Intro
Contents
If your author is completely honest, he must confess that he is totally not a fan of ultra expensive cables. The fact is that the differences between a decent cable and an ultra expensive one is usually – with some exceptions – quite marginal. Unless a manufacturer really pulls out all the stops and takes a totally different approach. And that is what Van den Hul has done with ‘The CNT’. What a bizarrely beautiful cable this is!
Your author is sitting on the couch with colleague Martijn to listen to the Audio Physic Spark (6). A very interesting and bizarre little speaker. Well: little speaker… it is a large bookshelf.
While we’re tweaking to get the optimum result, we also tried some cables to check the balance of this speaker. “I still have a CNT lying around…. why don’t we try it?”… Assuming it’s bound to do something , we connect it between the preamp and power amp. And when I press Play… wow… That’s not subtle!
But first, let’s take a look at what this cable is now…
Carbon Nano Tube – CNT
We are used to the idea that a conductor is made of metal. Silver, gold, copper… these are excellent conductors, after all. However, there is one material that conducts even better: graphene. Graphene is the basis for CNT. Both Yeti and VdH use MWCNT: multi-walled CNT
We have tested a CNT cable before. Namely, the Yeti NextGen, also a very nice cable. But as we know, the conductor is only one part. And although the Yeti is also CNT based, Van den Hul uses a different source for its CNT and the cable is constructed differently; different plugs, different jacket – may be a bit fancier considering the price – and a different method of connecting the CNT to the plugs. After all: CNT cannot be soldered
CNT/graphene conducts extremely well – better than silver even – but because only a very thin strand is used in the cables – we are talking about the thickness of a hair – the conductivity is still low. And thus the resistance is high. This does not matter, however, since only a few volts need to pass through it ánd in an interlink the resistance of about 40 Ohms is not a problem: in many cases we go from a low to a very high impedance (kilo-ohms). So the 40 Ohms of the cable is not a problem. With a speaker cable, it is different. And Van den Hul has taken that into account. Unfortunately, this is also reflected in the price…
The Van den Hul The CNT
Van den Hul’s high-end cable comes in a few flavors: balanced, single ended and as a speaker cable. Although this is the top line – the Platinum may be more expensive, but Van den Hul sees this as its “Halo product” – the finish is incredibly understated. Yes: it comes in a nice case, but that’s about it. No bling … no frills… no champagne or gloves in the case. Just a cable. Nice and down-to-earth
The price of a CNT is from 6000 Euro. We can talk long or short about that: it’s just a lot of money. This is a “happy few” product. A cable for someone who has his system all set up and wants to put a big dot on the ‘i’.
To share, I just noticed this interesting (Dutch) article which impact/performance Graphene can have on cables. This article links to more detailed (English) information: https://www.bright.nl/nieuws/1171067/nieuwe-techniek-maakt-stroomkabels-effici-nter-dus-ook-elektrische-voertuigen.html
Yeah. I have seen that too. And after some googling some other interesting stuff.