Product Description
Info-Link is Straight Wire’s best effort in their quest for digital musical perfection. Using only the highest purity materials, state of the art construction techniques and ingenious solutions to the gremlins which haunt digital reproduction, they’ve certainly put their best foot forward! Years of research poured into the electrical properties of digital signals passing through a digital cable led them to engineer a cable with near-perfect ultra-high velocity signal propagation!
Straight Wire believes no other digital cable design comes close to Info-Link and its ability to reproduce the captivating balance of resolution and tonal richness and no less an authority than The Absolute Sound concurs:
“This reasonably priced digital cable offers a host of virtues, including high transparency to the source, spacious soundstaging, treble that is open and detailed without sounding analytical, and wide dynamics.“
Best Digital Interconnects. The Absolute Sound, August 2023
Construction:
The main conductor(s) is made of exceptional 99.99% laboratory grade Silver. Then the surface of the conductor is highly polished to remove imperfections. High-speed digital signals travel largely on the surface of the conductor, so this improves both signal flow and integrity. This what gives Info-Link its characteristic smooth and clear presentation, without a hint of etch or grain.
Insulating the conductor(s) brings us to another Straight Wire innovation: Microporous foam PTFE tape. Standard practice for metal digital cables is to bathe the conductors in molten FEP insulation. This is a relatively inexpensive process, but potentially dangerous to the surface of the conductor as the high heat can cause damage or even fissures in the material! Applying heated material to a cool metal can also trap moisture right next to the conductor, eventually leading to compromised performance. For Info-Link, Straight Wire uses a computer-controlled process which precisely winds multiple PTFE tapes across the cable, with alternating lays (left/right) or clockwise/counterclockwise to minimize any production variations in impedance. This “cold wrapping” process is much safer for the Silver conductor and yields a higher spec cable with superior electrical characteristics! This is what gives Info-Link its natural and open sound with hugely dynamic capabilities.
Shielding a digital cable is exceptionally important, so Info-Link receives dual shielding to ensure signal integrity. Silver-plated foil is wound directly over the insulating materials and then a silver-plated braid is wound goes over that. This dual shielding approach keeps stray RFI and EMI away from the precious signal, from the outside world, of course, but also from the components within the system! This high-coverage shielding is what gives Info-Link it’s inky black backgrounds, astonishing low-level resolution as well as superb imaging and soundstaging.
As the final manufacturing step, Straight Wire winds a non-microphonic fabric braid along the length of the cable to damp physical resonance and retain the cable’s mechanical composure, even as the music swells! A clear jacket is extruded over the top to protect the interals and now the cable is ready to be terminated!
Straight Wire uses premium connectors with PTFE insulation to ensure high signal integrity at the entry and exit points of the cable.
Coax versions (aka 75Ω) of Info-Link feature a single conductor.
AES/EBU versions (aka 110Ω or Balanced) use a matched pair of conductors, with special anti-static, non-microphonic fillers to maintain uniform spacing and geometry control between the two.
