Snake Oil Taipan RCA Cable Review – Sonic Poison Attack
Pros — Cheapest snake oil in audio; excellent build, haptic, and looks; rugged and attractive looking; reasonable price and shipping.
Cons — Shipping cost only calculated upon checkout.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Snake Oil Taipan are sturdy RCA connectors made from German Sommer cable and American premium Amphenol connectors, and they are assembled in the USA.
INTRODUCTION
We love snake oil. If you search our blog for these keywords, you get…just try it:
https://www.audioreviews.org/?s=snake+oil
Snake Oil Sound is a 2-men startup out of a garage in San Jose, CA. 2 guys? Garage? California? Sounds familiar?
That’s how he world’s most valuable company started. But whereas Apple have never had any self irony, Snake Oil have. The company specializes in after-market accessories for Schiit products (cables, connectors, even a streamer), and they certainly have come up with some good ideas. Check out their catalogue.
I came across Snake Oil when looking for RCA interconnects for the Khadas Tone2 Pro/Topping L30. There are tons of quality cables out there, which were either too pricey for me – or the extraordinary shipping cost higher than the product itself made them cost prohibitive.
Snake Oil sell directly without middlemen. They offer international shipping at cost – per USPS, which is about $12 to Canada. They obviously understand their customers. Unfortunately (for them) I had already submitted an order to some Chinese budget cables. And fortunately – for them – these were too short for my purposes, so that we agreed on me reviewing one of their cables. I opted for the Snake Oil Taipan, their TOTL model, which retail at a reasonable $33 per footlong pair.
SPECIFICATIONS
Product Name: Snake Oil Taipan
Length: 6 in to 1000 ft
Wire Material/Conductor: 0.5 mm² German SOMMER cable
RCA connectors: Premium Amphenol
Tested at: $33 for1 ft/pair
Purchase Link: Snake Oil Sound
PHYSICAL THINGS AND USABILITY
There is really not much to say. The cables were hand assembled upon ordering and arrived in a simple plastic bag. The amphenol premium connectors are well known to and appreciated by audiophiles. They are sturdy and sit as snug in place as it gets. The rugged cable part is imported from Sommer Cable in Germany. Two quality items, brought together in California.
The overall construct is highly functional and therefore rather substantial and very sturdy. The cable is reasonably supple and rebranded with the Snake Oil label. And it is this visible irony that makes this product unique.
SOUND: REFINING SNAKE OIL
I have reviewed quite a few earphone cables in my life – but never dared to make broad statements that one cable sounded universally better than another. Differences in sound rely on a lot of factors and are always tied to the properties of the electronics the cable is used with, the source and the amp.
Now I have finally arrived at the Snake Oil itself. And yes, the Snake Oil Taipan sounds good. So good that I use it to connect the Khadas Tone Pro to the Schiit Magni 2 Uber and Topping L30. Yep, it works well, it connects well, and it looks good. And that’s all I need. I compared the Taipan with some well-made but older Radio Shack cables. The Taipan delivered a fuller sound at the bottom end, the Radio shack sound was less bassy and visceral – which only applies to this particulate setup. This does not mean it sounds better than the Radio Shack cable, it only means it transfers more of the lower frequencies. Depends which signature you prefer.
Snake Oil Taipan – The Movie
CONCLUDING REMARKS
I had done a few cable reviews before – and had mentioned the term “snake oil” in each of them. Yes, any two cables can sound different (with the same electronics), but this has, in many cases, little to do with price (or optics). A well-constructed, well-shielded cable with good connectors is all you need for decent sound transfer.
The Snake Oil Taipan incorporates German and American quality parts and does the job – and it does it well. It is assembled in the USA and affordable. I really liked the company’s “at a cost shipping” to Canada.
What else do you want?
You can have never enough Snake Oil in your audio…which is typically highly overpriced! But not in this case.
Oh, and I append a few images below that give you some idea of the Taipan’s physicalities – and an accompanying video is in the works.
Until next time…keep on listening!
DISCLAIMER
I received the Taipan cable from Snake Oil Sound for my review – and I thank them for that.
Get the Taipan directly from Snake Oil Sound.
Our generic standard disclaimer.
You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.
Gallery
