Sound:
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Cable reviews are always controversial. I know there has been countless discussions if cables can make a difference or not. Personally, I say if you can’t hear anything, consider yourself lucky. You don’t have to chase the dragon to get out the last few drops of performance of your IEMs. I consider myself as a cable believer. I do hear changes they introduce to my monitors and headphones. Of course, they are not night and day changes, and there are many values to consider. Like the fact, that not every IEM is picking up these changes as audibly as others. One of the most cable responsive monitors is the Noble Audio Katana. Which also is the first CIEM I chose when doing cable reviews. From here on I start exploring with different monitors to draw a general conclusion. Special pairings can be found at the bottom of this section.
The Palladium Plated Hybrid can be summed up as a revealing cable that comes with a low end lift and one of the widest stagings any cable has to offer. PPH expands the extension into sub-bass and gives low-end notes more weight and body. I hear bass with nicer texture and higher resolution.
It gives a noticeable bigger body to the lower midrange, which also seems lightly boosted to me. The PPH gives a presentation which is a bit warmer and richer. PlusSound’s latest creates a sound that is thicker and lusher in the lower registers, but keeps a natural neutral tone in the mids.
Midrange is generally neutral tuned, but it comes with a certain richness and wetness that makes instruments and vocals more velvety and seductive. There is still high resolution and instruments get sharpened to a degree where they are easy to take apart. The PPH enables for very good imaging and separation all together portrayed on a very wide stage.
I want to especially mention the width again here. The PPH creates one of the widest sound stages that I have heard in any cable to date. Which includes cables that go for more than double the price like Effect Audio’s Code 51. The Palladium Plated Hybrid makes instruments appear on a solid black background and gives highlight to every musician.
PlusSound Palladium Plated Hybrid
Treble is extended and well pronounced, but certainly not harsh or edgy to me. The PPH has good energy in the highs with good sparkle and a bright shine. The top end has a certain soft character that keeps everything in the clear, but still enough brightness to provide nice air.
Recommended Pairings: Noble Audio Khan, Katana and Kaiser Encore; Empire Ears Zeus XIV; 64 Audio Tia Fourté; Gaudio Nair; HUM Dolores;
Comparisons:
We have seen a lot of different cables launched lately. Most of them in the realm of over 1000 US Dollars. We will check out how PlusSound’s Palladium Plated Hybrid fares up against its competition. I can however only compare the PPH to what I have direct access to. For this section I have used Noble’s Katana as my main monitor of choice.
All mentioned prices are in USD and correct at the time of writing.
PlusSound – Tri Silver (799$)
The Tri-Silver has been introduced a bit over a year ago, and has just been surpassed as PlusSound’s flagship by the PPH. Both cables share the same ergonomics and build quality. The Tri-Silver uses Palladium-plated, Gold-plated and pure silver wires.
In terms of sound these two are rather different to me. The PPH has a fuller and thicker sound in the lower frequencies. It also has a considerable bigger bass bump than the Tri Silver. The Silver sounds smoother and more neutral to me overall.
To me, the PPH provides higher resolution and a darker background. It images sharper and portrays instruments and musicians better lit. The Tri Silver has a narrower stage as well. Both cables do perform at similar levels when it comes to extension.
Mids on the PPH sound more transparent, while they come across as more organic and smoother on the Tri Silver to me. The PPH however, does have the upper hand when it comes to body and weight. It also extends a bit further into the highest registers.
The Tri Silver does create a smoother top end, while the PPH seems more agile to me. It does have higher levels of energy. The Palladium Plated Hybrid is also richer in tone to me.
PlusSound Palladium Plated Hybrid
PW Audio – 1960s 2-wire (999$)
The 1960s 2-wire is one of my personal favorite cables. It’s light, comfortable and sounds wonderful. I am not a fan of its build, as I don’t think heat-shrink should be used as a Y-split in a cable of that price. The PPH trumps the 1960s in terms of build to me.
From a sound quality point of view, these two do share similarities. Both come with a warmer signature, but the PPH does create a fuller and more organic sound. To me, it pushes a bit more volume in the lower midrange and bass section.
The PPH has higher resolution and nicer texture in the lower registers. It has more weight and sounds fuller than the 1960s. The PW cable does sound smoother and richer in the lows to me. The 1960s provides more warmth in the mids, which makes them sound more organic and a bit thicker to me than the PPH. The PlusSound gives me a more neutral presentation, but still having a full sound.
The Palladium Hybrid has a more transparent midrange with higher levels of richness in throughout the response. In terms of technical performance it’s also the PPH which comes out on top here to me. There is higher resolution and again the stage is wider with better imaging. The 1960s might have the edge on layering and depth.
Treble is less sharp on the PPH, but both cables extend similarly well into highs to me. The PPH does have a bit more energy, but with its richer tonality it comes across as softer to me.
HanSound – Torfa 2-wire (829$)
The Torfa is HanSound’s latest flagship cable. Unlike the PPH, the Torfa comes in a coaxial design, which means, that the 2-wire version has four total conductors. The PlusSound cable is a lot more flexible and does not transport friction noise like the Torfa, which is one of its major draw-backs. The build on both cables is very good, but the PPH does have the edge here to me.
Like the Palladium Plated Hybrid, the Torfa also has a warmer and fuller sound overall. The PPH however does have a more see-through character. The Torfa has a thicker low end, that does not put out the same texture as the PPH. The PlusSound cable has slightly higher resolution in the lows and also gives an impression of a fuller body.
Torfa gives a warmer and smoother midrange, that sounds just more organic. The PPH however gives more balanced mids and higher resolution. The background is darker and more stable, it highlights instruments and singers better as well.
The Torfa keeps a smaller stage that does not stretch as wide as the PPH. The HanSound has a slightly nicer layering and better depth than the PPH. The PlusSound does give me a more holographic experience than the Torfa. It also separates musicians with a cleaner cut to me. The PPH has a richer sound overall, while the Torfa is not very far behind though.
In treble they both sound similar. They have equal extension into the highest registers. Torfa does have a softer sounding top end, with a softer note. The PPH has a slightly edgier sound.
PlusSound Palladium Plated Hybrid
Conclusion:
For their eighth anniversary PlusSound wanted to release a special cable. And special it is. The Palladium Plated Hybrid creates a sound that has wonderful body and weight. It gives an accentuated lower midrange and bass response, that gives certain lighter monitors like the Zeus XIV a perfect blend. It sure has become my favorite pairing with my custom Noble Khan.
PPH however, keeps a neutral midrange and sparkly top. It provides high resolution and very good detailing. It renders a finely nuanced picture and pulls off one of the widest stages I have heard to date in a cable at any price.
We have seen so many cables break the realm of 1000 US Dollars in the past, and it’s refreshing to have brands like PlusSound who stay below that for their four-wire flagship. At 999 USD it of course can’t be considered cheap by any means. People who want to tickle out the last drops of their IEMs should definitely consider the Palladium Plated Hybrid if money is not an issue.
