Power cable Advice...

PERFECTWAVE AudioQuest Thunder AC Power Cable – PS Audio

without knowing your speakers and the rest of your csbles…

On a warmer side with plump bass and thick full mids…Audioquest Storm Series Hurricane

More evenly balanced - Nordost Frey 2 or even Heimdall 2

Slightly on a brighter side - Shinyata Alpha v2 NR or Delta v2 NR

I am using Nordost Valhalla1 and Tyr 1 XLR’s with Kharma DB7 speakers.

@audphile1 

You have had some Acoustic Zen PC's too, where would you place the Garantua in your list? 

@teleos go with Nordost Norse 2. A bit fuller sounding than the series 1… I like it a lot better. I would say if you’re upgrading power cables try Frey 2 on amp and Heimdall 2 on preamp and cd player. If you want a lot fuller sound the the AQ stuff should work. 

@mclinnguy the Gargantua II is a good all rounder. It’s a bit dark sounding with emphasis on bass. If a system calls for this kind of sound, it’ll work wonders. But don’t expect insane instrument separation like you’d get from the similarly priced Nordost (retail price that is). It’s thick and syrupy that’s my recollection of it. At some point I had GII throughout my whole system. May be that’s the reason I sold it…was too much of a good thing.

I use WyWires Platinum with excellent success.  There is currently a 40% off sale.  The Diamond is better but you will need to find pre-owned in your budget.  See reviews such as …
 

I recommend getting an Audio Quest Hurricane just for your amp to start with. The improvement you get will completely shock you. The largest difference you will hear will be on your amp. Once you do this, it is likely you will want to re-think your investment strategy. Either go Hurricane for the other components or drop down a level for the components to reduce the overall expenditure. The improvement on the amp will likely convince you to the former strategy.

I spent a year auditioning high end amp power cords and was dissatisfied with all. Each either failed to improve the sound in all dimensions or tipped the tonal balance in some way. Then a minute with a Hurricane my search was instantly over.

I want to thank everyone for their input and suggestions! 😄

Audioquest thunder is a very good cable.

@ghdprentice I’m currently running a Shunyata Venom HC for my amp (direct to wall and on its own dedicated 20amp line), and have always had good experiences with AQ.

What do you like about the hurricane? I’m wanting to step up on the PC front for the amp and trust your opinion. Usually prefer copper which brings more natural tones in my experience. 

Another for WyWires Platinum HC - High Current version. Only cable I have that has bettered them is a Nordost Valhalla II. Not a fair comparison but the WyWires more than hold their own and for a lot less money. If it wasn’t for the great deal I received on the Valhalla I wouldn’t have bought it… it’s better but not that much better. 

$1500 per cable gets you midfi cables. You a are better off putting that money into a 4500 pair of speaker cables.

better value for money are the 500-650 dollar power cables from Synergistic research foundation and they beat AQ an Nordost. Nordost make good cabels only after 10-30k! You don’t need to spend more than that and won’t get better sound. Most good power cables start at about 3500-5k before they really improve things enough to justify their price. Kubala sosna reailization is in that range then Synergistic Research Galileo and SRX level after that from 6-8k!

Shunyata is meh compared to KS and SR.

Ansuz makes great power cables as well try the X2 in your price range. Ansuz is an evolution of Nordost and all of their cables beat everything Nordost has in their price range.

Take a look at the Vogue Audio power cords, would work very well in at least one of your applications if not all of them. Made in the USA OCC copper and a special OCC sliver plating. Sounds very natural.

AQ Thunder is very good , Perrotta Consultants  has a sale on them 

they bring the detail and slam home .

With that budget, you could build your own and have very adequate PC's.

Triode wire labs Obsession  is what you need.

Ice Age makes good cables.

Without knowing your room treatments how big the room is how big your house is how far away you are from the nearest electrical power station power cables don't matter.

I found this to be the most ridiculous post in this string. 

pennfootball71

209 posts

02-21-2024 at 05:46am 

$1500 per cable gets you midfi cables. You a are better off putting that money into a 4500 pair of speaker cables.

better value for money are the 500-650 dollar power cables from Synergistic research foundation and they beat AQ an Nordost. Nordost make good cabels only after 10-30k! You don’t need to spend more than that and won’t get better sound. Most good power cables start at about 3500-5k before they really improve things enough to justify their price. Kubala sosna reailization is in that range then Synergistic Research Galileo and SRX level after that from 6-8k!

Shunyata is meh compared to KS and SR.

Ansuz makes great power cables as well try the X2 in your price range. Ansuz is an evolution of Nordost and all of their cables beat everything Nordost has in their price range.

If you're going to change your cables whether it's interconnects or power cords or speaker wire you should get OCC single crystal wire which is far superior to anything OFC at any price, and you're in the right price range for single crystal wire, some of the companies to look at are Acoustic Zen and harmonic technology  Zafvino and Neotech especially, they make OCC single crystal wire for all the other companies.

@jsalerno277 Where are the WyWires on sale for 40% off?

It might be worth looking at Zavfino, and I'd reach out to them for some input. I am breaking in their Majestic and Prima power cords as we speak and they are looking really promising, and their top of the line Silver Dart cable looks extremely interesting: 10 awg, OCC copper with OOC silver wrap, cryo treated, graphene dielectric and shield, 1.25 inch thick, high voltage break in, $1,000 for each 1.5 meter cable, 15% restocking fee if you are not happy.

@magnuman I am beginning to think you own shares in the company licensed to produce it.

It is worth noting that the highly regarded Audioquest Hurricane and Dragon’s do not use Ohno continuous cast copper (or silver in the Dragon) 

I may have misspoke.  Seems like the 40% off ended.  Guess I was lucky.  Here is there current web page advertisement.  Seems a little confusing.  I would still callAlex (proprietor) at the phone listed on the web page.  He will be very helpful.  He is just a nice person.  Maybe he will cut a deal. Excellent tech, good looking, flexible, durable 7AG power cord.  I have high current on the integrated amp and power conditioner and digital on the server and DAC.  I use we platinum full loom except for speaker cables.  

 

40% DISCOUNT ENDS SOON

40% off all WyWires products has ended. Keep checking for 2024 deals.
Call 1.818.383.0500 or em info@wywires.com

mclinnguy,

No don't own any shares I just know what's the best cable and audio quest is definitely not as good as anything OCC single crystal and what's even better is the rectangular OCC single crystal wire, even better than the round, neotech has two flagship products called the Amazon which is the rectangular silver OCC wire and the Sahara which is the rectangular OCC copper wire, I have the Sahara and it just blew away my round OCC wire from harmonic technology, It's not cheap though, The silver rectangular wire was put up against an $18,000 wire and it beat it by one of the retailers in Quebec, but the silver wire at 9,000 US for 2 m speaker wire is definitely not cheap, The copper wire is half price.

@christianb5s4 

I have not been impressed with Audio Quest in the past. But the Storm generation is a completely different story and a breakthrough. It does not shift the tonal balance, it dramatically drops the noise floor, without imparting a sonic signature, so more dynamic and quiet. The Hurricane and Dragon have been the buzz of the industry the last couple years for good reason. 
 

I suspect there are at least two innovations… the battery thing and the plugs on each end are really tight… I mean really tight. You’ll have to hold the front end of your fifty pound or heavier amp so not to move it when plugging in. 
 

The Hurricane on my power amp quickly brought my year long search for the right power cord to an end. 

I suppose I’m just a novice, but what exactly does a $5000 power cord do for the electricity. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Makes it sound better. 

Audioquest Thunder and up the Audioquest line from there.  I have two different brands of PCs in my system (Audioquest and JPS Labs).  I have JPS Labs speaker cables and Audioquest interconnects.  They all work together to create pure magic. 

@megabyte 

A more serious answer. 
 

This is a video of an interview with the founder of Shunyata. At about 10 - 11 minutes he starts going over what a power grid is and does. This should help.
 

If you have all the money that you want/need, go ahead and blow whatever you want on power cables.  But it doesn't seem that you are in that category.  I have a Pass 250.8, ARC REF 6 and Sabrina X speakers.  In my system, I have heard a decent, audible improvement in the bass when switching from stock to an upscale PC.  By no means is it a "blow me away" difference, but it was certainly an improvement.  Is the minor improvement worth $5k, 10K or more?  Certainly not to me.  I have had Morrow MAP 3 PC's, Audience PowerChords and ultimately, Shunyata Alpha v.1 and V.2.  The difference between Stock and the Audience cables was noticeable.  The difference between the Audience and Shunyata (on my MSB DAC and Pass amp) was not, or barely.  An Audience on my REL s/510 v. stock was not noticeable at all.  The biggest difference that I noticed was replacing the ARC stock PC with a Shunyata Alpha v.2, which was a noticeable improvement.  My advice: don't buy into the hype. Purchase used, and stick to the <$1500 used market.  I'm sure that, depending on your system, there may be a difference between the Shunyata Alpha's and Sigma's for example, but whether that minor difference is worth the $$$$ is a judgment call only you can make.  I highly recommend the Shunyata Alpha's and a sweet spot in the used PC market.  I'm very happy with them.

That's a pretty big jump from stock and quite a large budget dedicated to AC cables.  Just something to think about is that you can make your own cables for a fraction of the cost and have more control over experimentation with what works best for your system.  There are endless debate on plating materials, cable design and even shielding (such as whether to ground at one end or both).

As an example, Supra's SPC 2.5 cable (silver plated copper) terminated with IeGO's gold plated copper plugs and shielding grounded to the mains side is an excellent cable and will be a tangible improvement over stock.  Material costs are maybe $150, at best.  Heck, you can even start with Viborg's plugs and see the different effects first.  If you like the combo, you can go all-in on more exotic cables and plugs.  Personally, I opted to add voltage regulation/power conditioning over pre-made exotic cables and happy with the results.

You cannot do better at ANY price than a Cerious Tech Lumniscate cable. it runs about $1599 but there are deals from time to time - particulate if purchasing multiple cables. Lumniscate cables complete transformed my stem and were if particular benefit with my digital gear and preamplifier. You will thank me later. A hidden "gem in the rough." 

Newsflash: it doesn't matter. I'm drowning in snake oil here. If someone wants to spend a ton of money simply because they want a pretty looking cable, great, that's their business. But let's not pretend it's going to make anything sound different. We should be helping people here, not enabling the dark side of this industry. 

I'm thinking of going from Mackenzie interconnects to Earth between my amp and pre. Do you honestly believe it is all snake oil and any difference I hear is the placebo effect? But then we are talking about audio and not medicine so isn't the placebo effect worth it?

Nordost states in it's packaging that the "Power Cord is the most critical cable in your loom".  I was running Ansuz cords which was my first upgrade over stock cables.  Big difference.  Upgraded to Shunyata sigma v2's.  A huge difference.  I gifted my Ansuz cables to my brother, who replaced his stock cables on his Mac gear with them.  He called me so excited, saying he couldn't believe the sonic difference the upgrade made. 

@squared80 Newsflash-It DOES matter.  I have a very revealing system.  If yours isn't, perhaps you can't hear the difference or perhaps you never tried.  If so you are depriving yourself.  The Cable Co has a library of loaner cables, give it a try. You have absolutely nothing to lose. Then please report back with your findings.

I would rather use the money to buy a power re generator and keep the original cables.

     Back in March 2022: a thread about power cords and break/burn-in was started.

     I hate to type, so: I'm going to copy/paste some of my speculations.

     That a highly complex musical signal, MIGHT affect Poynting vectors and signal speeds*, in interconnects, in a much more profound manner than a simple AC (ie: a fixed 60/50 Hz) signal, in a PC, seems likely (at least) to me, as; in EVERY formula regarding *those two, a signal's frequency (frequencies) always factors in greatly.

     Further: the above and what I'll c/p (seems to me) lends credence to how the application of a stronger, DC voltage/field, outside a dielectric (ala Synergistic MPC and Audioquest DBS systems), might stabilize those vectors and signal speeds, PERHAPS eliminating some time smear and, "burn-in". 

rodman99999 5,456 posts 03-31-2022 at 12:13am    @holmz-       Bear with me a minute, in my folly, far as a possibility on why a power cord might make a difference.       Based on some of the theories on how electricity works, simplified:       The conductor acts as a waveguide for the signal/voltage.       Within the conductor: when excited by an AC current, electrons oscillate, generating photons/electromagnetic waves that travel, always from the source, to the load.        Keep in mind: all signals (ie: music, AC) are sinusoidal  waves        Those photons/electromagnetic waves travel through and outside the dielectric, which (according to it's permittivity/Poynting vectors) will have various effects on those waves.    One of the most obvious is the dielectric's effect on the speed of the signal.       The better designers of printed circuit boards, even take the above into account, when choosing materials for their products.        I posted a link on the first page that included data on the manufacture of semiconductor chips and what was observed when materials were cryo'd, during the process.     Short version: better contact/lowered resistance between layers.           Under the scanning microscope: much smoother surfaces observed.        I would hope, by now, it's a given that various cable constructions, twists, braids, etc, can make for a cleaner transmission of signals (ie: Litz, etc).                     Just seems to me (a hypothesis): given the above (some theories and some things established/measured/proven), it's not a big stretch to believe a power cord, built of the best conductor (ie: Ohno CC silver), wrapped in a very low dielectric coefficient dielectric (ie: Teflon), cryo'd for the smoothest transfer of those photons/magnetic waves and twisted in some crazy way, might not smooth out some of perturbations/noise, from the crap an AC waveform had to go through, back to it's generator.  (run-on, much?)        I haven't tested this, actually comparing two circuits, but: it wouldn't surprise me, if a power supply that used a choke, would be less affected by a better power cord, as the former can eliminate a lot of the high freq garbage, etc, that's either created by, or makes it through all the big converting/filtering stuff, before.        Never thought about PCs before the good stuff hit the market, but: the Physics/QED made sense.             I tried 'em, I like 'em and the science makes my head feel better.                               Don't care WHAT it does to anyone else's!

rodman99999 5,456 posts 03-31-2022 at 12:27am         OH, and: it takes some time for the dielectric to form, take a charge, polarize, or however one chooses to define the process, when a dielectric is subjected to electromagnetic waves, which affects the Poynting vectors, measurably/predictably.                                             The lower the material’s dielectric constant: the longer that takes.                                                               PC (interconnect/etc)  burn-in?    Maybe?

                                                                                         Happy listening! 

@pynkfloydd 

+1 

@alarcono I have done both and each made a significant contribution.  I started with the PS 10 and each addition of the power cables made improvements

My reasoning is as follows: If you have a two way rural road which turns into a shiny super highway on the last mile, how is this going to improve your experience?

"On a warmer side with plump bass and thick full mids…Audioquest Storm Series Hurricane"

OMG you just unlocked the magic S.O.

OP try amazon/ebay you can find nice power cables that certainly please your eyes (your ears won't find an audible difference)

The cable denier sleeper cells have been woke. 🤣

@classicrockfan guess if you have junk gear you can feed it with junk cables. 

My reasoning is as follows: If you have a two way rural road which turns into a shiny super highway on the last mile, how is this going to improve your experience?

OP try amazon/ebay you can find nice power cables that certainly please your eyes (your ears won't find an audible difference)

"On a warmer side with plump bass and thick full mids…Audioquest Storm Series Hurricane"

OMG you just unlocked the magic S.O.

"The cable denier sleeper cells have been woke. 🤣

@classicrockfan guess if you have junk gear you can feed it with junk cables. "

subjective indeed!!! I am not a denier.. i do believe good audio cables make a significant difference but their price tags don't make them any better all coated by S.O. i don't have junk gear my system probably so much superior than yours since i know how to analyze them and i know how to design them.

@audphile1  Great post.