MAF 2024: Art et Son, Chord Company / Neat Acoustics, Exposure, Chord Electronics, Innuos, English Electric

EN

FR

MAF 2024: Art et Son, Chord Company / Neat Acoustics, Exposure, Chord Electronics, Innuos, English Electric

Jonson Lee

April 5, 2024

Jonson Lee

April 5, 2024

Audio Shows, Montreal Audiofest

Prices listed in Canadian dollars.

Chord Company makes cables and is not to be confused with Chord Electronics known for making bestselling DACs. And Chord Company’s cables have quite the following, which includes me. I have tried 16 pairs of various interconnects and would include their Anthem cables in my top 3 cable products. In my system, they beat out many of the much pricier ones.

The system Chord Company and retailer Art et Son put together was modestly priced compared to many others but still sounded top-notch. It comprised a pair of 2-way floorstanding Neat Acoustics Elite Classic speakers ($5999/pr), a pair of 80W Exposure XM9 monoblock amplifiers ($3499/pr), an Exposure XM7 preamp ($2799), a Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 DAC ($7500), and an Innuos ZEN Mk2 music server ($4850).

Playing a couple of tracks from the album Dirty South by Drive-by Truckers proved this was a well put-together system. It had swagger and drive and was organized—nothing sounded smeared or messy, sounds were distinct. I imagined this was exactly what the mastering engineer had intended the music to sound like before it was released. Sure, speakers and electronics play the biggest part in a system’s overall sound quality, but when the whole system comes together and punches way above its weight, the cables used to transfer the signal deserve credit for doing it correctly.

I can tell you from personal experience that there are some cable companies selling overpriced cables based on dubious claims. I can also tell you from personal experience that the Chord Company isn’t one of them.

Cables and network filter used in the demo:

Chord Company Epic X speaker cable ($144/1m, unterminated)
Chord Company C-Stream streaming cable ($111.38/.75m)
English Electric EE1 noise isolator ($450, including the above cable)
Chord Company interconnects: Chord Company Sarum T RCA -RCA ($3780/1m, from source to preamplifier)
Chord Company SignatureX power cable ($1890/1m, for source and preamp)
Epic power cable ($936/1m, for each monoblock amplifier)

Jonson Lee

As an audiophile and a voracious listener of all kinds of music, Jonson believes that the experience of being immersed in music is often something spiritual. Born and raised in Korea, he cut his teeth on western music mostly through the music of the 80s and the 90s. As of today, names that make his heart beat a little faster include Vladimir Horowitz, John Coltrane, Youn-Sun Nah, Francis Poulenc, Leonard Bernstein, Tannoy, and Magnepan. Jonson also runs a podcast and a YouTube channel about language learning, called SpongeMind.

As you might know, PMA is an independent consumer audio and music magazine that prides itself on doing things differently. For the past three years, we’ve dedicated ourselves to bringing you an authentic listening experience. Our commitment? Absolute authenticity. We steer clear of commercial influences, ensuring that what you hear from us is genuine, unfiltered, and true to our values.

However, independence comes with its challenges. To continue our journey of honest journalism and to maintain the quality of content you love, we find ourselves turning to you, our community, for support. Your contributions, no matter how small, will help us sustain our operations and continue to deliver the content you trust and enjoy. It’s your support that empowers us to remain independent and keep our ears to the ground, listening and sharing stories that matter, without any external pressures or biases.

Thank you so much for being a part of our journey.

The PMA Team

If you wish to donate, you can do so here.