Effect Audio Thor Silver ii+ 22awg Cable review - Expatinjapan



Effect Audio Thor ii+ cable, iBasso DX200 and Campfire Audio Andromeda.


Thor Silver II+ 22awg cable review
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For the Thor Silver ii+ there are many other variations on connector (12) and termination (7) available.
Also there is are several options for Y-split and also several adapters available.

Effect Audio Thor Silver ii+ cable, Opus#1 and Campfire Audio Dorado.

Effect Audio interview from March 2016:

Whats in the box?, and build.







Effect Audio plug, 2.5mm.

A decent light weight and solid splitter, combined with a plastic slider.



Durable MMCX connectors, no memory wire that I could notice.



2.5mm balanced female to 3.5mm single ended adapter.





Opus#1 dap using the 2.5mm balanced above and the single end via the adapter below.


Specifications and description

*From the Effect audio website:

Thor Silver II+ is for people who wants more out of their Silver Cable. Immersive and alluring, intimate vocals, visceral bass punch, while introducing unbelievable and 3D imaging and soundscape. Thor Silver II+ is designed such to be as smooth as possible, removing the treble spike and sibilance as most pure silver cables do, Thor Silver II+ features better ergonomics and is a huge step-up from its predecessor, ‘Thor Silver’. Offering more balance, more staging and more vocals allure together with its new cable geometry design, Thor Silver II+ is not your usual Pure Silver cable.

Technical Specifications
22 AWG
UPOCC Pure Silver Litz
Proprietary Multi-Size Stranded design within single encapsulation
Flexible insulation (same as Leonidas)
New EA CF connectors and Y-Split

Notes
A multi-sized stranded design within the same encapsulations enables the Thor Silver II+ to achieve distinct highs and details due to the signal transmission speed in thinner cable strands, while the thicker size cable strands are usually employed for smooth bass and mids.
Past experiences have taught us that even though sound quality is a critical factor in determining an upgrade cable’s worth, the tensile strength and flexibility matters too. The reworked insulation features high tensile strength and flexibility, while adding as little weight as possible
8 Wire Braid is only available by “Bespoke”
Effect Audio uses certified UP-OCC materials only. 

 iBasso DX200, Effect Audio Thor ii+ and Campfire Audio Dorado.

Hifiman MegaMini, Effect Audio Thor ii+ to 2.5mm to SE adapter and iBasso IT03.

Sound

The sound is silky smooth, great clarity, fairly linear and even.

The Effect Audio blurb from their specifications basically says it all quite accurately: `Immersive and alluring, intimate vocals, visceral bass punch, while introducing unbelievable and 3D imaging and soundscape. Thor Silver II+ is designed such to be as smooth as possible, removing the treble spike and sibilance as most pure silver cables do...`

Testing it with several daps, mainly the DX200 and the Opus#1 due to their 2.5mm balanced ports,
using Flac 16/41 tracks. I found it to be very pleasing experience.

I really enjoyed immensely the match with the Campfire Audio Andromeda. The sonic effect was largely a paraphrase of the Effect Audios own description from above.

Fast, deep and accurate bass.
A slightly recessed mid section as is usual with silver cables.
Vocals are clear, well balanced with the music and accurate.
Highs that are far reaching, without over stepping the bounds into the realms of sibilance.

A large sound stage, width, height and depth are satisfying.

Instrument separation is crisp and well layered.

It has a smooth sounding signature and as a result is very easy to listen to for extended periods of time.



Effect Audio Thor ii+, Opus#1 and Campfire Audio Dorado

Effect Audio 2.5mm female (balanced) to 3.5mm single ended adapter.

Effect Audio Thor ii+ (and adapter), Cozoy REI and Campfire Audio Nova.


Opus#1, ALO Audio optical cable to CEntrance Mini-M8, PlusSound kobiconn to 2.5mm adapter, Effect Audio Thor ii+ and Campfire Audio Vega.




Overall

The Effect Audio Thor Silver ii+ IEM cable is a wonderful aftermarket IEM cable that brings something unique to the table.

Overall I would describe it as fairly linear, although it does seem to emphasize the lows and the highs as many silver cables are bound to do although it is not excessive in this regard, though the usual silver essence of sonic signature is present to a degree the mids are also pleasantly reproduced.

With an IEM such as the CA Vega with prominent lows the bass is more emphasized.
I found the CA Andromeda sonics to be nicely balanced with the cable.
The Thor Silver ii+ was also a nice match with the CA Dorado on a par with the stock Litz.

Vocals are accurately reproduced, very clear, yet not sharp or offensive.

The Thor Silver ii has a great deep bass rumble that isn`t murky or bloated, the bass is reproduced nice and fast, with a full rumble.

The overall instrument separation is distinct and clear, the sound stage is wide on all axis.

I like how it combines a certain crispness, yet also is able to be smooth overall without ever seeming to be dark. It has a certain warmth to it, but not in the traditional explanation that audiophiles would describe as warm - where it often refers to murky, which the Thor ii+ with its overall clarity never veers towards.

The Thor ii+ is built well, it is durable and beautiful to look at. The weave is exquisitely done and is thicker than say the stock cable of the Campfire Audio ALo Audio Litz, it is quite lightweight and fairly supple for its larger gauge of cable width.

I am able to listen with the Thor ii+ for extended periods of time without listening fatigue.

The fit is very comfortable over my ears. Most of my cables have a memory wire, the Thor ii+ does not and I have found the difference to be a softer experience overall as it sits on my ears.

The output volume from the iBasso DX200 balanced port (6Vrms) is double that of the single end (3Vrms). Whereas the Opus#1 balanced port is 2.3Vrms.
This was noticeable in overall dynamics, sense of fullness, sound stage and user experience.

The earphones along with the Thor ii+ cable certainly enjoyed the extra juice.

To get the best experience out of an aftermarket cable it is preferable of course to have a high performing set of earphones and a dap to match.
The result is that the rig with as a whole will scale up accordingly.

That is to be expected.
With a lower end dap, mid fi earphones and a high end aftermarket cable the difference in user satisfaction is worlds apart from a high end dap combined with totl earphones.

Effect Audio Thor ii+, Cable hammer of the Gods.



Thank you to Effect Audio for sending the Thor ii+ cable to Head pie for review








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