Power Cord Flavors

TVAD, I thussly confess that I am one of the doodes that buzzed around BabyBear during his analysis. I concur with all his findings. I should only like to add the following: One of the chords he lists is the Kimber Palladium, which we found to be extended but also having a lot of harsh upper glare, so much so that in works having legato treble lines, such as Violins, flutes, etc. . . the treble was so glaringly prominent to hide the detail of midrange and bass.
BabyBear's characterization of the Tara The One is right on. in addition, with that PC on the amp, Jean-Pierre Rampal's flute in J. S. Bach Flute Sonatas sounded somewhat unnatural and bloated/boomy, more like a trumpet than a flute. Nordost Valhalla was delicate and extended, but trim to the point of sounding anorexic in the midrange. Conversely, a phenomenally graceful result, having controlled top to bottom extension, just the slightest tuneful bloom in the midrange, and a vast and tightly-defined stage was finally achieved with an Epiphany on the digital source, Anaconda Alpha on the linestage and Elrod Statement on the amp. Needless to say. . . your mileage may vary

Guido, I can imagine the combination of Epiphany, Anaconda Alpha and Elrod Statement was outstanding. I'd be curious to know how substituting just a Python Alpha for the Anaconda Alpha would affect the results.

Norm, I will let BabyBear comment about Anaconda VS Python on his system. I did an Anaconda VX versus Python VX comparison last year on a Teac Esoteric X-01. By comparison the Python had a smaller soundstage, less defined imaging, fuzzy bass, less detail and was in genral less involving than the Anaconda. Note for posterity: my findings were with the old Python, not the new Helix version.

Who's Norm?

Although I appreciate the AnacondaVx versus Python Vx comparison, it doesn't apply to the scenario presented in your earlier post. The Vx cords sound different than Alpha cords, and a Vx cord used for a digital source has little in common with an Aplha cord used on a power amp. This has been my experience anyway.

Tvad, I compared the Python Alpha to the Anaconda Alpha on my preamp - VAC Ren MK II. This was with the Epiphany on the CDP and Elrod Stmt on the amp. To my ears, in my system, the Anaconda delivered a richer sound than the Python with the slight mid-range bloom that I mentioned in my earlier post. I felt that the Python was more neutral sounding. The overall result was more pleasing to me with the Anaconda than with the Python. Hope that helps.