Dope Sounds Voodoo cables

Voodoo silver cables

Silver for the masses

Product: Voodoo silver interconnects and speaker cables
Manufacturer: Dope Sounds - Germany
Phone: +49 (0)261/12357 - Fax.: +49 (0)261/3002681
Approx. price:
Speakers: 549 DM (2 x 3 meters) or 69 DM/meter
Interconnects: 279 DM (gold RCA's), 349 DM (Clearaudio MPC RCA's) or 79 DM/meter

[Voodoo cables]

For audiophiles silver is a magic word. Because of its excellent electrical properties it is frequently considered THE material for HiFi.
Many esoteric HiFi components make use of silver cables to achieve the ultimate in fidelity, transparency and musicality (think at Audio Note's silver output trannies, for example). Alas, silver doesn't come cheap. Till now.

Introducing you the new family of Voodoo cables by Dope Sounds! Dope Sounds is a small German HiFi company that makes affordable pure (1000/1000) silver cables for HiFi.
Please take the name "Voodoo" with a grain of...irony :-) Indeed, the guy at Dope Sounds (Andre' Ruben Dal Maso-Camenen...longish name, uh?) believes too much voodoo science already pervades the HiFi market.
Hence his NEAT proposal: plain simple 0.9 mm teflon-insulated solid-core silver conductors at a price which is very hard to beat: 79 DM (65 US $) per meter for the non-terminated semi-balanced interconnects and 69 DM (50 US $) for one meter of a twisted pair of solid core 0.9 mm speaker cable.

[Voodoo cables inside]

Yes, we're talking of pure solid-core silver conductors here. The interconnects have a semi-balanced configuration: two conductors + shield, while the speakers cable (which makes use of the same conductors) has no shield but the conductors are twisted together (see picture).
The outer sleeve is a nice silicone electric-blue one.
Now, if you think you're skilled enough to solder your own connectors...these Voodoo cables sound like a bargain to me, especially the European price is a KILLER one!

Silver ...and Gold

I like affordable HiFi. Even better, I like affordable good-sounding HiFi. So let's put these silver cables under test.
Firstly, let me comment on the speakers cable. Being used to anaconda-sized speaker cables these diminutive Voodoo cables were ....confusing, to say the least.
Actually the thinner speaker cables I've ever seen. Soooo...small in size...small sound?
Nope! The Vooddo cable is able to trasfer high quantities of sheer energy to your loudspeakers and the expected light bass range...just isn't there as expected! The bass is firm, articulated and powerful, perhaps not as deep as some more esoteric design but definitely enough to shake the floor.
I've used large floorstanders and a HUGE Class A power amp capable of 50 Amp of (peak) current per channel in order to test the ability of the cable to play good bass notes...and it does!!!!
The best performance is in the mid-high range though: you may have heard that silver cables are extremely transparent and sometimes bright. Well, the Voodoo speakers cable is impressively transparent but not as bright as I'd have expected it to be.
The mid range is clear and very airy, with no trace of colouration or harshness while the highs are accurate and very precise. Probably not the sweetest highs around...but hey, it is always a give & take game! Mid bass is clean and dry hence creating that sensation of a tight sound that may help on soft or muddy set-ups.

The intereconnect cable is no different, just slightly lighter in the deep bass and brighter in the highs. The family sound is just there: clean midrange, precise highs and tight mid-bass, all supported by a powerful bass range. Not a warm interconnect.

Dynamics and 3D soundstage

Both the speaker and the intereconnect cable are very dynamic and impressively FAST. Not the ultimate in bass slam but definitely punchy and lively. Excellent micro-dynamics and micro-analysis: the purity of the mid-to-high range helps a lot in keeping the musical performance accurate and introspective.
3D soundstaging is excellent with the speakers cable and good with the interconnects: while the size of the virtual 3D scene is good but not impressive, the amount of detail helps to create a being-there effect which is very, very entertaining.
Every player in the stage seems to have his own light spot and you can see through the different sections of the orchestra with ease.
This kind of precision is the same with the two cables while I'd prefer a larger soundstage from the interconnects.

Some advice

If you decide to save money on connectors, be sure to use high-quality solder, possibly one with a high percentage of silver in it. Solder carefully and DO NOT save too much on cheap connectors.
If you're going to use the Voodoo speakers cables in bi-wiring configuration, please TWIST a pair with the other.
These cables could even be thought as a starting point to build more esoteric designs, with fancy twistings, shielding and stuff. DIYers, you've been warned!

Complaints

No complaints about construction and finish: these cables are so simple that there's nothing say about it. Just the outer sleeve seems to like dust a lot: it attracts dirt with ease. I suggest to spray an antistatic product to keep them as clean as possible.
From a sonic point of view, considering the low price (for a pure silver cable!) of the non-terminated cables, I have nothing to complain about the performance of the speakers cable and something to say about the interconnects: some extra body in the bass would have been welcomed, together with a wider soundstage.
Both may result too open in the highs on some ultra-analytic set-up.

Conclusions

Reviewing this stuff has been an easy task: cheap cables that sound nice and are ridiculously cheap when compared with the other silver mates around.
The sound is exactly like one expects from a good silver cable: tight, clean and accurate without being too lightweight in the bass.
A real bargain, need I say more.

A warm thank you to Andre' Ruben Dal Maso-Camenen of Dope Sounds for having sent us these meters of pure silver audio fun!

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