Power Cords for Ayre K-5xe and V-5xe

Of the three that you mention, I would recommend the VD Master. I feel it is more transparent and natural than the others. The PAD Dominus probably would sound better on digital gear though.

That being said, the VD Revelation is even better than the Master. I know, it should be for the price difference, but the VD Revelation is now the best power cord I've heard, by far, especially for amplification/power conditioning sources.

I've heard many top cords in my system, including top of the line offerings from Shunyata/Nordost/PAD/Tara Labs/K-S/XLO/etc. The VD Revelation are my current reference for best all around performer.

I haven't heard the Master or Revelation 'Signature' series yet though, so I may be living in the past.

Regards,
John

I believe Ayre recommends Cardas Golden Reference.

having tried 2 of the three you are considering ..i haven't tried the vd 'master'..i can tell you that ..in my system..the jps 'aluminata' is much better then any pc i have tried...by far....if $ is not an issue,because they are very expensive....i would have paul at 'the cable company' send you 1 to audition before you decide on any of the others....i tried 1 against the ks 'emotion' and after 3 months had replaced all 5 of my pc's including the ks..elrod 'statement'..prana wire 'samadhi among them....they are that good..at least in my system...and with the audition policy at 'the cable company' it was a no brainer...good luck..

Regarding all power cords - they simply change the sound, and maybe not for the better. When I had a lesser system, I advocated changing power cords, but I have a cutting edge system with Ayre and actually, the factory power cords are very sufficient. I truly like them the best.

Brusso, your findings are interesting. I have played around with a number of other power cords and almost all bested the stock Ayre cords.

The reason my interest was renewed in the stock cords was because Richard Vandersteen told me that power cords can and do change the sound, but he doesn't subscribe to them. They can make it brighter, duller, etc which can certainly help or not the speaker/room/listener inface. In my setup, I dumped very expensive power cords that I used for my B&W 801D's and use the Ayre cords which sounded better with my Vandersteen 5A's. There is no right or wrong - you must trust your ears.

Interesting that Richard would say that. If you look on audioasylum.com, Charles Hanson from Ayre has commented on a few postings that he suggests upgrading the power cords on the Ayre amps...even the new $15,000 monoblocks. I do agree that power cords will change the sound, but in many systems I think the improvement in sound is drastic. To each his/her own. It's great if you can save the money and still enjoy the music.

I always find that everybody has his own take on things,if you want to hear a substantial improvement then try the V.D.Master ( I think John's statement was dead on in describing the differences in the V.D. cords).I have heard the Revelation on many different amps including Sim LE W-5(2)my MFA D75 Cat Mono's and the Karan KSA 180 Intergrated.The biggest asset to the cords is that they offer no form of tone control over the sound and just energise the music in such a way that you have no doubt concerning the p/c contribution!!I think that Kmiller is right about each to his/her own, but would find the V.D.power cords quite Killer X5!!Cheers Dennis

I always find that everybody has his own take on things,if you want to hear a substantial improvement then try the V.D.Master ( I think John's statement was dead on in describing the differences in the V.D. cords).I have heard the Revelation on many different amps including Sim LE W-5(2)my MFA D75 Cat Mono's and the Karan KSA 180 Intergrated.The biggest asset to the cords is that they offer no form of tone control over the sound and just energise the music in such a way that you have no doubt concerning the p/c contribution!!I think that Kmiller is right about each to his/her own, but would find the V.D.power cords quite Killer X5!!Cheers Dennis

My system is Ayre Acoustics C5, K1, and Monoblocks. Speakers: Sophia 2s. I am considering new power cords. Which will give me the most benefit, 4 Cardas Golden Reference---or 3 Virtual Dynamics "David 2s" on preamp and amps + a Virtual Dynamics Revelation (old vers.) on CD player?

If you want very neutral and dynamic sound, then VD is the way to go.I would take the old REV since it is way better than the rest of the crowd including the David.Cardas is not even in the same technological field as the VD and offers good sound with noticable colorations.The new Master 2.0 is probably the best value in the vd line offering huge sonics that make it one of the best cables in existance.Just remember that it takes 3 days for your system to relax when you switch to a VD p/c.Good luck Dennis

Trangoussparent MM powerlinks...a religous experience!!