Shunyatas New CX series

I have not tried the Teslas, DL. What is your experience with the Tesla vs. the CX line? Without access to both cords, it would be hard to determine one being superior to the other....

Juan, thank you!
It did help having with several pairs of speakers and turntables at my disposal as well, but I didn't think to mention it at the time. You know how excited we get when we get something that energizes our connection with the music.

Sherod:
One thing I need to correct is what I said about brass: I meant to say they are a LITTLE more golden, not "a LITTLE golden." Misspoke there.
And, MB, I think the jump in performance is obvious, but will be more so the more transparent the other equipment is. Some of my equipment is not the most transparent. At the moment, I'm using an Arcam FMJ22 integrated, hardly the last word in transparency. I think the more the equipment imposes itself on the signal, the less likely one will hear the improvement. I used to have a Versa Dynamics 2.3 turntable, but it was sold to me by a dealer who did not know how to set it up optimally. 2 years later, after I wrote a letter in TAS, the manufacturer and I had a talk and he claimed I "slammed" his turntable. I pointed out that I had said that it could be that mine was broken, because it didn't sound like what HP described. I sent it back, and Lo and Behold! It WAS broken. He fixed it, and returned it and I put in a Benz Micro MC3 cartridge (this was around 1992) and a friend came over and said, "THIS IS THE BENZ?!?!?!?! GOOD GOD, it sounds completely different." I said, "Yeah, not what it sounded like before at all, is it???" If our equipment has a major sonic signature, forget hearing the better component. This is one reason HP liked Nordost so much: although it turned out to be a lean-sounding component, it was wildly transparent and altered the signal almost not at all (except in tonal richness) and HP was able to hear the other equipment more easily through it.
The Taipan Helix and The Python Helix have different -- to me -- sounds. The Python has more colors of the rainbow. If your tube DAC is already saturated, as tubes can be (not a criticism: I have always owned tubes), then the Python may show you something you think is the Python's coloration, but may actually be your tube DAC's coloration, whereas the less saturated Taipan will make it sound more "neutral." It's not my experience that Taipan trumps Python at all, but I could see where system matching makes it seem that way.
I'm pretty confident the CX line has resolved the split between the VX and the Helix lines. The VX was always used on digital, and the sonic signature of most digital was "hard" sounding, but I think the VX softened the sound -- at least that's what I heard in the two generations of VX cabling (Python and then Python Helix). There's no question that triangles and the Balalaika have more "bite" without sounding hard. I'm a big fan of Shunyata -- always have been, but I've tried (as in owned) several of the other major lines top-of-the-line cables: Norddost (all the Valhallas), Transparent (the Reference, NOT the mind-bogglingly expensive Opus), MIT (around 1996, not the current, which I'm sure is dazzling, too. I just can't stomach some of the prices.) I never quite felt Nordost had all the meat on the bones -- like the difference between Kate Moss and Heidi Klum, but it was hella transparent. I prefer more meat (tonal color), the way it is in real life. Shunyta is more akin to the MIT line,which, when you heard trumpets, if you knew what they sounded like in real life, you went "Yes! That's exactly the right sound." I like Transparent's MM2 line a lot. Not exactly chopped liver. I wish everyone the best, but power cord-wise, I'll take Shunyata, as I have since 2003. I haven't heard the speaker cable, although I DID have Andromeda and I have to say, it had POWER to spare. If the new line has the same power, it's going to be a top player.

Sherod:
I have a few hundred hours on the Shunyatas now.
Sonically, a very significant improvement over the Helix, which, without comparing them, one would not notice the great improvement in airiness. I was rather startled by the transients in the Mercury CD, The Rites of Spring. I've always had power cords by Shunyata, but had never heard the resonance of the strings on the bow of the violin.
This is an excellent upgrade, and one you will hear nearly immediately. Not 10 hour, not 100 hours. Immediately....well, give it 30 minutes to warm up. Double bass, which I heard just 30 minutes ago, have more wood. I think the midbass has improved significantly, as well as the upper midrange, both of which will cause any component to improve.
Try it: you'll LOVE it!!!

Hi Sherod:
Glad you guys are enjoying the CX series cords. I have a question now that there are others with the Python: how do you find it on percussion instruments?

Antonkk:
The Python is richer sounding than the Viper, without the Viper ever sounding "lean" in the way say, a Nordost Brahma, might. I haven't switched them in applications, but I can say that I am in no way feeling that the Vipers are cords that have me feeling I should have gotten Pythons instead. Still, having said that, I might prefer a Python on a CD player or preamp. 'Course, if one is rich enough, one might just go to Anaconda CX. Or King Cobra.
My experience is that the newer cords, during sudden explosions which follow with a death drop into sudden silence, let you hear into the room very easily. They sound...continuous in the same way that Hurricane amplifiers do. I had a King Cobra V2, which I compared to the Python CX. The KC's upper midrange and trebles are softer, to my ears, than the newer cables, which sound neither too sharp, nor too recessed. One could buy Vipers and be happy. Someone suggested I try Synergistic Research and so....I did. I have to say, comparing a $2400 cord against a $700 cord made me nervous: what was I going to do if I like the $2400 cord better?? I'm not going to say there was a huge difference, sonically. I'm not going to say the Viper was better. What I AM going to say is that I could not, with my system, hear much difference between the two at all. And MAN, was I glad about that! I also had the odd experience of putting the Synergistic between the wall and a PS Audio Ultimate Outlet last night, with the Viper plugged into the UO (you know, the put-the-best-cord-into-the-wall theorem). The three did not like each other, I can tell you THAT!! The sound got glassy, and opaque. So, I then plugged the Viper back directly into the wall, and I could hear into the silences again, glassiness gone, just liquid silence. Today, I plugged the Viper from the amp into the UO, and the other Viper from the UO into the wall. Quite a difference. A good one. In fact, there was less grain in the soundfield. Not a comment on Synergistic at all: it sounds great. It's just that, for 3 1/2 times the cost of the Viper, I was hoping for an Epiphany, I didn't get it. Now I'm wondering what the Guardian does for the sound!
And I got more Dark Elevators from when I first bought them a year ago. Interestingly enough, when I first put four of them into the system (I was cheap, I only go the 4-pack), I couldn't hear much difference with the ceramic elevators under one speaker cable and the Darkies under the other. After putting the other 4 Darkies under the other speaker, I heard a noticeable difference: the soundfiel was "darker" in the sense of a bas relief. Instruments were easily more 3-D as they separated themselves from each other and the air around them, and also, seemingly, even less grain (which goes along with lower noise, not in the freeze-dried vaccum sense, but in the living-silences sense). These things are quite a bargain, I now think (I didn't before think that: I couldn't hear the difference with only 4 of them under the cables. My advice: if you get them, get the 12-pack) and I'm pleased to say they're worth the money. They don't LOOK like they'd do much, but they do.
I think I must now hear the King Cobra, if only for comparison's sake. I loved the V2s (never had the V1s). They had SLAAMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm delighted that I don't have to spend a fortune to get excellent results. That's the bottom line.

The CX line in and of itself is a grand slam for Shunyata. To keep the costs the same as the old line and improve as much as they did (especially in the upper midrange and treble) bespeaks an extremely fair upgrade for almost no increase in cost. Now, THAT'S value.

Sherod, what you'll get is likely the performance of a Python, just less of it. That's what I find most in Shunyata: same abilities, just in a lesser degree as one goes down the line. You might want to go for a Viper, though. I wasn't let down when switching between the Viper and the Python, although I certainly HEAR the differences. But the Viper sounds more "propulsive," which isn't a trait that should be ascribed to equipment, only music. Nonetheless, it's like the whip-crack of a lion tamer's whip at a circus when he's in the cage with the lions. No edginess, just more....direct. Can't explain it. Maybe it's like watching a performance on tv and seeing the same performance live. All the elements are the same, but one has more "energy" (hopefully, the live performance!).

Sherod:
I find the sound of percussion to be pretty dynamic on the CX series, but it depends on the preamp one has and whether or not it has considerable dynamics in the upper midrange. I had a King Cobra V2, which I re-bought last year (I missed it!) before I ever got the newer CX series cords. The CX is distinctly lower in noise, purer and "faster" without being "leaner" in sound. And the dynamics were superior on the newer CX series in the upper midrange.
I recently bought a Convergent preamp, but it's an earlier model (circa 1988) and the upper midrange of the Convergent from that area is lightweight in that area. I'd have to say from other equipment I've used that the dynamics in the upper midrange are good. A caveat here: my ASL Hurricanes have -- once again -- blown a resistor, and until they're repaired (next week), you need to take this with a grain of salt. I'd rather err on the side of caution here. It may be better than I've stated: the Hurricanes are extremely dynamic in all parts of the frequency spectrum, including the upper midrange. When I had my First Sound Deluxe Mk II preamp, and older models Shunyata (specifically, I used The King Cobra V2s on the amps, although Grant [Hi, Grant] expressed mild surprise I was using them on the amps [they were made for cd players and other front end equipment that had a harsh upper midrange, which the King Cobras "softened]), the dynamics, perhaps due to Nordosts' Quattro Fil interconnects, were quite good. Literally, the hair on my neck stood up, and, being Black, that's quite a feat! I remember, when I played Gaite Parisienne, which has considerable percussion, I never felt there was a lack of energy in that frequency. But again, I don't think the CAT is quite as dynamic there as the First Sound.
I will say that, when I, briefly, had the Parasound JC2 preamp, the dynamics were great, and I had the CX'es at that time. I quite like the CX Pythons. Someone on here (in another thread) asked me to take the Synergistic challenge -- so I did. I tried Synergistics' $2400 power cord. As I indicated in a different thread, in my system, the difference was slight, between the Synergistics cord and even the Shunyata CX Viper power cord. Maybe others have had different results, but those were mine. Frankly, I was pleased the difference was not a night and day thing.
I don't think one can go wrong with these at all, unless one is looking for a compensatory piece of equipment (warmer, richer, leaner or whatever) to fill in the gaps in other pieces of equipment.
I'll let you know how everything sounds when the 'Canes are repaired. Right now, they sound rather ordinary, and Hurricanes are NOT ordinary sounding. Ever. I can actually listen and be bored right now, where what SHOULD be happening is that I should be gripping the edge of the listening chair wondering if my woofers are going to blow. Oh, I've re-inserted the Hales Revelation 3s into the system, but I mainly used Usher 718s. NOT the BEs, I want to make clear, but the pre-beryllium/titanium garden variety tweeter.

Toffeng:
Sorry, I forgot to answer your question.
I had Brahmas as well. They're also very dynamic, but -- from memory -- I'd say the Python is superior. I'd have to have them at the same time to be certain, to be fair, but that's my memory of them.