From the article: "Scheda d'ascolto, La famiglia di cavi BOOMERANG"
by Riccardo Mozzi (Translated by Peter Janssen)
in Fedeltà del Suono, Anno XV, n° 5, September 2005
Preamble
A brief advance-review of a complete series of cables: relatively economical, fine-sounding and Italian: in other words... very interesting.
Description of the Cables
Various pieces of information about the nature and the technological construction of this family of cables are available on the manufacturer's web site (www.boomerangcables.com); I found several of the concepts very interesting and I, faithfully, summarise them here for you.
The conductors and connectors used in BOOMERANG cables are of professional grade: notably, the original wire is 24AWG pure solid copper. The sought after sonority is the fruit of a unique braiding system that effectively represents the company secret. The manufacturer then refers primly to some possible slight cosmetic imperfections in his own cables, due to their being entirely handmade by a craftsman.
BOOMERANG cables are directional when it comes to the passage of an electrical signal; so it is necessary to observe the direction indicated by the arrow on the cables. The label graphics are very cutely presented; on the power cable there is no indication of phase.
Another characteristic of these conductors, actually common to many competing designs, is the necessity of a “burn-in” period. Theoretically, they should sound good immediately, but with time all their characteristics tend to become even more refined, especially where the power cables are concerned.
Mechanically, these cables are rather rigid and do not “like” to be handled too roughly or twisted: in fact, the manufacturer suggests that once they have been placed in position not to touch them again. Good intentions which, knowing myself, however I have not succeeded in following for the present, in view of the continual acrobatics involved in evaluating various cables, in addition to their physical “soundness”...
Sonic Analysis
Beginning with the one that pleased me least: the digital cable. We're talking about a cable of optimum construction, similar to the mono RCA interconnect. The contest against my MIT Digital Reference is unequal, but only because the latter truly is a stratospheric cable, and what is more, offered at the hardly mind-blowing price of 440 Euro. However, considering the cost of the Boomerang (less than half: 200 Euro) the equilibrium is somewhat restored. It is a cable well capable of introspection, substantially neutral, as are the rest of the BOOMERANGs, but without that fluidity and lucidity that makes the Digital Reference a true champion. It is a cable that makes the gap between digital and analogue appear wider. The asking price, as I said, is honest.
Speaker cables: offered at 330 Euro for the version under test — a bi-wiring version is also available for 460 Euro a pair. It is an essentially balanced cable, of optimum quality for the price, which yields only before cables of enormously higher cost; good capacities of analysis and the delineating of micro-information. The very minutest details, however, are lost just a trifle on the way through...
Power cables: right, now here I can really begin to enthuse: in this case we are dealing with a conductor truly capable of winning out against cables costing about the same but perhaps technologically superseded. When compared to the benchmarks it allows for greater introspective capacities. It is a refined and analytic cable, but without any bias towards one or other part of the musical range; also this one is essentially neutral. The price at 180 Euro makes it particularly apt: even a system costing a total of 3000 Euro would benefit from it...
The Interconnect cables are offered in two versions: stereo (220 Euro) and mono (380 Euro) in which the conductors (double for each cable) are gathered together in one sheath per channel, on the other hand for the stereo version the conductors of both channels are covered by only one sheath. Here it is! Now we can really talk of a small miracle. The mono interconnects are the BOOMERANGs that have pleased me the most. They have been put up against the MIT 330 Series 3 (much “dirtier” in the bass) and the MIT 350 (just as refined, but not as well balanced, especially in the bass range of the audio spectrum). However, the surprise came in the comparison with the JPS Superconductor 2, (at almost eight times the cost...). Well, while acknowledging a slight inferiority in dynamics and fluidity for the BOOMERANG, the latter held up extremely well in the contest, with very, very slight differences in refinement. On changing from one cable to the other the discernible nuances regarding so many characteristics of sonic reproduction remained just that, i.e. effectively infinitesimal. This fact constitutes, in my opinion, the greatest compliment, seeing as the reference is known to be a true champion of sonic reproduction; and even if its cost is perhaps a little exaggerated, such it is...
Most highly recommended, even for installations of 8000 Euro total cost. Moreover, they are optimally finished. The only thing that could be noted is a certain stiffness that necessitates some acrobatics when connecting components near to a wall.
The stereo version, coming in at a notably lower cost, reproduces to a smaller scale the qualities of the twin mono, but without its exceptional characteristics. Of course, in view of the list price, we are dealing here with a highly recommended purchase.
Conclusion
These BOOMERANG cables are a pleasant surprise: very neatly and attractively finished, with a touch of precise craftsmanship, they constitute excellent acquisitions. A few (digital and speaker) may become "lost" in the vast sea of current offerings available on the market; but this is not so for the power lead and, above all, for the mono interconnects, truly destined to excel within their price category. Well done! And Italian too!
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From the article: "Universal Disc Player McCormack UDP1"
by Riccardo Mozzi (Translated by Peter Janssen)
in Le Guide di Fedeltà del Suono, 03 Sorgenti Digitali, Anno II n° 1, 2005
[...] for the sake of a credible comparison only the unbalanced outputs were used with the same BOOMERANG cables!
And, while we're at it, let's devote a few words to these cables, in expectation of writing a piece specifically on them later on. Well, in general, as perhaps I have already written(!), I prefer a certain coherence in the connections between components: by which I mean, that for better or worse, i.e. with the limitations of NON-neutrality proper to this make, MIT cables have presented a good amalgam for my whole system, in view also of my listening preferences (musical genres and favoured timbre). Recently, this coherence has been somewhat "revolutionised" by the advent of a cable placed between the DAC and the pre-amp, a connection of truly exceptional quality and superior to the Shotgun used up until then. We're talking about the JPS Superconductor 2 (balanced) that possesses the same leaning towards the "dark and warm" typical of the Shotgun MIT, but with an increased dose of detail which I did not believe possible in this price band (over 2000 precious Euro for a 1 metre balanced pair...).
Then the BOOMERANGs turned up, along with their price list, well within the reach of many audiophiles. The "ethical" questions began: is it right to spend so much "more" to hear so few "more" nuances? Well! This is not the forum to discuss ethics, and I am certainly not the right person for it, but let me hasten to the conclusion to which I have drawn in evaluating these cables. They are truly champions in providing quality for price (220 Euro for the "stereo" version: an order of magnitude less than the reference...) in which balanced timbre, detail and sound-staging seem to characterise a quality unthinkable for cables only a few generations ago.
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From the article: "BOOMERANG Cables!!!"
by Igor Zamberlan (Translated by Peter Janssen)
Video HI-Fi, n. 10[...] An extremely appealing characteristic that they have is to make the performers materialise, to communicate not only their contours in the left-right direction but also forward-backward, i.e. to give body to instruments and voices.
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