This is a review and detailed measurements of the Nordost SuperFlatLine speaker cable. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $360.
As you see, the cable name is fully descriptive with parallel copper traces running from one end to the other. The edges of the cable are somewhat sharp and overall the cable feels somewhat delicate (think flex PCB if you are an engineer). The terminations were surprisingly loose as I inserted them in the banana jacks of my Audio Precision analyzer.
Company provides a set of "specifications" which are hardly useful:
Nordost SuperFlatLine Speaker Cable Measurements
I tested the cable as if it were an interconnect (and hence with higher impedance than it would see in real life). There, the SuperFlatLine showed transparency with analyzer's internal bypass:
Seeing the large surface area of the cable and audiophiles always worrying about noise intrusion in cables, I put my usual test transformer at 90 degrees to the cable. This induce fair bit of mains noise:
I then switched the cable to a generic 12 gauge I bought form Amazon a while ago:
As you see, the induced noise level is much less now. The SuperFlatLine cable was so sensitive that having the transformer 12 inches away from it still induced fair amount of noise.
Note again that these are high impedance tests. With typical low impedance amplifier and speakers, it will be much harder to inject noise into a speaker cable. Still, all else being equal, the Nordost cable is much worse in this regard due to simple physics of its construction.
I also ran the classic frequency response test showing no difference between the cables (and no cable):
For grins, I set the analyzer to 1 MHz and pumped a 10 kHz squarewave into the cables:
As you see, there is not the slightest difference even though this signal is "illegal" in 44.1 kHz or even higher sampling rates.
Conclusions
The Norodost SuperFlatLine cable clearly falls in the category of paying more and getting less. It is much more susceptible to noise pick up, and its physical construction is a bit of a pain to deal with.
Needless to say, I can't recommend the Nordost SuperFlatLine cable.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
As you see, the cable name is fully descriptive with parallel copper traces running from one end to the other. The edges of the cable are somewhat sharp and overall the cable feels somewhat delicate (think flex PCB if you are an engineer). The terminations were surprisingly loose as I inserted them in the banana jacks of my Audio Precision analyzer.
Company provides a set of "specifications" which are hardly useful:
Nordost SuperFlatLine Speaker Cable Measurements
I tested the cable as if it were an interconnect (and hence with higher impedance than it would see in real life). There, the SuperFlatLine showed transparency with analyzer's internal bypass:
Seeing the large surface area of the cable and audiophiles always worrying about noise intrusion in cables, I put my usual test transformer at 90 degrees to the cable. This induce fair bit of mains noise:
I then switched the cable to a generic 12 gauge I bought form Amazon a while ago:
As you see, the induced noise level is much less now. The SuperFlatLine cable was so sensitive that having the transformer 12 inches away from it still induced fair amount of noise.
Note again that these are high impedance tests. With typical low impedance amplifier and speakers, it will be much harder to inject noise into a speaker cable. Still, all else being equal, the Nordost cable is much worse in this regard due to simple physics of its construction.
I also ran the classic frequency response test showing no difference between the cables (and no cable):
For grins, I set the analyzer to 1 MHz and pumped a 10 kHz squarewave into the cables:
As you see, there is not the slightest difference even though this signal is "illegal" in 44.1 kHz or even higher sampling rates.
Conclusions
The Norodost SuperFlatLine cable clearly falls in the category of paying more and getting less. It is much more susceptible to noise pick up, and its physical construction is a bit of a pain to deal with.
Needless to say, I can't recommend the Nordost SuperFlatLine cable.
----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
