Shunyata X series power cords

I will be evaluating a pair of the Alpha X interconnects shortly. Given that I have lived with Nordost Tyr 2 interconnects for several years, this will be an interesting experience. The system will be entirely composed of Shunyata cables: power, speaker and interconnect.

@audphile1 Thanks for that information. I expected there would still be a reasonably extended burn-in time. From what you wrote, it sounds like burn-in will still take a while. Just not 400 hours any more. Cool. Good to know!

@audphile1 

That is an interesting observation about the Alpha line.

I’ve had every generation Shunyata’s put out, so the progression is clear. However, when they introduced the Alpha ZiTron - and I already had the Cobra - I was expecting something great. But it was not great. And then, when I got the Alpha HC, I observed the same trait, a very mild scooping out of the lower midrange/upper bass area that rendered things like Frank Sinatra’s voice (which should ALWAYS sound ’warm’) a bit less luscious than it should have been. And so the Alpha NR V1 never captured me, although the Sigma, CLEARLY the warmer of the two, DID. And so I bought it! Years ago, when it was just the Sigma NR.

And now, I have the Alph-X interconnects on hand, because my Nordost Tyr 2 developed a problem in one channel, so it seemed a good time to listen to Shunyata’s Alpha-X interconnect. 

I can’t say too much about it, but, coming from the Tyr 2, it certainly isn’t (yet) more transparent. But I wouldn’t expect it to be with only 1 day of burn-in on it. Despite whan Shunyata has said (ONLY applicable to past generations) about their cables, that they only take w100 hours to burn in, when ANY of us on the Whatsbest forum have an experience extended by a couple of hundred hours. Even the conductor!

 Anyway, what it does have that is immediately noticeable is a mid and  upper bass that Nordost can’t match. And it’s not a euphonic coloration: marching drums on Nordost cables always sound smaller than one knows they are in life (and even on many recordings heard pre-Nordost decades). They don’t have all the ’body’ that a cable with a ’richer’ tonal palette would have, but the tradeof is that you hear a gigantic amount of musical detail, if your electronics and speaker are up to it. Other than that, nothing noticeable is jumping out. I’ll have to reinsert the NAD C399, which I took out of the system when the Nordost wiring broke internally and stopped working. According to Shunyata, the X-Series has the added benefit of not needing extensive break-in. That’s nice, although I’ve grown so used to burn-in time over the past 45 years that I don’t even give it a second thought. Two weeks, 24/7 breaking in? No problem! I'll put in the ASR Emitter after a decent amount of time with the NAD.

The Alpha has a ways to go (measured in days), I think, for anything other than playing my fun, teen  ’60s Shangri-Las, Chiffons, Beach Boys (in honor of Brian Wilson), Herman’s Hermits and Iron Butterly CDs!