I have a full set of Bibacord cables in my system, speaker, digital, analogue and power. All cables are of the current version. Why did I choose Bibacord? I heard them on a hifi show and started to buy them one by one. I thought I heard a very crisp sound, but still very life-like and natural. (Sorry, that is what everyone says about all cables, but that was my honest impression).
Bibacord has some very specific ideas about shielding. All cables, except the speaker and headphone cables, employ a braided carbon sleeving for EMI/RFI shielding and protection against static charge buildup. No metal screens are used, except for the special version of the power cable intended for digital equipment, having a combination of copper and carbon sleeve.
I don’t know much about the topology of the cables, I think that is kept as a company secret. However, the analog interconnects contain a mix of silver and copper wires. The headphone cable is made of silver only. All other cables are made with pure copper conductors. I cant say that Bibacord is using any materials developed from space research as other companies claim, but the owner himself is a bona fide physicist from the Swedish space program. So there you are – space is still involved. And the cables are of course cryoed and use single-crystal metals.
Electrical insulation is provided by cotton or foamed FEP, and there are some vibration-damping materials added. The connectors are not made by Bibacord, and I think you can get almost any connector you want. Bibacord recommends Oyaide for power cables and ETI Research for other cables. I have Oyaide C-004 with palladium coating for my power cables.
How do they look? Very discreet. No bling here. The cables and even the packaging is minimalistic or Scandinavian looking.
Furutech is a well-known company that doesn’t need much introduction. The Nanoflux cable looks much more expensive and is heavier, thicker and stiffer. The Nanoflux conductor is also made of copper, of the finest kind, with some added gold and silver, called Alpha OCC-Au-Ag. This cable employs a special high frequency damping material, called GC-303 in the cable coating and the wellknown NCF nano-crystal formual mixed with carbon and ceramics in the connectors. This is said to reduce static electricity and provide mechanical damping. The Nanoflux has several layers of anti-vibration material and the connectors are the famous FI-50 NCF made by Furutech. There is a heavy metallic ring in the middle of the cable, approx 5 cm long. I don’t know the purpose of it. I don’t think it’s a ferrit ring, possibly something to reduce vibrations
And how did they sound?
For this test I swapped the power cable to my power amplifier several times, and kept all other cables intact. And I repeated the same music over and over, mainly jazz.
The first thing I noticed was that the Nanoflux sounded brighter than Bibacord. This was a big surprise for me. I expected a more “mature” and even sound from Nanoflux. Could this be my own preconceptions about how is should sound? Yes of course, but I have found a professional reviewer with the same observation. So this is probably a character of the cable.
The Furutech cable has the ability to fill the room with sound, its like a wall of music engulfing you. Its hard to describe, but the music sounded fuller, and somehow more detailed. They really give a stong impression of the music. Its not just the emphasis on the high frequencies, I also got this feeling in the other registers. Nanoflux actually sounded louder than the Bibacord, I couldn’t measure it, but subjectively it sounded loader.
Bibacord on the other hand sounded more focused, and more natural and with deeper soundstage. It was easier to get an “overview” of the instruments, they were placed very precisely and wasn’t “intrusive” or calling for attention.
Dynamics seemed stronger with the Furutech cable, at least the macro-dynamics. Microdynamics were equal, but I think the Bibacord is more silent. Maybe it’s the high-frequency emphasis, but I got slightly more noise from the Nanoflux.
Bibacord seemed more sophisticated with a more precise 3D placement and a more natural sound than the Nanotech. If Furutech differentiated the instruments with dynamics I would say that Bibacord differentiated with character. This is a of course a generalization, Furutech is not void of character, and Bibacord doesn’t lack dynamics. I’m trying to describe the direction of the cables.
In my system and for my power amplifier I preferred Bibacord, maybe because I listen to mainly acoustical music. It was easier to appreciate the music through Bibacord, the Furutech gave a solid impression, but Bibacord had more space around the instruments, and the timbre seemed more correct. I think Furutech has a place with a more mixed music taste where force is a factor, like rock and electronica, and can bring more life to a system with somewhat dull speakers.
Thanks for reading!
Bibacord has some very specific ideas about shielding. All cables, except the speaker and headphone cables, employ a braided carbon sleeving for EMI/RFI shielding and protection against static charge buildup. No metal screens are used, except for the special version of the power cable intended for digital equipment, having a combination of copper and carbon sleeve.
I don’t know much about the topology of the cables, I think that is kept as a company secret. However, the analog interconnects contain a mix of silver and copper wires. The headphone cable is made of silver only. All other cables are made with pure copper conductors. I cant say that Bibacord is using any materials developed from space research as other companies claim, but the owner himself is a bona fide physicist from the Swedish space program. So there you are – space is still involved. And the cables are of course cryoed and use single-crystal metals.
Electrical insulation is provided by cotton or foamed FEP, and there are some vibration-damping materials added. The connectors are not made by Bibacord, and I think you can get almost any connector you want. Bibacord recommends Oyaide for power cables and ETI Research for other cables. I have Oyaide C-004 with palladium coating for my power cables.
How do they look? Very discreet. No bling here. The cables and even the packaging is minimalistic or Scandinavian looking.
Furutech is a well-known company that doesn’t need much introduction. The Nanoflux cable looks much more expensive and is heavier, thicker and stiffer. The Nanoflux conductor is also made of copper, of the finest kind, with some added gold and silver, called Alpha OCC-Au-Ag. This cable employs a special high frequency damping material, called GC-303 in the cable coating and the wellknown NCF nano-crystal formual mixed with carbon and ceramics in the connectors. This is said to reduce static electricity and provide mechanical damping. The Nanoflux has several layers of anti-vibration material and the connectors are the famous FI-50 NCF made by Furutech. There is a heavy metallic ring in the middle of the cable, approx 5 cm long. I don’t know the purpose of it. I don’t think it’s a ferrit ring, possibly something to reduce vibrations
And how did they sound?
For this test I swapped the power cable to my power amplifier several times, and kept all other cables intact. And I repeated the same music over and over, mainly jazz.
The first thing I noticed was that the Nanoflux sounded brighter than Bibacord. This was a big surprise for me. I expected a more “mature” and even sound from Nanoflux. Could this be my own preconceptions about how is should sound? Yes of course, but I have found a professional reviewer with the same observation. So this is probably a character of the cable.
The Furutech cable has the ability to fill the room with sound, its like a wall of music engulfing you. Its hard to describe, but the music sounded fuller, and somehow more detailed. They really give a stong impression of the music. Its not just the emphasis on the high frequencies, I also got this feeling in the other registers. Nanoflux actually sounded louder than the Bibacord, I couldn’t measure it, but subjectively it sounded loader.
Bibacord on the other hand sounded more focused, and more natural and with deeper soundstage. It was easier to get an “overview” of the instruments, they were placed very precisely and wasn’t “intrusive” or calling for attention.
Dynamics seemed stronger with the Furutech cable, at least the macro-dynamics. Microdynamics were equal, but I think the Bibacord is more silent. Maybe it’s the high-frequency emphasis, but I got slightly more noise from the Nanoflux.
Bibacord seemed more sophisticated with a more precise 3D placement and a more natural sound than the Nanotech. If Furutech differentiated the instruments with dynamics I would say that Bibacord differentiated with character. This is a of course a generalization, Furutech is not void of character, and Bibacord doesn’t lack dynamics. I’m trying to describe the direction of the cables.
In my system and for my power amplifier I preferred Bibacord, maybe because I listen to mainly acoustical music. It was easier to appreciate the music through Bibacord, the Furutech gave a solid impression, but Bibacord had more space around the instruments, and the timbre seemed more correct. I think Furutech has a place with a more mixed music taste where force is a factor, like rock and electronica, and can bring more life to a system with somewhat dull speakers.
Thanks for reading!
