Furutech NCF AC Plugs: Gold vs Rhodium Reviewed!
- Thread starter DaveC
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I highly recommend the Furutech FI-50 NCF. I used it to assemble all of my cables with a high power consum.
Even on the GigaWatt Power Line Conditioner PC-2 EVO +, I had the disappointingly bad socket exchanged for the Furutech FI-06 R NCF Rhodium socket. In the picture on the right is the old socket with cheap wobbly connectors and on the left the new one with solid contacts.
My T + A M10 power amplifiers benefit greatly from these measures. The speed and bass increased. Very nice to hear on drums.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention try the FI-09 IEC inlet as well. It uses wire clamps and for whatever reason is better vs the FI-06. Furutech obviously knows this and charges a lot more for the 09. I have no idea why on either performance or price though!
Gold melts at almost half the temperature of Rhodium. Gold is very easy to work with. Gold never tarnishes. Gold is plentiful. Gold has been a standard for years and only a small select few audio nuts are that concerned about the difference.[/QUOTE]
Or maybe, as Colonel Nathan R. Jessup Testifies in Court: You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! hihi
now if they made a fi-09 that fit into a regular IEC chassis socket....not sure why they had to make it oversized!
Yeah, not many are willing to take a dremel to an $$$ component chassis! However, it does make a pretty big difference, the connectors and wire in the component have a similar effect on the sound as an IC cable.
FI-09 can also be back-mounted, cutouts are a bit different for that, may not help but it's a possibility.
Yeah, not many are willing to take a dremel to an $$$ component chassis! However, it does make a pretty big difference, the connectors and wire in the component have a similar effect on the sound as an IC cable.
FI-09 can also be back-mounted, cutouts are a bit different for that, may not help but it's a possibility.
Hmm do share more about this “back-mount” since I have an unused fi-09 lying around
Sure, you can mount the IEC from the front or back of the panel it's attached to. The regular mounting scheme is for back mounting and then they also give the front-mount cutout dimensions in the link below... Looks like there's not much difference in cutout size though.
https://www.partsconnexion.com/media/pdfs/FTECH-71042.pdf
Makes sense now. This is how I mounted the fi-06 since that was also slightly larger than the IEC hole in my torus.
Still gotta drill those holes though for the fi-09! Not sure if I have the capability to do that cleanly through metal.
just wondering what you observed as differences between the fi09 and fi06, before I attempt hacking the panel
actually I found a better way to install it. I drilled holes into the fi09 to align it with the panel. It’s more forward sounding and crisper than the fi06. I can’t turn the volume as high
Recently I bought an NCF Power Distribution, I really found that I can't enjoy it much because the sound has become unreal. I try to avoid it as much as possible and I don't know why.
I have one on the wall and I doubt if I should cancel it, but until now I have not found the sound abnormal, but the situation is different if I turn on all of my devices in NCF Power Distribution.
I have one on the wall and I doubt if I should cancel it, but until now I have not found the sound abnormal, but the situation is different if I turn on all of my devices in NCF Power Distribution.
These parts need a LOT of burn-in, before it's burned-in I'd agree it can be very bad. I burn-in all of the NCF receptacles I sell so there is less of an issue with this, without any burn-in you're looking at about a month or so.
One thing you can do is plug something else into the distributor or receptacle for a while, a fridge or freezer will work very well, or even just a fan. That way you don't have to listen to the full burn-in effects.
Fi-28(R) is the standard plug for my copper cables. It's very good for the price, but the FI-50 NCF are much better. They do share the exact same electrical contacts, it's the body and NCF material that make the difference.
I've found Furutech to be consistent as far as pricing, as in they won't charge you more for something unless it is clearly better.
Here's a photo of the plugs in question... taken from the AudioBacon site... thanks Jay!
I prefer the sound of the gold over the rhodium Furutech GTX-D AC outlets. I have both in my Bybee Stealth power conditioner, and all of my components sound a little more natural and musical when plugged into the gold plated outlets. I hear no loss of detail or dynamics with the gold outlets compared to the rhodium. The difference is not huge but it is significant enough that I plug all of my components into the gold plated outlets and use the rhodium ones for Nordost Qv2 plugins. My Verastarr Grand Illusion speaker and AC cables have gold plated connectors as do my Townshend Fractal F1 interconnects. Haven't compared these with Rhodium connector cables.Here's a nice comparison by Jay of AudioBacon of identical ZenWave PCR-14 copper ribbon power cables, with only the plugs being different. And the plugs are close to identical with the exception of gold vs rhodium plating. The electrical contacts are identical, both use Furutech's "Alpha Copper". Both use Furutech's NCF material to reduce noise. The rhodium plated plug has a carbon fiber/stainless body that does give it a slight advantage, but the gold plated plug has a high quality metal body that's significantly better vs the plastic bodied Furutech plugs.
https://audiobacon.net/2020/08/22/power-connectors-they-sound-different/
I totally agree with Jay's findings. The only thing I'll add is that I think rhodium is clearer and more neutral, which is pretty obvious, but it also makes the base material more audible. For that reason I prefer rhodium only on pure copper connectors. I also think platings from different companies sound different, Furutech uses really high quality plating with good thickness and a mirror finish.
I can say from my testing that many undesirable characteristics that have been attributed to rhodium have been mistaken. It's very easy to do in this hobby! Cause and effect are not always clear. This reminds me of working on cars, it's very humbling. Nobody knows it all. If you think you do you're only setting yourself up for disappointment.
-Rhodium sounds harsh.... it's most likely 1. the base material or 2. The additional clarity of rhodium is allowing you to hear harshness gold plating smoothed over.
-Rhodium has this hard or glassy sound to it.... That's the quality of your AC power making it's self more audible.
-Rhodium accentuates bass.... It's just that gold softens dynamics and reduces the vibrancy of bass notes.
-This is more of an observation: Some issues with rhodium stem from using it with gold plated receptacles and IEC inlets. Most often this isn't an issue but in some cases it certainly is. You're better off using FI-50 NCF plugs with matching NCF receptacles and IEC inlets, if possible.
As I progress in my own audio journey the less I want gold plated anything, I've almost eliminated it entirely.
OTOH, if you just prefer a very warm system that's more than ok, and I do offer what I consider warm cables that are also very high end and lose the least amount of resolution possible in order to provide that warmth, this is the whole point of using UPOCC silver/gold alloy and ribbon vs round wire in some of my cables. Most would not prefer a round-wire pure UPOCC silver cable, which is why I don't offer one. I may offer it for phono cables as it fits that application well, but otherwise it's silver/gold wire or pure UPOCC silver ribbon wire for my top end cables.
I'd be interested to hear your experiences, let me know!
I definitely recommend matching plating. I think this is where many who don't like rhodium are going wrong, it's not the rhodium, it's the use of different plating that causes issues for some people. This applies to IEC inlets too, which many folks are not willing to replace, and that's totally understandable.
I can also understand why folks who don't initially like rhodium are unwilling to commit to using all rhodium plated connectors, it just doesn't make sense. But, if you do, I think there's a lot more resolution to be had and the issues with unpleasant artifacts and distortions will not arise. In my own system I use all Furutech rhodium plated NCF parts, inc. receptacles and IEC inlets with great success. I think it's clearer and more accurate vs gold and there is a lot more fine detail which helps form a more immersive soundstage and also results in more realistic and distinct timbre.
I would also say this is not a very common occurrence, not that many folks have these issues in an obvious way, but despite that I have had folks replace their gold plated reeptacles with rhodium and tell me a "hard edge" to the sound has been removed as a result. So, it's possible to from gold to rhodium and end up with a more relaxed, pleasant sound. And vice versa, depending on the mating connectors.
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