M101 Nova Power Cord
Following advice by others on this forum, I deferred changing power cords in favor of other tweaks and upgrading interconnects and speaker cables. In fact, I was dubious that power cords would do much: I had installed a dedicated line, upgraded outlet, and power regenerator… What additional improvement could there be?
I was wrong. The M101 power cord effortlessly revealed a fullness in the midrange that I had missed before. Vocals took on a new depth and assurance I did not know the original recordings contained. The cord noticeably deepened and enrichened the bass, making it sound both musical and authoritative at the same time. I was not counting on any difference here, given a treated room and Audiokinesis Swarm subwoofer array, so this proved an unexpected bonus. Finally, with a full-range speaker using Silversmith Fidelium cables and Townshend podiums, I am used to excellent phase, timing, and reproduction of transients. But even here, the M101 Nova added an extra layer of detail and sparkle. At times, the high frequencies positively shimmered. I did not think I could improve much upon the soundstage, but with the M101 Nova the speakers completely disappeared.
I believe the cord may use silver in its construction, but there is nothing overly bright in the sound it produces. Instead, it achieves completely natural, very musical results. The improvements listed above became more pronounced over several hours of listening. Note that the Nova was used to connect the outlet to a PS Audio P3. Despite not using upgraded power cables between the P3 and components, improvements were distinctly audible.
The M101 Nova is a most worthy upgrade. If I had to sum up its effect, I would say it is like bringing into daytime listening those late-night magical moments where the clean grid and low ambient noise make the system sound its best… only even more pronounced.
For reference, my amp is a LTA zotl10 with NOS tubes (6085s & 6P14P-EVs).