Snake oil? No. Buyer beware? Yes. I use balanced cables. Can I hear a difference in balanced ICs? Absolutely.
The Mogamis are really good. Each has to decide if spending 20 x what the Mogamis cost for a slight difference is appropriate. Personally, I will bring in other XLR cables for comparison only if there is a trial period with a full refund return policy. Too much of cabling, whether it is power cords, ICs, or speaker cable is so situation dependent that it is nearly impossible to predict an outcome a priori.
I will spend $1K on a replacement for my Mogomis provided I hear an improvement--not just a difference, but an improvement. I will not spend 1K on an IC based on an advertisment or a recommendation that does not permit a trial. |
Detlof, this is why try before you buy is the way to go. You want to charge 1K for a set of ICs? Fine, I will think about it if you beat my 0.1K Mogamis. Bring your A game, and I will pay the money.
I just spent 2.3K on two power cords. Yes, they are that good, worth every penny, and they won't be going back. Got another Power cord that runs about 700 that is only marginally better than a $60 cord from Signal Cable. Won't be buying any more from that house.
They guys that are hawking the expensive copper better bring their A game. |
Jymc,
I bought a couple of VH audio AirSines with Furutech FI-50 plugs and IECs. Stunning resolution, and they took a bit of a nasty nasal tone out of my Cary amps that I didn't know was there until I heard the amp with AirSines. There was also just a little bit of what Valin calls "scrim" that the AirSines rectified. Finally, there is a clear improvement in dynamics. I had a chance to use a friends AirSines for a couple of weeks and was very impressed. Based on that audition, I expect the Cary's will also exhibit a bit more warmth with some additional burn in. Having lived with my friend's AirSines for a couple of weeks, there was no way I was going to live without at least getting a couple for the Carys. Yes, they are expensive. But as I said, they are worth every penny. |
Charles1dad,
Good question. Let me start by saying that I was able to borrow 4 AirSines from my friend for 2 weeks, which gave me a good bit of time to switch cords around and see what mixture of the AirSines plus my existing cords gave the best overall result. Based on that evaluation, the AirSines made the biggest difference with the Carys, so my initial purchase was for two AirSines for that purpose.
I found that I liked my Voodoo Vector Dragon with my modwright sony power supply about as well as the AirSine, and liked those two cords better than anything else I had at my disposal. I tried a half a dozen power cords going to the ModWright Sony CD player per se, and I couln't hear a shread of difference in any of them. So I left the existing PC in place for that piece, which was a VH Audio flavor 3. The Airsine was also very good (the best of all the cords) going to my Audio Magic power filter, which supplies power to the ModWright gear and the Line Stage.
That gave me an opportunity to try all the cords with the Coincident line stage. Three stood out as being good with the CSL. The AirSine, the Voodoo, and an old PS Audio Statement I had. Keeping in mind that the CSL was not (and is not) fully burned in, I preferred the PS Audio, AirSine, and Voodoo in that order. I thought the PS Audio gave better dynamics, but the AirSine allowed the CSL to exhibit a bit more complexity in the upper harmonics. I would want to reevaluate after I have 300 hours on the CSL before drawing any firm conclusions, and I would love to have access to a Coincident PC as well. But I can say that I heard clear differences with the different cords to the CSL. |
Zenblaster, That is a really good question, and I asked myself that same question as I compared the cords. Read my answer to Charles1dad above, then let me add the following.
I bought the two new cords for my monoblock Cary amps. Rather than put an arbitrary number rating on the difference, let me put it this way. When it came time to return my friends borrowed cords, I took them out of my system one at a time. I took the two away from the amps last, and was just appalled. Pretty much one of those "No, this isn't going to cut it at all" moments. Now, before I borrowed the cords, everything sounded just fine. After hearing what the Cary amps sounded like with the Airsines, then putting the Signals back in, it just sucked all the life out of the Carys. I ordered my two Airsines 3 days later, after I discovered that I was not going to be satisfied until I had recaptured what I had lost. That was a huge step back. If it was 100 with the airlines, it was maybe 65 without them. The Airsines simply turned the Carys into new amps.
The AirSines cost 15 x what I payed for the Signals. Are they 15 x better? Yes, maybe for me they are. Tonight, a used 4' Airsine was offered for sale and I bought it immediately, so once that arrives, I should be in really good shape. It will go into service supplying my Audio Magic MiniRef II.
It is all system dependent. For me, the AirSines distinguished themselves in 3 out of 5 applications. I've got my 3 Airsines now, and life is good! |
Onhwy61, I certainly didn't take your thread as being critical. It was a very good question. Beleive me, no one could have been more suprised than me that these power cords made such a dramatic difference. The third AirSine arrived last night and it really, I think, has put the finishing touches on the system. I do have one IC left I want to consider replacing, and I want to replace some of the internal wiring on the Cary amps as well as the binding posts. The next major project will be dedicated wiring to the room. But at this point, I just don't know how much better I can make this. Wow! |
Onhwy61. You are correct in pointing out a seeming dichotomy. I recognized the dichotomy at the time I experienced it. I thought it was important for that dichotomy to be described as a part of my experience.
In answer to your questions, when I returned the borrowed power cords, I actually did reduce the frequency and length of listening sessions until the new cords came. I described the change in the amps without the AirSines as being like someone doing the nails on the chalkboard thing, but at a very low level. The dynamics and fidelity of the amps were clearly at different levels. Once you heard it, it was very distracting and irritating going back to the old cords. It was not going to make me loose my love for music. I will listen on a boom box if that is what I can afford. I could afford these cords, so the decision was easy. I had budgeted for replacing my modwright sony 5400 with a new ModWright Oppo 105 for later this year, and decided the money would be better spent on the power cords.
For the most part, I attempt to avoid auditioning gear I can't afford. What is the point of test driving a Ferrari? I'm going to drive away in my Accord.
You should understand that not long ago in a thread I commented that I didn't put much money into power cords because I had previously purchased a fairly high end cord and it made relatively little difference with the exception of one component. I was in no way prepared for the difference these cords made in my system. I was pretty much in the power cords are snake oil camp. No more. I share my experience here to encourage others in the snake oil camp to reconsider.
If one is dealing with subtle differences, a long audition is excellent advice. In general, I am at the point where purchases are normally made after long study, careful thought, and many times correspond with AG members who own the prospective component. That approach works well, except that it is not likely to allow one to overcome one's prejudices. I can assure you that in this case, there was a clear substantial improvement that anyone on this forum would have immediately recognized. It is unlikely that I would have gone down this road had my friend not said, "I'm going on vacation. Why don't you give these a try in your system."
Finally, I sincerely hope that this is not the last change I make in my system, and I hope that others will continue to challenge my prejudices, which may actually represent larger limitations than the question of affordability. |
Waxwaves and Audiolabyrinth, the electrical work is on the agenda as soon as my son gets his stuff out of the basement.
Its just so weird with these power cables. There seemed to be no particular rhyme or reason to which cable worked best with a particular component. It really helped having a friend lend me 3.2K worth of his power cords. Not many people have a chance to run that kind of experiment, and I'm not sure auditioning one cable at a time would have shown such a dramatic difference or allowed me to figure out how many I really needed to buy and where to put them. I already had 3 cords in my system that were doing well for me, so replacing the 3 was all I needed to do.
There are some really savvy golden eared guys around here. Once you figure out who they are, and that you have similar tastes, it would be silly to not seek out their thoughts and advice.
Its kind of neat to see that my experience with this has turned out to be a familiar one. Maybe it doesn't prove that I'm not crazy, but it does prove I have lots of company. Cheers! |
Waxwaves, Thanks! I just updated my virtual system last night, so you might want to check out the new stuff. To answer your question, I had a Tara IC back in the early 90's that was possibly the best single ended RCA I ever owned. I have been so deeply impressed by the VH audio AirSine PCs, which by the way, are in a completely different league than the flavor series, that I had thought to give Chris's flagship XLR IC a try, given his generous 60 day trial policy, as a replacement for the Mogami I have running from the preamp to the amps. I really do like the Audio Magic Liquid Airs I currently have, and could also go that way to replace the Mogami. Before I do anything else though, I'm going to give everything new a chance to burn in and settle in. I will keep the Tara suggestion in the back of my mind however. |
Kiddman, the very thing you are describing has also been a major put off to me. I tend to reject a priori anything that has a whiff of pseudoscience about it. I had rather tepidly run an experiment with a rather expensive power cord several years ago. I was not convinced at that time that there was any reason to go further.
While my recent opportunity to try out some loaner pcs opened my mind (and wallet), in actual fact, having at my disposal pcs from VH audio, PS Audio, Audience, VooDoo, as well as my older pcs (mostly Signal and MAC), the results of the experiment suggested that one would have to approach this in a completely empirical fashion. Each component tended to sound better with a particular cord, but no cord distinguished itself as superior in every application. Perhaps this is why the Cable Company has adapted its particular business model.
I subscribe to Devilboy's well stated bottom line, but I agree with you that I don't need to have my intelligence insulted by metaphysical nonsense. |
