Review: Unity Audio CancerFighter RCA Interconnects

Review by Noam Bronstein

I thought I’d get clever and talk about how cables are the vascular systems of our hifi’s. But I’ll just go ahead and say it: I hate cable reviews. I don’t read them, and I try my best to avoid writing them.

Of course, I know there are many worthwhile cables to try out (and I do). Writing about them could be a worthy endeavour, but not for me. I don’t push cables, and avoid giving cable advice, as much as possible. The reasons are many. Mainly, I don’t derive any enjoyment from “cable comparisons”. Cable debates? Just shoot me dead.

The other major reason is that in a home stereo system, cable performance is highly subjective. Cable Combination B may delight Joe, but Cable Set X is better for Gisele because she has 12% more hearing at 14KHz, and prioritizes PRAT over decay. Joe and Gisele may be partners who share the hifi. They may need to compromise and go for Cable Loom J. Choice is a wonderful thing. But that’s Joe and Gisele’s journey, and I don’t want to get caught up in it.

Enter Unity Cables, and sole proprietor Omer Humayun. Omer is as nice a person as you’ll ever meet in the audio business. And that’s not negging. He’s really a good human. Omer will be genuinely happy if you buy one of his cables. And he’ll be the same if you buy some cable from Scandinavia. Omer’s cables are budget friendly, hand made, and get consistently good reviews from real folks. Whether they perform as well as something else in a $100,000 system isn’t really the point. They’re designed for and marketed to regular Joes and Giseles.

So yes, Omer is the reason I reluctantly accepted the offer to test a Unity interconnect after I ordered some CD’s from his website. “Ummm, ok…” was probably my enthusiastic reply. See above.

(300 words of preamble, seriously??)

Ok, SHUT UP

Then began several months of upheaval in my life. For weeks I didn’t even have a chance to try this cable out. Then I did…and I was pleased with what I heard. Or didn’t hear? Everything blended seamlessly (read on), and after a while I stopped paying much attention, since there was nothing to notice. So then, I had no idea what to say about it. And then it struck me. There should be nothing to say, about a good cable. It works. It has no glaring issues. It doesn’t make you think, Oh, I should put that other cable back in. It’s a good value, or at least affordable to mortals in the sub-billionaire classes. You use it and don’t give it any thought. That’s it. Job done.

And that’s literally the experience I had with the CancerFighter RCA’s. They replaced an older Tara Labs i/c from my Node X to my amp, without noticing any change. Then, they replaced my trusty DIY Impact SE clones, from my VPI to the phono, this time I thought surely I’ll hear a downgrade. Nope. Was I surprised? Actually, yes. I thought I’d notice something. Tone, smoothness, speed, soundstage – all perfectly fine and not noticeably different.

CancerFighter alongside peers

There are plenty of good choices around $200 in this segment. The Audio Sensibility Impact SE (now SX) were always my reference, along with the Neotech NEI3004. The AS comes in a few bucks higher than the Unity, while the Neotech is about $40 less. The differences reflect the economies of scale. Oh, the Atlas Element Achromatic ain’t bad either, at only ~$130. And to that short list I would now add the Unity CancerFighter – I think it can compete with any of them in an appropriate system.

I don’t have music examples to cite. I used these for weeks at a time, listening to a wide assortment of tunes to come to the conclusions I did. At no point in the listening did I have any complaints or concerns.

Wrapping Up

These cords just work. They’re easy to use, are decently made, have a nice appearance, and won’t break your bank account. They sound good. Add to that, you’re supporting a local small business – and Omer is donating a portion of the proceeds to the cancer battle.

An interesting aside, Omer chose to send me the regular version as opposed to the Ohno Cast (OCC) version, known as CancerFighterSL. I asked him why, and he said so as not to ‘pre-bias’ me. Bit of reverse psychology? Maybe. When I received the i/c’s my expectations were lower, and the performance far exceeded them. With no price difference between them, I would choose the OCC version, I’ve been sold on the technology for a long time. However, your mileage may vary, and so on. (see Omer’s comments below)  In the end I was very pleased with the Unity interconnect, and I’m happy to recommend them.

Unity Audio CancerFighter RCA interconnects (1 meter pair)

Price $210 (Canadian)

www.unityaudio.ca