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| Van Damme LC-OFC Twin Audio Interconnect Cable |
Linear Crystal Oxygen Free Copper Interconnect
Around June of this year, a friend of mine introduce me to a high quality sounding RCA interconnect cable.
This is a guy, who like myself loves HiFi audio. He wanted me to try a Interconnect cable he had been using for a little while now. Though I never heard of the cable before, I do remember him bragging about the sound quality that it produced.
The name of the cable is Van Damme UP LC-OFC HiFi Twin Interconnect
UP LC-OFC stands for Ultra Pure Linear Crystal Oxygen Free Copper. According to my friend Mike, this is suppose to be a very high purity copper. It's said the high grade is made when: After extrusion, the copper wire is re-heated, or annealed, which reduces impurities between the crystal boundaries as the copper crystal grows and leads to a longer grain length. A typical crystal (or grain) in a 1 mm diameter LC-OFC conductor is 130 mm long.
The cable itself is made in a PVC /Neoprene Composite sapphire blue shotgun configuration (two cables attached side by side). Each conductor consist of a 0.63 mm (#22 AWG) and a 93% optical coverage LC-OFC braided shield. Insulation for the conductors are foam skin polyethylene with a capacitance of <97 pF/m.
The cables appear to be of high quality terminated with Nakamichi gold plated RCA connectors.While the name is not very well known here in the US, I understand it's a major brand over in the UK.
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| Van Damme LC-OFC HiFi Twin Interconnect Cable |
Made in the United Kingdom
Before I give my opinion of the sound of this Interconnect, I would like to add it's not the easiest cable to find here in the US. The name is well known in the UK where it's manufactured, but not so here. The pair Mike loaned me came from a seller on eBay. As that's who I would eventually get my own pair from. Finding the cable online from electronic stores in the UK is very easy, but shipping it what hurts the walllet the most.
Mike stated to me that it's a lot cheaper to just find a US seller on eBay and save yourself some money on the shipping.
The fact this cable is made in the UK means it sold by the meter instead of the foot like we are accustomed to here in the states. I ordered a one meter cable and it arrived in about 3 days in a padded large envelope with bubble wrap around the RCA connectors (no complaints here). Once removed from the packaging and then unscrewing the Nakamichi connectors to get a better look at them, I noticed how shiny the gold plated connectors really are. The soldering job done to terminate the RCA connectors was on par with that of my Canare L-4E6S Star Quad audio cables (if not better).
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| Nakamichi shiny gold plated connector |
As mentioned earlier, this Interconnect comes in a shotgun formation. Beauty of this is you pay one price for two cables (left + right) instead of like most cables, where you have to purchase two (and spend twice the amount) in order to have a stereo pair. Something to keep in mind if you ever decide to purchase one and start looking at prices.
Actually, the Linear Crystal Oxygen Free Copper that comes with this cable isn't really that much more expensive than high grade OFC. I would think copper of this purity, at least from all the research I was able to find, would be a lot more. Now let's see if the sound matches the recent research findings.
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| Van Damme gold plated RCA connectors |
How does it sound?
I tried to find as much information on the Van Damme LC-OFC cable to learn what makes this cable so different from the hundreds being sold now. I came across one review where this Interconnect was tested and the results were as followed:
- Very natural sound.
- Very clear sound (this means LC-OFC has no phase distortion).
- Signal built-up is rapid and transient characteristics are superior.
- Sound images are sharp and orientation of the sound is clear.
I will say I truly agree with the finding in that review as I came to pretty much the same conclusion during my evaluation.
The Van Damme's will be competing against my long loved Canare L-4E6S Star Quad audio cables I've been using for over 4 years now. Can sound get any better than this (I will soon find out)?
Compared to my Canare cables, the Van Damme had a wider sound stage and better low end extension that really took me by surprised! It improved the sound of my system on the top end as well but not like the low extension. Vocals to my ear sounded so smooth, natural and relaxed without any sign of fatigue. Like as if I could hear Whitney Houston breathe in and out on her classic song "I Will Always Love You". To me, it made me want to go find all the cds I haven't heard in quite a while the more I played my system. My Jazz collection sounded and took on a whole new meaning. This is by far something I never heard coming from my Canare cables or any other cables I've ever had a chance to listen to except the Cardas Golden Reference which cost upwards of $800.00 for a one meter pair (ouch!).
According to some audio experts, this cable is suppose to be on par with the likes of XLO, Cardas, and Kimber Kable to name a few. Even the most doubtful person has to understand you're paying 6X less than you would for something like Kimber Kable's Hero audio Interconnects (a truly fine cable I may add). After hearing the new waved sound coming out of my home audio system, it has made a firm believer in me. My Canare cables are now sitting in the closet where I believe they will stay for quite some time.
The Van Damme LC-OFC Twin Audio Interconnect cable is one I would highly recommend you try and see what you may have been missing in your HiFi audio system. I know I have!
