Ideon Siren USB Cable Review
REFERENCE AUDIO – WITHAM ESSEX
BOB’s Review Series - No 74 – Ideon Siren USB Cable
INTRODUCTION
Do cables make a difference to the sound quality produced by audio equipment? I know there are many naysayers out there but I’m not one of them, I’ve been in the fortunate position to listen to a larger variety of cables over the last 5 years and I can guarantee that better cables help release the performance of the rest of your equipment. Of course, what you spend on cables must be proportionate to the rest of the system and there is not much point in expecting a £5k mains cable to significantly enhance the performance of a £2k amplifier. It will of course, to some degree, but there is only so much performance that £2k amp can give and only so much performance an expensive cable has to offer when it’s constrained further up the system.
Back in the day (say the 70’s) QED, Monster and Supra showed the way for many of us with open minds and I guess it would be fair to say I was an early adopter. Since then, I have held the belief that good cables should be regarded as much a component of any system as the electronics that are at its heart. Just listen to Ricardo from Absolute Sounds talk about the importance of cables, his experience in our industry is second to none and he believes in cable for a very good reason.
I’ve invested heavily in leads over the years including mains leads, speaker leads, interconnects, ethernet and USB cables from the early days with QED 79 strand speaker cables right through to my mid-range Jorma cabling today. My only current non Jorma cable is one of my two USB cables because having introduced an Ideon Absolute Time USB reclocker into my system a few months ago I now need two USB cables. I already have one Jorma 1m Reference USB cable and in an ideal world I should have another one but for a while I’ve been using an excellent Audioquest Diamond USB from the Reclocker to the DAC so when an opportunity came to try an Ideon Siren USB cable in place of the Audioquest I jumped at the chance. It retails at £1800 for a 1m cable or £2400 for a 1.75m one, other lengths are custom made, expensive yes, but still a considerable saving over a 1m Jorma reference at £3150.
THE SIREN CABLE BY IDEON
I’ve written about Ideon before so hopefully they need little introduction here other than a reminder that they make some of the finest DACs, Streamers and USB Reclockers available today. The only other product they make is the Siren USB cable which is the focus of this review. Ideon say they have designed the Siren ‘for optimum transfer of audio data, resulting in a life-like, lucid, coherent and detailed sound, free of fatigue or harshness, for boundless listening pleasure”. Quite a bold intent but have they achieved their goal?
The Siren is hand built in-house by Ideon in Athens and it takes them around 2 days to build each cable. They use high-quality silver-plated copper wire for both signal and power conductors (all USB cable make provision for a 5V power supply, essential for some DACs). They use triple shielding for noise elimination, isolation between threads, heavy copper braided shields, a separate shielded 5V power cable and high quality machine milled aluminium connectors with gold plated pins. They certainly exude quality, and the connectors have a reassuring deep connection. In general USB sockets are not designed for heavy duty connectors and heavy wire and the Siren scores well here, well-constructed but not too heavy. Some other high end and much more expensive USB leads I have tried are just too heavy for their own good and tend to pull out of the equipment they are connected to, but not so the Ideon Siren nor the Jorma Reference.
PERFORMANCE
As noted above I used the Siren USB primarily between the Ideon Absolute Time and my DAC, but I did try it between the Innuos Statement NG and the Absolute Time replacing the Jorma Reference that normally fills that space. It sounded great in both positions, but I preferred the former to the latter, perhaps something to do with Ideon synergy.
No matter what I listened to I found the Siren USB cable provided a richer, deeper, more detailed and inviting sound, almost as good as a decent electrical component upgrade. What for me sets a great system apart from the masses is its ability to work together as a whole to provide the timbre and melody that always underpins great music, and which makes the hairs on your arms stand to attention. The Siren USB worked seamlessly with the rest of my system to enhance that emotional tug that many of us are seeking.
On the track ‘Not Too Much To Ask’ by Mary-Chapin Carpenter she sings with Joe Diffie and on many systems his voice gets a little swamped my Mary’s and seems somewhat lost in the mix. However, when I inserted the Siren USB, his voice became clearer and much more a part of the duet with Mary, this doesn’t happen very often, and it was great to hear and experience.
CONCLUSION
The Ideon Siren USB cable worked like a dream giving better definition, more emotional impact and enjoyment. I liked it so much that I purchased one, what more can I say?
June 2024
Bob – Team Reference Audio