LAN-8 NCF Plus

Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (i5, 256GB SSD, 40GB RAM, Sonoma 14), 4TB external SSD with Thunderbolt 3, Audirvana Studio, Qobuz Sublime, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 & SW-6 switch, Laiv Audio Harmony; Active filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Power amplifiers: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos & Gold Note monos on subwoofer; Headamp: Enleum AMP-23R; Phones: Raal 1995 Immanis; Loudspeakers: Qualio IQ [on loan] Cables: Kinki Studio Earth, Furutech; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra on all source components, Vibex One 11R on amps, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, LessLoss Firewall for loudspeakers, Furutech NCF Signal Boosters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat; Room treatment: 2 x PSI Audio AVAA C214 active bass traps
2nd system: Source: FiiO R7 into Soundaware D300Ref SD transport to COS Engineering D1; Preamp/filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-M7; Loudspeakers: MonAcoustic SuperMon Mini + Dynaudio S18 sub; Power delivery: Furutech GTO 2D NCF, Akiko Audio Corelli; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Audioquest Fog Lifters; Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
2nd headfi system: DAC: Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Headphones: Raal 1995 Immanis
Desktop system: Source: HP Z230 work station Win10/64; USB bridge: Singxer SU-2; DAC: Sonnet Audio Pasithea; Head amp: Kinki Studio THR-1; Speaker amp: Crayon CFA-1.2; Speakers: Acelec Model One Headphones: Final D-8000, Audio-Technica ATH-A990Z
Upstairs headfi system: FiiO R7; Headphones: Meze 109 Pro, Fiio FT3, Raal 1995 Magna, HifiMan Susvara
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Zu Submission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: €TBA

LANmatazz. Networked audio is all the rage. At its most basic, a smartphone + earbuds stream off the cloud. Done. In classic far more complicated audiophile terms, it could be an ambitious hardwired affair of one or more network switches between router and network player or PC/Mac. It could involve fibre-optics and multiple external/internal SSD storage for a local library of hi-rez and DSD files. It could involve paid subscriptions to streaming clients to access their higher tiers. It could involve outboard linear power supplies to upgrade the SMPS of the network distributors. It could involve external or internal USB bridges before the streaming signal ever sees a DAC. It could involve specialized signal-routing software from Audirvana to HQPlayer or Roon. It could involve reclockers and advanced upsamplers. In short, it could involve serious, er – involvement. When it comes to no-compromise digital sound referenced against top analogue, mélomanes as the French call us extremists go to great lengths to seek parity.

Furutech's latest trio of LAN-8 NCF Plus network cable and NCF Clear Line LAN & USB noise traps looks sternly at classic mélomanes. It asks why they still underestimate the importance of noise filtering in their networked affairs. Sleep with dogs and wake up to fleas. "What noise?" the normies protest. "We have perfect wireless reception with no dropouts already." They refuse to see WiFi radiation as ultrasonic noise itself! And it's certainly no noise humans or bats can hear. But it's ever present just as are switch-mode power supplies and all manner of 'dirty power' domestic and industrial appliances hanging off our AC or charging electrical cars and solar panels down the road. As engineers from Innuous to Nagra, Antipodes to Lumin tell us, digital conversion is ridiculously sensitive to ultrasonic noise. Purveyors of power conditioners from AudioQuest to Shunyata tell us the same about our AC mains and how HF noise propagates along our power arteries to infect and intermodulate the music signal. That doesn't prevent the bitter bits-are-bits brigade from denying it all, the armchair network engineers from insisting that Ethernet's error protocol is fool-proof already, otherwise the stock market and global banking system would collapse. Where on this axis of beliefs and experience you sit determines whether you're sympathetic to today's review subjects; or adversarial to call them a mean corporate money fleece off naïve ignorant hifi shoppers.

Enter NCF aka Nano Crystal² Formula, Furutech's proprietary crystalline material with piezoelectric damping and anti-static properties. They've used it as liner in their best passive power distributors and as a building block of their best AC, RCA, XLR, USB and Ethernet plug housings. As a category 8 LAN cable, today's supports 40GB Ethernet using 24-gauge silver-plated cryo-treated copper conductors in the standard's four twisted pairs under triple-layer shielding with aluminium foil and copper braid. That's jacketed in PVC then braided in purple nylon for an 8mm diameter. The NCF noise-attenuating material embeds in the RJ45 connectors on either end. As dedicated noise traps with added micro electrolytic capacitor, the NCF Clear Line barrels of nonmagnetic stainless steel terminate unused RJ45 or USB sockets to close off HF ingress and add noise trapping to parallel active ports. Similar devices from Ansuz, CAD and Nordost do the same thing. Before we continue, you might want to re-read the 3L law. That's about layers, levels and leagues and applies to virtually anything.

There are levels to any craft. In a famous Indian saying, the master sitarist says that he knows when he misses a day of practice. His best disciples might notice if he skipped three days. The lesser ones may be unaware even after a week. The general public could be oblivious if he takes a month off. The same goes for the playback arts. There are levels of noticing and caring. There are thresholds to cross which open up new subtleties. Be it gross technical obstructions or insufficient listening skills, we can't enter deeper layers until big flaws of performance and perception are addressed. Futzing with little things before then just polishes turds to seemingly justify us calling those things rip-offs. But get a system, your noticing acuity and caring about fine shifts past a threshold. Suddenly so-called accessories begin to make their intended contributions in meaningful ways. It's when power delivery, noise traps and resonance control flex their muscles. It's like peeling an onion. There are tears to shed, of fiscal pain and joy over superior sound and deeper musical communion. Depending on our tearful resources, peeling that onion could span many years of strategic experiments, refining our listening skills, elevating our expectations and identifying practical solutions that serve them. Or we could take the easy way out, call the lot voodoo and stick to a smartphone and earbuds or a soundbar beneath a TV. Nothing wrong with the basics when there's so much more to life than hifi. The only thing wrong with basics is insisting that they're all there is; or that those who pursue more are shameless shills or self-deluded morons with more money than sense and an overactive imagination. That's it. Very basic. As for the 'Plus' in today's cable, "the enhancements in this model, including new conductor and cable construction, reflect significant improvements in performance over the original."