Sakra V17 Limited Edition XLR Interconnect (Pair)

Sakra V.17 Limited Edition, the Flagship of the Stealth Audio Lineup 

Designing a cable to supersede the incredible performance of Stealth's Sakra v.16 required them to entirely reimagine the construction of their cables. Starting with the foundation of the legendary Sakra v.16, Stealth was able to launch from that design to a level of performance previously unthinkable. They have now delivered a cable which can truly be called a flagship, it is the standard bearer of the line, the ne plus ultra of their offerings. With that comes a limitation, due to the complications and ingredients of this cable, only a limited number of the Sakra v.17 can be made, hence the designation of Limited Edition.

For those who adore the Sakra v.16, this Limited Edition cable will sound familiar and welcoming, even though it is immediately clear that the performance parameters have been elevated to an entirely new level. Dynamics are unfettered, with better low level resolution of micro detail and astonishing composure as the music swells.

  Neutral and natural the overall tonal balance of the v.17 is very linear, yet the top octave remains silky smooth, extended and sweet. Instruments and voices are precisely positioned in a spine-tinglingly realistic acoustic space while the tonal balance is rich, full and lifelike, revealing hidden nuance and detail within every recording. 

Rhythm, pacing and timing are delivered "on the note" with rightness that makes the music flow just like it did in the studio. Subtle details and environmental cues previously obscured are now immediately recognizable and notes float and hang in the air just like they do in real life.

Lest one think these improvements are all in the top octave or in the vocal range, fear not! Sakra v.17 delivers far better bass control with a flatter bass curve as well as greater power and low frequency extension. One benefit of this is that distinguishing between multiple bass instruments has never been easier! This is far and away the best cable Stealth has ever made. For the lucky few who have the system and the means to engage the services of this outstanding effort, your reward is pure and simple; a cable that delivers music in a way which nothing else can.   

KEY DESIGN FEATURES

• Amorphous conductive media (wire): has no crystal structure at all, perfectly homogeneous & grain-less for exceptional fidelity
• Ultra thin wire:  At only 0.001” thick, this tiny wire delivers three benefits:
  • Minimizes skin effect, eliminating harshness and congestion in the upper midrange and treble
  • Minimizes time-domain errors for clean, well defined bass, perfect imaging and soundstaging
  • Delivers realistic cable dimensions and allows for Stealth's proprietary distributed LITZ geometry**
• Proprietary non-resonant cable geometry: STEALTH vari-cross distributed LITZ**
  • Individually insulated strands eliminate direct electrical contact between strands. This galvanic isolation forces each conductor to pass signal on its own, rather than smearing the signal across multiple conductors.
  • Non-inductive bifilar winding, one of the advantages of STEALTH multicore geometry
  • Electrical Resonance Control, another advantage of STEALTH distributed LITZ geometry
  • Optimized Mechanical Resonance Control: Too much damping could sterilize and deaden the sound, too little creates unwanted and uncontrolled resonance, aka “ringing”. The mechanical properties of Sakra's dielectric and jacketing are optimized specifically for this cable's design.
• Characteristic Impedance Control: Stealth has optimized the cable's relationships among capacitance, inductance and DC resistance: this cable's characteristic impedance and its resonant behavior (“Q” at RF frequencies) are different from any machine-made cable
• Ultra-Low Energy Storage Dielectric: This series uses a porous Teflon dielectric combined with non-reactive Helium gas to create an optimum environment for signal preservation. This combination delivers an incredibly low dielectric constant, meaning that more of the signal flows through the cable undistorted. This is what gives the Sakra series such a lively, realistic and natural flow.
• Proprietary STEALTH connectors: custom designed and highly advanced, these are very low overall mass to keep resonance to a minimum. The contacts are pure solid silver, using machined ultra-modified PTFE (Teflon®) insulators in a Kevlar composite frame. Carbon Fiber and Titanium shells help minimize vibration and RF interference to round out the high-performance aesthetic.
• Advanced Termination Technique: Stealth does not use solder. Instead they've created a high-pressure crimping method to deliver a seamless transition between the wire and the connector for increased signal integrity and greater low-level transmission.