April in Taos ski valley means powder season is coming to a close but the Bavarian Restaurant -- whose back door to the kitchen has witnessed more than one run-in with marauding bears -- was still busy serving the remaining skiers as of yesterday; and it wasn't pizzas they served though what arrived on my doorstep shortly thereafter did look like a new hi-tech form of door-to-door pizza delivery.

The sender was Gabi van der Kley of Crystal Cable in Holland. If she meant to rearrange some of my upstairs brain cells, she succeeded with surgical precision. For what arrived in the shallow metal canisters were the most unique HighEnd cables I'd laid eyes on in a long time.


Marja Vanderloo and Henk 'Longbeard' Boot in Rotterdam too have received an equivalent care package and are scheduled not only to formally review these cables but visit with Gabi for an on-site interview in her headquarters. Not wishing to steal their thunder, I shall remain mum on sonics and technology safe for giving you a visual sneak peek about why our headline reads Brainwashing Dutch-Style. Just compare ZCable's Reference speaker cable to the Crystalspeak Reference, then remember that the latter's diameter is sufficient not only to provide massive shielding but contains enough conductors for biwiring.
Four-pin screw connectors allow swapping of single and biwire tails or WBT silver spade or locking banana terminations. Very thin, very elegant, very tough - it took a woman to refute those notions that performance and hi-tech have to mean unwieldy bench-pressing he-man hoses.

The only cable that visually resembles these brand-new Crystal wires is Chris Sommovigo's i2digital X60 while the use of Kapton for cutting-edge insulation recalls Joe Skubinski's cunnily christened Kaptovator power cord. But it's fair to say that Mrs. Gabi's feminine sensibilities regarding size, flexibility and attractive appearance are a welcome breath of fresh air in our locker-room man's club of audiophilia. Brainwashing Dutch-style - I just regained precious grey matter previously gunked up with erroneous beliefs. No more wrestling engorged wires into place (the below power cables are not by Crystal but Mark Hampton's manly-stiff Hurricanes). No more weighing down components with lead bricks to prevent levitation. No more dead space behind the rack to account for 'bending clearance' with unyielding monsters. If you too have questioned whether all that nonsense was really necessary, check out Crystal Cable.