In many audiophile’s minds there seems to be an almost subliminal association between the size of a system and the size of the cables it demands: Big systems – big cables, perhaps typified by the likes of Transparent Opus, the Siltech Triple and Master Crown cables or the AudioQuest Mythical Creatures series. Yet the most musically successful cables that I’ve used all tend to the minimalist approach. Nordost’s Odin contains an awful lot of air, while as I’ve already noted, even the biggest Crystal Cables offer a remarkable ratio of conductor to insulation. Moving down the price range, the Brandt cables and these Crystals follow that trend, while the ribbon-like Sternklang cables are perhaps the purest example of all. Given that any audio cable can only ever do damage, the light-touch, non-intrusive approach holds an obvious appeal, while those cables that ‘add’ anything are the equivalent of drawing a Sharpie moustache on the Mona Lisa. It’s not quite as simple as the more cable there is, the more it’s likely to add, with considerations like mechanical feedback, shielding and induced signal distortion all playing their part. But what does seem undeniable is that it’s easy to get way too heavy handed with cable design. Perhaps the mantra should be, the more you add, the greater the risk. The contrast between the Siltech and Crystal cables is interesting, especially given the use of identical metallurgy in their conductors. Where one goes massive on all counts, from cable construction, and damping to connectors, the other adopts a diametrically opposed approach. Most listeners (and most markets) lean heavily in one direction or the other. It could be argued that it is an interesting indicator of market aesthetics and maturity, but once again that’s in danger of over-simplifying the situation.
But what does come out of the Future Dream experience is the essentially universal nature of this cable, despite its diminutive dimensions and minimalist appearance. I’ve used across multiple systems at a range of prices. It brings quality, subtlety and a natural sense of human agency to even basic electronics, musical and temporal coherence, intimacy and vitality to far bigger rigs. Whatever the system, a compete set of Future Dream invests it with a musical and dynamic agility that really captures the micro dynamic demands in the music, the sheer dexterity in the playing, whether it’s the subtle weighting and spacing on a piano keyboard or the quicksilver fingering of a violinist in a particularly fast and fluid passage.
Take Hilary Hahn playing Prokofiev (Paris, DGG 00289 483 9847) as perhaps the perfect example, the cables allowing the system playing the 45RPM album to capture both the remarkable grace and fluidity in her lines, as well as the hallmark precision in her technique, her subtle shifts in bow pressure. It’s exactly this ability to unlock the inner musicality in an artist’s performance that allows a complete loom of Future Dream to make such a significant and obvious contribution to system performance. Yes, the bigger (and significantly more expensive) Art Series cables from Crystal are capable of delivering more weight and tonal colour. They even do it naturally, without bending the musical picture out of shape or warping the space/time continuum. As a result they also deliver greater dimensionality, presence and immediacy – but at a considerable price! Future Dream is a long way from cheap. Let’s be honest, it’s a long way from affordable. But what the Future Dream does is fasten on and lay bare the musically fundamental aspects of reproduction, keeping the system and your enjoyment of it on track, delivering on the investment you’ve already made in the rest of your system.
