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Power Cord Flavors

Someone recently sent me an e-mail asking about warm and fullbodied power cords versus neutral, clear and extended power cords. I thought I'd post my opinion, and ask others to share theirs, too.

My system is tubes: VAC Phi 110/110, First Sound Presence Depuxe II, APL Denon 3910

Warm and full bodied in my system=
Purist Audio Dominus w/Fluid
Elrod EPS-3 Signature
Revelation Audio Precept
VH Audio Airsine

Neutral, clear and extended=
Shunyata Python and Anaconda
Electraglide Epiphany
Ridge Street Poiema!!!
Audio Indulgence Alpine Lace
TG Audio SLVR and 688
Z Squared
Absolute power cord

That's a scary list of power cords. I'm kind of shocked at how many I've owned and tried.
tvad
1markr
525 posts
 
Wow, it would be nice to have something like this for ICs and speaker cables as well. This could become a very nice reference! Kudos Tvad....
tiberian
33 posts
 
i would put silver audio wattmaster and ps audio statement as warm and full bodied, with vh audio flavor 4 and airsine as neutral, clear and extended.
i will have a mike wolff silver carbon source cord soon, we will see...
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,550 posts
 
Wow, Grant. You've had more power play than Gordon Gecko in his heyday.

Of those I have tried in our system, I found similar results. The Purist Dominus was the warmest, and the most musical-sounding of them all. The Poiema!!! was the most neutral. Their IC's as well. The Z-Squared are also quite neutral. Great performance, well beyond its pricepoint, IMO.

The darkest (sort of choked, actually) were the Audience cords.

Great thread. A valuable discussion for people cable searching to get some bearings on the sonic spectrum. Naturally, results vary from one system/set of ears to the next. But as we all know, my ears are directly over the earth's axis of auditory neutrality. There, I said it. :-)
Howard
tvad OP
9,467 posts
 
I forgot to add the Wolff Carbon Ribbon Source cord (copper version)...on the warm side of neutral.

Disclaimer: I have one for sale to a good home. With papers. House trained.
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,550 posts
 
Others I've tried:

Wolff Source--agree, slightly to the warm side of neutral.
Van den Hul Mainstream Hybrid--neutral, great on amps, inexpensive.
Component Plus Premium PC--Similar to Z-Squared, slightly more bright, and a bit more airy sounding. At $195, this cord is also priced really well.
Signal--Dark, choked, similar to the Audience in our system.
Electrglide Mini Khan Plus--Neutral, more open sounding than the Wolff Cord/Z-Squared on the source. Great for jazz, vocals, not quite as good for rock, IMO.
Verastarr Signature--Slightly brighter than the Z-Squared. Not as open as the Component Plus.
Virtual Dynamics Nite I--neutral, though more closed off than the Mini Khan Plus, on CDP. Sounded less natural than the Wolff, or the EG cords.
Electraglide Ultra Khan Statement R/R--Every attribute of the Mini Khan Plus, just more of it.
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