Fishman Asterope Pro Stage Series cable review

Quality cable, premium price

  • £89.99
Reviews
By
( )
published
We really did hear a difference between the Asterope cable and a leading brand

MusicRadar Verdict

Certainly, for audio use and for electro-acoustic players (it's now this reviewer's cable of choice), it's recommended. For heavily gained metallers, the advantages might be less obvious.

Pros

  • +

    We can hear the difference!

Cons

  • -

    Painful price.

MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.

We're forever banging on about using quality audio cables, but there's always the fear that, in reality, they don't make any difference. Asterope is the latest name on the radar, and at £89.99 for a six-foot straight-jacked cable (a 30-footer is £169.99) it had better be good.

The result of "decades of research and development across a number of scientific disciplines", says Asterope, which is being distributed worldwide by Fishman, "the ultra-efficient signal flow increases bandwidth and harmonic response, and improves the overall sound of all audio electronics.

"Asterope delivers a broader bandwidth of sound than traditional cables, allowing the listener to actually 'feel' the difference. This phenomenon is referred to as hyper-sonics." Umm...

In Use

Our first audio test was at the 2013 NAMM show with very tired ears, but compared with other high-end cables, we thought we could perceive some subtle additional clarity.

In a more scientific-like environment, yes, compared with a medium-priced big-name cable of the same length, the Asterope is noticeably clearer and slightly 'enhanced'- sounding, with more presence. You can definitely hear it.

This quality directional cable has plenty of scientific voodoo behind it, then, but, to our ears, it also has a noticeable audio improvement over a medium-priced quality cable. But then there's that bloomin' price, of course...

Dave Burrluck
Dave Burrluck

Dave Burrluck is one of the world’s most experienced guitar journalists, who started writing back in the '80s for International Musician and Recording World, co-founded The Guitar Magazine and has been the Gear Reviews Editor of Guitarist magazine for the past two decades. Along the way, Dave has been the sole author of The PRS Guitar Book and The Player's Guide to Guitar Maintenance as well as contributing to numerous other books on the electric guitar. Dave is an active gigging and recording musician and still finds time to make, repair and mod guitars, not least for Guitarist’s The Mod Squad.