The problem with streaming cables, particularly examples like the Chord Sarum Super ARAY and the Indigo Tuned ARAY, is that both cables employ very high tech sub-miniature coaxial cables in critical signal paths – and as brilliant as these may be, they are also very expensive. The Anthem Tuned ARAY uses an equally clever cable design; this time though the conductors are grouped in pairs. Insulation is a combination of hard skin external and gas-foamed internal Polyethylene, and each pair of conductors are shielded with a high density shield and the four conductor pairs are further protected with a combination braid and foil shield.

The RJ45 plugs are high speed rated and all connections are made with solder rather than crimping. The plugs were, until recently, used on their flagship Sarum Tuned ARAY streaming cable (now superseded by the Sarum Super ARAY). The critical Tuned ARAY conductors are based on the original Tuned ARAY conductors developed for the Sarum, but with improvements made to the internal construction. The idea behind the Anthem Tuned ARAY streaming cable was to produce a high performance streaming cable where extra lengths weren’t prohibitively costly. This means that if you need to use a longer length streaming cable between switch and streamer, then the Anthem Tuned ARAY will give you the chance to understand and hear the benefits of Tuned ARAY technology.

Developing the original Sarum Tuned ARAY cable range was one of the most exciting things we’d ever done; by the time we’d completed the design we knew we had made something very special indeed. It wasn’t just us either. Everyone who heard it realised just what a significant step towards achieving a genuinely musical performance the Sarum Tuned ARAY cables were. Even better, here was a cable range that could let you hear just how great your favourite musicians are and how good your equipment really was. That was one of the things that really shocked us; equipment we thought we knew and understood turned out to be a lot better than we thought. Even better perhaps was the way the Tuned ARAY cables let you hear exactly how good your music collection was as well. Albums that we liked but found challenging to play were suddenly far easier to listen to; here was a cable that positively encouraged you to re-visit your music collection. That was brilliant – but what was really inspiring was taking the Tuned ARAY principles and applying them to other cables in the range. First there was the Signature Tuned ARAY cable range, then the Anthem Digital Tuned ARAY and now the Anthem Tuned ARAY streaming cable.

A growing understanding of what Tuned ARAY can do has allowed Chord to make an outstanding streaming cable, and the cable design means that longer runs are viable. If you are streaming music and you haven’t tried experimenting with alternative connections, the Anthem Tuned ARAY streaming cable would be a very good place to start.