Ultralink/XLO Products will feature completely updated Signature 3 and Reference 3 interconnects and cable lines at CES. The new interconnect and speaker cables are custom-drawn 99.99998% (“Six Nines”) pure Laboratory Grade copper. Signature 3’s higher specification calls for UP-OCC 6N copper (Ultra Pure Ohno Continuous Casting process), a material so expensive it’s sold by the gram. Proprietary Integrated Field Winding Geometry — how each signal-bearing conductor is arrayed relative to the others — is optimized for the interactive relationship between current-controlled electromagnetic fields formed around a cable’s conductors, and the electrostatic fields formed around its insulation when an audio or digital/video signal passes.
Reference 3 and Signature 3 are designed with to minimize capacitive discharge effects. As current passes through insulated conductors capacitance effects store signal energy in the surrounding dielectric material that’s either turned into heat or quickly released out of phase back into the signal path as soon as the polarity changes. That leads to signal cancellations, reduced low-level detail, smearing, and out-of-phase artifacts causing spurious sound or picture distortions!
XLO reduces stored energy with low-mass dielectrics and by using the best materials with the minimum dielectric constant and the fastest release rate — the quicker the energy returns from the dielectric, the less distortion in the signal.
But that doesn’t stop Ultralink/XLO, a company in an excellent position to get closer to… the sound of nothing. “We control the manufacturing of our own product, just as we’ve done for more than 15 years,” enthuses XLO’s president Allen Sung, “giving us 100 percent quality control backed with a lifetime warranty. We have the capacity, machining and engineering expertise to work the conductor and dielectric materials. We design and produce all our specialist connectors. The product is of such quality,” Allen smiles, “that it’s supplied OEM to a surprising number of other brands.”
Even our hand-terminated connectors are direct-plated 24k gold with no shiny but poor-sounding Nickel substrate: Nickel is ferrous and becomes magnetized when passing signal current. The magnetic field is modulated by the electrical signal and the connector retains a residual magnetic charge. Making our own connectors also allows XLO to ensure constant impedance from one end to the other.
Price and Availability
Retail prices start at $290 for Reference 3 half meter audio pair and $590 for Signature 3 half meter audio pair.
