CARDAS Crosslink

MJ09.02.2009

Speaker cables

The Crosslink is a kind of entry-level cable for Cardas and it also represents one of the best price to performance ratios in the company's portfolio. There is not many such good sounding cables out there at the same price point - on top of that the Crosslink is a very versatile cable.

Function and form

95%
Ease of use
33%
Sound
85%
Appearance

The Crosslinik is available as a set or on a spool by meter. It uses ethylenacrylate and cotton dielectrics, the jacket is PVC. Capacity is 55pF, inductance 0.11uh, 108 wires inside.

Note: During this review a set of an interconnect and a speaker cable was auditioned. The performance evaluation was put in the context of other Cardas's cables; we encourage you to read their reviews to understand the performance differences.

Bass management

Weight
46
Slam
43
Articulation
46

George Cardas claims that resonant behavior of a conductor or a strand is the reason for performance gaps in many cables. Each and every strand in a cable has its own ´sound´ due to microscale vibrations and ringing. Two or more wires of the same mass and tension are supposed to have common mechanical resonating points and share the same note. Two or more wires or bundles of wires, differing in size, each have their own resonant points. When combined, wires find new points of interaction, creating another note.

There is a solution - create a multiple strand conductor, where the individual strands share no common mathematical node or resonant point and layer them to cancel the noise they each create. In so called golden section stranding, derived from divine ratios (Fibonacci sequences), the individual strands are arranged so each strand is coupled to another, whose note or sound is irrational with its own, thus nulling inter-strand resonance.

Cardas cables also employ a unique stranding method where strands diminish in size towards the interior of the conductor. This design is called Constant Q Stranding and it allows each strand of the cable to share the load equally. All George Cardas's cables use OFC copper - actually Cardas Audio is one of the few manufacturers that draw their own conductors from copper rods instead of outsourcing the wires from elsewhere like most competitors do.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail
43
Air
38
Transparency
38

Tonal accuracy

Timbre
25
Dynamics
41
Temporal resolution
32

As mentioned, the sound of the Crosslink is very balanced with a slightest tilt up at frequency extremes which makes him attractive for ears. . Auditioned vs the best it is not the last word in textures, however. I wish it had better insight into the very nature of instruments. Also, due to recessed midrange, its sound is less immediate with classical recordings, the perspective is quite distant.

Spatial resolution

Holography
64
Soundstage width
60
Soundstage depth
60

All rhe aforementioned projected into a trumpet not being so natural, flatter dynamics, not that black background and overall less contrast. The cable makes up for it with its very lively sound and was quite convincing in depicting big drama in orchestral climaxes.

Price as reviewed:7 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Excelia HiFi, Chrudim, tel. +420 724 00 77 44

Associated components

  • Sources: Carat C57, Meridian G08
  • Amplifiers:  Carat A57, Meridian G02, Mark Levinson No. 432
  • Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Homegrown Audio DNA, the whole family of Cardas Audio cables
  • Loudspeakers: Focal JMlab Diablo Utopia, Revel Ultima Studio2, Revel M22

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