Blueberry Hill Audio : the Cables

Blueberry Hill Audio

Intoduction

From all the equipment that comes trough our hands, it is quite rare that our attention is cut by simplicity and performance, especially in the cable industry.

As a matter of fact, I have always asked my self this question: Why pay more for a cable then the actual piece of furniture that my system is sitting on?

I certainly recognize the use and virtue of cables but there is a difference between using them and recommending them. That is until the day I had my hands on a set of cable that really impressed me.
This is what we are going to share with you today!

This week, Blueberry hill Audio is our highlight.

It is rare and in fact quite unique that a cable manufacturer invites us to compare their work against other manufactures without restrictions.

Many other large manufactures actually decline this comparison invitation… I have names

Making comparison does not mean that we are going to badly judge or say bad things about a product. Doing comparison is mostly putting up characteristics of each product, being able to evaluate this product in different context, bringing qualities forward and finally making conclusions that are truthful in precise circumstances.

Being courageous is not enough; you have to work hard to be so sure that your product is as good if not better to accept loaning your equipment for testing. We, at the Magazine-audio team, all came up with the same conclusion. The same thing happened with the people that are not related to the Magazine when they tested the cables on their own personal system.

It shows from Blueberry Hill Audio’s part that over their maturity, there is a great and fabulous expertise. They are good at what they do!

The Question is why other manufactures don’t want to compare their products. They probably have more to lose then to gain. They are business men first and they are comfortable in doing what they are doing, selling stuff with big brand names.
They don’t want audio Magazines to say bad things about their products.

Blueberry Hill Audio cable

From time to time, we have to recognise that some manufactures provide us with fabulous products that are not only looking good but that gives good performance and that are well manufactured.

In fact, you will notice that Blueberry Hill Audio are quite different then other manufactures. You can consult all the data for every type of cable, prices are clearly shown, and consumer’s comments are on the site too. It is easy to contact Marlen Mogilever and he will answer to whoever has a question. He offers an excellent service and there is even a 10 days satisfaction guaranteed on all products or he will reimburse your purchase.

Did I mention customizing? Blueberry Hill Audio is at your service, they offer a great choice of connectors but if you want an AC cable equipped with Furutech FI-50 carbon they will build it for you.

It took 4 years of work and research to get the production cables that they offer on today’s catalogue.

I invite you, if it is not already done, to take a look at the interview we had with Mr Marlen Mogiliver, manager of Blueberry Hill Audio. This will allow you to look Marlen’s Business up and understand his philosophy.

Let’s get to the good stuff

We did not make just a simple test; we went way more far ahead on this trial. We wanted to know what a high end cable coming from a manufacture’s catalog would bring to a set-up following their instructions and recommendations.

Knowing that we often ear rumors on this and on that, and probably more over here then over here about the fact that it is far better to use the same brand of cables all the way through your system then having different ones, we asked our self WHY would that be?
No one ever explained the reasons why so we tried finding those answers for you.

In order to achieve that, we have used the FIGARO cables line from Blueberry hill Audio, made in Canada of course and we used them for many months on different set-up, from low end to high end systems.

This cable specialist actually put the bar quite high in regards to sound results associated with a manufacturing standard unknown to this day from many other cable manufactures. All the steps of building their cables are done by hand, unit by unit. There are no sophisticated packaging, no magic box and no little blue lights…. No! It is simply an audio cable.

I have asked Marlen Mogilever, the manager of the company, what were his motivations and here is what he answered:

I am trying my best to develop interconnects cable witch will perform the best in any system, regardless of make, cost, solid state or tubes.

Being said, we found out that not only interconnects were very versatile, we had the proof with the AC and speaker cables that were designed with the same state of mind from his designer.

In order to respect the designer philosophy, we equipped all of our systems regardless of their components, speakers, and price with the same set of cable from the Figaro line: AC power, RCA/XLR and speaker cables.

List of the cable used during our trials

FIGARO : Single ended ( RCA )

LINE STAGE INTERCONNECT CABLES, Model – FIS11
Length – 1.0 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Hand polished Fine silver conductors.
2. Pure unbleached cotton dielectric.
3. Two level conductor placing.
4. Combination of single and multi strand conductors.
5. Proprietary geometry.
6. Air sealed construction.
7. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
8. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
9. Eichmann silver bullet RCA connectors.
10. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
11. User friendly color coded left and right channels.
12. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
13. Requires only 10-15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

FIGARO : BALANCED (XLR)

Hybrid line stage interconnect cables, silver/copper, cuivre et argent : Model – FIH08
Length – 1.0 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Hand polished Fine silver (50%) and OCC cooper (50%) conductors.
2. Pure unbleached cotton dielectric.
3. Four level conductor placing.
4. Combination of single and multi strand conductors.
5. Proprietary geometry.
6. Air sealed construction.
7. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
8. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
9. Furutech Hi-End gold plated male and female connectors.
10. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
11. User friendly color coded left and right channels.
12. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
13. Requires only 10-15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

FIGARO Hybrid Speaker cables

Model – FSH45
Length – 2.0 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Hand polished Fine silver (50%) and OCC cooper (50%) conductors.
2. Pure unbleached cotton dielectric.
3. Three level conductor placing.
4. Combination of single and multi strand conductors.
5. Proprietary geometry.
6. Air sealed construction.
7. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
8. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
9. Furutech Hi-End gold plated Banana locking plugs.
10. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
11. User friendly color coded left and right channels.
12. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
13. Requires only 10–15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

FIGARO Hybrid power cord

Model – FPS52
Length – 2.0 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Multi strand silver plated cooper.
2. Teflon dielectric.
3. Three level conductors placing
4. Proprietary geometry.
5. Air sealed construction.
6. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
7. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
8. Furutech Hi-End rhodium plated male and female connectors.
9. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
10. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
11. Requires only 10-15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

ANALOG EVOLUTION STEP-UP PHONO CABLE EVO-IV

Model – E4S01
Length – 0.6 m.

Features/Caractéristiques :

1. Hand polished Fine silver conductors.
2. Pure unbleached cotton dielectric.
3. Two level conductor placing.
4. Combination of single and multi strand conductors.
5. Proprietary geometry.
6. Air sealed construction.
7. Anti-vibration polyurethane core inside of the cables.
8. Anti-vibration O-rings at the both ends outside of the cables.
9. Alpha Braided Shielding- electromagnetic interference protection (EMI).
10. Conductive Carbon Infused Nylon Shielding-for high Frequency.
11. Interference protection (RFI).
12. Furutech male gold plated input connectors FP-101(G).
13. Eichmann silver bullet RCA output connectors.
14. Very light weight and excellent flexibility.
15. User friendly color coded left and right channels.
16. Completely “broken-in” and demagnetized prior to the shipping.
17. Requires only 10-15 hours to warm up before sounding the best.

ANALOG EVOLUTION STEP-UP PHONO CABLE EVO-I

TRANSFORMER TECHNICAL INFORMATION

1. Recommended for MC cartridges with self (internal) impedance range from 3 to15 ohms.
2. Ratio: 1:10 (20 db)
3. Total harmonic distortion: 0.05%
4. Frequency response: +/- 0.25 db. 10 Hz – 70 kHz.
5. DC resistance (OCC wires): Pri. = 0.86 Ohms. Sec. = 84 Ohms.
6. Winding material: OCC copper wire
7. Cable type: Silver

The Trials

Here is what we tested in our trials: Respect of timbres, dynamics associated with a beautiful tonal equilibrium. We had to get a musical sound without asking ourselves questions!

For the price and the fun, might as well get it all at the same time! Don’t you think so?

Translation for the profane: We plug the cables and we listen to music at a reasonable volume. We need to get harmonic richness associated with great dynamics. All those while keeping equilibrium on all registers witch ever the sound volume.

So, I should not ear aggressive or forward or rearward frequencies like projected medium highs witch gives you the impression that there is better dynamics or to much base that covers the rest of the musical specter, giving the impression of not having enough speed. We needed all frequencies to come out of the speakers at the same time, being in phase in fact!

This is actually very hard to achieve since each manufacture introduce their own design and philosophy in the products they manufacture. You end up having colored sound according to their taste.

You will get a good understanding of each listening sessions so it should be a good starting point for you to understand.

Jean Marc! User/Day tester.

Jean-Marc Hi-Fi set up

Speakers:

• 2 QUAD ESL 2905
• 2 QUAD ESL 988
• 2 QUAD ESL 63
• Subwoofer Martin Logan Depth.

Power Amplifier:

• Bryston 3BSST (2905)
• Bryston 2BSST (988)
• Audio Refinement-3 (63)

Players:

• Oppo 980H
• Sony PS3

Other device

• Processeur Audio Video Integra DTC 9.8 (HDMI)
• AC power conditioner: Monster HTS 5000
• Projector Panasonic PT-AE3000
• Screen Steward Motorised Firehawk G3 MicroPerf X2

Here is a short description of my reaction after plugging the cables in.

Know form the start that I consider myself having skepticism when we are talking about cables and their virtue.

In general when I am asked to test cables, or participating in any other type of testing, I have always found that the differences between cables were very small and subjective and not quite realistic in terms of pricing.

But at my house, I was located in ideal conditions, using my equipment with my recordings. Requiem from Rutter or the 5th of Bruckner for example

The differences were a lot more important then what I expected.

The biggest difference was that the music was coming out of my speakers with less back noise, the details were way clearer. Of course I had the chance to see this type of change before but never to this extent.

On top of that, the tonal balance and the sound stage produced by my Quad’s 2905 were absolutely better on Rutter’s . I ended up with clearer voices and the depth of the stage was definitely deeper. The signer was simply standing there with a better presence.

On the 5th of Bruckner, The clarinets and Haut bois solos had more clarity and way more Harmonic Richness I was not expecting that much of a change.

On my regular system, I have always heard the Oboe sounding like it was hidden behind a thin curtain and it was not pleasing my ears at all. Adding the Figaro line cable to the system made me appreciate the musician’s talent and my perception of the Oboe changed completely.

The speakers dynamics was way better, the speakers were breathing… It is hard to put a number in terms of improvement but I would easily say that it is higher then 10 % so I will say 25%!

YVES advice.

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to listen to the Figaro line of cable. I was comprised of interconnects, Ac cords and speaker cables.

This set of cables coming from Blueberry Hill Audio instantly gave me improvements as we turned the music on. The tonal equilibrium was instantaneous, a total control on the entire specter and very impressive dynamics.

My system witch is comprised of a Coda amp, Audio Refinement Preamp and Mirage M1 speakers had a brutal wakening. But it was a fine wakening. For those who know the M1’s, the really need a lot of power to give life to music.

As soon as the Blueberry Cables were hooked on we asked ourselves, where are the speakers gone to?

These monsters(M1’s) who have always looked to me as excellent, at that particular time, completely disappeared finally letting music flow through my entire room! At the same time it seems like it was also giving a bit of a brake to my Coda 10.5 which will now stay behind my Mirage for many years.

In conclusion, we can speak of detailed sound, opening of the stage, exceptional voices, great dynamics all associated with tonal equilibrium.
Well! If you can afford it, you have to listen to the Blueberry Hill Audio cables, especially before replacing your existing material.

Yves Coulombe

Next part follow as soon as possible.

Contact and information

Manager : Marlen Mogilever
Blueberry Hill Audio

383 Connaught Avenue
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M2R 2M1
Phone: 647-341-8757
From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time
Monday – Friday

Email: bha@rogers.com

Site web : http://www.blueberryhillaudio.com

This article has been written by Marc PHILIP, independent editor and reviewer, all rights reserved, copyright 2010, the text and photos are the property of the author and the magazine,under the creative commons license.

Have a great day and enjoy the music.

Blueberry Hill Audio from Canada!

Blueberry Hill Audio

We have already talked about Blueberry Hills Audio cables with enthusiasm and we only have great things to say about them since our first trial, we decided to give Blueberry Hills Audio our first ever Magazine Audi 2009 Reference tag to their products . There is no question to why we decided to go further in our testing with their cables.

EVO-1, EVO-IV et EVO-V

For this trial, we have used a High end approach on the analog part of the system with the use of a procedure developed by Blueberry Hills Audio, the Evolution Analog Series.

EVO-1

Blueberry Hill Audio EVO-1

It is quite simple; you have to connect a Step up Transformer equipped cable into the pre-phono or even better, directly into the preamp using the shortest possible cable length. This will allow for a better transmission of smalls signals.

EVO-IV

EVO-IV Blueberry Hill Audio

The reputation of the Step up Transformer ‘on writing’ is supposed to procure gain and cancel noise, this is what we tested.

Once more Marlen played the game by giving us 3 reference cables to trial test.
The Evo components used for our testing were:
• 1. EVO-I – model EIS01 – silver type, length – 0.6m.
• 2. EVO-IV – model E4S01 – type silver, length – 0.6m.
• 3. EVO-V – model E5S01 – type silver, length – 0.6m., with 2 power supply units., two Figaro power cords
model FPH53, hybrid, length -1.5m., two Figaro DC power cords. All cords included in price of the EVO-V.
• Second power supply unit – optional, cost – $500.00.

EVO-V Blueberry Hill Audio

We have listened to the cables on many systems and for a long period of time in order to have better conclusions.
Marlen Mogilever’s principle is to simply use the preamp phono with EVO-V active module and adapt, to the best possible the impedance match with EVO-I to IV going through the already existing pre-phono.
Set up used to test EVO-I and EVO-IV successively.

Set up 1 Lin LP12 et Well Tempered

• Linn LP12 + kit Cirkus, bras Itock et cellule Koetsu Black
• Well Temperd Lab Record Player, bras Well Tempered Lab Record Player arm, cellule Audio Technica AT 32

Our LP’s has to be use for listening session

King James big band

Arthur H

Tom Waits

Peter Gabriel

To test the BBHA EVO-V we used Claude’ system (refer to the Magazine Audio‘s link)

Oracle Delphy mk III, CDP integris et Oracle CD 2500

Equipment used for our trials
• Audio-Technica AT-32,
• Zyx R100 Fuji FxSb
• Benz Ruby 3H
• Table analogique Oracle Delphi III avec bras Alphason Xenon
• Pre Phono intégré au CDP integris
• Systeme EVO-V complet et entrée phono de PS Audio GCPH modifié
• Preamplifier Classé Audio SSP75
• Power amp Classé CA400
• Loudspeakers Mirage M1si
• Monster cable M2.4

Oracle Delphy mk III

First of all, I have to say that the EVO-V is completely physically different from other existing phono inlets; it is in fact a cable equipped with a metal encased set-up transformer.

It is a Moving coil cell system only, with a sensibility comprised between 0.2 to 0.8mv and it is completely insensitive to the cell impedance, to a certain degree of course.

Branchement EVO-I et IV

It presents itself with the shape of 2 really well manufactured aluminium casing power supplies, 1 for each channel and two little box plugged between the turn table and the pre amp high level inlet.

There is also, two 120v power cords and two other power cables to plug the little box I talked about previously.

Those little box are in reality step-up transformers.

EVO-V Blueberry Hill Audio

We are finding the same spec with the EVO-VI but this one does not have the extra wire with the little box and can be used with a turn table that has Male RCA’s.

This kit is certainly not the best looking stuff we encountered, we consider the look average with all the wiring and special shaping but it is most certainly the best we have listen to!

I have had a real pleasure to use this kit for many weeks and with different phono cells. I even wanted to buy a Benz just to let you known to witch quality we are talking about. We had to make our own opinion since there is not too much info on the net on the subject. So I decided to spend a little money from my pocket just to see.

I have to say that I was quite surprised of the 27 years old Audio Technica cell we used, a real old genuine AT-32 in perfect state, barely used in fact.

AT32 Audio Technica

The difference between the EVO-V and the PS-Audio was really impressive, more space between instruments, at lot less dept noise. With a low level cell, we were able to achieve very great dynamics, solid base that sounded indefinitely deep. Quite frankly, it was a listening session quite living and realistic that put a smile on our gentle faces.

And this was not a system out of the ordinary, something we can all afford. There are probably other alternatives perhaps better looking alternative but I don’t think I could upgrade to a better sound, everything is there, you just want to go trough all your LP’s.

I have to admit that my reference up to now was a modified PS Audio but it was no match to the EVO-V.

Other fact, I could not believe that my old Audio Technica was able to transmit and play so much music.

We also tried with a ZYK R100 Fuji cell; it has been largely spoken of since we tested it with BHA products.

ZYX R100

Little coloured on the extremes notes and also giving ages to voices but I would say that its imperfections were also its qualities.

Excellent on BigBand per say.

I have also tried a Benz Ruby 3H witch seamed very interesting to try, but I could not get it to track on my model. Under microscope I was found defective to my dismay. It could have been promising.

Cellules Benz Micro, ZYX et Audio Technica

We carried on with our listening and reminded ourselves that everyday is a learning day and that is what life is all about.

Conclusion

Here is what I gathered after listening to different set-up for this trial.

The EVO-1 System was in fact the best in terms of dynamics, tonal equilibrium and timbre quality on the Well Tempered turn table, better then its big brother the EVO-IV. I was only a question of match. Very low noise and great dynamics on both set ups.

Concerning the EVO-V, it was my preferred set-up. I might also had to that that it is absolutely the best ever listening session we have obtained on Claude’s system. Even better then his CD player.

The EVO-V has this capacity to render dynamics absolutely breath taking. The base sounds deep and it far better then all we compared it with. Even my CDP integris Pre-Phono which uses the principle of step transformer could not sound better then the EVO-V even if it is a very good piece of kit.

With the EVO-V , we were able not only to get deep base but also getting an tonal equilibrium on the entire sound spectre. This type of procedure will make you love analog listening sessions without the inconvenients.

I confess, since we tested the BHA EVO-V, I now have more interest for analog players, even worst, I really really enjoy listening to LP,s.

I have also noted that the EVO-V gave even better results while using the second power supply. One for each channel in fact. We don’t say it enough but good power is the key.

Award Référence for EVO-V from Blueberry Hill Audio

For the second time BHA has been awarded the Reference tag for its EVO-5 system.

Strengths :

• Overall performances that makes you discover or love analog system, ,
• Breath taking dynamics,
• Reducing back noise,
• Impeccable finish,
• 10 days satisfaction guaranteed or money back.

Weaknesses :

• Size,
• Highly priced for middle class earners, nothing else comes ever close to this perfection of performances.

Contact et information

Blueberry Hill Audio

Manager : Marlen Mogilever

383 Connaught Avenue
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M2R 2M1
Phone: 647-341-8757
From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Eastern Standard Time
Monday – Friday

Email: bha@rogers.com

Site web : http://www.blueberryhillaudio.com

This article as been written by Marc Philip independent reviewer to www.magazine-hifi.info and www.magazine-audio.com, all rights reserved, copyright 2010, texts and photos are the property of the author, under liscence commons:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/byncnd/2.5/ca/.
Have nice day and enjoy your listening.