Hifi Pig

The Zodiac line from KBL Sound is a direct replacement for the company’s previous Hologram range. The company says they are better cables, coming to the market at a similar price level.

These cables are manufactured with ultra-pure copper wire with each single crystal length reaching a few hundred meters (the result of the Ohno Continuous Casting process). Then, the copper is cryogenically treated to obtain a better molecular order within each wire.

“These advanced conductors achieve such a high level of homogeneity that signal flow is practically lossless. It is characterized by a smooth and detailed transmission signal in a wide frequency spectrum” says the company’s recent press release.

Zodiac interconnects are well shielded against EM and RF interferences using pure copper screen with a  special multi-layered jacket protects the cables from external vibrations.

Standard termination comes with WBT-0114 Cu nextgen connectors.
Balanced option is available with XLR Neutrik connectors.

Zodiac signal cables are also available as 75 Ohm SPDiF /RCA (WBT) and 110 Ohm AES/EBU (Neutrik) digital cables. They are offered as phono cables too, coming with RCA to RCA (WBT) or RCA (WBT) to 5 DIN connector (Cardas) to wire up any tonearm.

Standard length: 1.5m, 2m. Other length available upon request.

After the assembly process cables are tested and professionally conditioned. Thus they are already burned-in for immediate use without waiting many weeks or even months for the ultimate level of performance. After a short time in a new audio system they sound the best they can and their performance does not change.

C-screen is a brand new shielded speaker cable aimed at both audio and home cinema systems. It joins the line up of Chord Company shielded speaker cables, including the Clearway and the Signature Reference.

Chord’s design objective was to produce a cable discreet enough for easy installation, with all the performance benefits that shielding can bring. C-screen is just 8mm in diameter and flexible enough to route around corners with ease. It’s finished with a white outer jacket which protects the shielding and makes it virtually invisible against white skirting boards.

C-screen features multi-stranded oxygen-free copper conductors, insulated with low-density polyethylene and arranged in a twisted-pair configuration to reduce interference. The cable is then enclosed in a PVC casing that aims to reduce mechanical noise and spaces the conductors correctly, relative to the twin-foil shielding.

C-screen has the same characteristics as Chord’s other shielded speaker cables the company say: “the ability to carry a musical signal with a genuine sense of musical coherence and involvement; shielded speaker cables bring real performance benefits to both hi-fi and home cinema systems, where interference can seriously affect sound quality”.

At £5 per metre C-screen is said to be an ideal product for home cinema systems, where often complex cable-run requirements are the norm. 

C-screen is priced at £5p/m unterminated (off the reel). Factory and dealer terminations are available for a supplement.

Mad Scientist Audio Ltd has released a range of what their recent press release is calling  “innovative” audio cables that use carbon fibers in the signal path.  The New Zealand based company say this technology brings benefits like “immunity from skin effect, much smaller Eddy currents, which are quickly dissipated, and in the digital cable, absorption of jitter-causing
internal reflections”.

The Heretical Digital Cable

The Heretical Digital Cable (HDC), so-named because it makes no claim to
have 75-ohm impedance, takes a different approach. Mad Scientist say that in regular cables it’s possible for internal reflections to bounce up and down the cable many times, causing cable jitter but by using a resistive carbon fiber signal conductor, the HDC prevents this by turning these to heat.
Costs $99 for one meter  (introductory price until end 2015).

Range of Interconnects

The RCA, single-ended interconnect range also use a carbon fibre signal
conductor, but differ in construction and ground wire materials.  Another
innovation is the “Audio Block”, made from New Zealand native Rimu wood, it holds a pair of Mad Scientist Magic Tubes and a laser etched directional
arrow. Magic Tubes “are an enhancement device that uses subatomic phenomena to improve the sound quality” say the company. The tubes can be easily removed if the effect is not desired.

ATOH Interconnect

The entry level ATOH uses Ohno Continuous Cast (OCC) single crystal copper  ground wire, and starts at $269 for 0.7 meter pair.

YANAM Interconnect

YANAM (mid level) and TORFORB (high end) use the same construction – multi element ground system using foil plus copper and silver OCC wires.

The YANAM uses copper foil and Neotech OCC wires.

Starts at $499 for 0.7 meter pair.

TORFORB Interconnect

TORFORB takes this one step further, using silver (or optionally silver and
gold) foil, plus low volume specially-produced copper and silver OCC wires
for the ground system. Prices start at $1099.

ATOH, YANAM and TORFORB are available with a selection of RCA plugs
including Sonarquest Carbon/Rhodium, KLE Innovations Copper Harmony and Silver Harmony. Others available on request.

The Chord Company, has launched Clearway Digital — “a high-performance digital coaxial cable designed and built to deliver the full potential of today’s high-quality digital music.”

Clearway Digital is an all-new Tuned ARAY digital audio cable at a price point of £100. Available in a wide range of terminations, including a 3.5mm mono jack for today’s high-performance portable devices, Clearway Digital was conceived to deliver no-compromise digital audio, to and from a wide range of audio products.

Standard terminations include Chord’s high-performance direct silver-plated VEE 3 RCA plugs as well as silver-plated BNC plugs. The Chord Company has also recognised the increasing importance of high-performance portable DACs and is offering Clearway Digital terminated with a 3.5mm mono jack.

Clearway Digital takes design cues from the company’s flagship Sarum Super ARAY Digital.

Clearway Digital uses an oxygen-free copper conductor combined with gas-foamed polyethylene insulation and woven copper shield and it replaces the company’s popular Prodac VEE3 digital cable.

DACs are making enormous strides in performance and affordability. “Chord is thrilled to introduce its ARAY technology, first developed for the Sarum Digital cable, to the Clearway Digital. Clearway Digital is an extremely affordable way to experience the exceptional coherence with which digital ARAY cables carry a musical signal” says the company.

Clearway Digital: 1 metre RCA to RCA £100; 1 metre RCA to 3.5mm mini-jack £100; 1 metre RCA to BNC £105; 1 metre BNC to BNC £110.  Custom lengths are available in all terminations.

Tellurium Q, the UK based cable manufacturer got in touch with Hifi Pig to tell us all about their latest Ultra Silver Power cables.
In their press release they say that the new power cables have “Even cleaner, more focused and more agile sound than the multi award wining Black power cable, with more precise bass definition and top end. Equipment sounds like there is more headroom and energy in the music”.

As ever Tellurium Q are keeping absolute details about the design of the cables very close to their chests but say “New cable architecture, including enhanced double layered screening, have allowed a leap forward in performance”.

The cable will get its first public outing will be at the Windsor show on the UK 23rd October, Wessex room 5 in a system with the complementary new Silver Diamond cables.

RRP: £1680

Synergistic Research is launching their new Atmosphere Series Power Cords at next weeks Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver Colorado.

The Californian company’s Atmosphere Series AC Cords Feature:
Active / UEF Shielding with built in power supplies so no MPC’s and no additional wires
UEF AC Conditioner in Level 2 and Level 3 variants
World’s First use of Graphene in an AC Cord. Graphine is a room temperature super conductor with 8 million times the conductive density of copper
Custom UEF Calibration- Gold
New Active Shield Filter- Red
Plug and Play like standard non-Active AC cords
Level 3 Analogue, Digital, and High Current variants
All the company’s Atmosphere Series Power Cords are hand Made in the company’s California Factory

“Would you like to hear the human voice reproduced as clear and as present as when  it was recorded, and delivered with the same emotion and intimacy with which it was sung? Well now you can” or so says the latest press release from Studio Connections about their newly launched Platinum Digital interconnects.

Award-winning, top mastering engineer, Matt Colton of Alchemy Mastering, London, said, “Studio Connections cable provides a clear step forward in both the analogue  and digital domain from anything else I have heard. The degree of realism and connection to the music that is achieved by using these cables is incredible.”

He went on to say, “On one recording, just by changing the cable runs, all of a sudden it sounded like the drummer was in the room with us.”

Studio Connections Platinum Digital cable is said to deliver audio data virtually free of timing distortion, to allow full stereo image projection and a more natural character in voice and instruments.

Platinum Interconnects are hand-made in the UK and available as AES with balance XLR connectors, SPDIF with RCA connectors with both versions using high purity, oxygen free copper (99.999) and Studio Connections Triple dielectric system. They have a capacitance of (Hot to cold) 12.5pF/m and an oval cross section, 18mm maximum width, 8mm breadth.

They cost £1,350 per metre (XLR or RCA)

Polish cable manufacturer have announced a new version of their best selling Monolith speaker cables. They are called Monolith Reference.
The main difference on the aesthetic/functional side is that both wires are now no longer connected by the badge clamp and they come completely separated.

Design has been changed and the new ribbons used for these cables are twice as thick and a bit wider. The new cables are mono-crystal silver.

KBL Sound from Poland got in touch to tell us all about their new flagship Signature series, Himalaya, which they say is the culmination of their long-term efforts to create such cables allowing the highest standard of audio equipment to reveal their full potential.

“We have used costly and time-consuming solutions, as no other way exists to get exceptional results. Mass production has one undeniable drawback: it can not create the best possible. Making cables by hand has its own specific advantages, which mainly deal with aspects of the mechanical design, related to the damping of vibrations and stresses. With industrial mass production these aspects cannot be treated uncompromisingly. Handcrafting cables in the Himalaya series, where the spatial topology of conductors plays a key role, is quite backbreaking and laborious, but it’s finally possible – as conquering the most difficult mountain peaks. However, we hope that these products will provide for music lovers the opportunity to experience the breathless delight, compared to the thrill on the highest mountain; our special, limited edition bears such a name. We believe that The Signature Series, Himalaya, now joins the world’s premier league” commented  Robert Szczerbowski of KBL Sound.

Himalaya Interconnects

• Conductors: highest purity mono crystal OCC silver
• Shielding: multi-shield
• Termination RCA: WBT 0152 Ag nextgen Signature, WBT 0152 Cu nextgen Topline
• Termination XLR: Oyaide Focus
• Available as 75 Ohm SPDiF /RCA (WBT) and 110 Ohm AES/EBU (Oyaide) digital cables
• Avaiable as phono cables with RCA to RCA (WBT) or RCA to 5 DIN (Cardas) connector to wire up any tonearm
• Standard length available: 1 m, 1.5m, 2m
  

Himalaya digital cables are offered in two versions: 75 ohm RCA and AES / EBU XLR 110 Ohm. Their construction is quite similar to the interconnects in this series. The conductor is pure silver monocrystalline obtained through OCC technology.Cables have a spatial topology and special damping system and quadrupleshielding. 

• Conductors: highest purity mono crystal OCCsilver
• Shielding: multi-shield
• Enhanced anti-vibration system
• TerminationRCA: 75 Ohm version WBT-0152 Ag nextge n Signature or Cu Topline plugs
• TerminationXLR: AES / EBU 110 Ohm version Oyaide Focus plugs
• Standard length available: 1 m, 1.5 m, 2 m

Himalaya speaker cables have been designed completely from scratch.

• Conductors: highest purity multistranded mono crystal OCC copper
• Tuned vibrations damping system
• Antivibration ring of selected wood
• Termination: spades WBT 0661 Ag nextgen WBT 0661 Signature and nextgen Topline
• Other optional connectors available upon request
• Standard length available: 2×2 meters, 2×2.5 m, 2×3 

Himalaya power cable

• Conductors: high purity multi-stranded mono crystalcopper, anti-oxidation protected
• The multi-layer insulation system, vibration damping for the whole cable and the individual wires
• Antivibration ring of selected wood
• Termination: highest qualityplugs AC schuko and IEC company’s custom-made of brass with rhodium over copper plating on all conductive parts, massive brass body with carbon fiber film for better damping and RFI rejection
• 20A IEC connector option for high current devices
• Standard length: 1.5 m, 2m

The Chord Company, has launched Clearway — a high-performance, low-cost speaker cable that replaces Carnival SilverScreen and introduces a raft of advanced features.  During the development of Clearway, valuable research was carried out in relation to the behaviour of conductors and different dielectrics (insulation). For a long time, Chord has understood the importance of the relationship between conductor materials and insulation, and its silver-plated speaker cables make extensive use of PTFE as an insulation material.  Typically, cables that use oxygen-free copper as a conductor material will use either polyethylene or PVC as an insulating material. What sets The Chord Company’s Clearway speaker cable apart is its use of FEP: a derivative of PTFE with very similar performance characteristics.  The FEP-insulated conductors are built from multi-strand oxygen-free copper and are arranged in a twisted-pair configuration to reduce interference. The two conductors are then protected with a layer of soft PVC (which was chosen over polyethylene because of its flexibility), in order to correctly space the shielding in relation to the conductors and to minimise any mechanically induced noise.  High-performance shielding is specified and just like the award-winning Carnival SilverScreen, Chord Clearway speaker cable features two contra-wound high-density foil shields. Like many Chord speaker cables, the twin foils, combined with the twisted-pairconfiguration, make for a level of shielding that is effective to high frequencies. Finally, a clear protective PVC jacket is applied, which again serves to further reduce any mechanically induced noise; the reflective foil finish also assumes the colour of the immediate décor.

Nigel Finn, Technical Director of The Chord Company on Clearway says: “I am particularly pleased with the new Clearway. The cable has qualities that would normally be associated with considerably more expensive cables. The use of high-quality oxygen-free copper, FEP insulation and high-density foil shielding means that at £10, it will be pretty hard to produce a better-performing speaker cable. Chord has tested the cable in all levels of systems and in every case, whether entry-level or high-end, the levels of clarity, detail, dynamics and critically, musical coherence, are really impressive.”

Pricing and availability

Clearway: £10 p/m unterminated; various factory termination options include Chord’s exclusive UK-made 24-karat gold-plated banana plugs, direct gold-plated-copper spade connections and BFA Camcon connectors. Available now.