Power Cords


I currently have Wireworld Silver Electra power cords with upgraded Platinum plugs. I had two 1M Wireworld Platinum power cords, but rearranged my system and required longer cords. Yesterday I borrowed two Shunyata Sigma NR power cords. On the first note my wife softly said, "that sounds better". She said it was clearer. I listened for a couple hours, changing the power cords a couple of times. In my system and to my ears this is my conclusion:
The Sigma's are cleaner, definitely has more bass, a dead silent and completely black background. The Wireworld cords are more detailed, with a wider soundstage and better spacing/separation of instruments. All things considered I'll keep my Wireworld, but I'm curious to listen to other power cords.
After inserting the Sigma's I just don't understand how anyone that listened to different power cords could conclude that they can't hear a difference. There is a difference, but like any other component the individual has to decide if the change is worth it. $6K for two power cords is relatively expensive. Expensive, but oddly maybe a good value? In my system there was a definite improvement with better bass impact and articulation. Would spending $6K or just changing amplifiers yield similar results? As with most components there are trade-offs...is there a power cord out there that has the benefits of the Sigma's and Wireworld Silver Electra's? If so, at what cost?  
ricred1
Thanks! for sharing your knowledge and listening experiences-bo1972
I look forward in reading more about the Hurricane.
Happy Listening!
A- Regarding Shunyata Sigma NR, looking at the specs.,
A1- they claim having some Noise Reducing scheme. This is actually RFI suppression capacitor place on X shape at IEC side. The CPCC (Custom Power Cord Company) power cords were the pioneer of this kind of filtering. 
These Caps could be found on ebay for  $1-2. Some drawback is that it could push back the noise toward the main distributer:/conditioner and eventually sharing the ground noise with other devices in network! I use some of these RFI Caps on my DIY power cords with careful measurement regarding each cord.

A2- AC plugs at these cables are Nickel (!) plated over Tellurium Copper or Copper. No need to say Nickel plating on AC plugs ($2) used on these Power cords, is one the worse plating compared to Rhodium, Silver, Gold.  Perhaps they are saving money.
----> at $3000 for PC, they could use at least some good AC plugs! 

Shunyata uses a lot of none-sense abbreviations/words in their product's specs in order to foll people. One concrete example is their Hydra PC which has nothing but a couple of RFI capacitors and some Levitan outlets:
http://www.10audio.com/diy_power_conditioner.htm

B- Audioquest Power cords are usually very good for their price. I use a Audioquest NRG-2 (for Einstein The Turtable Choice phono preamp) where I cut the AC plugs and changed them with Furutech Fi-25 and Fi-15plus. Audioquest cables uses Solid Core Pure Copper as conductors which is fantastic. In my testing bench and system, AQ power cords (NRG-100, 1000) perform much better than High Fidelity CT-1 power cords (with their BS technology which makes no-sens for any engineer/physicist!!!) , Dynamic Design Challenger, Transparent Audion XL and ...

I think new AQ power cords would be a very good choice for high current Amps.

As for Audioquest AC plugs, on their early NRG-100 PCs, they were using some Oyaide Ac plugs. Now they use some other vendor to make them pure copper connector with direct Silver (NRG-1000) or Gold (NRG-500) plating. I use a couple of their 20AMP NRG-1000 plug which is phenomenal.

hope that would help...
cheers
 
The Hurricane is of a different league compared to the NRG-1000. The thing what I will aks AQ today is what the material of the new plugs is.

Because this cannot be found. I think it will be similar compared to the 1000 plugs like the ones of the NRG-1000. These are silver plated
(over pure red copper)

You need to be aware of the DNA of each product before you are able to us them maximum. The AMT tweeter (totally different than a ribbon tweeter) needs the right cables and equipment.

The facts proof that most people have no idea and all made the same mistakes. The shows proved these mistakes. And I saw often the same kind of mistakes on photos. This proves over and over again that people have no idea about properties. Because when they would have understand this, they would never had made those faults.

I visited different 800D3 demoes. The facts proof that they are still 2D. We will give demoes in 2018 and will proof that they are 2D. My 800S had the same limitations. As the 800D1 and 800D2 had. These are properties no one can change until B&W will hire new people who can create better crossovers and faster materials.

For example: Playing Miles Davis on the 800D3 proved that Miles was nog standing 2 metres behind the front line. Beside this the trumpet was on the same height of the tweeter. What proves that the speaker cannot create diversity in height.

We create a superior level in stage depth, width and height. This makes music a totally different experience. It only can be created when you understand all the properties each part in your system owns.

Trial and error is like audiogambling. I discussed this with several people who own an audio shop and all agreed. The sound and stage always proofs the truth and the quality of each audio system.

When the stage is wider, deeper and higher you will hear more details tangible and free for eachother. This makes a huge difference compared to any stage what is more compressed. And the most common limitation at this moment is the lack in diversity. At shows most demoes proof that there is alsmost no diversity (layering) in sound.

When you would have known how voices and instruments can create diversity you would be aware of what you do wrong. That is why we will use real voices and instruments to proof that music is 3D and that it is very tangible and direct/ And that you can hear many layers.

We want all people to get closer to the truth and real music. I can garantee for 100% that each single person will prefer it. We have done this hundreds of times and the results are always the same.

The best and most convincing sound and stage will always be choosen!






Breaking News! This just in! I must be a Mind Reader! Audioquest controls wire directionality for its power cords. From the Audioquest Hurricane power cord web page:

"Dielectric-Bias System (DBS; US Pat #7,126,055): By creating a constant dielectric field for the cable’s primary capacitance field or dielectric, DBS assures extended bandwidth and more evenly filtered noise dissipation, eliminating the distortions and ringing that plague other cables even after years of use and so called “run-in time.” In addition, DBS assures that the RF Noise-Dissipation System works as linearly as possible.

Controlled for Correct Directionality: All drawn metal strands or conductors have a non-symmetrical, and therefore directional, grain structure. AudioQuest controls the resulting RF impedance variation so that noise is drained away from where it will cause distortion."

Cheers

I just phoned with AQ about the plugs. From the Hurricane and above they use Silver plated (over pure red copper) plugs.

I don’t like the shape and shiny new DBS of AQ. But they say it is an improvement over the old one. They improved the isolation compared to the older ones.