A) The concept

VOVOX® sound conductors' design and production are based mainly on material science and not electrical engineering.

B) The goal

VOVOX aims for a pristine signal transmission which does not lose information during the process. This goal can not be achieved by taking measures that influence the sound for specific applications, e.g. by offering a special cable type for a certain instrument or musical style. The results of such measures only appear to be an improvement, since they will never help reach the goal of an unaltered signal transmission. All measures taken by VOVOX have one purpose only: To remove hurdles on the way to achieving a flawless signal flow.

C) The technical realization

VOVOX® sound conductors differ in various aspects from conventional cables. While some of these differences are obvious, others are hidden and will remain the company's business secrets.

• solid core conductors: Conductors made of solid wires (except for VOVOX® vita)
• high purity, high tech plastics
• no plasticizers
• no PVC
• use of an additional conductor for ground, having the same high quality as the signal conductors (except for VOVOX® vita)
• unusually large spacing between the conductors

VOVOX® vita is our cable for those who are looking for a handy, robust cable that also sounds great. VOVOX® vita is our only cable in which we use copper stranded wire as the signal conductor. This makes the cable particularly durable.

VOVOX® sonorus is the VOVOX sound conductor par excellence: these cables have made us famous. Their special construction and unique materials enable sound quality of the highest standard. The cables are slightly less flexible than VOVOX® vita, but still absolutely suitable for stage use.

VOVOX® excelsus is our reference line in terms of sound. We have pulled out all the stops to perfect the sound. It was important to us not to compromise on sound quality. This was not possible without compromising the flexibility of the cables. That is why the cables are stiff and not suitable for use on stage. They are most at home in a mastering studio or on a home audio system.

We always strive to pursue the same goal: a highly loss free and transparent transmission. VOVOX® sonorus, is a little closer to achieving this goal than VOVOX® vita: With sonorus, the spatial imaging is even more vivid, the sound more refined and more genuine. VOVOX® excelsus even goes one step further and is close to perfection by being a cable almost free of any distortions and alterations.

The sound quality achieved is the sum of the different parts making up the audio chain. Regarding a chain of cables, it would be wrong to think that the cables with the poorest quality will represent a "sound bottleneck" limiting all other cables. In fact, all parts contribute to the final result to a certain degree. Consequently, it's possible to achieve a gradual improvement with each replaced cable in a chain. Nevertheless, the amount of influence to the overall sound varies between cable sections.

They are optimal in both cases. Basically the task the cable has to fulfill is the same for electric guitar and bass. The dimension of the square section of the cable is big enough to feed also powerfull bass amps

One has to be aware that shielding means to compromise to a certain amount on sound quality. Shielding protects a cable and prevents interference very effectively. However, this protection is not always equally important. Depending on the cable construction and application, adequate protection can also be provided without shielding. In these cases, unshielded cables often enable even better sound results.

Shielded “protect” sound conductors should be used where problems with interference noise are to be expected. In all other cases, the unshielded “direct” versions are preferable. Specifically, this means:.

'protect S' sound conductors: for stage applications, live recording, long cable runs (10 m and more)

'direct S' sound conductor: for balanced connections in the studio or on home audio systems

'protect A' sound conductor: unbalanced cables for amplified musical instruments. Shielded cables are required in all cases.

Speaker cables: Due to the high signal level, they usually do not need to be shielded.

Depending on the direction in which a cable is connected, minimal differences in sound quality can often be perceived. We cannot offer a definitive explanation for this phenomenon, but we have observed it repeatedly. The direction of travel, which we indicate with the VOVOX® fabric label, gives our customers an indication of which direction we consider to be optimal in terms of sound. The end of the cable with the fabric label should always be plugged into the signal receiver. If you imagine the signal flow as an arrow, the label is always attached where the tip of the arrow points. 

At VOVOX® vita, we have not identified any reproducible difference in the direction of travel. These cables can therefore be used in either direction.

From a purely electrical engineering point of view, there is no difference between the running directions. The cables work perfectly in both directions.

Gold protects contacts durably from oxidation and enable consistant low contact resistance. Concerning sound quality, we found out that gold can also have adverse effects. In the case of connectors that are rarely removed, gold is a good choice. Instument cables however, are inserted and removed very often, which continuously removes oxyde layers mechanically. Practical tests have proven that – if sound quality is the main criteria – gold doesn't necessarily offer the best results. For this reason we do not use gold plated contacts for the VOVOX® jack plug.

Many musicians are looking for plugs with automated muting function. These help avoid annoying pops and squeals when hot swapping instruments. We take muting very seriously. For this reason, we are convinced that plugs with muting function are satisfactory only in case they are durable, and the muting function works in 100% of the cases. In our experience, no plug on the market can actually fulfil this requirement. As we don't like doing things halfway, we shall not offer plugs with muting function before we are fully convinced of their quality.

VOVOX grants a guarantee for 3 years. In the normal case, defect cables are getting repaired, in exceptional cases they are replaced. No guarantee shall be provided for defects that result from improper or unintended usage.

VOVOX cables are robust. Nevertheless it is recommended to handle them with some care:

Do not fold or knot the cable

Try to avoid a very small bending radius

It is not recommended to coil the cable around one's elbow (as electricians sometimes do): This may ruin the cable over time. In addition, this does not allow an orderly coil as the cable becomes twisted and will attempt to free itself from this position.

Carefully choose the kind of connector that suits you best: Using a 90° right angle plug will often reduce the mechanical stress on the instrument as well as on the cable. Like this it contributes to longer service life of both, cable and jack.

Though this question seems to be simple, it is quite complicated to give an answer that is correct in all cases. Here is some general information:

In the case of passive speaker cables, the influence of length on the sound is quite large. The longer the cable, the bigger the loss of sound quality.

In the case of instrument cables and patch cables, the influence of length is quite noticeable.

In the case of line cables, the influence is a bit smaller, but still clearly noticeable.

In the case of balanced cables, the influence of length is relatively small.

In the case of digital cables, from a certain length onwards, the error rate increases and the transmission becomes insecure. However, the critical length depends on various factors and is therefore difficult to denote globally.

Since all VOVOX® cables follow the same concept and pursue the same objectives, cables from different series can be combined with each other without any problems.

It’s the last power cord, directly attached to the consuming device that is most important. Even with an imperfect branch, power cables can make a big difference. Often it is difficult to make prognoses, therefore we recommend to make tests.

VOVOX® power cables should have a minimum length of 1.8 m. If the cable is shorter, the effect will be reduced.

This is a good question. Even so, we are not able to answer it to the satisfaction of all people as it’s just not possible to refer to proven statements. Several theories exist in this matter, however, they have rather a character of hypothesis.

During the development of VOVOX® power cables the target wasn’t to realise a theoretic concept but rather the implementation of a simple but very surprising finding: Cables based on the same design principles, using the same selected materials as our analog signal cables do have an audible effect as well if used as power cables. This is even more surprising as power cables don’t transmit an audio signal. So it isn’t our intention to proof something with our power cords. We simply want to offer our customers the possibility to share a discovery and to participate in its advantage.