Cabledyne Reference Silver Power Cord Review Chapter 2

[jameslrock]

When I started this multi part review of the Cabledyne cables I was the least interested in the power cord review. I sort of get the idea of interconnects and speaker cables possibly making a difference but come on now, power cords? I mean you have Duke Energy sending power down the line to my forty-six year old house with original circuit breaker box and from there through the house wiring to a residential outlet. That is miles of wire that boils down to a 2 meter power cord? Also with all the R&D that goes into bringing a product to market you would think manufacturers of audio equipment would put more thought into the power cord if it was needed. I do wish they took more effort in providing a firmly seated IEC connection but that is another rant.

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The equipment used for this review include the McIntosh C2300 tube preamplifier to McIntosh MC601 mono amplifiers using Audioquest Columbia balanced XLR interconnects and from there to Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamond speakers using Audioquest Rocket 88 bi-wire speaker cables. The source is the Esoteric K-03 SACD player connected to the preamp with Wire World Silver Eclipse 6 balanced XLR interconnects.

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My McIntosh preamp and amps all came with 12 awg, 15 amp power cords. In preparation for this review I added two 20 amp circuits to the room and added a Furman Elite 20 PFi power center (waiting for the install is one of the reasons I took this long since the first posting). I did this to insure that I had a straight connection from the sub panel box to the room to provide the juice to the amps and protection for my equipment. I then connected each set of stock power cords along with the Cabledyne Silver Power Cords to the same single gain outlet on the back of the Furman so that it will be easier to just A-B the cords on the back of the preamp and amps. During the test I started with the stock power cord and then switched to the Cabledyne Silver Power Cord for each track of music.

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For music I chose Diana Krall’s “The Girl In The Other Room” SACD and Dire Straits’ “Brothers In Arms” SACD. Interesting note is that Diana Krall married Elvis Costello in 2003 and the title track of this 2004 album is written by Krall and Costello as well as 6 other tracks of this 12 track album. I chose track one “Stop The World” and track two “The Girl In The Other Room”. I also supported this with track four “Almost Blue” with the bass guitar; track six “Love Me Like A Man” (??) for the piano, vocal, electric guitar and drums; and track nine “Narrow Daylight” for bass guitar and acoustic guitar. With it being late March I liked the reference of “winter over, summer near”.

With the stock power cords, track one “Stop The World” sounded the same as I have been accustomed to for my system. It was when I switched over to the Cabledyne Silver Power cords that the revelation began. My skepticism changed to full fledged enthusiasm. There was an immediate increase in clarity. The bass notes had more force that I could feel in my throat and chest. Cymbal strikes that before had some smear were now crisper and seemed to linger in the air longer. Everything was at a quicker pace, in a good way. The sound stage seemed to move up and out into the room. I know I may sound a bit melodramatic but what started with skepticism has changed to these power cords having one of the most profound positive changes to my system. Other manufacturers power cords may possibly have varying degrees of similar results compared to the stock cords but I will tell you for certain these surely do! I then moved to track two “The Girl In The Other Room”. Bass notes struck with more intensity, vocals rose literally two feet in the room to where Diana Krall must have been at her piano bench, and vocals also had greater dimension. Also subtleties at the 2:35 mark showed up such as the guitar to the back left of the piano and at 3:26 the cymbal strikes shown through.

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I wanted to make sure it was not my enthusiasm getting hold of me so I asked my wife to listen and give me her impressions. I asked her to close her eyes so that she could not tell which cords I was using first and second. To put this into context, my wife has stated before that she is just as happy with the below the cabinet TV in the kitchen as she is with any of my gear. Deflating as it is, she routinely tells me “it all sounds the same”. Anyway, after careful listening she provided interesting comments to the new found sound of my system. She made an excellent observation that the letter “S” sounded more like a real “S” with the Cabledyne Silver Power Cords while the stock cords were less real. She noticed the “lower note (bass) guitar and strings” were more detailed and the cymbals were “longer sounding”. I was proud of her observations; maybe she is starting to get it!

Later that evening a musician (drummer and tenor) friend and his wife came for dinner and a movie. Before dinner he agreed to take a listen. I switched over to Dire Straits’ “Brothers In Arms”. We listened to multiple tracks and usually would have chosen “Money For Nothing” but instead we came across a tune I have not paid much attention to until now. The track we chose was the dramatic “Ride Across The River” with its story of guerilla soldiers of freedom. The track has quite a bit to listen to including instruments such as flute, trumpet, drums, bass and electric guitar, shakers, and notably crickets. Just as discovered earlier in the day, with the Cabledyne Silver Power Cords we found the track to be more musical top to bottom with quicker and more authoritative drum strikes, lower fuller bass, and broader soundstage. We not only heard more, we felt more. My friend commented, “instruments came out of the shadows”. He especially noticed the emulation of crickets were more noticeable which gave the track a surreal jungle sound. He had never had an opportunity to critique power cords and like me before now had never even considered it. Sometimes the most overlooked change can bring the best surprise.

Jim

Next, Chapter Three, Cabledyne Reference Silver XLR Interconnects.

[jameslrock]

Clarification. This was reviewed with the two channel system without the DB1 subwoofer. I only listened with the 802 Diamond speakers L/R.

[Cabledyne]

Thanks Jim for your review of our silver power cords. I am glad to hear that our cords have made a significant improvement in your listening pleasure. I look forward to Chapter 3.

Ed Bowman