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Date: 2022-03-07

Featuring silver-plated RCA plugs, Chord Co.'s Clearway certainly looks set to impress!

I've tried out a number of Chord cables over the years and they never fail to impress. The Clearway is no exception and features the company's proprietary ARAY conductor geometry, which has been developed from its Sarum Tuned ARAY geometry. This has been designed so that the cable carries high levels of detail and dynamic information plus signals with real musical coherence. Every Clearway interconnect is constructed and tested at Chord's UK facility.

The conductors are manufactured from high-quality, oxygen-free copper and insulated with an FEP dielectric. The cable is shielded by dual-layer heavy gauge foil. Mechanical damping is provided by the use of a specially selected PVC sheath.

The Clearway is fitted with Chord VEE 3 (Vibration Eliminating Enclosure) RCA phono plugs, which include PTFE insulation between signal and return contacts. The VEE 3 is a low-mass RCA plug made from precision-machined, medical-grade acrylic, the design influenced by Chord’s flagship cables. The contact areas are direct silver plated to improve signal transfer and the internal design is intended to provide a superior contact for the critical earth path.

The directionality of the cable is indicated with an arrow printed on the heatshrink sleeving. The cable can also be supplied fitted with a stereo mini-jack plug for use in portable systems. Standard lengths are 1m and 0.5m, but this can be customised as they are built in-house.

Sound quality
As Trevor Pinnock launches into the Sinfonia from JS Bach's Partita No.2 the almost stern opening shows real power from his commanding playing. The musical edges and the natural decays of each note of the harpsichord are well defined and substantially add to the overall realism of the reproduction of the instrument in my listening room. All the various pedal stops are clearly evident, contributing to an awareness of the three-dimensionality of the instrument as a whole – as with the TCI Fierce overleaf, the music doesn’t just come from a single point between the speakers, but has a defined breadth and depth to it.

Upping the pace, I spin the LP of the Syd Lawrence Orchestra with Clare Teal swinging in for the vocals. The orchestra reveals an amazing sense of realism and clarity, while the instrument positions are clear and focused – I can almost pick out all of the individual instruments by their position in the soundstage. The soundstage itself is wide (extending well outside the boundaries of the speaker cabinets) and displays amazing depth. As with the Atlas Element Achromat, brass instruments are lovely and clear without being overly brash. Meanwhile, Teal's vocals are rendered energetic and perfectly in sync with the orchestra.

Yuko Mabuchi’s version of the classic Miles Davis track is easy to immerse yourself in. As the pace picks up with the energetic trumpet section and then comes to an end, Mabuchi joins in on the piano and swiftly takes off with her own improvisation, which culminates with the enthusiastic applause from the audience. The drums then get in on the action and Mabuchi returns to the main theme to finish off the piece. All this is splendidly conveyed, with the Clearway imparting a surprising level of sophistication to the performance.

Switching to the London Symphony Orchestra, the power and fullness of the music are the first things to come to mind. The drums really come across well, revealing a commanding force without ever over powering the orchestra by being too dominant. The horn section has impressive depth and adds an elegant authority to proceedings as v. At various points throughout the piece, I am made very much aware of the timpani and the tinkling of the percussion, which are reproduced beautifully with the Clearway interconnect.

As yet another winner in my book from the Chord Company stable, the Clearway interconnect appears destined to have a devout group of followers, thanks to its crowdpleasing performance.