Power cable upgrade or sideways move?

jsbach1685

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jsbach1685

My point-of-contact for Transparent Audio is (Audio Advice) Raleigh NC.

This is a Top tier TA dealer/retailer. Ask for Mel.

Let me know how the consultation resulted.

Happy Listening!

Good power cable manufacturers have their secret technique to improve the cable properties to improve the sound quality and it does not matter whether they tell you what it is because the end results are the same. Most of the time the price is a good indicator of how good the sound is going to be.

Over the last year I upgraded all my cables, interconnects, and power cords (see my system under ID). I have contemporary (Gen 6? 5?) Transparent Ultra. On power cords, I compared WireWorld, Cardas (several levels), DH Labs, JPS, and Transparent. The Transparent won… making a noticable difference. But the big one has been the amp power cord. It makes by far the biggest difference. Here Transparent didn’t win… and I believe it is because I was not using the XL… made for amps. The Cardas improved bass… but attenuated the detail. I really struggled for months. Finally my audio guy brought over an Audio Quest Monsoon… that made a big improvement over the Cardas and Transparent. The Monsoon makes a huge difference. The difference I hear in the amp power cord is 3 or 4 times the difference in components.

The state of the art is to get power cords made for the purpose… low current apps… like a DAC… where noise reduction is key.. or high current… like an amp. So, if I were you, I would start with the amp. I would try a Transparent XL made for an amp. I suspect if I had tried this first it might have been my choice.

I can't speak to the Transparent PC, but I did not like the JPS digital cable. The filtering became a choke point, limiting dynamics and imaging. Use a power conditioner or isolation transformer if you want to clean incoming power, cables should provide an unrestricted current-draw.