Chord Company USB SilverPlus

Chord uses gold-plated contacts and shells for its A and B connectors while the differential data pair employs silver-plated OF copper strands insulated with LDPE. The ensemble is fully screened, jacketed in a soft white PVC sleeve and complemented, aesthetically, by its blue and white moulded plug. Technically, SilverPlus offers a 13.5nsec rise time (fractionally slower than other 1.5-2.0m types) but its waveshape shows little distortion [see eye pattern].

SUPER STEREO

In the event, the overwhelmingly positive reaction of our panel (on three separate occasions) put SilverPlus top-of-the-heap in the sanely-priced category. This is an extremely open-sounding cable – fresh, effusive and bubbling with detail without sounding forced, bright or in-your-face. The atmosphere of The Eagles’ live ‘Hotel California’ was extremely realistic. ‘Did you hear that guy whistling way back there?’, remarked one listener admiringly.

Chord’s cable did the very same thing with Oscar Peterson’s trio, creating a huge image without blowing the perspective of the piano, percussion and strings out of proportion.  In tonal balance, SilverPlus is a match for Kimber’s Cu but brings with it a greater sense of spaciousness and transparency. Percussion has fantastic sparkle, a vivid life without a hint of brashness. And The Beatles’ remasters?  No longer a ‘period’ piece, this sounded like it was recorded yesterday.

Review reproduced with kind permission of Hi-fi News