C-STREAM 15M

Entry-level Chord Company Cat 6a Ethernet cable — tested for audio streaming applications.

Technical background

Chord Company cables are built around ARAY conductor geometry — a proprietary arrangement developed through decades of research that positions conductors to minimise electromagnetic interference between them during signal transfer. The geometry becomes progressively more refined as the tier rises: basic ARAY in C-Range; ARAY in Clearway; multi-strand ARAY in Shawline and Epic; Tuned ARAY in Signature; Super ARAY in Sarum T; and at the reference tier, ChordMusic's Taylon® conductor insulation — a custom-developed material with lower dielectric loss than PTFE, measured to affect how cleanly the conductor releases its signal. All connectors are terminated by hand at Chord Company's Wiltshire factory, with rhodium or silver plating at higher tiers for long-term contact integrity and minimal oxidation.

Design story

Chord Company was founded in 1989 in Wiltshire, England, by Alan Gibb, with the conviction that cable quality is a fundamental rather than peripheral component of any hi-fi system. Every cable in the range is handmade at Chord Company's UK facility by trained technicians who personally terminate and test each product. The ARAY geometry system — first developed in the early 2000s and continuously refined across multiple generations — is Chord Company's proprietary answer to how conductor arrangement affects signal transmission. It defines the performance hierarchy from C-Range to ChordMusic and has won more What Hi-Fi? Awards than any other cable manufacturer in the award's history.

Best for

Computer audio listeners and streaming system users wanting a quality USB cable from DAC to source Digital streaming upgrade: C-stream between laptop/streamer USB output and DAC; immediate improvement over generic USB cables