The Furutech NCF Booster is one of the most versatile components in the market today. It aims to drain static, electrical, and mechanical noise. In that respect, they’re a bit unique. They’re meant to grip power connectors but also serve as a cable lifter. The magic is actually in the NCF – which I’ll get to.
Due to its modular design, it has more flexibility in how it can help with tight bends and heavier cable sags. You’re able to extend and add on as many cradles as you like. In addition, its circular shape allows it to wrap NCF tech around not just cables but connectors at the inlets and outlets.
Furutech is no stranger to anyone in HiFi. Especially in the DIY community. Their FI-50(R) NCF connectors ($380) are on many of the popular high-end power cables. The Japanese manufacturer is notorious for extensively testing their products before any release – and it shows.
Now I’ve seen plenty of these Furutech NCF Boosters used at the high-end audio shows. I wasn’t sure about how it impacted the system but I must admit I enjoyed their sleek and simple design. It just looks – organized. Like carefully designed highways for cables.
As mentioned Furutech’s secret sauce is their NCF – which took 30 years to develop.
Incorporated into selected Furutech products, NCF features a special crystalline material that has two ‘active’ properties. First, it generates negative ions that eliminate static. Second, it converts thermal energy into far infrared. Furutech combines this remarkable material with nano-sized ceramic particles and carbon powder for their additional ‘piezoelectric effect’ damping properties. The resulting Nano Crystal² Formula is the ultimate electrical and mechanical damping material. Created by Furutech, it is found exclusively in Furutech products.
No other manufacturer goes to the expense and effort that Furutech does to develop and produce high-end audio accessories and cables, and NCF is a cumulative result of 30 years of research and development of Pure Transmission high-end audio grade products. The very audible improvement to sound playback offered by this unique material is winning praise and support, not only from Furutech’s loyal following of “Pure Transmission” audio enthusiasts but also from numerous makers of audiophile products worldwide that incorporate NCF components in their products.
Setting these NCF Boosters up is straightforward but you could also get creative with it. Although you’re supplied with both support and top cradle – the top cradle could be omitted if you find the base supplies enough NCF juice (or vice versa).
You’ll probably benefit most from the NCF Booster if you have carpet flooring – but they’re still very effective with hardwood floors.
If you have molding along with the flooring, the legs of the NCF Booster may not be flush. Regardless, I’ve found I was still able to grip the backend of the power connectors securely. Due to the height of my outlet, I required four additional pairs of extension shafts.
The provided silicon bands are used to secure the top clamp with the supporting clamp. This improves the contact to remove any vibrations – and helps the NCF with its job of removing noise. Also, there’s a proper way to install them.
Now all you have to do is connect them to the inlet and outlets and perform some listening tests. For cable lifting duties, move the Booster along the length of the cables and find a place where it sounds best. That’s it.
Check out more examples here.
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“Although these tweaks have measurable results”...I believe in certain tweaks but that’s quite a claim. $375 apiece? Just another example of mfrs giving our hobby a bad name...shame shame 😎
I mean "some of these tweaks." corrected.
..$350...forgive me Furutech
No offense, but I', having a serious hard time believing these cable lifters were actually altering the sound.
Even if the pieces are coated with Furutech NCF's piezoelectric material, it is still not coming into connect with any wires or anything that has the signal passing through it.
In the end, it's just having a thinly coat piece of plastic come in connect with a heavenly shielded cable or even a even more heavily shielded connector piece that protects the the actual signal from outside interference. There is absolutely no science to back up they would affect the sound.
If one would buy them, it would probably be because they need a cable lifer, not for a sound tweak. For that there are MUCH cheaper alternatives.
Yeah, we all had a serious hard time believing a lot of things in this hobby. But there are people who speculate - and there are people who actually use their god-given ears. Those who take action - usually get further in life. And have more friends. True story. :)
My feeling is that these pieces act like some kind of giant ferrite. Whatever it is - it does change the sound. And you don't need golden ears to hear them.
This Furutech NCF lifters REALLY WORK! And not just for audio gear. I placed the power cord for my toaster on one of these things and OMG, perfectly golden brown toast each and every time! I then tried it on the power cord for my microwave and now my TV dinners come out better tasting than the dinners served by 3 Michelin star restaurant down the street. OMG! Lastly, I put my wiener on one of these things and my wife is now super happy! Totally worth it!
Way to go ! The wiener test sounds like the best. Seriously though I have what looks like an LA freeway exchange of 2’-4” tall hardwood dowels 1.5” diameter. The floor is hard wood. The tops of the dowels are covered w/ a laminate layer of silicon. Floor side wood to wood. There are 42 of them in all. Signal and power cable lifters.I fiddled for over ten year using dozens of materials. Disclaimer: I am a professional artist (sculpture and paintings) w/ decades of fabricating experience. Yes these things do work, materials matter and sonic outcome varies depending of combinations used. I would start at Home Depot, Lowes:
Hardwood: Pine dowels sound diffused & warm, Poplar is clearer, focused w/ a bell like lucid clarity. Oak, walnut and more dense exotic woods vary but walnut is by far the best balance. Do not use cork anywhere , it suffocates the ambience. Buy or borrow a power chop box and use a fine tooth blade. Sand w/ 220 grit paper and coat w/ a low sheen water based trim paint (Behr is best.) Play w/ spacing & height to separate criss-crossing signal & power cable (allow at least 1.5” clearance. ) Experiment and you will be rewarded. Finally with my system I would need app. 40X$350 worth of Furutech cable lifters!!!
It is a hobby so have fun & be sure to ask a friend if they hear the difference .
Thanks for the review. I would like to try them. For those naysayers, just because you don't understand 'science' behind these devices it doesn't mean that they don't have any. Proof is in pudding. Try them for yourself before you judge them.
Thanks for another great review! Did you try the NCF Boosters with your High Fidelity Ultimate Cables? How do they sound?
They had the same relative impact, e.g., a more "cleaned up" sound. Smooths out the fuzzy edges.
Yes, but did they much? Did you hear something negative? Thanks!
sorry i meant to say 'match' not much
In my opinion this is a quite expensive solution to a problem : awful sound of Fuructech FI-50 connector bodies that sound metallic and push back the midrange.
I anyone here enjoying NCF?
Eventually I used 4 x NCF Booster Signal as speaker cable (DSS4.1) lifters and 4 x NCF Booster Signal-L mainly on Ethernet cables (SoTM Cat7) with one on the power cable (DPS4.1) feeding my pre-amp. My conclusion, after playing around with different positioning, is the same as Jay's. The best use case is on the digital cables first, and then on the speaker cables. The closer you put them to the analog source (eg. on the interconnects coming out of the DAC), the leaner the sound gets. Overall, the difference they make is not subtle. I like music with a natural bloom and density. Using these Boosters can help with clarity, dimension and focus but applying too much of it robs music of this natural bloom.
This is the most accurate Furutech ncf booster review. I started with 2 and I got 6 of them. Like Jay said, putting one 8" from the rear end is the most effective. However I found the NCF is very effective to speaker cables at the 8" too. The trade off is very obvious, the sound is too focus. If you are a laidback person you may not like it.