The Audience Powerchord is your best bet. It certainly is very quiet and music really do come out of a black background. Moreover it has excellent bass response. You will need to pay about $350 on Audiogon. It is, in my opinion, the best option at $350. It is not perfect but it is by far the best option at its price. |
I know for sure that Nissmo will humiliate Challenger RT or even Vette Z06 with ease, but in terms of aftermarket powercords, i don't see the factor of competition there vs. any. |
"Anything outperforms the stock cable that comes with components."
That's a pretty broad statement. Also has no relevance to the ops question about Pangea specifically.
I hear a major difference with mine and consider the value proposition to be fairly high accordingly. |
The build quality of the Pangea's are top notch and the prices modest. That's enough reason to try one if interested. Then you can judge if it sounds better or not. My ac14 models do on both DACs and pre-amp. I attribute it to better shielding and lower noise levels accordingly mainly, just as advertised. I love it when there is actually a reasonable explanation for why something works better than something else in the advertising material and then it actually turns out to be true. |
It seems to me that the OP is moot. Anything outperforms the stock cable that comes with components. |
The original and e Audience Chords are also quite good and the prices have come down now that the SE is here |
Jim, I've upgraded from Pangea to Audience Powerchords and the black background and open soundstage is a major step up.
A friend said the Audience SE PC is in a whole different league (but yes it is expensive). |
Ok, thank you for answering my questions in this thread. Among the better power cords available, how does the Acoustic Zen Tsumani Plus rate, and is the Pangea's new AC9SEMKII a marked improvement over it??
Interestingly, the new Audience PC is one of the best available, but is a lot of money. TAS reviewed the new Audience SE cable series: speaker cables. IC's, and found the new PC to be the most convincing in improved sound of the series by significantly reducing RFI and noise. Synergistic Research offers a new series of cables that are identified by Level I thru 4. Like Audience, they are also making outrageous claims about their performance level. |
Great cables for the money however there are much better cables but they do cost much more. |
Yes , Elizabeth please come back . You had much to give here ! |
Hi Jeff, Elizabeth did a post about a month and a half ago.
It would be nice to hear from her more often. |
I wonder what happened to Elizabeth? Hope she is ok |
I use Pangea cable on all my equipment, primarily because they are inexpensive, seem to be well built at there cost point, and have been recommended by many on this forum. That is not to say that there are not better ones available. There have been many posters on other threads who have declared so. Most of the ones declared as better were considerably more expensive.
What about some of the other offerings price competitive with Pangea? |
My experience with the Pangea have been generally positive for their price points. I have both an AC14SE and an AC9SE.
The AC9SE really added bass extension and a nice top end detail as well. But ultimately the bass is noticeably more loose than that from better cords and the mids and highs, although better than a stock cord, were slightly diffuse compared to higher quality cords.
The large gauge of the AC9SE appears responsible for the increased bass response over standard cords, but I do NOT agree with the generalization that 'cords below a given gauge' don't make much difference.
Much more important than size/gauge is a cord's materials, construction, geometry/design, conductor type, metal purity, dielectrics, and plugs/connectors. |
I didn't actually think that power cords below a given gauge made much of a difference. It just seemed wrong to have skinny power cables (wires), and be immersed in this sometimes unrealistic hobby. So I have some expensive cables from when I felt flush and Pangeas and their ilk when less so. |
with an Audio Note amp my homemade PC really opened up the soundstage, a huge improvement really and for $70 with other amps I heard less of a difference |
The AC14SE has always outperformed the stock PC IME; most noticeably in a lower noise floor. And you can't beat the price.
|
They do on my arc preamp and mhdt dacs. |
Popped in to this thread to see if Elizabeth might be back. Oh well. |
Oh boy, John Rutan, Shunyata is not gonna be happy with you. Having said this, you are right on the money. Well done for the balls to say it, as a dealer. |
(((In all truth, I am not sure if this cable really made a difference in the sound in terms of a quieter or blacker background.))
I agree
I find most cords make things darker and after six months
we pop in the stock cord and say wow this sounds just fine.
Just had a lady with Quicksilver mono's thank me many times over for telling her to remove her Shunyata Box and plug in direct hence all the life in the system came back.
Sometimes if it aint broke don't fix it
JohnnyR
Audio Connection Dealer |
My point of reference for above comments only includes cords that can be bought for $300 or less, used. I do use a Pangea 14SE on my Sonos, cost was $29.95 |
Some manufacturers include high quality, well matched power cords, and some include cheap throw in cords. Power cords can change the sound, both better, worse and simply different. I use aftermarket cords on all but my preamp. The good part is that power cord prices seem to depreciate fairly quickly, then hold steady a long time, so easy to try. |
Yes, Pangea power cords are better, way better, than stock cords. I only have experience with the 14SE but in every application it has provided a substantial audible improvement. It was glaringly obvious when I used it with my 47Labs FM tuner. I's inexpensive and you have a 30 day return privilege. |
Really depends on your system . If your system does not have a lot of detail the difference will be less obvious. The more detail the easier it is to notice a difference . My system main rig has detail and a obvious improvement was made using the Pangea over stock. Used in a second system with entry level gear it is not nearly as noticeable switching between stock and Pangea. |
Sunnyjim,
IMO you don't have to spend a fortune to out perform the standard issue power cord that comes with components. I know many people that use the Pangea power cords, like them, and would not think of spending more money. With that said I believe its all system component and AC power dependent. I have found in my systems that spending more money on other brands of power cords has defiantly improved the sound of my system. |
