Cardas or Virtual Dynamics power cords? Opinions?

I have have two VD Revelation Power Cables, 6 Transparent PowerLink MM PCs (top of Transparent Line). I cannot hear an appreciable difference between them, but both are better than Purist Opis (and they cost a lot more). I have not heard the Purist Dominus.

I also have VD Revelation, Transparent Musicwave Ultra and Purist Aqueous Anniversary speaker cables. Again, the Transparents and the VDs are similar with the Transparents having more base slam, the VDs better soundstage and imaging with base closer to the Transparent than to the Purist and the Purists the best highs and arguably the best tonal balance top to bottom.

I have 2 sets of VD Masters series balanced XLR ICs, 2 sets of Transparent Reference MM balanced ICs, and 1 pair of Purist Venustas balanced ICs. Here the VDs and the Transparents are fairly close but the VDs still throw a better soundstage and imaging and not quite as powerful base slam as the Transparents, while the Venustas are not nearly as good as either in base, soundstage or imaging.

My Purist Aqueous Anniversary phono cable lets my system sing and demonstrate the powerful superiority of vinyl over digital. My Cardas Golden Cross phono cable is not in the same league.

On balance, VD gets the nod from me, especially with signal cables.

Jmcgrogan2, good to see you're staying active on the 'Gon. I am very happy with the VD Revelation power cables and would like to get two more, even though it is difficult to hear much difference between them and the Transparent PowerLink MM.

Ed

Hi John,

I'm sorry about your remorse. What preamp/amp did you get?

Personally and in my system, the Revelations and the PowerLink MM PCs are very close. Maybe if I had a few more Revelation PCs, the difference would be more noticeable. But in ICs and SCs, except for base, both the Masters and the Revelations are better than the Transparent Reference (current MM technology).

I was outbid this past week on a Revelation Signature PC. I would have liked to have heard what it could do in my system.

Best,

Ed

Hi John,

I did the same thing that Islandear did with his Rev speaker cables. If you just work out the shape you need in mind and prebend the cables to that shape before inserting them and securing them to the binding posts (you may have to do some adjustment to the bends after inserting them into the system before securing them to the binding posts), they should be fine and not place any stress on the binding posts.

I actually found their stiffness to be an advantage in a number of ways.

They seem to give me almost as much transparency plus clear, sweet top end, and top to bottom tonal balance as the Purist Aqueous Anniversary and at the same time almost as much base slam as the Transparent and better imaging within the soundstage than either the PAD AA or the Transparent. I have not tried nearly all the top contenders, but the VD Revelations are definitely the best cables I've had in the system.

Best,

Ed

I agree with Islandear and Flanner. The Revelations are worth the effort. Go for it, John!

My mono blocks are directly behind my speakers also with not very much space between the wall and the back of the amps. I have them on SRA Ohio-Class XL Plus Isobases. After prebending the 8-foot Revelations, I looped them underneath the SRA Craz racks, then underneath the Isobases and finally to the back of the speakers. It took at least an hour to get everything just right, but there is no pressure on the amp or speaker binding posts.

I have not heard the Transparent Opus MM or Reference MM or the Purist Audio Anniversary or VD Genesis speaker cables, but I'd be surprised if anything short of those is going to better VD Revelations (there are some other top of the line cable I have not heard either -- like the top of the line Siltechs, the Silversmith Paladiums and the Jena Labs Dreamdancers, all of which have their proponents).

Best,

Ed

John,

I really appreciate your comparison of the Revelation and the Dominus. I have not heard a Dominus and have comments on it that are all over the spectrum.

I have had my Revelation SCs in my system now for a bit more than 100 hours and they are still improving, especially in debth and air around images on the soundstage. Speakers completely disappeared long ago when I replaced the Russian Sovtecs with appropriate NOS tubes - Telefunken, Amperex and RCA mostly. As they settle in over the next few days they should improve signifantly. Then over the next 100 hours the improvement will be gradual but noticeable.

Fplanner, All of us will be interested in your take on the Genesis vs. the Revelation after the Genesis has settled in.

Best,

Ed

Ozzy, that was very helpful information -- about the Revelations taking up to 400 hours to fully break in. I'm at about 120 hours on my Revelation speaker cables and the system is still improving noticeably.

Of course, the same applies to my cartridge and tonearm wire, which have about about 100 hours on them and my Purist Aqueous Anniversary phono cable, which has about 60 hours on it. Albert Porter tells me the Aqueous Anniversary takes about 700 hours to fully break in!

Ed