Eletech Raphael Review – Redefining Midrange

Sound Breakdown –

The Azrael and Cassiel, I lauded for their subtle yet enhanced presentations. The Raphael, by comparison, makes more of a statement with its sound, introducing a more defined change in tonality. Where it relates to the remaining Virtues lineup is with regards to the midrange. The Raphael introduces a bolstered midrange, delivering larger, slightly more intimate vocals with a good boost to definition and resolving power. However, Raphael also provides a noticeably deeper-reaching and more textured bass with an uptick of warmth around the mid-bass region. It therefore carries greater note body throughout than the cheaper cables giving it a grander and richer overall image. Finally, the top end is just a hair smooth, resolving with a well-defined leading edge but certainly not bright in terms of background or overall presence. This makes the cable a good companion for many high-end IEMs that tend to skew brighter.

Immediately, bass notes are enlarged and slightly fuller. The difference isn’t huge and I wouldn’t consider this to be a bass heavy cable, however, it is noticeably more so than the Azrael and Cassiel. What strikes as unique relative to the Azrael is the better proportion between sub and mid-bass. The Raphael comes across as more linear and accordingly its notes are more defined, dynamic and less rounded. It still carries an uptick of warmth but isn’t defined specifically by this characteristic as the note presentation appears more natural. What impressed me most was the increase in mid-bass texture. The cable offers a quick decay and overall excellent bass note definition meaning though notes are enlarged, separation is strong and resolving power performs at a high level, at least noticeably more so than the other Virtues cables.

The midrange carries over many of the qualities of the bass range. Instantly, there’s a bit more body and warmth counterbalanced by an increase in centre-midrange presence and size. Vocals are therefore enlarged and brought forward yet retain excellent coherence due to the increase in body of equal proportion. The cable doesn’t appear to enhance the upper-midrange and thus, vocals don’t sound strained or intense, but rich and intimate. At the same time, clarity isn’t enhanced albeit remains impressively steadfast despite the increase in body and warmth. I would attribute this to an increase in raw soundstage space, maintaining strong separation in addition to improved resolution. Small details appear more vividly yet without being pushed forwards into the listener’s face.

Contributing to this impression of definition sans intensity is the top-end which benefits from an increase in both smoothness and resolving power. Treble sits just a little less forward overall, especially within the mid-treble, lending a darker, cleaner background. The foreground has excellent definition with a sharper leading edge. However, it is by no means forward meaning you get a nice bump in fine detail retrieval over the lower-end Virtues cables without introducing over-sharpening or thinning out instrument body. That said, compared to high-end cables this is an area where the Raphael falls short and showcases its midrange positioning. Though not the airest cable as a result of its darker background, Raphael doesn’t feel closed in due to a good bump in sparkle and upper-treble presence similar to the Cassiel. Raphael takes it one step further with an improved sense of space and micro-detail retrieval but again, don’t expect it to best flagship models.

I was, however, very impressed by the excellent soundstage performance of the Raphael. It offers an immediate jump in soundstage space both depth and width but especially width. Imaging is also more multi-dimensional, aided both by the increase in space in addition to improved fine detail retrieval. The Raphael offers a far more nuanced image than factory OFC and SPC cables with better layering, greater delineation between layers and sharper localistaion. The additional soundstage expansion helps especially with the depiction of distance, which appears more one-dimensional on the stock cable. Separation is slightly improved over stock too. It isn’t a highlight of this cable due to its lusher nature, however, the additional space combined with the darker background mean small details are easier to discern and there is more ether surrounding each element giving them better isolation.

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