Snake River Audio Power Cables - Best Unboxing
The Signature amp series will go on my Pass labs INT-60 replacing an Audioquest tornado HC. The other Signature will go on my Eversolo DMP-A8 replacing Audioquest tornado The Cottonmouth will go on my Pass Labs XP-15 phono replacing Nordost Red Dawn (v1) SRA does a 5 day burn in before he ships them out, but I'll give them another couple of hundred hours before I make any impressions |
@steakster you bring up a good point about trying cord rolling. I'll give them a try on different components to see how they do. I agree, class act operation. I got hooked after buying some Signature Mamushi XLR from TMR. Made an immediate impact on the sound. I've read such great things about the power cables. can't wait to put them in this weekend. |
@ibmjunkman lol, he did include a "spud" candy bar. |
@baylinor what you described is the same when I added the Signature Mamushi XLR between my stream and amp. Bass was deeper and more controlled, the highs were articulate, and the sound was expansive. This was coming from Nordost Heimdall (v1) XLR's. After that, I was hooked |
@squared80 you clearly do not have a system that is resolving enough to hear the difference cables can make. You should find someone who can A/B test for you and you’ll understand. |
@ktarver I believe in my ears. Again, you should find someone who has a highly resolving system to A/B test factory cord vs a premium cord. You will understand. As for the wall socket, I hear what you're saying. In every system, the weakest link will always be the homes internal wiring and plugs. The cool thing is, if a power cord from that plug can make such a huge impact on sound, imagine what a difference if you could upgrade the entire power path. |
@baylinor LMAO. The SR purple sounds amazing with my Pass Labs. |
@tkrtrb125 so true, lol |
@ktarver I appreciate that. I'm all for discussions, I just know this is a heated topic and I really just wanted to show off the skill and care Jonny over at SRA put into his craft. Once the cables are broken in, I'll create a proper impressions thread. Please come over and join the conversation :) |
Look, at the end of the day. I agree, 110v is 110v. It will all travel the same through a conduit (PC). However, this is saying a knife is a knife, "it cuts". Wrong! Metallurgy is a thing in case you've never heard of it. Like knifes, different compositions of metals and the way they are layered together will 100% effect the structure and how it behaves. In these cases, layers of different metals are mixed together to, yes present 110v, but to alter the wave lengths of sound traveling through them. This is what I "hear". |
@lordrootman you are proving the point. 2 different cables, 2 totally different sounds. So how can anyone say cables don't matter? Just because, to their ear's, they preferred one over the other, how is that wrong? At the end of the day, there was a difference! So please people, stop saying their isn't What you're willing to spend on cables for your ears, IS NOT, the same as what I'll spend to what I hear. |
You're also kidding yourself if you don't think those reviewers get paid. Steve Huff pushed a $20 amazon speaker cable. Its sales went up 1000%. I even bought a pair.. Did it sounds the same as my Zu Mission cables? YES. Did it sound as good as my Nordost Blue Heaven? NO. Did it sound as good as my Audioquest Rocket 88? Not even close. |
@vthokie83 appreciate you. I completely agree, is a cable that is half the value of the streamer really going to make a difference? Not sure. I'm a strong believer in system synergy. When I first upgraded my streamer to a Nordost Blue Heaven PC, I could hear the increase in dynamics and added spaciousness. When I had an opportunity to get an Audioquest Tornado HC for my amp I also upgraded the streamer to the Tornado, Immediate impact. Now, I bought the Tornado when Sunny Audio was running a sale on the cables, so a $1000+ tornado cable was only $700 (only, lol). Will I get that same return on investment going up to the SRA? I don't know. I will say, SRA are end game cables for me. I'm not under any impression that my system will benefit from spending any more money on cables at this point. |
This is getting off topic, Again. Please, lets leave the opinions to another (other) thread. I've started the break-in and will add a thread in the future about my impressions of these beautify cables. We can debate in that one, lol. A big shout out to Jonny at SRA for such an amazing design. The cables have weight, and yet, pliable where they need to be and ridged at the ends. Just an overall wounder of construction. Plus, they look amazing, giving a pop of color to the system. So far, I'm happy with my purchase. |
I'm in love with the sound. I've been moving the cables between component and finally settled into what sounds good to me. I too have had many brands of power cables. Pangea, Zu Audio, Nordost, Audioquest. These are by far the most dynamic and holographic. The Audioquest tornado come close, but can't match the low end extension I get with the SRA cables. |
@westcoastaudiophile I listed the last run of cables just on my Pass Labs Int-60 near the start of the post. I started with the Pangea cables on my original McIntosh amp some years ago now. I upgraded that to all Zu Audio cables (power, RCA's, speaker) when I bought the original Omen speakers about 10+ years ago. From there I upgraded everything about 3 years ago to Pass Lab int amp, Hifi Rose streamer, McIntosh MP100 phono, and Mofi source point 10 speakers. I upgraded all the cables to Nordost (combo of Blue Heaven speaker cables and power, Red Dawn PC, and Heimdall v1 RCA, XLR, PC). I then upgraded the power cables to Audioquest Tornado, speaker cables to Rocket 88's. Did a speaker and phono upgrade, and bought a used Snake River Audio XLR cables and fell in love with the design and sound. Now we're at SRA PC on most my system. |
@westcoastaudiophile sorry if I misunderstood your question. Yes, I can absolutely tell the difference within each of the upgrades with my current system. I would say not so much with my original McIntosh system with the Zu Audio speakers. That system didn’t have the dynamics to hear the benefit of upgraded cabling. My current system is very revealing and has a ton of dynamics. Adding different power cables can add "color" for good or bad. Its not unlike upgrading speakers, a 6" woofer is not just a 6" woofer, there are nuances in the way its constructed and the material that is used. Same for the power cables in my experience. |
@westcoastaudiophile I identified "upgrade" based on sound. I have a set of songs I A/B test between the cables after they are broken in. Over the original Pass Labs PC, The Nordost added greater detail in the sound. Bass was a tighter and highs were more detailed. When moving from the Nordost to the Audioquest, the sound appeared to have greater imaging and more expansive. When going back to the orginal Pass PC, it was night and day. When moving up to the SRA, the lower end is way more pronounced and controlled. The sound is even more three dimensional and the sound stage is huge. These changes have not been subtle over the original PC and have given my the exact sound profile I enjoy. |
@fthompson251 I have the Signature amp PC on my Pass labs and wound up switching the Signature PC on my DAC/Streamer to the Cottonmouth. My system tends to lean neutral, added the Cottonmouth gave me a great balance and added a bit more warmth. I think If I had to do it again, I might get the Cottonmouth AMP PC instead of the signature. Not sure if that would have been to much, I moved the second Signature PC to my phono amp and it sounds great there. So I'm more than happy with the current setup. Hopfully, SRA will run a Christmas sale (hint hint, Jonny if you're out there). |
@lak That would be awesome, I was hoping he was going to run a Black Friday sale but didn’t see anything. Itching for some more cables, lol. |
@fthompson251 Its kind of hard to say. When I upgraded, I first put on the Amp PC and heard an immediate impact, then added the signature to the Streamer. Listened to that a while, then switched to the Cottonmouth and preferred that sound. I didn't try just adding the PC to the streamer and kept the Amp PC the previous PC. You might call Jonny to confirm (supper nice guy to talk to), but I think if you got the Amp PC you can use it on either an amp or a standard component. That at least gives you an option with which way you prefer the sound. |
@tee_dee I am not a cable designer nor do I have a background in electromagnetics (is that a word, lol). However, I had always though the cores were in place to prevent extreme lows and highs that are well above and below your audio systems capabilities, from leaking noise into a cable. Perhaps someone with much more experience than I can help answer that question. |
@steakster Thats a good deal for someone. SRA also has some Demo cables on their website that are discounted. I picked up another PC, Phono Cable, and XLR's. With this Cottonmouth had been on here earlier, would have snagged it. |
@bugredmachine I think at this level of quality, most people who are buying SRA have a pretty solid system and would be happy with even 10% improvement. However, I think trying to put a % on it is really difficult. When I replaced all of my Audioquest PC’s and speaker cable with the SRA stuff, I don’t know I would have said there was an X% improvement, I would describe it as a different sound. Wider and deeper soundstage, pin point vocals, deeper and more controlled bass. Not sure how to quantify that. I too would love to know how much better the Takshakas would be, but they are outside of my budget. I am lucky to have caught some good sales at SRA and also pick up some demo cables, otherwise, I don’t think I would be able to switch our my system. I too would love to hear peoples impression from anyone that traded in their Signature cables for the Takshakas |
@fthompson251 When I first bought the PC's, I had decided to get one of the cottonmouth gold PC's in addition to the signature AMP PC's. The reason, cost for one, and two, after talking with Jonny, the Cottonmouth give a warmer presentation, while the Signature is kind of best of all worlds, warm (ish) and very detailed. I've since purchased additional signature PC's when SRA had a bunch on DEMO through their website. This was enough to change out all of my current PC's to SRA. Once I had all of the PC's (mostly Signature and the one Cottonmouth), I A/B tested the cottonmouth on all of my source components. I found that, in my system, I much preferred the warmer sounding cottonmouth on my streamer, and the signatures on everything else. My system (Pass labs amp, Magico speakers) is very resolving, and the added warmth from that one cable really balances it out nicely. Jonny has a very generous return policy, so if I had liked the cottonmouth on more than once component, her would have happily returned my signature and sent me a different PC. I would read the descriptions on each of the PC types, he goes into good detail about what he recommend for SS or tube. Or, like me, I just gave him a call and chatted about what could work. Either way, you won't be disappointed. |
