Shunyata Omega QR BB vs AudioQuest Dragon HC
I was lucky enough to be able to home-demo both of these state of the art power cords.
I have a Gryphon 300 with the internal DAC module, B&W 803 D2’s, Nordost Valhalla 2 speaker wires, Innuos Zenith Mk 3 and Phoenix Reclocker, AudioQuest Diamond USB cables and AQ Hurricane HC and Source power cords powering my digital source components with an AudioQuest Niagara 1200.
In almost every face of I’ve done before I’ve been able to discern one product that is clearly better than the other.
Both the Shunyata QR BB and AudioQuest Dragon cords are both awesome. Both similarly better than lower cost cords at imaging, transparency and detail, dynamics.
Where they differ is that the Omega is more lush, liquid, and compared to the Dragon, just slightly tonally dark in a pleasant way. It made for a highly luxurious, relaxed, detailed sound.
In contrast the Dragon is drier sounding, neutral, and all tones have a more obvious and forward definition. A bit more energy and life to the music and less laid back. This made the bass stand out more in the dragon, but other tones seemed more “on the surface” as well, in the mid and upper ranges.
Both were great and easy to listen to on my system, and I could go with either cord depending on mood or what material I’m playing.
Howeever I decided to go with the Dragon. The Shunyata is quite loose with my amp, and easily loses connection with the slightest nudge. This is despite using the plastic shim that comes with the cord that is supposed to lock it in place. This physical incompatibility may just be with my amp, but I guess they included that yellow plastic shim for a reason - they must have problems with maintaining connections….
Both companies are top notch with providing demos - both manufactured the cords for me to try with no commitment, as they had no demos on hand.
I wanted to test the Transparent Opus as well, but Transparent was not as generous and simply said they had no demo cables available. Oh well, I’m happy going with the Dragon.
@nyev Thanks for sharing your feedback as playing with cables can be a revelation. I’ve tried AQ Hurricane and Dragon which were good but had a slight analytical character. Since then I’ve moved on to boutique brands such as Hijiri Takumi, Sablon King, and the latest Marigo PC’s. All have their distinct sound but the one thing they have in common is naturalness without losing detail and space. Hope you get a chance to evaluate some of these boutique offerings! -Alex |
At this point, I think either of these cables really have everything I could be looking for (other than the Shunyata being too loose). My Gryphon amplifier is definitely not on the analytical side of things so I don’t know that I’d actually want to go less analytical on my cords! The Hurricane sounds overly fat/rich on my system (by a touch), so the Dragon seems just perfect with its added detail and soundstage. The added detail doesn’t seem bright or analytical. The Shunyata Omega is even smoother than the Dragon, but with my amp, some may even find it too smooth/liquid sounding. But I think they both sound great. All this stuff is obviously so system dependent. |
Also, regarding "naturalness without losing detail and space", that’s precisely the words I would use to describe what happened to my system when I added Nordost Valhalla 2 speaker wire to my system. Holy crap that was nothing short of stunning how effortless and natural my system became - way bigger impact than the power cords which also make an obvious improvement but not to the transcendent level that the Valhalla 2 speaker wires transformed things. But I wouldn’t be getting all of that effortless, unconstrained detail without the high end power cords. Also of note, the Valhalla 2 power cord was lacking in bass in my system, or I would have gone with that as well. One thing however, is that since the ultra-revealing Valhalla 2’s were added to my system, I’ve now become sensitive to differences in sound depending on the time of day. I either need to consider adding a conditioner (I run my Diablo 300 power cord to the wall), and it’s only after about midnight that things sound great. Things can sound absolutely awful during the day - muddy and constrained. Also possible that it’s noise on my ethernet switch that quiets down late at night. The difference is quite literally night and day. Heh.... |
Hello nyev - at the expense of being like the '' typical tread locusts '' we have on this site as well on your thread here, I am not familiar with the Shunyata Omega QR BB power cord. I have the Shunyata Omega XC on my Typhon and Triton set up and then the rest of the system has the Shunyata Omega QR ( s ) version but let me know what the BB version is of that their Omega line power cords as I do not see that on their web site nor have I heard of them.
As noted, I own the Shunyata's and on my solid state system they are very coherent from top to bottom. I did notice that as I kept adding them the system does incrementally more detailed and you can / could loose some of that smoothness and liquidity. Just my two cents ….. |
@nyev I haven’t had the opportunity to demo Nordost but I also mix and match brands with other cords to find the right synergistic balance. It sounds like you could benefit from power conditioning. I wouldn’t be without mine as it’s the foundation for clean and consistent power. -Alex |
@rareace , yes I’m planning to add a Niagara 5000 to my system for sure. AudioQuest has crazy back orders on them now so it will be a while. I’ve also ordered a Innuos Phoenix Net to eliminate noise coming in from my household Ethernet switch. My Phoenix USB Reclocker really cleans things up, and I’ve read that the Phoenix Net is excellent as well. Both are too expensive for what they are but at least on the Reclocker I can’t deny the results. Should be the same on the Phoenix Net based on reviews, some of which were going in with a highly sceptical attitude but ended up being very impressed.
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@nyev Looks like Agon censors any contact info, try looking up my profile on USAM again, I have a live ad on there, just respond to that ad and we can start an e-mail dialogue that way. |
Hello Audiogoners and thank you nyev for your response and time …. there is no such Shunyata Power Cord QR BB as you noted. The Shunyata Omega line which I had mentioned, I currently own three of them - the XC is the one for their power conditioners and the QR for large power amps over 200 watts and the QR (s0 which is the same cord and used for lower wattage amps and is also a little more flexible than the QR cable. I hope this helps as you did have me confused with your thread as there is no QR BB. |
@garebear you are right - there is no Omega QR BB. For some reason, I had thought they Shunyata rep had added the “BB” in an email correspondence, but they hadn’t. I’ve no idea where I got the “BB” from! The cord I tested is the Omega QR. Very, very highly recommended if you connect it to gear that fits it snugly! Loved this cord but ultimately I couldn’t live with the looser connection with my Gryphon amp. It seems all power cords have a ton of play, but all others I’ve tested at least maintain a solid connection despite the play.
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