DH Labs power cables


Several months ago I decided to make a final adjustment to my system by upgrading the power cables.  I’d been using Pangea cables.  After upgrading I noticed an immediate improvement in micro details, sound stage and bass control.  Those qualities only improved as the cables burned in.

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Pangea AC14 SE->DH Labs Power Plus

-Phono preamp, DAC, CD transport and streamer.

 

Pangea AC9 SE-> DH Labs Red Wave

-Preamplifier and amplifier

 

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Auralic Aries G1

PS Audio Perfectwave CD transport

Denafrips Hermes and Terminator 2

Technics SL-1600 MK1

Dynavector 10x5 Mk2

Parasound JC3+

Rogue RP7

Pass Labs XA25

Tekton Design Nebos with ultimate upgrade

 

pino22

DH Labs has made high value, excellent cables for decades. They fly under the radar due to no marketing or review chasing. Keeps the cost down.

I'm not surprised with your results.

you ought to try their cry version - they are faster, and ( somehow or other) much more flexible, almost slinky.

OP

 

+1
 

 

I have not found Pangea to be of a value over stock. DHLabs are excellent for the money.

Another case of "I bought and installed the new cable and the sound improved markedly!" Unless you did a blind test with someone helping to make the switch all bets are off! As Perry Mason would say "Not admissable in Court".

I have one DH Labs cable from preamp to amp. Does it sound better than one of my Audioquest or Transparent cables? I don’t know or care! I chose the DH Labs Silver IC because it was the only good 6-foot cable I had other than some cheap Ch*nese six-footers.

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Very nice DH labs has always had a good rep and made excellent power cables.

I have had that DH Labs cable from preamp to amp for several years and feel no compelling need to change it. So a thumbs-up for DH Labs!

DH Labs is good stuff. I have their USB cable for my DAC and it is much better than the Amazon stuff. 

I started a thread awhile back about getting some ARC gear. Pretty much put my faith in ghdprentice love of ARC's sound signature.

I ended up with ref5se and ref75se, a steal on an Aurender A15, and modded Klipsch forte III. My XLR's were Monoprice just to get up and running. I was estatic with how it sounded. Months later ordered Air Matrix cyro xlr's. Super stoked to get them installed. Opened the box, and crap, they were RCA's.

Now for a shoutout to Greg at DH. 10 star service. Gave him a call, and he overnighted me my cables. Thank you kindly, Greg!! All I can say is hearing is believing. I.m a believer in decent cabling in this instance . I'm set for now, maybe a separate DAC later.

I just switched most of my AC Power cables over to DH Labs. I bought the cable bulk and put on really good ends and built them myself. Even made them really pretty. 😎

WOW!!!

(Pangea is the only cable that I liked cold, out-of-box.  Once it broke in, it sucked!)

I'm a big fan of DH Labs for their availability on Parts Connexion, both the pure silver, balanced interconnects and their fully shielded power cables.

@jasonbourne71 

"Another case of "I bought and installed the new cable and the sound improved markedly!" Unless you did a blind test with someone helping to make the switch all bets are off! As Perry Mason would say "Not admissable in Court"."

What is your argument Perry? That the OP can't hear an improvement in the sound quality when he replaced a component? Or that swapping out a cable doesn't qualify as an audio comparison?

Seems to me that this hypothesis flies in the face of everything that goes on with the members of this site. Perhaps the problem is that you are passing judgment on someone based on your own inability to hear a change in your system.

 

 

I’ve been a fan of DH Labs since I started in this hobby and am now an authorized dealer for their cables. I’ve experimented with many manufacturers’ cables, and nobody can touch DH Labs from a performance-to-cost ratio. I pretty much personally owned every single cable they’ve made even before I became a dealer. for anyone who is interested, my favorites of theirs are:

Power Cable - The Corona Cryo is better than the original Corona - less fatiguing, more dynamic ans effortless, and more resolving than the Red Wave. I’ve demoed the Corona Cryo against a handful of reputable cables in the $2500-3000 range and the Corona Cryo was up there with them. I even preferred the Corona Cryo more than a few of them.

Interconnects - I prefer the newer Air Matrix Cryo over the Revelation. The Air Matrix Cryo is smoother and more effortless, more natural sounding the original Air Matrix, and I prefer the tonal balance of it compared to the Revelation, which can sound lean to me at times. 

Digital Cables - They don’t get enough credit in this arena. The Reunion Ethernet is probably the best and most revealing Ethernet cable south of $1000. The new D-100 Silver Reference is an AES cable with a stunning level of transparency for its price and made me switching from my reference AES which retailed five times more. The Mirage USB is still one of the best USB cables I’ve tried, even compared to some others almost 10x its price. Their Glass Master Toslink is one of the best quality on the market, hands down, with its 300 individual real glass fibers, but I’m not a huge fan of Toslink myself. 

Speaker Cables - I’ve owned both the TOTL Deity and the discontinued Revelation SP pure silver speaker cables, and while both were better than the Q-10, I have to award the Q-10 for its performance for a sub $500 pair of speaker cables. Q-10 can be considered endgame for many as it has an incredibly neutral presentation, natural dynamics and very good level of clarity. 

You will also not find better service than talking with Greg if you have questions or run into issues with your order (very rare). Their order fulfillment is almost as good as Amazon Prime.

@fthompson251 You might want to share your recent service experience you had for others to hear. 

I’m always happy to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of their individual cables if anyone has questions, either through this thread or via PM. 

blisshifi: regarding the Corona Cryo vs standard Corona, are there more differences than the plugs and the cryo treatment?  Can the standard cable be cryo treated to improve the sound?  Thanks!

I have used their bulk cable to make interconnects and power cords and they are excellent! 

@lcherepkai The connector and cryo-treatment (and new woven outer jacket) are the only differences between the Corona Cryo and standard Corona. The connectors on the Cryo deliver better conductance than the Wattgate ones on the standard. You can get the cable Cryo’d by a third party, but I don’t think DH Labs offers this service for existing Corona customers as they do this in a factory in the US and not in their Florida warehouse.

DH Labs makes good products, and some people can hear the difference between different interconnects and cables.

Corona Cryo power cable is excellent. I am using it on my Digital Source. Its got a nice clear sound to it.

I’m using a DH Labs Silver sonic Mirage from the streamer to the DAC and have thought about getting a PC or two to try.

Sorry, I am late here but was in a remote area camping and no wi fi and wek cell service. As @blisshifi  mentioned. I had ordered a set of 4 Meter Air Matriz cryo XLR's for my new Legacy Audio Focus XD's. Upon getting them set up I had an issue in the right channel and tracked it down to a bad cable. I messaged Juan, and by the next day DH labs had made me a new bacle and shipped it the next day. This was on a Tuesday and by Saturday I had the new cable up and going. Really quick response.