Prestige Line Redefines High-Fidelity: Japan Applauds Turnbull Audio’s Innovation

This review was originally written in Japanese and has been translated into English for clarity and accessibility. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, some nuances or expressions may differ from the original language.

The American company NVS Sound’s , remembered as the heaviest cable in the world, founder has returned to the audio world with a new brand called TURNBULL AUDIO. From the RCA cable to the speaker cable, the total cost is close to 200,000 yen, bringing a super high-end world to the market.

The design engineer is Nathan Van Der Stoop. He is an artist who also works as a ballet dancer and an orchestral trombone player. In 2019, he took a break from his brand due to poor health, but for the past five years, he has continued his research into cables while working as an audio consultant. Last year, we finally relaunched our new brand. 

This time, we listened to the RCA, XLR, and speaker cables of the Breathe Stage series. The most notable feature is, of course, the weight( fullness of the sound?). This is inherited from the NVS era, and a method has been adopted in which a special composite powder containing metal is filled into the tube as a measure to damp the conductor vibration. The conductor is 5N copper, and the wire diameter is 0.0 mm. It also has its own unique damping method, and the thorough management method is likely the reason for the high price. 

The RCA cable was tested between the CD player and the preamp. It has high transparency, little muddiness in the mid- and high-range sounds, and produces a rich, transient sound. It has a high response and density, making it an exceptionally attractive product. I also imagined that the heavy structure would tend to favor low frequencies, but that is not the case. The bass response is also excellent. The high bass horsepower and damping are its standout features. For users of this class of cable, XLR is probably the most common application. I listened to the XLR cable between the pre-amp and the power amp. 

The connector is made by Fultech. This results in better mid- and high-range sound and a higher S/N ratio than the Reference standard. The resolution is also high and the sound quality is crisp. The sound quality is pure and clear. The sense of distance in vocal music and the relationship between the front and back are clear, which is probably related to the performance of a high S/N ratio. 

Lastly, the speaker cable. It has a high quality of dense(full?) expression, and its rich, soft flavor expresses a mature sound quality, producing a well-developed vocal flow. It has low distortion and no roughness at all. It produces a truly pleasant sound. It is not characterized by clarity or high resolution, but rather a transcendent world appears( I am assuming this means like a whole new world of sound appears?). This time, I listened to the Y-lag, and the sound quality was rich. You can also choose a banana plug when ordering.

When listening to all three types, the characteristics of the XLR cable used between the preamplifier and amplifier stand out strongly, and it is clear that the basis is a highly resolving, transparent sound. All of them have excellent sound quality, but the performance of the XLR cable in particular is outstanding. The sound of each instrument is rich and harmonious, giving the impression of being unified by a harmonious quality. 

I often use the phrase "at first sight." To put it another way, I was moved, but this was my first experience of "listening" to such a loud noise, even a side effect, on a cable. Nathan Van Der Stoop, who used to develop and sell a high-end cable called NVS Sound, retired due to poor health and for the past five years has been devoting himself to research and development with the aim of creating a new top-of-the-line cable. At the end of last year, I decided to write this article recalling the thrill I felt listening to the new Prestige Line cable, released in my own home listening room in 2011 as a new company called Turnbull Audio (Colorado, USA). Personally, I was very happy about Mr. Nathan's revival. In fact, it was me who made his name known all over the world.

2010 Exhibition Reaction 

When I returned home after the exhibition, I learned that my article "I discovered a wonderful cable" had caused a great reaction in Japan, and I decided to continue developing cables. I have always considered the old NVS cables, which had high sound quality due to the vibration countermeasures of filling the inside of the cable with powder, to be the best of all cables, but This time, after listening to the RCA, XR, and speaker cables of the pre-stage line, Mr. Nathan knew without a doubt that he had entered a new dimension. 

Powder dumping is still used as before, but the composition of the powder has been changed, and there are a surprising number of new technologies. 1. We are collaborating with a wire manufacturer to develop conductors. 

These are all about the conductors, and there are many different ways to insulate and deal with vibrations, but I don't have the space to go into them all here. 

Every cable leaves me with the same feeling: "I didn't know it had all this information and emotion in it, and I was finally able to experience the passionate musicality of the sound source." 

Let's take X and R as an example. In Holly Cole's "I'm a Curious One Now," the reverb fills the room, and the scenery depicted in vocal words makes the imagery seem very real. When you hear the lyrics "The rain is stopping, and the blue sky is spreading" on stage, you can see a clear, cloudless blue sky right before your eyes. This is because sonic and musical distortion is kept to an absolute minimum, and the sound is depicted with a collection of extremely fine particles. Charles Musiu & Boston Symphony Orchestra's Beethoven Symphony No. 3, the first piece in the key of E flat major, has such resolution that you can see every single instrument in the score playing at the same time. The way the overtones come out is amazing, and the sound information of the fundamental tone + overtones is richer than anything I've ever heard before.

I received the rough mix of the second album from UA Records, Joka Mie, due for release this summer, so I listened to "Alphys." I was surprised that the reproduction of the news was so fine and the emotional fluctuations contained in the fading endings could be heard so dynamically, even though it was my own work. The price is also impressive, but it is a signature line that greatly increases the expressive power of the device and truly brings you to a state of 'anatomy'. The "Turnbull" in our company name means "changing the direction of the ox." The "bull" is the "signal." The "heart" is "controlling the electrical energy in the cable." We're really looking forward to what's to come.