Ansuz, Mainz D8 and cables

I have the MainzD8 - Ceramic power cords and speaker cables. The MainzD8 is something special. It is highly recommended with Ansuz power cords. Because the design focuses on the grounding of the system. The day I got the MainzD8 I also got the Aavik U300. I plugged the U300 directly into the wall. Then I added the MainzD8 to the wall with nothing plugged into it. What a difference. The background got quite a bit blacker. Then I added the U300 to the MainzD8. Background got a lot blacker. Better detail and more natural sounding. What I haven't tried is other power cords. The design uses a 10mm ground with smaller hot and neutral wires criss crossed in a way the it cuts back the capacitance and inductance. I got the speaker cables a few months later.

That said I've only had demos of the Ceramic and Diamond cables. Yes the Diamonds are even better but very pricey. Also a 4M power cord sounds better than a 2M. Don't know why but it does. The Ansuz X cables are supposed to also be very good but I haven't heard them. BTW these are from the designer of the Nordost Odin. The only downside is the cables are pretty ugly.

I was at a private demo with Lars K and heard the Ceramic Power Cord get replaced with the Diamond from wall to MainzD8. So I agree with the best you can afford from the wall to Mainz. It was huge. This demo was D5's being driven by Soulution integrated and cd player.

As I said before I only demoed the Ceramic and Diamond cables. So I can't offer any opinion on other cables. But my local dealer did have a customer that wanted Nordost Tyr2 cables. He threw in some Ansuz X cables and that customer thought he would pay more. Turns out he bought the X because they were less expensive and sounded better (again per my dealer - I wasn't there). Anyhow I can't recommend the MainzD8 and first PC enough. Beyond that I'm a firm believer in NOT going 'hog wild' on cables until your system is finalized. Your taste in preferences may change and cables can be very expensive. I found over my many years cables (not power cords) are a minor difference in sound quality until you get into some very elaborate electronics.

Keep posting your findings BTW the designer is Michael Borresen. The designer of Ansuz - Raidho - Aavik and Scansonic along with a bunch of Nordost products.

Oh yeah I have Raidho D2's for speakers too. So all are a Mike B design

Congrats. I would try just 1 power cord on your amp by itself. Use the other power cord on the MainzD8 and just plug it into the wall. Then add the amp to the MainzD8.

Yeah my speaker cables are 5M. What was interesting was when I was demoing my original Nordost Frey vs Ansuz Ceramic. I heard very little difference flipping the cables in pairs. But then I tried 1 of each. That's when I noticed a big difference. I found the Nordost seemed quite dry and lean with more background noise.

Nice review

Mordante I agree it will be a while before I get a second Mainz. At Axpona they used 2 during the demo. I have a friend who has 3 with a full diamond cable loom. But he also has Raidho D5's and Soulution amps.

Add a second mainzD8 for even more improvement. You don't have to even plug in anything.

Mordante - On Wed my local dealer and Lars K came to my home with the new Ansuz Diamond TC cables (to be shown at the 2016 CES). OMG I had no idea what my system was capable of. Adding 1 Dia TC power cord to the MainzD8 and digital cable brought my system to a level I didn't even think was possible. The background became so much blacker. The separation between instruments became so much more apparent. The highs gave me shivers. Everything sounded so much more natural sounding I really felt like the musicians were in my room like never before. The last thing Lars had me do was push the volume beyond what would normally cause the D2's to start to bottom out and it got quite a bit louder. Having a hard time getting that sound out of my head.

That said 20K USD for a power cable seems ridiculous but WOW did it ever sound glorious. It's on my radar.