KRAUTWIRE Numeric Digital

MJ20.06.2020

Interconnects

Are you out on the market for a great digital cable? There is one, all silver and cleverly shielded. All you can do is to sit back, let yourself be teleported to a music venue, and enjoy the band playing for you.

100% reference

Function and form

100%

Ease of use

90%

Sound

98%

Appearance

The design philosophy behind the all new Krautwire Numeric was “ultimate simplicity”. The cable employs pure silver conductors, terminated with pure silver WBT Nextgen 0110Ag RCA cinches. In the wireless world where the environment is polluted by HF noise, the shielding is a key for any good design. In Numeric there is not aluminum foil and braided copper shield, rather the cable relies on a military grade fabric mesh that weights almost nothing. The whole Numeric assembly is therefore like a tactic helicopter – lightweight, durable, and practical. The locking Nextgens have a firm grip on any inlet, the rather flat cable can be routed and bended at your will, and any degradative oxidation is excluded (unlike copper the silver oxides are conductive). To me The Krautwire Numeric is an example of a modern interconnect.

Bass management

Weight

Slam

Articulation

On Naim’ s #3 sampler there is Acoustic Revenge, a live recording from Antonio Forcione, originally released on Naim CD054, Antonio Live!. Listening to this piece through the Krautwire Numeric gives me ultra-fast transients of guitar strings, precise soundstaging with audience rumbling back on the right, and very fine microdynamics where the subtlest sounds and string attacks represent limit values with endless shades in between. The Numeric outperformed all the digital cables that I had on hand, including Supra Trico, Wireworld Silver Starlight 8, XLO Reference 3, AudioQuest Carbon Digital, and several good performing DIY cables.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail

Air

Transparency

For me the dynamic behavior is key. If a cable fails in what I would call ‘dynamic transparency’ it fails to convey the music truthfully. This is not dictated by the recording, rather by the ability of the cable to work with subtle shadings and nuances without compressing them. In my opinion this single aspect makes a line between reproduction and reconstruction. The Krautwire Numeric is definitely the latter camp.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre

Dynamics

Temporal resolution

One more piece from the Naim sampler as an example: Kai Eckhardt and In The Pocket. It starts with energetic electric bass line that is joined by drums. This is exactly the track that demands your set up to react fast on low frequency transients, provide correct timing, and not to cut off the punch and weight. I heard all these through the Krautwire Numeric, plus it also exhibited with solid midrange. Some of the aforementioned competitors intentionally suppress the midrange to highlight attractive shelves on bass and treble, the Numeric remained complete.

Spatial resolution

Holography

Soundstage width

Soundstage depth

I keep asking myself: should a digital cable make any difference? After all it just works with 0 and 1 pulses. However, these pulses are not optical but electrical, so naturally electrical parameters of the c cable and input and output boards of the connected equipment come into play. With digital S/PDIF cables often the 75ohm declaration is ruined by the RCA’s so I would not reply on the specifications anyway. My observation is that the parameters – as declared by some manufacturers – are not relevant either; I haven’t detected any correlation between them and the sound. It is the business as usual – the cable either locks with the rest of your system or it doesn’t. The Krautwire Numeric was quite consistent in locking with most the systems I used it in. The incredibly recorded No Sanctuary (Chris Jones, InAukustik) was the Numeric firmer and more accurate than any competitor. Its background was a tad quitter so I could not hear the faintest sounds like ambient clues, but it might be just because these actually were just modulated noise which was suppressed by the Numeric.

The Krautwire Numeric is a fantastic digital interconnect that provides highend sound for more than reasonable price. Highly recommended.

Price as reviewed:15 900,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Krautwire, Praha, tel. +420 724 076 707

Manufacturer's website: http://www.krautwire.cz

Associated components

Sources: Accuphase DP-720, McIntosh MCT500 SACD/CD transport + integrated DAC in C2600, Audio Research DAC 9, NAD DAC2
Amplifiers: TAD-M2500 MkII, McIntosh pre/power C2600/MC611
Interconnects and speaker cables: Audioquest Dragon Zero | Bass BiWire, Audioquest Carbon Digital, Supra Trico, Wireworld Silver Starlight 8, XLO Reference 3, AudioQuest King Cobra, InAkustik Referenz, McIntosh Balanced, Monitor 75 Cable, The Zerofinity M7
Loudspeakers: TAD Evolution One E1, Bowers & Wilkins 802 D3, Sonus Faber Gravis I
Power conditioning: Shunyata Research Denali, Ansuz Mainz C2, Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 2, Blackwater Continuum R3D

Gallery

89%

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