This review is part of my NCF series whose first episode covered the NCF Clear Line, then followed with the NCF Booster, then GTO-D2 NCF. A look at Furutech's NCF Booster Brace happened concurrently with this review. Far from feeling flummoxed, you could say that I had quite the influx of NCF of late. But good deeds should not unpunished go said some li'l guy named Yoda. Today we learn about what happens when a full dose of Furutech's nano-crystalline formula packs into a single power cord which also otherwise is the very best this firm can do.
Going in, I viewed this gig as testing a power cord with built-in power conditioning. I doubt that Furutech's boss Frank Hayama would correct me. Key is purely passive conditioning. There's nothing spliced into the power path, nothing to create losses from contact resistance, micro arcing or slowed current flow. This conditioning is more akin to field exposure. Thus Furutech's PowerFlux branding. Its enablers are nano-sized specialty molecules whose conditioning action is a flux field. Go in dirty, pass through, come out cleaner is the layman's translation.
As it says in all my NCF reviews, Furutech are far from alone to exploit the ultrasonic noise attenuation behavior of certain compounds whose most primitive precursors are probably ferrite beads. Akiko, DR Acoustics, Shunyata, Synergistic and Verictum are just a few who have their own formulae. Their perhaps most illustrative applications in passive power distributors are long sealed barrels. They're filled with undisclosed powders which the power conductors must pass through. We just saw Akiko's Corelli at right. DR Acoustics' Antigone 2.0 looks very similar inside. So does Synergistic's Galileo below.
Furutech's central barrel plus power connectors apply the same basic principle with their own tech to an elite if otherwise normal power cord. Rendered moot with this concept are Titan Audio's FFT clip-on modules, the extra plugs of LessLess Firewall modules and the spiraling leads to a very dear power supply of BOP's Quantum Field. Of these four approaches to a self-cleaning power cord, Furutech's is the most integrated.
It's also sized standard and sufficiently flexible to be no major pain to route unless one must twist a plug into place. Now sheer conductor mass rather resists. Aside from extremist finishing, it avoids two other extremes of boutique ultra cables – excess girth and stiffness. "Be normal, do more" must have been the design brief. With assembled power cords starting at €378 and off-the-spool wire and loose connectors supporting DIY, Furutech have something for everyone. That shuts down the usual complainers who view every statement effort as an affront to the working class.
With Furutech's NCF cuffs aka Booster Braces shown on the last page and this, the plugs of regular power cords can be exposed to the same crystalline noise-stripping effect as long as housings are standard to fit through the sleeve. This works on both ends of a cord since the single braces will also attach to a component like this FirstWatt F8 power amp. Below we see the single brace attached to the IEC of Furutech's GTO-2D NCF passive power distributor, the dual brace atop the first duplex and one Clean Line in the last outlet.
