Hear the Difference ChordOhmic Fluid and the English Electric 8Switch Can Make!

The Chord Company made two big announcements at the Bristol Hi-Fi show earlier in 2020. The first was that they were releasing their new ChordOhmic Transmission Fluid: a two part system that cleans and polishes cable contacts and then uses a proprietary polymer to increase the surface area of the contacts. The second was that The Chord Company was reviving the fame English Electric brand to introduce the new 8Switch Network Switch.

Now both products have arrived stateside and The Sound Organisation is excited to share these new products with the American market.

ChordOhmic Transmission Fluid

The Chord Company has spent over four years developing their two-part formula to help improve the performance of all their cables, even the ones currently plugged into your system. Instead of focusing just on cleaning the contact in hopes of a better connection, The Chord Company dove into the science of transmission to create a product that not only restores the surface of the plug, but also improves the surface. The Chord Company engineers worked closely with their Japanese distributor and an acclaimed industrial chemist to develop a new polymer-based hi-fi contact enhancer. After 500 prototypes, the Chord Company finally found a combination that achieves a noticeable improvement in sonic performance while maintaining long-term stability.

The first vial is a specially formulated contact cleaner and polish. By applying this first liquid to plug, you'll remove any dust, grime, or tarnish from the surface of the contact. The real difference comes from the unique water-based polymer in the second vial. This conductive polymer formula fills in any imperfections on a molecular level, increasing the surface area of the contact. The increased surface area helps the contact pick up more information from even the lowest voltage signals. After three initial coats of this polymer, the plug contact surface is stable and will only need annual touch-ups to ensure maximum contact area. Because this transforms the surface of the metal component, you can use the ChordOhmic Transmission Fluid on any type of cable, from speaker cables to power cables to analog or digital interconnects.

View the ChordOhmic Transmission Fluid on SoundOrg.com and Find a Local Retailer

English Electric 8Switch Network Switch

The Chord Company revived the famed English Electric brand to release this new product. The Chord Company's core goal is improving your sound system by reducing noise and optimizing the signal transmission between each component. The new 8Switch continues this work by optimizing the digital signal sent through your network cable to your components. Though most systems use cheap network switches used for everyday internet packets, these switches are not optimized for high-end audio signals. English Electric seeks to enhance streaming music by creating a hi-fi ready network switch that improves the signal transmission in your network.

The English Electric 8Switch is an audiophile-grade gigabit network switch with 8 ports and an independent power supply. The 8switch starts with eight 100/1000 Base-T gigabit Ethernet ports that should suffice for even the most demanding sound system set-ups. Powered by a custom-made TCXO (Temperature Compensation Crystal Oscillator), the 8Switch can produce network signals with much higher accuracy than typical network switches. Next, the 8switch incorporates two low and high electrical noise isolation circuits on both the power supply and clock generation circuits, meaning you'll get a much stable connection. An EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) absorber helps to further reduce the noise from the digital circuit and reduce jitter by up to 90%. The 8Switch uses a medical-grade power supply that prevents power fluctuations from affecting the network signal. Finally, the 8Switch is housed in a machined aluminum shell that offers reduced acoustic and electrical noise, especially compared to the plastic enclosures on other network switches. All this comes together to deliver a clean, stable network signal to all of your networked audio components.

Click here to learn more about the English Electric 8Switch

Hear Them In Action

We can expound on the technology behind The Chord Company's new products, but the real test comes from hearing them being used. In this great video from Pursuit Perfect System, Patrick Mitchell of The Chord Company walks us through the science, history, and performance of multiple Chord Co. products. First, he shows us the improvement made using a Chord Clearway cable treated with the ChordOhmic Transmission Fluid vs. one without. Then he goes on to demonstrate the improvement made by using a Chord Shawline Streaming digital cable compared to a low-end (free in the box) ethernet cable. Finally, he rounds out the video showing the noticeable improvement made when switching to the English Electric 8Switch from the Netgear network switch. The audio on this video is very high quality, so we'd suggest playing this video through a good streaming system for best results.