Thankfully, Allnic distributor David Beetles was patient with me during my evaluations. I not only inserted and removed the cables he supplied many times, but I also used them both as a complete set and à la carte -- with different speakers, amps, preamps and sources. Break-in also had an outsized effect with the Allnic interconnects, speaker cables and especially the power cords, and that necessitated a longer-than-normal evaluation period. Manufacturers who submit products for review are rightly anxious for coverage to appear, so I was especially grateful that I could use, and not use, the Allnic cables in ways that provided greater insight into their performance. If I had rushed, my evaluation would have been incomplete, and this review would be different.

In my earlier reviews of Allnic electronics, I noted certain sonic qualities that I found both obvious and appealing. These included a three-dimensionality that gave the music an almost physical presence. I also praised the overwhelming sense that performers inhabited the space the products conjured. This was equal parts in-room density and from-the-recording resolution. All of this made for "spooky presence," a phrase that still defines the Allnic sound for me.

Well, the sound of the Allnic cables -- as a whole and individually (with some slight variation for the power cords) -- if you can call it "the sound," was both familiar and unfamiliar. The tonal signature was extremely even-handed, neither warm and full nor cool and lean. Perhaps this was due to Allnic's technology, aimed at evening out the midrange, but it meant that the equipment and recordings sounded distinct, without any sort of artificial flavoring that can enliven in the short term but create fatigue over time. And as with the various Allnic electronics I've heard, the Allnic interconnects and speaker cables presented performers and space in a distinct way: focused, corporeal, roomy. But what was most distinguishing was how the Allnic cables seemed to concentrate the recording's personality, portraying the music with a singular sense, its own intrinsic character. Time and again the variation from one cut to the next belied any sort of overt personality, the recording and its particular ratio of presence to space conveying the most about the music and the sound.

I have heard Dire Straits' self-titled debut LP [Warner Bros. BSK 3266] or CD [Warner Bros. 9 47769-2] on every system I've owned since I was a teenager. Even over forty years after it was released, it is still considered stunningly well recorded -- sounding better, I would argue, than Love Over Gold, which is so often cited as the best-sounding Dire Straits album. I pulled out the debut LP to hear with, first, the Allnic interconnects between phono stage, preamp and power amps, and it was all there: the bell-like clarity of Mark Knopfler's guitar work on "Down to the Water Line," the nearly endless decay (and tape bleed-through) of the wood block that open's "Water of Love," and the lilting chorus of "Wild West End." It wasn't so much that the Allnic cables simply resolved all of this; instead, they preserved its singularity within the fabric of very busy music. Knopfler's voice had its distinct husky nasality, his vocals spoken as much as sung. The Allnic cables secured the recording's uniqueness while enhancing the band's presence and the space around it, although "enhancing" may be overstating the issue. It may rather be a matter of preservation, of hearing this recording in all its true, naked glory.

The sense of space these cables conveyed was often stunning, although, again, the recording has to oblige. Here, I was back to listening to Suzanne Vega's great Close-Up Series CDs [Amanuensis 2507], these intimate, deeply felt, nearly unplugged reinterpretations of her previously recorded songs never failing to impress anyone who hears a few of them. With the Allnic cables in the system, it wasn't so much that I could pick out musicians in space, which was surely the case, but that the space itself was so, well, spacious -- side to side and front to back. "Blood Makes Noise" has some growling bass, presumably to mimic blood coursing through veins, but it never overwhelms the work of the other musicians, never muddies to the point of congealing everything. The recording's venue and its unique atmosphere were fully intact.

In terms of the overall balance -- the relationship of tonality to dynamics to resolution -- the Allnic cables were true to the recordings, neither emphasizing nor recessing any region. "Honest, the real thing" is how I summed it up in my listening notes, meaning that there wasn't any fake leanness that can give the illusion of transparency without it actually being the case, no leading-edge emphasis that can impart excess speed or air. There was, instead, an endearing sense of rightness, a fundamental honesty that let the components and recordings dictate what was heard. And when the recording is outstanding, as is Telarc's SACD of Stravinsky's Firebird [Telarc SACD-60039], another oldie but goodie, the results can be as good as I've heard my system sound -- vivid, impactful and just plain exciting. Conversely, there was nowhere for grit, strain or chalkiness to hide. I haven't had a piece of Allnic equipment in my system for years, but it would have been interesting to hear something from the company with its own cables. I suspect that I'd be even more enamored, even closer to adding one of the company's preamps or phono stages to my system.

I do wonder, however, if in some way what I'm describing gives the impression that these interconnects and speaker cables (and power cords) are par for the course, unremarkable, when, in fact, I think they are something special -- for their inherent tonal evenness, their spatial definition, their ability to convey presence and space in seemingly equal amounts, their honesty to whatever signal passes through them. I began to wonder what was the cause of what I was hearing -- more signal or less noise? Or both? Whether all of that means the Allnic interconnects and speaker cables are what you consider something special is a different matter, but these are reference "low-loss" cables at sensible prices, nothing you have to settle for, even if you have a full system of non-Allnic electronics. Never mind that Allnic is best known for its electronics, there are very good sonic reasons to not only consider these cables but buy and treasure them.

As for the competition, Shunyata's Sigma line comes quickly to mind, but I've not heard those interconnects and speaker cables in my system. The set of cables with which I'm most familiar, and the last set of cables I reviewed, were Nordost's mighty Odin 2. I said about Odin 2, they present "the truth of the musical signal, the electronics and speakers with unequaled fidelity," which sounds similar to what I'm saying about the Allnic cables. Yet, in my listening notes on the Allnic cables, I called them "the anti-Odin 2." What I meant by this seems easily understandable -- the Allnic cables are not like Odin 2 -- but that's not what I was getting at. It's not that the Allnic cables sound completely different from Odin 2. Instead, while they sound broadly like Nordost's top of the line, with some variation, there is still one huge difference: price. You can buy an entire set of Allnic cables, power cords included, for the cost -- $22,499 -- of one pair of Odin 2 interconnects. Cost being equal, Nordost's proprietary process for creating Odin 2, along with the cables' outrageously high resolving power, would give the nod to Nordost. But for some systems and most budgets, the Allnic cables will be just the finishing touch.

Yes, Nordost offers other cable lines that cost less; I've also reviewed Valhalla 2, which are still much more expensive than the Allnic cables. But when all possible competition has been considered, the Allnic interconnects and speaker cables still stand their sonic ground, offering "the truth of the musical signal," price difference or not.

ang Su Park has elevated the Allnic brand on the depth and breadth of his electronic line, which continues to evolve at a pace that makes me wonder if he is actually two or three people. His enterprising nature is all the more on display in his cables, which are no cookie-cutter designs using off-the-shelf wire and connectors covered in an obscuring mesh wrap. They are from-the-ground-up designs for which Mr. Park has left no aspect unaddressed. The professed philosophy behind them -- eliminating signal loss -- is on display in their sound, or lack thereof, while the use of mu-metal for shielding and hot-melt welding for connections is unique in the cable market. Given all of this, the prices Mr. Park is charging seem out of line with not only the market in general but his manufacturing care and costs. This is my way of saying that these cables seem positively cheap, given what they offer.

In general, the Allnic interconnects and speaker cables sound more like the electronics and speakers with which they are used than some innate character of their own. And if you think about it, that's really what you want from cables: to get out of the way, to neither add to nor subtract from the music. Throughout my time with them, and the many system iterations with which they were used, they always imparted an authentic sense of the music, as though the system was in a purer, more direct state.

Even so, I couldn't remove one nagging desire as I listened: to hear the Allnic interconnects, speaker cables and power cords connecting some of Mr. Park's latest and greatest electronics. To go all Allnic, all the way, in other words.