Crystal Cable: By: René van Es, editor-in-chief What is the difference between newcomer Crystal Cable and more old-fashioned cables? That's easy to say, and even easier to see. Crystal Cable has a much smaller diameter and the crystal-clear outer isolation shows the screening underneath. OK, so every manufacturer claims its cable is unique and then proceeds to sum up the reasons. So does Crystal Cable, for starters saying that the distortion within the cables is extremely low. The properties of the conductor material are partly responsible for these, a result of the continuing research into the optimum gold-silver alloy. In addition, they claim an easy-to-measure property, namely crossover between cables. How sensitive is the cable for that matter? How much influence from a nearby power cable is there on an interconnect? This influence is one of the main causes of noise in a system. Not only a hum, but also the black background in the sound stage. How much a cable is influenced by others depends on the construction and the screen layout. Crystal Cable is totally illusional, because its behaviour is so different from expectation. Take a look at a power cord and you simply can’t believe it can handle so much current.
First I replaced the power cords on both my Marsh Sound Design amplifiers and on my Linn Linto phono amp. After listening to the effect the Crystal Connect Reference XLR was introduced together with the Crystal Connect cinch interconnects. Later on the Crystal Speak Reference loudspeaker cables were added as well. A better behaving system was slowly on the way. I was reviewing power cables at that moment and the Crystal Cable Power Reference became a natural candidate. This cables scores extremely high against the others and finishes just after the most expensive Acoustic Zen Gargantua II. The Power Reference reduces background noise, and makes the sound tighter, which is most easily heard in the bass registers. More space and better stereo imaging with more depth is also part of the result. In my system, the Marsh pre amp and Apogee Mini-Dac both respond well on the Connect Reference XLR and again I made a step forward. These cables sure clean up the cable mesh normally found behind a system, from normal thick cables to ultra thin. If you need proof of cable synergy, take Crystal Cable. The positive properties of the individual cables are amplified by a complete build-up of a chain using the same material -- as though all improvements are enlarged, whilst only the negative aspects shrink. I hear, with the speaker cables connected still, what the interconnects and power cables did to the system. Stereo imaging is rock stable -- a sort of holographic projection. Again, and again, I step towards to the ultimate system for me. Anyone who is looking for magic in the sound reproduction chain will get it with Crystal Cable. Apparently, science is able to grab emotion, surroundings and naturalness in a mix of isolation, coaxial layout and conductors. Of course, more suppliers are able to do that, no doubt, but Crystal Cable lets my system come to life. At a price, I have to agree with every reader, but if I read back to what has been written in this review on the music played, I read more about the music itself than I would normally -- and far less about the properties of the product. That is good because one can really speak about invisibility and transparency. The less I can write about the products, the less the product itself adds or subtracts -- exactly the way it should be. What I am personally very fond of is the synergy in the cables. By replacing cables one by one you realize that using cables of similar philosophy and equal construction brings forward the favourable qualities. If you are a starter in the field of serious sound reproduction then why not take the Crystal Cable roadmap. And if you are already using good cables, start with an open mind by replacing the most significant cables in your system and build up to just one brand.
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In my system
Crystal
Cable is refined and associates a piece of magic with a lump of science.
Like the thinnest carpaccio is a culinary masterpiece for the organ of
taste, Crystal Cable is the thinnest audio masterpiece for human hearing.
Let the Italians be the masters in the kitchen, but it seems the Dutch
will manufacture cables on the very highest level -- just more slender
than ever before.