Sound impressions: How does it sound?
Let’s start with the Bass. You might have expected Lancelot to bring in a significant amount of bass boost and warmth since the gold wiring, but that’s not exactly the case. At least that’s not what Lancelot is about. This cable deals with things far more carefully and naturally – so that the sound gets advanced based on the IEM’s original sound profile. First off, the bass only mildly boosts in quantity yet the nuance and texture of the bass changes quite noticeably. The damping of the bass feels more elastic and continuous. Once diverting back to the stock cable makes the bass feel like it’s all around choppy.
Welcome, musicality.
If your IEM’s vocals sounded a tad vibrant or overpowering, Lancelot will manage that for you seamlessly. Lancelot introduces warmth and depth to the vocal tone without degrading its brightness. Vocals still shine as they used to but now sound extra smooth, creamy, and musical. Not only does Lancelot carefully calm down the IEMs to sound less fatiguing, but it also offers lush textures. The surface texture feels more silky while not dulling out the resolution. The grains and crisp textures are reserved while gently soothing things out.
You too, ambiance.
As Lancelot has been behaving for the lows and mids, highs also don’t boost much the quantity. Yet still, it manages to bring out more clarity and purity to the tone. The textures are more refined and tasteful. Most importantly, the reverbs details are a significant part of Lancelot. The ambiance, the quiet rustle, the soft decays and splashes. These tiny bits of elements, which may seem insignificant, add up to provide a much livelier sound field in the end. Like breathing in life to the music, trebles get noticeably clear and realistic. Highs gain a very natural addition of airiness, so the upgrade is brought in a seamless manner.
Matched with Noble Audio Katana
Katana is well-praised for its classic BA-style sound profile topped with the technicality that still meets the current standards. However, a glimpse of metallic timbre and snappy lower ranges may have polarized some users. Once paired, Lancelot overhauls Katana in one of the most seamless ways in respecting the original sound signature.
The metallic hints on the mids and highs are perfectly replenished, while not excessively altering the thickness and brightness. The vocal’s nuance is almost identical, added with a small touch of sweetness. The vocals mildly expand fuller in body which feels just as tight and clean. Despite the vocals growing in size a bit, the mid-range sounds just as dense if not more. On top of the trebles sounding just as crisp, highs get silkier and smoother. The tone of the vocals and highs also sound more mature and deep, adding more depth that Katana would find very useful.
Lancelot also tunes up Katana nicely for the bass. The low ends that sometimes sounded snappy now generate consistent, smoother bass grooves. It’s somewhat like seamlessly filling up the cracks and potholes on a concrete road. The flow of the bass feels more universal and even. For the bass texture, Lancelot fully upholds the BA goodness that Katana used to have but gives a touch of organic tone to it, making the strike and retrieval more elastic and groovy.
Also can’t forget to mention the low-end’s improvements on clarity too. While gently highlighting the reverbs, Lancelot also makes the bass cleaner and tighter. The agile bass response is now even tighter and achieves a deeper, cleaner bass line. What’s even better is that the bass doesn’t get too stiff or rigid in the process. Lancelot doesn’t boost the soundstage of Katana. However, the appropriately added fullness does make it sound bigger.
Matched with Nostalgia Audio Camelot (Review link)
Lancelot redefines what a rich sound is with Camelot. The vocal texture gets incredibly silky, butter-smooth, and creamy. The tone stays just as organic despite the flavor and sweetness that’s added to the vocals, so no worries to be made about the vocals sounding colored whatsoever. The texture got more refined and detailed too. Resolution is also improved in such a natural way, barely altering the sound signature of Camelot.
The treble gets quite interesting. The treble notes feel identical in quantity, yet they pop out more vividly and clearly. The twinging vibration from the guitar, the subtle splashes of snares that were unheard of before. The finer strands of treble truly allow the EST drivers to shine. Lancelot makes the ideal changes to Camelot if you’re seeking to bring out treble details while keeping the sound fatigue-free.
Diverting back to Avalon (which is already a great match with Camelot that surpasses many other cables), you can feel the thickness in tone and density is quite significant. This is something that is felt indirectly and hard to capture through a few seconds of listening. The more you hear, the more you notice how rich the sound gets.
Lancelot also offers a significant lushness to the bass just like it did with the rest of the ranges. The quantity stays similar but with a more grand, stable nuance that adds depth to the bassline. The bass kicks feel more mature and savory. The background has also gotten quieter and deeper. The quietness or the “absence of sound” is now better highlighted, which makes the sound field realistic and cleaner. Unless you’re seeking to dramatically change the sound signature of it, Lancelot maximizes the quality of sound that Camelot is looking to achieve.
Compared to Rhapsodio Silver Wizard MK2 (2-braid)
Lancelot has a smoother and softer tone. Lancelot does a better job of bringing out a mellow, fluffy tone for the music. The bass oozes out with more reverbs but not in the sense that it’s loosened – it’s more like the bass has a condensed viscosity. Mids are also smoother, fuller, and warmer. Vocals feel to have more elastic damping and grooviness to them.
SW2 achieves just as clear and deep depth as Lancelot but puts more control. The lows and mids are tighter and the brightness is more neutral. The texture feels crispier and tighter, giving more of an al dente bite to the sound. Vocals and trebles are stronger in clarity. They’re also more up-close in presentation and brighter in tone. What’s good is that the sound doesn’t feel fatiguing to the ears, as SW2 never overheats the upper-ends.
The mature finesse by Sir Lancelot
Imagine a professional housekeeper reorganizing and cleaning up a messy room, yet still trying to keep things in their usual place so that your room feels familiar while having everything better. Lancelot is like that. Lancelot makes a complete tune-up to the sound while keeping the IEM’s originality. Some cables make the IEMs less fatiguing by tweaking the sound to be warmer and darker.
Lancelot is a cable that may not be too impactful or vivid in changes at first glance as it doesn’t tweak the sound signature. Soon after the initial listening, you’ll be greeted with obvious boosts and additional luxury applied to the quality, tone, and timbre of your earphones.
Lancelot’s quality and sound tuning are worth comparing with higher-end cables from other manufacturers, making it extra competitive in pricing among flagship custom cables. If you have cable-sensitive IEMs, consider Sir Lancelot to serve you as your next flagship cable as he has the know-how on how to seamlessly and beautifully overhaul your IEM.
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