Pachanko SATA Cable

[john925]

I'm very glad to have the chance to test one of the cables from Pachanko Studio.  The name actually suggests three audiophiles' pursuit of quality sound in that Pa and Ko refers to two other audiophiles, Pascal and Miko, while Chan is the passionate person, Chan Girad King, behind Pachanko replying emails and inquiries.  I think many of you may know Chan better than I because the Pachanko Reference Sata is just the first product through which I try to know what Pachanko sound is.  

 

Here are some detail of my testing environment.

 

I use Supermicro Server board and Xeon E5 2630L V3 CPU and HDPLEX H5 for its effective passive cooling system.  AudiophileOptimizer, Roon, HQPlayer, and Process Lasso are used during the tests.  Music are all upsampled to DSD via HQPlayer by poly-sinc-xtr and ASDM7.   DAC is EMM Labs DAC6e se, which is known for its Native DSD playback.  USB DDC is from exD, which sends DSD signal via ST Optical to EMM Labs DAC6e SE.  

 

First I plug the generic Sata cable supplied by Supermicro.  On computation perspective, it is a, well, normal functioning cable that will ensure the intactness of every digital bit between SSD, where Window Server 2016 resides, and my Supermicro motherboard.  From music playback perspective, this generic Sata cable does sound OK to me.  I would have nothing to complain, if I had never tried some other audio grade Sata cables.  With the generic Sata cable, I still heard the vividness, the soundstage and the body of instruments, though not in a very well-defined outline.  The pace and speed of the music phrases are OK, with soft decay of the notes.  However, across the frequencies from bottom to high, there is not in balance that the trebles were much more emphasized than Mid and Bass, resulting in less weight and a little harsh to my ears.

 

Then, I replace the generic Sata cable with a first version of JCAT Sata cable.  The first version of JCAT Sata has some breakage on one of the connectors.  I'm try to reduce the negative effect of unstable insertion by connecting the connector with breakage vertically to the moherboard, while the other connector goes to the SSD horizontally.  The sound difference between JCAT Sata and the one from Supermicro is very easy to notice, being that the noise floor is reduced, background getting darker, while at the expense of some excitingness.  With the JCAT, the trebles are not harsh anymore.  And the Mid and Bass began to blossom that you are not able to ignore.  So voices became more charming and orchestra full of weight.  The soundstage is also expanding and the depth added a little more.  I would definitely say the JCAT is a very effective cure for a CAT with a lot of internal noises, which might come from hard disc, fans or power consuming CPU.  JCAT Sata can neutralize the undesirable but inevitable interfere to music signal.  

 

At last came the Reference Sata from Pachancko.  The Reference Sata is built with well-selected internal wire, OCC multi stranded cooper.  Compared with JCAT Sata, the Pachanko seems to have a more durable connector and it can be locked onto the Sata ports on the motherboard firmly. The Pachanko Reference Sata is not so stiff that it relieved me of some pain trying to find a suitable angle to install the JCAT Sata. Thus, I think the Pachanko might fit various layouts of motherboards.  As for the sound of Reference Sata, well, I would say the difference between JCAT and Pachanko is not as big as between the JCAT and the generic one.  But I still sense the sound signature of the Reference Sata easily.  I would put it simply that the Reference Sata is definitely a more neutral one compared with the generic or the JCAT.   I couldn't sense any exaggeration on any part of the frequencies.  The treble is nicely rendered without harsh or too much sweetness, nor is it rendered too much gold-like sound, which might result in some kind of unfaithful and artificial delight in listening.  Its treble is just plain but not boring at all.  It faithfully retrieved the space cues underlying the high frequencies. So I found the body of instruments are more well-defined and the depth is even deeper.  The treble is full of delicacy, just like you are spreading a silk table cloth over the table and it falls so gently onto the table.  The Mid is also not too emphasized that the voices are not too close to you.  Sometimes, voices too close will cause some unrealistic sense of the soundstage in that the singer rendering the her or his voices is not standing with the other musicians. And it just gives me some awkward sense.  Pachanko will never do this negative listening expression to you. Bass is not slow so the transients are kept without being too weighty.  Soundstage might not be so wide as JCAT but Pachanko has better depth in my system.  I think Pachanko would be a very good addition if you have a well-built CAT that you want to explore its potential furthermore.  

 

I think JCAT still brings a darker background.  It reduces the noise floor of a CAT, thus making music just come out directly to you.  The soundstage is more palpable, while the Pachanko is more laid-back, which I prefer more subjectively.  JCAT emphasizes the existence of Mid and Bass, so it is more weighty and sometimes the melody is felt as if piling up musical blocks.  However, the Pachanko conveys the music ideas more completely not in chunks after chunks but with smoothness musical phrases and continuity.  I consider the Pachanko a smart insertion for my CAT system. 

[john925]

Chan is Chan King Girand, not 

Quote

Chan Girad King

 

Sorry for the misspelling.  

 

Is it a bug or something that I cannot edit my previous post. 

[john925]

On 2017-6-5 at 9:14 PM, kilroy said:

Can anyone comment on the flexibility of the Pachanko SATA cables? I have the PPA black and they are super stiff, to the point where even if I try to pre-bend them into shape they put a lot of stress on the SSD connectors. I'm guessing the 40 cm length helps to get the cable where you need it, although that does seem like a long cable.

 

Pachanko REF Sata is not stiff.