Conclusion

At USD $149 the modular Obsidian cable has a powerful, dynamic sound and has become a useful addition to my cable arsenal.

There’s nothing particularly unusual about that because there’s a lot of great cables out there in lower price brackets, where Obsidian really sets itself apart is in the unique benefit of its’ modular plugs.

Adding the rhodium plug option means you can tweak the cable in a way that won’t radically alter how it sounds completely, but will make a small & meaningful difference to its’ tonality & technical performance.

As someone who’s previously avoided modular plugs I see this as something of a revelation, finally a credible reason for their existence beyond the added flexibility that in a world of 4.4mm DAPs & amps I no longer need. In fact now I almost wish Penon adds a modular system to the other end – swappable 2pin/MMCX connectors in copper & rhodium to facilitate even more sonic flexibility.

That’s the thing about cables – the “best” cable for any IEM in your collection is always a difficult thing to predict, and throwing more money at the problem doesn’t always help you solve it. Synergy is everything, so being able to tweak a cable’s performance potentially makes it a lot more valuable in the long run.

It’s a copycat industry where genuine innovation can be rare, so I make a point of applauding it at every opportunity – different flavours of cable plugs is a novel concept and I’m look forward to more sonically tweakable cables from Penon in the future.

 

 

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