Melodika BSSC95xx Review: The Thickest Speaker Cables in the Brown Sugar Series

At some point, every stereo system needs high-end speaker cables - ones that are thick, high-quality, with interesting geometry, and technologies, and made for audiophiles. I think I just described what the Brown Sugar BSSC95-series cables are like.

Build Quality

Melodika offers lots of cable types, for different devices, use cases, and of different series. The BSSC95 is their flagship speaker cable from the Brown Sugar series. Or simply speaking, the best speaker cable they make.

It is enough to pick it up to realize that it means serious business. It’s super heavy, despite my unit not being overly long. And that’s for a simple reason - it’s very thick, and the conductors are mostly what makes them so thick. I love this approach. It’s basically figuring out what’s the thickest speaker cable that is manageable in most systems, then putting a lot of copper inside.

The aesthetical part of it is also there. One conductor is white, and the other one is brown, as it’s trying to mimic what brown sugar looks like. I enjoy products that are not boring. I also enjoy it when the company standing behind them likes to have some fun, either in the naming, or the visual aspects of their devices, or like in this case, both.

The cable is finished off in a very premium way - it is made by hand, using real, natural Italian leather.

Technologies

It’s not using some crazy material - like silver, gold, or graphite as a conductor - rather regular but high-quality OFCOxygen-Free Copper - copper refined to remove dissolved oxygen, claimed to improve conductivity and reduce long-term oxidation. Real but small effect on bulk conductivity; mostly a marketing distinction in audio cables. copper with 6N purity, that’s obtained from local mines. Why didn’t they use for example silver?

Firstly, it’s not the tuning they were going for. Another reason, regarding resistance and other parameters, is that they didn’t have to. Silver is around 7% more conductive than copper, but you can achieve the same conductivity using 7% more copper. The latter approach is what they did. This cable has a 9.5mm² diameter per conductor, which in each cable, there are two of.

The last reason for not using pure silver is the price - silver is extremely expensive compared to oxygen-free copper. If you want to, you can find other cables that are made of silver and are similarly thick. Is it going to be better? Maybe, maybe not. It depends, but at what cost?

The easiest way to greatly reduce self-interference, which is detrimental to sound quality, is to twist two conductors together. It’s not rocket science, as it’s something known to science for many years, yet I’m seeing a lot of manufacturers ignoring it. Sometimes the best approach is to start from the simplest things.

If you thought that this cable was a solid core, you’d be mistaken. If you think it’s stranded wire, you’re also wrong. It’s a LITZ construction - the best of the best for avoiding skin effect, as every single strand is individually insulated and doesn’t touch the one next to it.

Solid Grip technology is a fancy way of saying “We don’t use screw-in connectors, instead they’re being pressed using a machine.” That increases the contact area with the plug and doesn’t introduce another element or material in the cable. The connectors are gold-plated bananas in my case, but this cable also comes in spades, if it’s something you prefer.

The entire cable is also directional, which you shouldn’t ignore or miss. The signal flow direction is written using small black text on the cable - you have to find it and connect it accordingly.

Sound Quality

The possible use cases of this flagship cable are wide. I like to bi-wire my speakers, as I find that to improve the sound enough to be worth it. In that case, this cable is performing super well on the bottom, as it’s very thick and low resistance, allowing the low notes to be impactful and well extended. At the same time, it’s superb for the top end, mainly because of the LITZ construction and high purity. It shows lots of vocal clarity, intelligibility, and textures. That makes it super universal, and in some way, for a lot of people, defeats the need to use two different sets of cables.

The bottom end is, of course, very impactful and dynamic, but what caught my attention is the sub-bassFrequencies below approximately 60Hz; felt as much as heard, sub-bass conveys pipe organ fundamentals, kick drum body, and concert hall size. retrieval characteristics. My stereo setup with these cables feels like it goes just a few hertz lower and deeper than it used to. Or perhaps the very low end is boosted ever so slightly, to increase the bass presence, yet it accomplishes it without affecting the tonal balanceThe overall perceived distribution of energy across bass, midrange, and treble; correct tonal balance is the foundation of accurate reproduction.. It leaves the upper bass and midrangeThe frequency range from approximately 250Hz to 5kHz where most musical information, vocals, and instrument fundamentals reside. as it is, with some added weight.

The detail retrieval is up there with some of the better cables at this price point. I think that the treble has to do a lot with it, as it’s super airy, open, and articulate. The edgeA slightly forward, lean character in the treble that can read as either "detailed" (positive) or "etched/harsh" (negative) depending on the listener and recording. Distinct from sibilance, which is band-specific. where the high frequencies are being cut off seems to be pushed a little bit higher - that way you can discover even more than you otherwise would.

Here’s what I like the most: the soundstageThe perceived three-dimensional acoustic space in a stereo recording - width beyond the speakers, depth front-to-back, and sometimes height information.. The cables themselves can’t do that much in terms of it, but this one definitely helps - extending it by I’d say 5 to 7%, compared to my regular cables. That’s not a huge improvement, but you’re not sacrificing anything to get it. The imagingThe ability to place individual instruments in precise, stable positions within the soundstage - good imaging means you can "point" to a violin in the mix. is still razor sharp and doesn’t take the slightest hit.

Overall this cable, while being somewhat expensive, gets my recommendation for its good objective performance, due to the implemented technologies, and subjective performance, that comes with listening tests.