I have the opportunity to buy a couple of Nordost power cords, Tyr and Frey at a 15 discount. I auditioned the cords in a one meter length and they made a nice improvement. The dealer quotes NOrdost as saying, it will sound better in a 2 meter. I have a dedicated circuit for my Qbase strip which has the whole stereo plugged in. I thought i read somewhere that a dedicated circuit makes the longer length improvement questionable. Adding another meter to both increases cost by about 1000. They already cost close to 5,000 so this would be closer to 6,000. I can’t test any of this. I just have to make a decision. Would like your thoughts. Thanks.
‘I recommend going with the 2m length. All my power cables are either 1.5m or 2m.
Short cods can me quite hard to terminate due to the heavy gauge and there minimum bend radius.
‘I learned my lesson years ago when I purchased 1m long PS Audio power cords. They were so stiff that I couldn’t use them. I was trying to save money and all I did was waste money.
Never skimp on audio equipment you will regret if later.
The one meter works fine as far as length...i can use them. It's about this claim that the sound quality is better at 2 meters vs one meter...any thoughts on that?
It’s worth it if you are going to beat yourself up wondering whether you should have bought the 2 meter cord. As long as you’re buying expensive cables without audition, you might as well go all in for the extra grand.
Sound quality will be the same - as far as you will be able to tell.
The convenience of having 2M cords could be worth it over time if there is any chance at all that your system configuration might change. 1M cords are good for monoblocks sitting next to an outlet, or gear sitting next to a power conditioner, but not much else.
Chayro, you hit on the audiophile neurotic FOMO thing. I haven’t bought anything in forever and this is huge price. I will wonder. I did audition the 1 meter Frey and Tyr...they were great. As far as the length, it will be difficult for me to manage the 2 meter because all the components plug into my Qbase, which is a short distance. I shouldn’t trust them but I have a tendency to believe Nordost. Of course it’s in their financial interest to say so...(they say the same thing about 2m cable vs 4m.. They say 4 sounds better)
I wouldn't even bother with nordost they use cheap ofc wire, and they rip people off with their high prices for it if you want to use the best wire out there use rectangular OCC single crystal wire made by Neotech, check out their Amazon and Sahara the Amazon is their rectangular silver OCC wire and the Sahara is their rectangular copper OCC wire it's even better than the round OCC, OCC single crystal wire has been proven to be the best wire for audio for over 50 years now anything ofc at any price is inferior.
@bossa Can’t you conclude that the mose expensive component always sounds better. 😁 The more I read this thread the more I think Nordost is just pushing more expensive equipment and they know a lot of people are very suggestable and will go online and post that the 2M sounds better.
Frankly I’d put my money into electronics and room treatments and use a 1m cable from ice age audio in michigan (where it is the ice age right now).
Edit to add: I've never really considered Nordost so i just went and looked at their design. Frankly they aren't heavy enough for me to use them on an amp. Not enough copper. That's my 2c.
1 You’ve used their 1 meter length cable and confirmed that it sounds “great”.
2 In terms of logistics the shorter cable is the better fit/solution. I’d stop there and enjoy what you have.
I am not convinced that the longer cable will yield a sonic advantage.
Based on testing I've done with various high-end power cords, I have not been able to detect a difference within the music when comparing a 1/M cord to a 2/M or 3/M power cord. In addition to that +1 @charles1dad
Based on testing I’ve done with various high-end power cords, I have not been able to detect a difference within the music when comparing a 1/M cord to a 2/M or 3/M power cord.
Neither have I. Having said this, I know at least one power cord brand that recommends longer power cords (2 meter) for optimum performance. Wireworld. They call their power cords “conditioning” power cords. https://wireworldcable.com/collections/power-conditioning-cords
Unlike all other audiophile power cords, our power conditioning cables were developed through direct comparisons to battery power, the ultimate in sonic and visual purity. Their elegant plugs feature silver-clad contacts, for the quietest and lowest loss connections available. Our flat cords are also the only shielded high end power cord design that has passed the strict VDE German safety certification. Wireworld power conditioning cord models differ in their conductor material, as the smoother current flow of superior conductors provides additional improvements in sound and image quality. Since they function as filters, longer lengths provide higher performance.
I am not a technically inclined audiophile. I am a listener who doesn't want to "squint his ears' to hear an improvement in my stereo. As I said, it's been many years since a purchase. My interconnects have broken, I've lost my Krell amp to repair for the umpteenth time and I contacted Nordost about some interconnects to consider and their response was that a power cord made more of a difference than the interconnects. When I tried the cords, Tyr and Frey 2's, I was flabbergasted at the difference they made ( yes the prices are stupid high) but the sound improvement was equivalent to a component change. I have Valhalla 1 as my speaker cables and a Valhalla 1 power cable feeding the system from the wall to the Qbase. I was amazed at the difference the Tyr made when I replaced the stock cord on my Krell KCT pre-amp. The dynamics, imaging etc. just exploded to an open engaging sound. This was surpassed when I combined the Frey with my old PS Audio DAC...it got way better. I have a Rotel amp that is the very weak link in my system (i bought it because the Krell will be gone for months in order to play my Theil CS6 speakers.) I tried a Heimdall on the amp with the other two and didn't notice a further change. My Krell has a captive cord so unless i finally change that, I will buy only two cords. A dealer i spoke with felt that these cords make the biggest difference on lower current components like cd players, pre-amps and Dac's. I have to say that while I feel dumb paying these prices, when you get an effect so captivating it's hard to ignore it because of price.
@urbieAre you going to post the same comment on every power cord thread? Have you personally done the comparisons against the specific power cords that you denigrate? Offer up more than what appears to constitute a sales pitch.
actually I have and obviously you haven't done your research and it's not a sales pitch it's a fact ofc copper is inferior to OCC single Crystal copper and you can ask anybody on here that knows anything and they'll tell you the same thing,OFC copper has 400 Crystal barriers per foot they're little fractures in The wire and the signal has to jump through those little fractures and it causes the sound to be hard, bright cold, edgy, any one of those things are all of those things together, OCC single Crystal copper has zero Crystal barriers in 700 ft so you get a much more natural open three-dimensional sound from OCC wire, companies like transparent and MIT that rip people off when they're using cheap ofc junk wire and charging $40,000 for a speaker wire is a rip off as far as I'm concerned and anyone that pays $43,000 for a piece of wire should have their head examined, and just so you know there's now something even better than round OCC single crystal wire and that's rectangular OCC single crystal wire which outperforms the round OCC, I've been at this for 40 years and I've tried all kinds of cables that's how I know that OCC single crystal is far superior to anything ofc on the market and just so you know my system is worth $70,000.
Out of curiosity, I'm wondering if you have had an opportunity to audition any other power cords in your system. I ask because when reading your original question it sounds as if you have not experimented with other power cords.
I'm not saying that Nordost power cords aren't good, but what I'm wondering is if a different less expensive power cord ($500 or less) would accomplish your same goals. If you wanted to share your location perhaps someone in your area would be willing to lend you a few after-market power cords.
Sorry @urbiebut what type of wire is only part of how a cable sounds so when you say "OCC single crystal is far superior to anything...." I don't agree. Have you heard the Furutech Project V1 cable? I've heard nothing close this after 40+ yrs of hearing many, many different power cords. Once heard there is no going back to anything else IMHO
I have not heard any other power cords other than these PS Audio pluses which I was given and seem to not do much for the sound. I'm located in Fitchburg, Wi right next to Madison.
‘I don’t think I would be able to hear the difference between a 1m cable vs a 2m cable. I use 1.5m or 2m cables due to the location of my equipment. Maybe one day I’ll hookup a 1m cable to 1 of my mono blocks and a 2m on the other.
If a 1m cable works for you go for it.
I just upgraded my power cables for my power amps. I purchase the MIT Matrix Rev AC2 power cables. Really a nice cable. My system sings very nicely with MIT cables.
Remember that no matter what you buy there is always something better out there.
and just so you know that Furutech wire uses ducc copper which is not as good as OCC single Crystal they use a combination of both o c c and d u c c well d u c c is one level down from OCC still good wire but not as good as OCC single Crystal and the ducc wire is made by Mitsubishi, there is not any copper wire out there better than OCC single crystal wire and then it depends how smart the engineering team is putting together the wire geometry that's also extremely important that's why there's even differences in OCC that's cheaper compared to OCC wire that's more expensive and OCC rectangular single crystal wire is even better than the round wire that Furutech uses, Neotech rectangular OCC wire is even better than the round OCC wire, check out the Neotech Amazon and Sahara under rectangular wire on their website not cheap but well worth it cuz I upgraded from the round OCC to the Neotech Sahara which is their copper rectangular OCC wire and it totally blew away my round OCC wire, my speaker wire was $2,200 US and this stuff is $4,300 US and it is much better.
@bossa Perhaps ask your dealer if he has a Red Dawn power cord that you can demo along with the Tyr and Frey that you already have for comparative purposes. There are many threads already on Audiogon regarding good power cords and I don't want to sidetrack your original question more than what has already happened.
that video you put up of that guy talking about single Crystal is from a guy who doesn't know what he's talking about, he's buying OCC single Crystal wire from China, well guess what China doesn't make OCC single crystal wire and he's been getting ripped off, but he is right though OCC single crystal wire is far superior to ofc.
@urbie "actually I have and obviously you haven't done your research and it's not a sales pitch "
Who knows what specific cables you have actually listened to or not, you made the exact critical statement about Infigo and per the vendor you haven't listened to that cable. My question to you was about specific cables, not generalizations about wire type that you then turn into absolutes about particular cables
@urbieactually not true on the OCC the process has been being done in China for about 4 years now.
I rally do not care as I buy Zafino cables and I will not talk shite about a product that I have never listened to. Unlike you. You can put that in your pipe and smoke it.
So what if those cables are made 4 hours from your house. No one cares, I could call that Hans Loomen from Texas.
@urbieWow this is a massive run on sentence. Only one looking foolish is you and well stupid.
do you actually even know where my Infigo audio is? well I'll tell you they're here right in my back door in British Columbia Canada 4 hours away from me and I talked to Hans Loomen the owner of the company and he's using ofc wire in his cables which is inferior to anything OCC single Crystal and I even told him about OCC single crystal wire which he had no knowledge of and he said that he was going to look into it because doesn't matter what geometry you use OFC wire is inferior to OCC because it has Crystal barriers in The wire, the best ofc wire has 70 Crystal barriers per foot OCC has none the crystals are 125 M long so unfortunately for you you can't change the law of physics when the signal has to jump through little fractures it causes minute harmonics to be fractured off the sound which causes all kinds of bad things to happen, ofc wire is old technology OCC single crystal is far superior maybe you should do some research and find that out cuz you make yourself look very stupid and foolish LOL
obviously you can't read very well Jerry I don't look foolish at all because I'm stating facts what are you stating? absolutely nothing LOL, maybe you should do your research before you flap your gums and find out how good rectangular OCC single crystal wire is maybe you should tell me about your system, well mine is worth $70,000 and if you'd like to know what it is I'll be happy to tell you.
@urbieLike I said could care less. I only use Zafino cables (all occ) and some Cardas.
You really should get a prescription or a counselor. You have not even had these cables in your system. So put your little pecker away as I am not going to play in your little pissing contest.
jerryg123,well why don't you tell me about your system Jerry, don't have to have these cables in my system to know they're not going to be as good,ofc wire is inferior to OCC you can't change physics so why don't you tell me how much your system is worth and what gear you have? are you ashamed? LOL
@urbie"Stupid & foolish? " Get off your high horse pal. No where did I state that OFC is better than OCC , or anything else technical. Likewise, I didn't state any criticism positive or negative of Neotech as I haven't heard them. I also didn't state anything one way or the other about Nordost, Infigo . or Transparent or MIT as I haven't heard them Why, because unlike you I don't make absolute statements , nor definitive critical statements about a product that I haven't heard. And, as far as Infigo goes, it sends out demos; with you just a 4 hour trek away it would have been a perfect opportunity for you to actually have arranged a comparison. Now whether or not you'd allow yourself to have conducted an open minded assessment and then have provided credible commentary of listening impressions is a whole other story. Probably not likely.
don't have to arrange a comparison if you don't know by now that ofc wire is inferior to OCC then that's your tough luck ofc wire has at the best 70 Crystal barriers per foot OCC has none so I don't have to compare them to know which one is going to be better you can't change the laws of physics sorry.
@urbie Keep acting like a child, you at like a grade school kid on the school yard. . My systems are listed bright eyes , go take a look. They don’t fall short of yours
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