Hi All, I got bit by the Snake River Audio bug and took advantage of their Labor Day sale. After talking with Jonny (nicest guy) I bought 2 of the signature hybrids and 1 of the cottonmouth power cables. The unboxing was an experience and these cables are beautiful. The cables were shipped all kids of certificates and goodies from Idaho. I can't wait to get these into the system and give you all my feedback. If you're on the fence, just call Jonny and let him tell you about the cables first hand.
At last! A company, Snake River Audio, that can legitimately produce hifi cables whose performance can be likened to the miracles of snake oil. Hopefully they included some herpetological lubricant with the other nice things in the box, or at least some holy water from the river from which the company takes its name.
In all seriousness, however, I had not heard of this company but will now take a look. Custom cables manufacture in rural Idaho that win awards like Snake River Audio has is pretty impressive.
Sorry in advance @kdoernerbut due to the natural progression of conversations as it were...
If we don't have protection, many Hi-Fi's are going to be fried while we sleep.
All the more reason to consider adding a quality power device to your system.
I would be worried about the other expensive appliances in the house also. The best thing someone can do is surge protect the whole house first, then look at individual electrical components in the home. This is the level 2 house surge protector I have- I also use a Puritan conditioner at the stereo and (of course) don't have any level 3 Leviton protection outlets in my hifi room.
Hey all. Unfortunately for me, I didn't discover Snake River Audio until early last year and I am so glad I did. Since then, I have outfitted most of my extensive rig with SRA cables (all of the main components are done). I can tell you that this man knows what he is doing! Jonny is top notch and he really cares about what he delivers. Everything is top notch, on every aspect.
One of the greatest attributes that I cannot stress enough about, is the wonderful tone of the instruments/voices that these cables deliver. My system has never sounded so good and since the introduction of Snake River Audio cables, my enjoyment level has risen in spades. I went from listening to the music to experiencing it. Listening sessions have greatly increased in aural pleasure and length of time spent sitting in the sweet spot.
Snake River Audio has a new lineup that will be coming out soon that I have been lucky enough to have had in my system for about a month. Wallets will definitely be opening up worldwide, once you hear those bad boys. I know mine happily will, once they are available to the public.
No affiliation. Just a VERY satisfied customer who really appreciates a fine, quality product. They are definitely musical art to these ears and they really draw you into the performance before you. Never had any cables do that before.
I have SRA SC's, IC's and PC's throughout my system. Even some custom cables he made specifically for my rig. This includes the Cottonmouth, Signature, Mamushi and Boomslang Series cables. No regrets on any of them. Only wonderful and extremely musical bliss.
Lots. Shunyata, Signal, AQ, Nerve Audio, Transparent References used to be in the main/core spots, PS Audio, custom made cables, 6 sons Audio, Dueland, DH Labs, Analysis Plus, MIT and many others that I can't remember off the top of my head.
I've been doing this for a while now, so please forgive my not remembering everything that has come and gone over the years.
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.
@westcoastaudiophileI 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.
@kdoernerthanks for listing all of cables in your system! I just tried to understand if you have found improvement of replacing original power cable by “better $$$” one.. Do I understand it correctly from your posts, as You “dunno”?
@westcoastaudiophilesorry 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.
@kdoerner PC “upgrades” sometimes are higher resistance cables vs. original ones, benefiting in RC lower freq. filtering.. I still have no clarity on what (amp, power level, etc) exactly did you “upgrade” from original to “better” and how identify “improvement”? blind test, the same time of the year, sofa with different cushions, or? In HiFi every detail is matters.
@westcoastaudiophileI 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.
@kdoerner congrats with finding your audiophile happiness formulae!
I see your new cables have RF clamps, closer to IEC conn side (correct use). Unless your original PC is defective (out of spec), you most likely deal with high freq. noise issue, penetrating from AC into amp. (I debugged hundred issues like that). I have bunch of different permeability / freq. response clamps in my Lab, used for debugging / filtering RFI noise. Those clamps typically cost between 50c - $5. I can provide you link, if you are interested, to compare to your upgrade PC.
Update on the world's introduction to the Snake River Audio Takshaka lineup.
They will be featured at the Capitol Area Audiofest, Nov 8th through the 10th. The system will also include the new Popori speakers, powered by the V.A.C. amplifiers. Room 840, for those who are or may be interested in hearing the latest lineup from Snake River Audio.
Jonny himself, will be down in the Marketplace, main booth. Ya' can't miss him.
@denon1- Hello and good evening to you. I would be happy to let you know my observations on the RCA Takshaka cable. My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, as I don’t really come to the 'GoN very often.
I will submit my observations by the end of the weekend.
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