver and cold-fastened—this time also gold-plated. As Gabi said, the idea was that they sound better and are more durable at the same time.

Gabi van der Kley

The speaker cable is constructed with six S10+ silver conductors of large cross-section. It is also supposed to have, as the manufacturer writes, "perfectly symmetrical hexagonal construction." They also received gold-plated plugs. In the AC power cable there are as many as eighteen conductors. Unlike the previous two, however, it's a mix composed of S10+ AND G9 conductors, i.e. silver with added gold.

This is interesting, because this type of connection was used by Siltech in older cables, as well as in Crystal Cable products. Over time it was abandoned, thanks to increasingly pure silver conductors. As it turns out, however, gold is an important part of the new sound. But, again a surprise, the contacts in the EIC sockets and Schuko plug are silver. The cables also use gold-plated components of the plugs' bodies that terminate the thicker, mechanically damped portion of the cables. And they look great.

SOUND

HOW WE LISTENED

The audition of the new Siltech cables was conducted in the music system of the host of the KSS meetings, Tomek. The cables were brought to us by Gabi van der Kley, CEO, and Viktor De Leeuw, COO, privately her son. First we did a comparison, and then Viktor briefly discussed the most important technologies of the Master Crown series.

Last time, we listened to three different streaming services on Tomek's system: Spotify, Tidal and Qobuz, using an Aavik SD-880 file player; more HERE. New for us at the time were the Dynaudio Confidence 50 speakers, which replaced Tomek's longtime reference, the Dynaudio Confidence C-4 Signature. This time, under the speakers custom-made quartz platforms were placed, similar to those offered by Acoustic Revive, with RIQ-5010 quartz discs and SPU-8 stands from the same company.

The meeting consisted of comparison of full sets of cables—Siltech Triple Crown and Master Crown, i.e.: XLR interconnects connecting the Ayon Audio Kronos DAC/preamplifier with the Accuphase P-7300 power amplifier, speaker cables connecting the power amplifier with Dynaudio Confidence 50 speakers, and four power cables: for the Aurender N20 file player, the preamplifier with DAC, the power amplifier and to the AC power strip; the Power Base High-End 6 Limited Edition played this role. We should add that the signal from the file transport to the DAC was sent via a Siltech Double Crown USB cable.

Viktor De Leeuw

Due to the complex logistics of switching between so many cables in the shortest possible time, we decided to conduct the comparison in such a way that we listened to ten tracks from the Qobuz streaming service, previously selected by some of the participants, with Siltech Triple Crown cables, replaced those with Master Crown cables and listened to the same ten tracks again. After listening to the whole thing, all the participants spoke their minds.

RECORDINGS USED FOR THE TEST a selection

Archie Sheep, The Trill Is Gone, FLAC 16/44,1.

Bob Dylan, Man in the Long Black Coat, FLAC 24/96.

Mahavishnu Orchestra, You Know, You Know, FLAC 16/44,1.

Miles Davis, Time After Time, FLAC 24/192.

Hania RanI, It Comes In Waves (Live at Studio 1, Warsaw), FLAC 24/96.

Fysa, Buzz' Ayaz, FLAC 24/96.

Mari Bone, Dánsso Fal Mu Váhkaran, FLAC 24/48.

David Gilmour, Between Two Points, FLAC 24/96.

Avishay Cohen, Summertime, FLAC 24/96.

Queen The Night Comes Down (2024 Mix), FLAC 24/96.

TOMEK L. (KSS) - After plugging the Triple Crown cables to Tomek's system, it delivered a class better performance. After switching to the Master Crown series, I heard a smooth, silky and enchanting sound from the first track. This was not a subtle difference. It was a significant improvement, though I realize it costs as much as it brings into equation. This was natural analog sound from a digital source. The music had life, energy, all the nuances were conveyed effortlessly. I didn't expect such a big difference, since the predecessor was our top reference.

EDVIN VAN DER KLEY – this time from a recording, not personally

But it wasn't all that great, towards the end of the playlist the songs started to have a problem with the bass. There was too much of it and some sort of resonance appeared, and we weren't even listening very loud. The Triple Crown controlled it better, because it didn't go so low and wasn't so deep. I realize, however, that it's not a problem of the cable, but of the listening room, as Tomek stubbornly puts off acoustic treatment.

I remember the two of us previously testing Siltech Legends 680 and 880 speaker cables and it was exactly the same. If we wanted to have the bass under control, the 680 worked better, albeit it was leaner, while the 880 went down incredibly deep, but with some of the songs we listened to it lost control. I remember Tomek said at the time that he would not "castrate" the speakers, he wanted that bass descent and would take care of the problem. To a large extent, he succeeded in doing so after changing the Dynaudio to a newer model with a downward-facing bass-reflex and fast woofers—the Confidence 50, but as we heard, he can't really do without acoustic treatment.

Finally, a little surprise. Once at his place, Tomek chose to connect the file transport to the DAC through an AES/EBU link, even though it does not transmit DSD signals as USB allows. In this role, the system permanently hosts a Siltech Legends 680 XLR, with Oyaide Focus plugs. During the test, we used the highest USB model in the company's portfolio, the Royal Double Crown.

During the meeting, leaving the Master Crown cables in the system, we changed the connection from USB to AES/EBU and listened to a few tracks from the earlier playlist. Unfortunately, the system immediately became more edgy, with irritating treble and digital overtones. No one but the host wanted to listen to this connection, so we went back to USB in "royal robe" and enjoyed the off-list repertoire, so that everyone left the meeting in a blissful mood.

JANUSZ T. - The presentation with Master Crown was simply much better. Not a little, but a lot better. I was sitting in a corner, so I didn't have a chance for a good bass anyway, and with the Triple Crown it seemed to me that there was too much bass, that it was obscuring part of the midrange, and it wasn't a good experience.

With the Master Crown, everything calmed down, and the bass was much better differentiated. The midrange was no longer "covered" and more detail appeared. It seems to me that the Master version equalized the whole band tonally. But I missed some more treble at that time, it did not "sparkle" as much as with the Triple version, with which it was more open and stronger. Still, the Master Crown just seems to be a much better cable.

DAMIAN (KSS) - With the Master Crown, what I immediately noticed was a "darker background," as we define the effect I'm referring to. This made it seem to me that the sound was more resolving, but not in the sense that it is usually referred to in HiFi.

All of the KSS members at the meeting, except for Tomek who took this photo

With following tracks, however, I began to lack the opening of a strong treble, as Janusz already mentioned. So I didn't focus too much on the bass, here nothing bothered me. So it was that while I started the listening with a clear preference in favor of Master Crown, because it is simply a much better cable, toward the end of the list, and we listened to ten tracks, I began to wonder about this initial assessment, because despite the generally superior performance, I began to miss the pearliness of the treble, its opening.

RYSIEK B. (KSS) - I believe that this time our evaluation is incomplete, because we used only one source—a file player. I missed listening to CDs and vinyl, then we would have had a complete picture. But it is what it is, so I will refer to the source, which—in general—I do not like. So, except for two recordings, it was not a comfortable feeling for me.

But I think the Triple Crown is more demanding for sources, because it is more unambiguous, In a way it brings out differences, changes, dirt, problems of sound re cording and production. In this system, the Triple Crown disappointed me a bit, although they were so far the best cables I know—in my opinion, they were the best cables in the world. And I have auditioned quite a bit in my life. However, it is now clear that Master Crown took the "crown" away from them.

The fundamental difference is that—I'm exaggerating, but I wanted to emphasize it—Triple Crown plays "sounds" and Master Crown plays "music." With the former we get a lot of different sounds, while with the Master we had music—and that's the point. It rocked me, excited me. It's about some kind of micro changes that make something move us or not. Master Crown gives music whatever it is that moves me.

WICIU (KSS) - In my opinion, the presentation was about 5 dB too quiet, which may have changed our perception of the sound in both cases. Still, it seemed to me that with the Master Crown some tracks played louder, as if everything came together in a better way. The impression was subjective, but distinct.

I'm able to hear the differences within seconds or so, and then I get used to the sound and forget about the differences. And based on that, I will say that Archie Sheep's saxophone played better in the second presentation, with Master Crown cables, and it definitely did. I heard a real tenor, which I didn't hear with the Triple Crown. And it was a really big difference, not some minor change.

ANDRZEJ - I agree with Wiciu, not only because we work together. With the Master Crown cables, the sound seemed a bit louder to me, despite the fact that, after all, we were listening to music at the same level. Where I was sitting everything seemed more open and "shiny" to me, meaning I had a different experience than Damian.

But after all, both of these cables are top performers, and from the earlier statements one would get the impression that the Triple Crown is some kind of weak "competitor." I have the Crown and Empress series models in my system, and I can hear how excellent these cables are. I know the Triple Crown and I think they are outstanding cables. But the difference was there. Maybe not as big as my predecessors heard, but unequivocal and without a shadow of a doubt. Tomek's bass problem with the Masters was clear, but that's because they're cables that just show more, with more dynamics, and the bass goes lower with them.

MARCIN OLEŚ (KSS) - In my opinion, we are in a rather strange, confusing situation. And this is because we are doing something deserving of laughter. Because, after all, we are discussing the sound of two top, absolute top lines of cables, and not just for Siltech, and saying that "well, Triple Crowns are not that good, because Master Crown does this or that better."

But there's also no denying that Siltech has wasted no time working on the Master series over the past three years. These are cables, to me, completely different. The difference between them is huge. Everything was different. The timbre was so beautifully differentiated with the Masters, so perfectly balanced, that when we switched cables I heard something as if we had replaced the whole system with a much better one. It's obvious that the sound signature was similar, yet the perception of it was completely different.

The Master Crown made the sound more open and more spacious. Where I was sitting, the bass was perfectly controlled with these cables. I understand that elsewhere it may look different, but it was the Master Crown that balanced everything. Everything feels more real with these cables. For me, it's something like taking the "mask" off the face—finally you can see facial expressions, feelings, you can see personality.

The host of the meeting explains the connections in his setup

Compared to the Master Crown, the Triple Crown cables presented the music a bit like through smoke. And they slightly emphasized some of the bass range. And yet, without comparison, we will say that these are absolute top and extremely transparent cables. But that's exactly how good the new Master Crowns are. For me, it's a huge step forward in terms of timbre, balance, openness, value. The sound was much better controlled. The timbre has the balance set a little lower, which gives a better perspective. I would say ten times better.

ROBERT SZKLARZ (Nautilus) - It's good that such a listening event takes place, because there probably hadn't been such a comparison done anywhere in the world yet, to have full sets of such excellent cables in hand. But also this comparison is, in my opinion, too short to objectively assess the differences between these series This is a big tip for people who complete the best systems in the world, but the comparison should be made at home, in a given system, with several sources—as Rysiek said. Then these differences will be even greater and better understood.

Especially since Siltech cables need a long time after they are taken out of their boxes to "settle" in a system. Many people don't understand this technology, and don't know that it's a complex mechanical structure, in which even small changes make a big difference. And it is only after the metal and dielectrics have expanded, after some time with the signal running through, that the cables—both Triple and Master Crown—begin to perform at 100%. At least three days are required before real listening.

And, finally, I would add that Tomek needs to think about the acoustics of this room. These divergent opinions on bass at times are due to the problems of acoustics in this room.

TOMEK F. (KSS, our host) - I liked Master Crown cables very, very much right from the start. I had no doubts at all. My attention was drawn to what Damian already mentioned, that is the "dark background." So in general, the sound was naturally darker and more beautiful. The same as Wiciu, I listened analytically only at the beginning, because later I listened for pleasure. Everything was homogeneous and coherent, and I had no problems with the bass, although I know I will have to do something about it.

But I liked both sets, it's not that Triple Crown is a poor performer, as one might think after reading some comments. It's just that it's an absolute top cable that "happened" stumble upon the Master Crown, which is out of reach in this comparison. And such a comparison is a bit unfair, because these are cables that should play for a long time in the system. I am delighted.

GABI (IAH) - First of all, I have to say that this is for us, that is for Victor and me, an extremely interesting comparison, because the Master Crown is new to us as well. We've listened to it thousand times in our system while developing it, but we've always done it with music we always listen to. And here we had music that is, for the most part, new to us. And it's a very refreshing experience.

I really liked the fact that Master Crown moved everyone who listened to the music, I looked at you and saw that even if you didn't quite like something, the music with those cables triggered something in you, changed something. I could tell by your body language. And this is important information for us.

As for the bass, every room has some problems. The ones here were audible, to a greater or lesser degree, every time we were here, which did not prevent us from having a good time and listening to music with pleasure. Because a system, including cables, should perform well in every case, even if something doesn't quite "play" for us.

So here I heard something I've heard before with the Master Crowns, namely details. These are cables that better show even the fingers on the strings, the blowing of a trumpet by Miles Davis, the hammer hitting a piano string. The differences may not be huge ones, but there are plenty of them. And it is through their mass, through the overall change that one has the impression that the sound with the new cables is so different from what we had with the Triple Crowns.

Because, after all, the most important challenge facing the system is something that can be called "presence", the feeling of participating in a real event. And it's not that this wasn't the case with Triple Crowns, after all Wojtek has been listening to them at his place every day for many years. But it turns out that Master Crown shows events in a more natural and credible way. And it's not because we listened to them as second, but because they are more transparent. But they are also more transparent to problems, although differently than Triple Crown. These are more explicit about it.

The biggest differences between the two can be boiled down to the way they display the instruments. For me, a pianist, the way Hani Rani plays, which is foreign to me, was less irritating with the Master Crown. Not because these cables add something themselves, but because they conveyed the pianist's intentions in a more direct way, and this is understandable to me. With the Triple Crown it was less clear to me, and thus more irritating—but, as I say, I just don't like this playing technique.

The price difference is huge, but so is the sound. The Master Crowns turn an audio system into something we wouldn't suspect it of, transforming it to a place where it shouldn't be. However, let's remember that the Triple Crown is still the same, excellent cable that it was before. They are, in my opinion, almost the best cables in the world. But, as it happens, they have worthy successors now.

VIKTOR (IAH) - Many things have already been said so I will limit myself to the most important observations. This will not be very objective, but I was sitting in a good spot, so maybe my opinion will be useful for something after all.

Again, the host, this time with the cables

The difference, its importance, was obvious to me after the first few bars of the first track. Master Crown, in my opinion, allowed the system to "breathe." The sound took on air, which could be heard "in between" sounds, brought out more sounds from the background. I had a similar impression to Gabi's, that with the Masters, people around me were more excited, more moved than with the Triple cables. I also had a similar impression to what Marcin was talking about, that is, of taking the mask off. The Master Crown takes off some thin layer of distortion from the signal, which is what we read as a greater opening, a "removal of the veil" and so on.

It's very interesting how listeners had different opinions depending on where they sat and what kind of music they listen to on a daily basis. For me, it's an interesting experience because it's completely different from what I've known so far. Before introducing the Master Crown cables to the market, we did some listening sessions in friendly stores in the Netherlands to be sure of the direction we took, and to listen to the music with other music and with other systems. This experience also gave us a lot to think about and gave us an important feedback. I have to say that I am very pleased with what I heard here, it exceeded even my expectations for our new cable.

GABI - Even more so, if I may add, that this is the first listening outside of our system in which we compare a full set of Triple and Master Crown cables.

VICTOR - Listening to our new cables, one has the feeling of "coming home." It was interesting that after the first two tracks with the Masters, I started to think: what can now be said about the Triple Crown? They are, after all, outstanding cables, and yet... One must remember, however, that not many people will have the opportunity to compare a full set of both cables, and that the Triple Crowns are, however, half the price, and in fact have almost all the qualities of the most expensive series. On the other hand, if someone can afford it, they will get, quite simply, better sound.

Summary

I think the best summary of this meeting would be something Tomek sent us the other day in the form of a voice recording. And in it he talked about the fact that he has been sitting in front of the system for some hour now and cannot get away from it. In front of the system, we should add, with Master Crown cables. After a few hours of playing, something Robert mentioned earlier "happened"—the cables "settled" into the system. It's physical changes—electrical and mechanical—that at this level produce huge differences in sound.

The sound was, Tomek continued, so good that everything we said about the shortcomings of the acoustics and system evaporated somehow. Probably it was there, but it didn't matter to him anymore. And maybe that's what we should be talking about when describing the top high-end, the "appropriation" by the sound. And that's exactly what Siltech's new cables do. They allow us to close our eyes and drift away. And not because the bass, treble, space or—whatever is better, although it is, but because the whole thing is on a completely different level. Floating somewhere in the stratosphere.

System