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 April 15, 2006 Cable Alert: Here Comes Neotech
Wan Lung supplies almost all American cable brands that use a process called Ohno Continuous Casting (OCC), in which a metal ingot is drawn out into a single length (300 meters or more) of smooth, fissure-free wire. If the terms OCC, single crystal, and/or mono crystal appear in a cable company’s promotional material, odds are that Wan Lung not only provided the bulk cable used, but may have designed it as well. I began to learn all this when I woke up one morning and decided to become a cable "manufacturer" myself. All I needed was a business partner who could wield a soldering iron and a catalog of ready-made designs. Enter Neotech, Wan Lung’s marketing division. Neotech’s catalogs list dozens of well-engineered, ready-made cables that a would-be "manufacturer" can order off the shelf. The only hitch is that any order must be big -- opening an account requires a minimum purchase of two miles of cable, and OCC wire is expensive. Any newbie entering the cable game, even one taking advantage of Neotech’s wide-ranging resources, will require deep pockets and great self-confidence, both of which I lack (unless recklessness counts). However, a loophole in the order form that involved "samples" encouraged my inquiry. Because Neotech’s catalog is so extensive, one can go on testing one sample after another for a long time. Over two years, I ordered a new sample every few months, and sometimes re-ordered cables I really liked. These samples were not free. A 100m sample of OCC copper still costs a healthy sum. As a result of my continuous investment interest, smooth talking, pleas, and excuses, I managed to avoid having to order two miles of anything, and eventually was able to test almost all of Neotech’s proprietary cable designs, as well as their finely machined plugs and connectors. At no time did I inquire about brand-name cables that Wan Lung built for OEM buyers. Nor did they mention any such cables. The results of my costly research were extremely satisfying. No matter the price range involved, I was seldom disappointed with a Neotech design. The cables my partner assembled did not look quite as slick as the photos in Neotech’s catalogs, but our DIY results turned out to be as good as, if not better than, any brand-name offerings of similar price that I had ever used. I envisioned setting up a cable empire. Little did I suspect that my plan was about to go astray. The problem was, I still couldn’t solder. Like a restaurateur who can’t cook, I was at the mercy of the chef -- my cable-building partner. Not long after a boatload of cables, connectors, and webbing arrived, my partner and I split up, and I was left with long runs of unfinished cables and boxes of loose connectors with no one to join them together. (I can build power cords, but a 20-minute job takes me three hours.) This changed the picture substantially. Importing cable from Taiwan via courier is enormously costly to begin with, and paying someone to assemble the finished product would quickly have priced me out of the market. When I advised Neotech that I had incurred severe termination problems, they volunteered an amazing service: they would terminate future orders for me, for less than it would have cost me to terminate the cables in Costa Rica. The dark horizon had filled with a giant rainbow. I could now be a one-man cable company. How could I say no? Having narrowed my choices to a dozen marvelous alternatives ranging in retail price from $100 to $5000, I could supply an interconnect or speaker cable for every budget. With the flick of a wire transfer, I suddenly became JimCables, Ltd. Little did I know how hard it was to be accepted in the cable market. All of my own purchases of brand-name cables had been based on reviews or well-written promotional materials. By waving a review reprint or a glossy company brochure, I could usually get a hearing for the cable lines I imported. When I introduced my own brand, the reactions were skeptical to the point of horse laughs. People were not ready to plunge into unknown territory. They wanted Acoustic Zen or Analysis Plus. I tried to explain that my cables came from the same factory that manufactured most of the world’s famous OCC wires, but it was a tough sell. I resorted to a desperate measure. I gave away free samples. Fortunately, I didn’t have to give away too many pairs of cables. The first person to take a batch was a dealer, who used them in demo systems. He reported that my cables helped him sell equipment, and placed a small paying order. JimCables was a commercial success. Buoyed by this proof that my cables could be competitive, I polished up my sales pitch and offered home trials. Finally, one brave soul consented to compare my best cables to his high-priced brand-name cables. I was there for the test, and the results were stunningly clear. Neotech’s best catalog offerings, aka JimCables, were even better than I’d thought. It took all of two minutes for my products to displace the other cables. I repeated the tests several times in other systems, and quickly gained confidence that Neotech would win any face-off. I particularly liked competing against a popular flat cable. For almost a year, the JimCables-Neotech venture proceeded swimmingly. Then, suddenly, the pond drained out from under me. Neotech sent an e-mail saying they had decided to compete with their OEM customers, including li’l ol’ me. Certain cable models would no longer be available -- including, of course, all the ones I liked. Even worse, the production of finished pairs for small accounts such as mine would cease. Overnight, I was out of the made-to-order cable business. I could still buy certain Neotech cable stocks, as long as I purchased a minimum of 3000 meters each. Luckily, that proviso saved me. A friend who does home-installation work uses in-wall, fire-retardant cables by the spool. As a result, I was able to order CL3-rated speaker cables in sufficient quantity to keep costs down. Wisely, the spools do not say "JimCables," which I now realize lacks a congenial ring. Like other Neotech products, their CL3 cables outperform the competition for in-wall applications. The business in buck-a-foot cable is not a get-rich scheme, however. The sad fact is that I will never be able to buy in bulk Neotech’s best hi-fi cables, such as their OCC silver models. A minimum order of my favorite cable would set me back more than a quarter of a million dollars. I was lucky to be able to order samples when I had the chance. From another perspective, however, the news is good. After being out of stock for two years, Neotech’s top cables are now available in the US. This represents progress, for such cables were only ever offered in Europe, where Neotech has long been a respected brand name. As soon as my lottery ticket performs as anticipated, I plan to purchase more of these gems at dealer cost. At first, I questioned Neotech’s decision to move into the US market and compete against their own OEM buyers. The risk seemed high, given the number of competitors. On the other hand, the demand for high-end cables now seems insatiable. Another player might not matter much, especially when cable sales depend less on performance than on image and perceived value. And Neotech’s retail packaging is excellent. As soon as they learn to peddle like Americans, they’ll be formidable. All they’re missing is an authoritative white paper and a sheaf of positive reviews. After that, they should begin to wrest market share from the brand names they supply. Wisely, Neotech has resisted discounting cables in the US. To me, the opportunity to buy their cables at fair market value is privilege enough. No price-cutting is necessary. Consequently, I’ve decided to alert you to the availability of Neotech cables and to the price/performance ratio of cables sourced from a "real" manufacturer. I asked Sunny Kuo at Neotech to send me a set of cables representative of their US retail offerings. I was hoping she would ship me some of their ritzy OCC silver cables, but my lust was thwarted. I presume her strategy is that Neotech’s entry-level products deserve immediate recognition, and that the high-priced stuff will eventually take care of itself. I was sent pairs of reasonably priced interconnects, slightly dearer speaker cables, and a 110-ohm digital cable that costs slightly more than a couple of haircuts and a massage. Taken together, these offerings show that Neotech is confident of competing in the price-conscious trenches, as well as in the wild blue yonder, where their silver cables fly. Take, for instance, Neotech’s new digital cable, the NEDI-4001. This tiny garter snake is a sonic wonder. Although the trend toward buying separate digital transports and processors, which require a digital link between them, has lately reversed itself, anyone looking for an AES/EBU cable should hear the NEDI-4001. Its retail price of only $70 USD might dissuade the status seeker, but should delight the purist whose gold is in his ears. When the 4001 arrived, I was using a digital cable built from a cable handbook recipe, embellished with ERS shielding. The wire itself was Teflon-coated mil-spec RG-187, which is both expensive and hard to find.
Unlike the Digital Necklace, which plugged a BNC/RCA adapter into a 75-ohm S/PDIF input, the Neotech NEDI-4001’s XLR connectors accommodate the 110-ohm AES/EBU standard. Having tried a few other "balanced" digital cables, I came to prefer the sound of the 75-ohm inputs on my DAC and digital transport. After a brief burn-in, the NEDI-4001 showed that my preference had been based more on the cable than on the connection. The Neotech link displayed a specialty of the House of Wan Lung: dimensional imaging that focused vocal soloists firmly in the center and in a different plane from the accompaniment, which itself varied in front-to-back placement. In my experience, Neotech cables excel at layered imaging, and the inexpensive NEDI-4001 embodied this trait as neatly as their high-priced items. The NEDI-4001 also supplied edgeless attacks without glare. On experiencing the 4001 for the first time, a friend commented that it sounded "tubey," a great compliment -- it’s the opposite of sounding "digital." To me, tubey connotes density of tone with a concomitant shimmering presence of performers in the room. That precisely describes what I heard from the NEDI-4001. In my opinion, all CD-based stereo systems benefit from a tube component somewhere in the playback chain. For systems comprising only solid-state digital separates, the NEDI-4001 might be the next best thing. If I gave out stars for price/performance ratio, I’d give the NEDI-4001 the maximum of four, for Best Digital Cable, then retire the award. Another great value is Neotech’s NES-3003 speaker cable, although, at $500 per 8’ biwire pair it’s no price-buster, like the NEDI-4001. The system I used to test the NES-3003 consisted of a Theta Digital Carmen CD transport, Audio Aero Prima DAC II, NuForce P-8 preamplifier and Reference 9 monoblocks, and Usher Audio CP-6371 speakers. The NES-3003 was a fine match for the three-driver, two-way Ushers, deepening the bass to a degree that suggested an extra woofer -- and a more expensive cable. Perhaps the amount of metal used in the NES-3003 had something to do with its bass profundity. Each cable contains two strands of 2x6.2mm OCC copper conductors (15AWG each) and two strands of 17AWG "spiral" OCC copper. The cable is insulated with a Teflon clone, and its shield is an oxygen-free copper braid, tinned to prevent oxidation. From a marketing standpoint, the cable looks expensive, having an outside diameter of 18mm -- bigger than my thumb. In addition to bass quantity and control, the NES-3003 also exhibited a high-frequency delicacy common to the best cables in its price range. The Ushers’ silk-dome tweeters tend to be slightly reticent compared to rare-metal transducers. Given the roundness of its highs, the NES-3003 would not be my ultimate choice for the Ushers, but for those who own typical hi-fi loudspeakers with aggressive metal tweeters, an investment of $500 would retain the detail while softening the metal’s sharp edge. The NES-3003 provides a comfort level against all but the worst cases of showroom etch. The NES-3003’s midrange is the only area that might slightly disappoint someone who’s lived with Neotech’s higher-priced cables. For instance, their second-best OCC silver wire, the NES-1002, outdoes the NES-3003 in all measures of midrange performance. It also sells for $2000 per 8’ pair. The NES-1002 is even larger in diameter (28mm) and displays a more diverse tonal palette, while tightening up the NES-3003’s robust upper bass. You’ll get your money’s worth with the silver cable, but will need an attentive ear and a highly resolving system to fully appreciate the $1500-higher price. On the other hand, the NES-3003 is the ideal sonic and budgetary match for hobbyists who’ve recently upgraded their systems to include, say, a switch-mode muscle amp and a pair of $2000 tower speakers -- an excellent stopover on the way to hi-fi nirvana. In such a system, NES-3003 would rate four stars.
Perhaps my earlier impression of the NEI-3001 was due to system incompatibility. At any rate, I was unprepared for this XLR-terminated cable’s lyrical sound with balanced equipment. During the first 15 minutes, I focused entirely on detecting the wolf tone. Thankfully, el lobo hid out in a canyon somewhere and never materialized. Instead, the NEI-3001 sounded sweetly smooth, devoid of peaks and valleys. I can see why Neotech is proud of this particular patent. It offers a tempting taste of their best interconnects at a fifth the cost. In my system, NEI-3001’s most benign trait is the way it lets notes trail off in an analog-like way. So many interconnects exhibit digital shortness of breath, particularly those that produce lightning-fast leading edges. The resulting curt expression of chords and notes is the essence of digital dryness. In contrast, NEI-3001 lists to the wet side, and that is good. Comparing the NEI-3001 to my dead-quiet reference cables, I detected a tinge of interstitial noise. Although the Neotech uses a braided copper shield, it may still be soaking up some of the cell-phone interference that is ubiquitous nowadays. On the other hand, the black backgrounds to which I’m accustomed derive from a specially assembled system: the amplification has a signal/noise ratio of <100dB, the CD player’s S/N exceeds 110dB, and the cables are OCC silver. The NEI-3001’s slight touch of grain might be a nonissue with lower-resolution equipment. As a result, the NEI-3001 gets three stars out of four in my hierarchy of values. This is actually high praise -- the last time I gave a $200 interconnect any stars at all was in 1983, when it was hard to find one that expensive. The NEI-3001 offers true high-end performance at a refreshingly reasonable price.
In the right system -- an ultrahigh-resolution solid-state rig with a touch of the brightness common to the ilk -- these cables will be an anodyne. Despite their silver content they sounded musically graceful, alleviating the brittle tension of most transistor amplifiers and preamps. With a soft-sounding system, I have actually had to remove the silver interconnects in order to induce some beneficial edge, but only rarely. These two top-line cables share similar virtues. Each extends the musical event in a riveting, live-performance way. For instance, in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major (Beethoven: Violin Concerto & Romances; Kremer, Harnoncourt, Chamber Orchestra of Europe [Teldec 9031-74881-2]), as the solo violin scales upward, lesser cables can cause the chords to evaporate, devoid of arpeggio. With Neotech’s best cables, the solo parts fill in majestic procession -- in the words of famous speaker builder Richard Shahinian, time stands still. To me, having the means to prolong thrilling musical moments is a major justification for buying high-priced cables. Another reason I cannot part with the silver Neotechs is their insistent "visual" spread. When I first listened to Neotech’s finest, I was disconcerted: Images were wider and deeper of their former marks. I thought the cables were out of phase. Since then, I’ve learned that OCC silver excels at making space and unveiling far-off directional cues. When one is as nuts about hi-fi imaging as I am, the mind’s eye is almost as important as its ear. Although the price of Wan Lung’s OCC silver cables is stratospheric, their performance is commensurate. If you’ve already committed your kids’ college fund to building a hi-fi system, that system’s crowning glory may well be a set of Neotech OCC silver cables. In my book, these are five-star products. …Jim Saxon Manufacturer contact information: Wan Lung Electric Wire & Cable MFG. Co. LTD. E-mail: info@wanlung.com.tw US distributor: E-mail: infousa@neotechcable.com
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I had more than $100 invested
in my JimCables Digital Necklace. Its high resolution was a source of pride. Compared with
my favorite digital cables of yesteryear, the Necklace won in inner detail and precision
of imaging. My only complaints were that its bottom octave was tenuous, its lower midrange
threadbare, and its upper frequencies lacked extension. Other than that, it was perfect!
The
biggest surprise among the samples Sunny Kuo sent me was Neotech’s NEI-3001
interconnect cable (UPOCC copper 7N, solid and multi-size conductors, air-tube design,
Teflon insulation, triple-shielded). Four years ago, I sampled this cable (Catalog
No.NA-012260) with RCA connectors and did not get on well with it. In my system at the
time, the blue NEI-3001 made my inner ear ache from something I called the howling-wolf
tone. Sensing the need for a long cable burn-in, I convinced a dealer to use it at no
cost. From that day to this, the blue cable has been a part of his primary demonstration
system. He considers it his best cable. The NEI-3001 has also received accolades from the
European press, and the Brits consider it a Best Buy.
This concludes my impressions of the cables
that Neotech sent me to test. Now, I’ll briefly discuss the cables they did not
send me, but which I own and enjoy above all others. These are made of OCC silver and are
no longer available as samples; luckily, Neotech made them up for me before they closed
the door. They are the NA-13192 interconnect and NS-2000 speaker cable, both of which were
successful in Europe before being discontinued in 2004. Fortunately for consumers with
bulging billfolds, they’re available once more, under new model names, and this time
in the US as well. The NEI-1001 interconnect retails for $950 per 1m pair (not that
expensive), the NES-1001 speaker cable for $5000 per 8’ pair (which is expensive).
It may seem hard to believe, but in each case, you get your money’s worth.