inakustik NF-204 XLR Micro AIR Referenz Audiokabel

inakustik NF-204 Micro Air XLR cable - HiFi sound at a reasonable price

The XLR audio cable from the Reference Series, designated NF-204 XLR Micro AIR, uses the new MICRO AIR technology from in-akustik, which is based on the AIR technology of the large in-akustik audio cables from the Reference Selection Series.

Why the in-akustik Micro Air technology is decisive for the sound

Since the outputs of hi-fi devices only provide very weak signals and react sensitively to high cable capacitance, the cable capacitance plays a decisive role in the connection of the components to each other. This results in a so-called low-pass filter, which cuts off high frequencies and also causes phase shifts. For this reason, RCA and XLR audio cables are virtually predestined for the air-based insulation of MICRO AIR technology.

Another special feature of the NF-204 XLR MICRO AIR is its balanced architecture, which guarantees a high level of immunity to EMC radiation. Alone or in combination with the LS-204 / LS-204-XL, the NF-204 MICRO AIR opens the doors of the device connections and lets your hi-fi components reach their peak.

• Technology
• Air Dielectric
• Concentric Copper Ladder construction
• Symmetrical architecture
• Signal-free, double shielding
• Connector with tellurium copper and rhodium plated contacts

Explanation of in-akustik Micro AIR technology

The laws of nature cannot be switched off, but they can be used skilfully. Every cable has so-called parasitic effects due to these laws of nature. These include capacity - the fact that a cable, like a battery, temporarily stores energy and releases it again after a time delay. An effect that strongly influences the transmission of audio signals and is undesirable. The cable capacity is a physical phenomenon whose size depends on various factors. One important one is the insulation material, the so-called dielectric, which can increase the capacity many times over. Air on the other hand does not do this and is therefore the ideal insulator. Part of the insulation of the MICRO AIR technology is a complex, diamond-shaped structure. The chambers created by this structure increase the distance between the conductors and increase the amount of air in the insulation. In this way, annoying capacitances are reduced and the transmission properties for sensitive audio signals are optimized.

Concentric Copper
In contrast to conventional conductor designs, in which the arrangement of the individual wires in a conductor is chaotic, the arrangement of the wires in concentric copper conductors is subject to an exactly defined scheme in which the wires are precisely arranged in several layers. This design reduces irregular contact points between the wires, which harmonizes the signal flow and minimizes propagation time differences. Impulses can be reproduced with pinpoint accuracy and the spatial information of the music is preserved. A thin layer of polyethylene protects the high-purity copper from oxygen and thus from oxidation.

Electrostatic and capacitance
Everyone knows this effect when you take off a sweater with a high synthetic content and it crackles and sparks. The reason is that the incorporated synthetic material absorbs electrical charge and suddenly discharges again. The same happens in the dielectric, the insulation material of a cable. It "absorbs" electrical energy like a sponge and later releases it again. In an audio cable, however, these are components of the music signal. One measure of this is the cable capacity, i.e. the undesired storage capacity of the cable. While capacitors are supposed to store energy and have a correspondingly high capacity, the capacity of an audio cable must be as low as possible. It has a decisive influence on the transmission properties and also leads to interactions with the connected electronics. Air insulation, as implemented with MICRO AIR technology, is therefore ideal, as it reduces the capacitance to a minimum.

The Micro AIR approach
The cables of the REFERENCE AIR series have already caused a sensation in the world of high-end connections: "It was the best cable that ever operated between amp and speakers here! (AUDIO 02-2020 | LS-2404 AIR PURE SILVER) Based on the same physical approach, we have developed the REFERENCE MICRO AIR series. As the name already reveals, air as insulation plays a central role in the new REFERENCE MICRO AIR series due to its excellent dielectric properties. Cables as such do not sound, but have a filter effect and interact with the components. In our opinion, audio connections should be as inconspicuous as possible and should not produce any sound coloration. This may be astonishing at first hearing, but in the end it distorts the original and, over time, causes considerable annoyance. The trick is therefore to adapt the physically given filter effect of the cables through the architecture and choice of materials in such a way that losses and interactions are reduced to a minimum. We have also pursued this goal in the development of the REFERENCE MICRO AIR series and - in our opinion - achieved it again.

The in-akustik cable manufactory
Like the AIR HELIX cables, the REFERENCE cables with MICRO AIR technology are manufactured in in-akustik's own factory in Germany. In addition to the elaborate, manual assembly of the cables, this naturally includes the corresponding quality control. Each cable is thoroughly tested after production. Functional tests as well as mechanical tests are carried out. And of course we also check the live performance as part of the product development. For the greatest possible precision and low-loss signal transmission.