Review: Michael Wolff power cords Carbon Gain Power cord

Mattend, Thanks for the description of the source cords. I did not realize that "Gain" cords were for amplifiers.

Mattend, I do not have a fraction of the powercord experience you do, but I am curious: Although based on my own testing I do agree that powercord changes can seem to cause shifts in tonal balance and soundstaging, among other areas, your statement about how most upgrade PC's "destroy...the authenticity of the artist's expression" through these shifts raises questions. Do you therefore think most upgrade PC's sound worse than stock cords? Because one could read that implication into your statement.

But don't think I'm dismissing that sentiment ; I've long suspected there may be a legit reason to feel exactly that way, in least to a degree. It's this: Components are presumably voiced by their makers while being fed from their stock OEM cords. So in theory it may not be so surprising if upgrading cords - while usually offering improvements in many areas such as transparency and transient response - still seems a crapshoot when it comes to tonal balances and soundstaging (which is affected by tonal balance). That could be because the intended voicing is subtly altered, and that most gear would sound best if it could somehow be voiced using the particular upgrade PC with which it will be ultimately be run.

If my supposition is at all true, then one implication will be that there probably never can exist just one ultimate, superior upgrade PC for all gear, but that different PC's may work best with different gear, and that is of course what many of us observe, myself included. Still, I usually do think that with most gear, most upgrade PC's will represent an overall improvement, even if perfect synergy is not achieved (is it ever?). As I say, I haven't tried the number you have, or gone to the expense level you have in the ones I have tried, but I've also never felt any of them 'destroyed' what I was hearing vs. the stock cord (even the one [which is on your list] I didn't prefer for any of my gear and subsequently sold).

Anyway, it's interesting to read about another cable using carbon - I'm currently getting into some VDH IC's employing carbon, the cable use of which I believe they pioneered, although I haven't yet tried their PC's. Enjoy your new cords!

Zaiksman
(Anyway, it's interesting to read about another cable using carbon - I'm currently getting into some VDH IC's employing carbon, the cable use of which I believe they pioneered, although I haven't yet tried their PC's. Enjoy your new cords!)

For clarification, Michael Wolff Carbon Ribbon Power Cords are the only product on the market which use Carbon as both a conductor and for shielding for the AC current.

The VDH IC's transmit an audio signal which is completely different. (Of Course)

Thanks,
Michael Wolff

Michael: I haven't checked into your product or its construction specifics yet, but I will add in response to your statement that in VDH's all-carbon IC (The First Ultimate), they do not claim that the 6-layer woven carbon outer surrounding the 12,000-strand carbon core can act as a perfect shield, and also offer The First Metal Shield (and the two-conductor The Second) for applications requiring better isolation from radiated fields, and those models employ more conventional woven-metal or metal-foil outer layers. In my own tests with The First Ultimate and The Second, I have gotten results in this area consistent with VDH's position. However, I don't believe that these considerations necessarily translate directly to PC applications, which can generally be viewed as being more akin to SC's, and indeed some makers of PC's advocate using no shielding at all, like on SC (not that I've tried any of them, as I tend to think that shielding is mostly beneficial on a PC). If you would care to address the topic, I believe VDH's main reservation about constructing an all-carbon (or even just carbon-condutor) PC has to do with carbon's higher resistance, a concern that in their all-carbon Revelation SC apparently mandated highly massive and expensive construction in order to overcome. But I am really liking the 'sound' of carbon in my IC's (or maybe the lack of metal 'sound'), and am interested in finding out more about what you offer - could you give us your website URL or a link?

Simply the point that I am making is that I use carbon in a Power Cord. VDH uses it in an interconnect. Two different applications is all.

Sure the web site is:
http://wolffcords.home.comcast.net/

Best Regards, Michael