High End 2017 • TABlog

by Dennis Davis | June 2, 2017

he Chord Company demonstrated the impact of the new Sarum T and ChordMusic cabling. As reported by Roy Gregory, the new Sarum T cable is an update of the Sarum line using a new material, trade named Taylon. The new insulating material replaces Teflon (PFTE), which is widely used in the audio industry. Taylon was developed for precision weapons-guidance systems, which have critical parameters for phase shift. One-meter Sarum T interconnects are available with RCA terminations for $4895 per meter pair, or with XLRs for $5695. ChordMusic interconnects with RCA terminations are $5320 per meter pair and $7700 for XLRs.

Chord Company’s Alan Gibb played several tracks, substituting a single three-meter cable that delivered the signal from the DAC to the integrated amplifier.

First up was the now-discontinued standard Sarum with PTFE insulation. Then came the new Sarum T cable, followed by the company’s highest-level cabling, ChordMusic with Taylon. The cabling was used in a system that featured Computer Audio Design source electronics and amplification and Boenicke Audio speakers.

The sonic improvement after the first cable switch was immediately and dramatically obvious -- the music found its groove, with more air and a greater sense of ease and pace. The new insulation seemed to turn the switch from two- to three-dimensionality. The second cable switch, up to the more expensive ChordMusic cable line, was, if perhaps not quite so dramatic, a move in the right direction, adding more body and an improved sense of dimensionality.

Based on this demo, even under the dreaded "show conditions," the Chord Company cables that use Taylon are worthy of close attention.