LessLoss • C-MARC Interconnects, Speaker Cables and Power Cords

by Mark Blackmore | April 2, 2019

© www.theaudiobeat.com

If you spend more than a few minutes on the LessLoss website, it becomes clear that the company is serious about reducing noise pollution in your audio system. "Noise is everywhere and it’s getting worse" seems to be the company’s mantra, and the majority of their product line is built to combat noise entering our music systems. Accordingly, LessLoss sent for review their C-MARC line of cables, which consists of power cords, speaker cables, and both RCA- and XLR-terminated interconnects. C-MARC stands for Common-Mode Auto-Rejecting Cables, and each cable in the line uses this technology.

The theory behind C-MARC is based on the hum-bucking coil (also called the double coil) developed for electric guitars. This uses a pair of coils to cancel out interference from the pickups caused by electromagnetic interference, thereby "bucking the hum," particularly hum from the AC power line. In its implementation, C-MARC uses hundreds of individual strands. Each clockwise-wound strand in each cable has a counterclockwise-wound strand superposed to cancel noise. Wrapped around a center cotton-fiber cord, 192 individual enameled copper Litz wires are woven in hum-bucking pairs in, what LessLoss terms, a "second-scale fractal" pattern. Covering the copper weave are 96 strands of mercerized cotton. Mercerization is a chemical process that changes cotton fibers from flat to more circular strands and improves the luster of the cotton. Another 192 copper Litz wires, also a second-scale fractal weave, are applied over the cotton sheath, followed by two more mercerized-cotton weaves to cover the copper. The use of mercerized cotton gives LessLoss cables a soft, flannel-like feel, and they are quite flexible. All LessLoss cables are treated to a 24-hour computer-controlled cryogenic aging process.

This coaxial design is used as the building block for the interconnects and the speaker cables, with only the termination being changed for the intended application. The speaker cables were terminated in simple but tight-fitting BFA-style banana connectors, and the RCA connectors on the interconnects were oversized in length but slim enough to fit most crowded preamp back panels. It should be mentioned that both the speaker cables and interconnects are directional, with direction arrows clearly marked at both ends of each cable.

The power cord uses three legs of the same coaxial cable but replaces the outer two cotton layers with a clear membrane of polyolefin, followed by a sheathing of polyethylene terepthalate (PET) for safety and durability. While not as flexible as the interconnects and speaker cables, the power cords were easy to install and had just enough rigidity to stay dressed away from other cables behind the rack. The plug and IEC connector of the power cord use gold-plated copper.

Also available from LessLoss is C-MARC bulk cable for the DIY community, and it includes the coaxial cable used in the RCA interconnects and speaker cables, two hook-up wires for builders, and the triaxial cable used in the XLR version of the C-MARC interconnects. I recommend visiting the LessLoss website for some excellent computer animations of C-MARC design and for exploded views of the coaxial and triaxial cable’s construction. After seeing these materials, it's hard to not be impressed with the complicated design and construction of these cables.

Instead of jumping in with the entire loom of C-MARC cables right off the bat, I began my listening with just one set of RCA interconnects between my BorderPatrol DAC SE and Yamamoto preamp. Andrea Vollenweider’s new-age pop recording Caverna Magica [Columbia MK37827] begins with a prelude of footsteps, muttering and water drips in a large, cavernous soundscape to set the mood for the title track. I was immediately surprised at how much more information was spread across my living room and wondered just how many people were walking on the rocks in this imaginary cavern. The water drip’s reverb went on forever and the whole soundstage of the prelude seemed much larger and deeper than I remembered from previous listening sessions.

The LessLoss interconnects certainly revealed more detail than I thought possible from my DAC, and it occurred to me that until then, I hadn’t really heard all that the BorderPatrol DAC, which I reviewed and subsequently purchased, had to offer. Vollenweider’s electric harp had quick attacks, with no sense of blur in the fast glissandi. If the huge soundstage I was enjoying was only an artifact of studio manipulations, it was great fun nonetheless. These were pretty encouraging results from inserting just one pair of LessLoss interconnects.

Since I was listening to the LessLoss cables during the month of December, I played a favorite holiday CD, Ancient Noels by Maggie Sansone and Ensemble Galilei [Maggie’s Music MMCD108]. An eclectic mix of hammered dulcimer, Celtic harp, recorders and percussion, the ensemble performs familiar and obscure carols, Medieval cantigas and Renaissance dance tunes with a Middle Eastern feel. I particularly enjoyed the hand drums’ recorded reverb in "Cantiga de Santa Maria," as it trailed off into a black background, while the sound from the head of the drum thrummed and energized my room. The hammered dulcimer had just the right speed from the hammer strikes, and the resulting overlap of sound from its undamped strings resonated with the wood body of the instrument.

Encouraged by this increased sense of soundstage width and depth, I added a second pair of RCA interconnects, from preamp to amp, and replaced five power cords with the C-MARC cords in order to hear what changes and improvements they might bring. A word of warning about the power cords came in an e-mail from Louis Motek of LessLoss, "The IEC plugs are particularly tight fitting and one needs to push the cables all the way into the sockets." He is correct, and I found that just when I thought the IECs were securely seated, an additional push was occasionally needed. These are certainly the tightest-fitting IEC connectors I’ve used, and they never drooped or came loose, as some of the connectors on my older power cords do.

Adding the LessLoss power cords improved resolution and focus in the upper bass and lower midrange, and those improvements have become musically important to me. If I can sharpen the focus of my system in the 80-200Hz range (the bottom note of cello to the bottom of the female voice), then the impression of a performer in the room is enhanced. Does cleanliness through this region also bring better in-room clarity through the midrange? I’m not sure of that, but I do know that I could more clearly hear the performer’s technique, the instrument’s character, and the idiosyncrasies of the performance.

I listened to Andre Previn’s After Hour’s with Ray Brown and Joe Pass CD [Telarc CD83302], noticing a specific benefit of this improved clarity. In music education, we teach that great jazz bass players will play on the "front side" of the beat, enhancing the excitement of an up-tempo tune without rushing the beat. Alternately, the bass player will need play on the "back side" of the beat for ballads or the blues, for that lazy, but not late, groove. On "There’ll Never Be Another You", Ray Brown drives the trio with a percussive right-hand technique, always on the front edge of the beat, to propel the tempo forward. The LessLoss cables conveyed greater insight into Brown’s musicianship and his ability to play a melodic bass line while also acting as the percussive drive for this drummerless trio tune. I wish I could have used a similarly revealing system to teach this concept to my students.

Image definition was definitely improved over what I had initially achieved with just the single pair of LessLoss interconnects. From Modern Jazz Performances of Songs from My Fair Lady [DCC GZS 1043] by Shelley Manne and his friends, the first cut, "Get Me to The Church on Time," begins with just André Previn on piano and Leroy Vinnegar on bass. About eight seconds into the track, Manne starts a drum roll, crescendoing into a loud fill to punctuate the end of the first phrase. With the LessLoss cables, Manne’s drum set was presented as a smaller, more defined image in the soundstage, sounding more like a real drum set. Unfortunately, the increased resolution revealed that the cymbals and toms had been recorded with way too much separation, spacing you’d never hear in a live setting, and that detracted from the realism of Manne’s playing. I hadn't noticed this before inserting the LessLoss power cords into my system.

Finally, I completed the loom by adding the speaker cables, and they further extended the list of virtues, but in a more subtle fashion, perhaps because they were the last cables I added. The main improvement was a sweetening of the treble, particularly cymbal shimmer and the upper range of violins. The sound was purer, more focused, yet retained good extension. During the review period I also tried the speaker cables on the electrostatic panels of my InnerSound Eros speakers.  Most electrostats present a challenging low-impedance load in the treble along with unwanted extra capacitance, so they need a synergistic speaker cable to bring out their best qualities. The LessLoss speaker cables did a fine job, with improved image location and depth. Owners of electrostatic speakers should certainly add them to their audition list. Whether through reduction of noise or just their intrinsic sound, they seem made for use with electrostats.

Living in semi-rural Missouri, I doubt my environment poses the kind of noise challenges for audio cables that urban dwellers face. For example, over-the-air television signals barely reach me from the St. Louis towers, and I’m fortunate to be the first house fed from the power company’s transformer. So, if my listening environment isn’t noise-free, it certainly is less polluted than most.

Given this, I decided to take the power cords with me to friends’ houses to hear how they would perform in different systems and environments. The first stop was in in St. Louis and a system that uses the KEF LS50w powered speakers. My friend and I started listening to some tunes streamed through Spotify. Swapping his usual power cords on his KEFs for a pair of the LessLoss cords didn't create a good match. With the first tune, I asked him if he had reduced the volume (he hadn’t). The bass was overly controlled and the treble was shelved down. Neither of us was sure what was going on between the speakers and power cords, other than an unforeseen sonic mismatch, but after a few cuts, we replaced the LessLoss C-MARC cords with his regular power cords and things returned to normal. Sometimes in audio you have to try products together to determine if they will or will not work sonically, and this pairing underscored that point.

The very next day, I visited another friend to demo my BorderPatrol DAC in his system, but I made sure to bring along a LessLoss power cord to test its effectiveness at reducing noise. We had a good listening session, and the BorderPatrol/LessLoss combo was certainly quieter than his current DAC. I then suggested we try the LessLoss power cord on his preamp. After the first few notes emerged, he smiled and said, "This is exactly how I’ve always wanted my Merlin speakers to sound." The change was equivalent to swapping a good preamp for a really great preamp. Every aspect of the sound was improved, but most notable was the treble, which had been too forward before, with the tweeter being much too obvious. Mind you, this transformation was with one power cord in a complex audio system with dual subwoofers, electronic crossovers, tube monoblocks, and all the computer paraphernalia needed to manage a music library. But the improvements exceeded those in my own system, and the owner texted me many times in the following days in amazement at the effect of inserting just one LessLoss power cord. I doubt I would have believed this story if I hadn’t witnessed the outcome myself. This was certainly the best sound I’ve heard at his house.

While packing up the LessLoss cables for return on yet another snowy winter day, I had time to consider how they might fit into my own audio journey. I am less interested in marginally improving my musical reproduction at home unless that improvement brings me closer to the emotion of a song and I gain greater insight into the technical aspects of musicians’ performance. Prior to adding the LessLoss cables, I had auditioned many cables in the same general price range, and one power cord that was three times as expensive. While all were well made and sounded good, none of them made my system sound better in terms of bringing performers and their craft into my listening room. The LessLoss cable loom helped me hear more deeply into recordings, and I spent more of my listening time thinking about the musician’s performance rather than the sound of the system. That is a high compliment for any piece of audio gear.

Did the C-MARC cables’ use of Litz wire, mercerized cotton and fractal windings result in "enormous signal to noise ratios," as stated on the LessLoss website? I have no way of knowing or testing that claim, but I do know that the cables' inclusion in my system removed a previously unnoticed level of confusion, or noise, resulting in clearer soundstage cues, cleaner upper bass and vocals, and greater overall musical enjoyment. The results were positive enough that I’m saving my audio money to add a set of interconnects and a power cord for my BorderPatrol DAC SE.

Prices: Interconnects, $850 for the first meter, per pair; speaker cables, $975 for the first meter, per pair; power cords, $1148 for the first two meters.
Warranty: Two years parts and labor.

LessLoss Audio
P.D. 1231
Kaunas, LT-46005
+370 698 48706
www.LessLoss.com

Associated Equipment

Analog: J.A. Michell Gyrodec turntable with Orbe platter and bearing; Ortofon TA110 and Zeta tonearms; Audiomusikraft Denon 103 and Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridges; Fosgate Signature phono stage.

Digital: Apple Mac Mini running Audirvana +, BorderPatrol DAC SE digital-to-analog converter.

Preamp: Yamamoto Soundcraft CA-04.

Amplifiers: InnerSound ESL, Yamamoto Soundcraft A-08 and A-09.

Speakers: Altec Lansing Valencia, InnerSound Eros.

Cables: BPT IC-SL and MIT Shotgun S1 interconnects; BPT SC-9L and InnerSound ESL speaker cables; BPT C-9 and L-9CST, Yamamoto Soundcraft (came with amps) and Shunyata Research Venom power cords; Shunyata Research Venom USB cable.

Power distribution: BPT 2.0 and CPT.

Room treatment: Zanden Audio AP-1 panels.

© www.theaudiobeat.com