[prepress]

While I'm not in the high-rent district by any means, I'll share some more recent experience with Transparent.

Late last year I bought a 1m HPPC for my C2300 preamp. It replaced a WW Electra 7 which was giving me IEC connection issues; the cord would droop and lose connection. So I didn't buy the HPPC expecting improvements; I wanted a solid IEC connection. What a difference, especially in the low frequencies! Things were more solid, more dynamic, fuller. Then earlier this year I bought two 2m HPPCs for my 501s, replacing WW Electra 5.2s. The difference was again noticeable. In between I got two pair of Plus ICs for my two main sources and the highs are a bit smoother than the Kimber Hero they replaced, but the power cords are making a bigger difference to my ears.

I tried a 2m HPPC on my SACD, replacing a WW Stratus 7, with the Electra 5.2s back on the amps; some of the weight and impact was lost (suggesting that the best cords may belong on the amps), and with the Stratus on the SACD a lot of that LF response was lost. The sound was noticeably flat on Close to the Edge, not dynamic at all. But having just bought two more 1m HPPCs, I put one on my BD player, one on my phono preamp, and put the 2m HPPCs back on my amps. Order has been restored; the sound was what I'm used to, and perhaps there was a bit more detail in some of the DVDs.

So I'm moving to all HPPC on sources (except for my LD player perhaps, which is lightly used, would need a C7 IEC [$70 extra], and is 19 years old), and am about to get another pair of HPPCs for my SACD and tuner. All this because one power cord wouldn't hold its IEC connection consistently.