RakuStream+ network cable

RakuStream+ : Triple-Shielded Directionally Grounded Network Cable

RakuStream+ has been developed to ensure that the amazing noise reduction work of a SuperSwitch or Optical Bridge fully benefits your streamer; it represents the next step in our mission to ensure that music lovers who have hitherto used streaming merely as a way to explore new music start to embrace it as their source of choice. 

RakuStream+ is the result of exhaustive R&D and comparative listening tests; we are hugely grateful to a select panel of Reiki Audio customers who compared various shield-grounding options which helped us to confirm the optimal cable design.

It is said that a chain is only as good as its weakest link, and unfortunately the weakest link in an otherwise carefully chosen system can be the cable from the switch to the streamer. Most shielded cables have the shield grounded at both ends and this is the last thing we want between a switch and a streamer as the shield can act as an RFI conductor, undermining the benefits of the switch. An unshielded (eg Cat 5 or 6) cable addresses this but the absence of shielding allows the ingress of environmental RFI. Ideally then, we want a shielded cable which is grounded at only the switch end.

Easily meeting Cat 8 specification requirements and handling data rates well beyond the demands of a hifi system, the RakuStream+ is a high performance triple-shielded, directionally grounded, oxygen-free copper (OFC) conductor network cable designed specifically for the vital last network connection (it also works superbly elsewhere of course!).

While we don’t actually practice reiki (!), Raku is the reiki symbol for grounding and resembles a lightning bolt; we use this as a convenient marker of the grounded shield end of our cable which should be installed upstream at the switch so that any RFI noise picked up by the cable shield is drained away from your streamer.

Conductors: eight stranded AWG 26 OFC conductors are arranged in tightly twisted pairs with polyethylene (PE) insulation, chosen for its excellent electrical properties, and then foil-wrapped to provide 100% shield coverage which eliminates crosstalk.

Triple-shielding: as well as being foil-shielded, the four pairs are surrounded by a first level overall tinned copper braid and a PE jacket designed to protect the cable in much harsher environments than a typical hifi setup. A dense (95%+ coverage) outer copper braid is overlaid to provide an exceptionally high performance third layer of shielding; finally we add a protective nylon braid before terminating the cable with direction-indicating heatshrink and high quality Telegartner RJ45 plugs.

All our cables are assembled, tested and packed in our own workshops in central England. This process is as labour-intensive as you’d expect and dependent on skilled humans rather than machines; it’s a labour of love and the sonic results speak for themselves.

RakuStream+ cables are available as standard in 0.5m, 1m, 1.5m and 2m lengths; our advice that the switch should be installed as close as possible to the streamer stands, though we are pleased that the high performance of the RakuStream+ does allow for longer cables to be installed with minimum impact on performance where close proximity installation is not possible.

Although in finalising our design we focused on the switch-to-streamer connection, these high performance network cables are also highly effective elsewhere in a network. RakuStream+ cables longer than 2m can be made to order; please contact us to confirm costs and timescales. They will of course also make their difference between any switch and any streamer!