Power snakes continue

Power cord is more a silent tone control device than most would believe. I was devastated by the improvements they bring to a system and hence started this power cord mania. A great power cord can bring the best out of your system, period. For those who have not tried out a few power cords to get the taste, do so. You will be amazed like I do. Price talks, and almost all good things never come cheap unfortunately. Having said that, I could no longer bear with the noise introduced by cheap power cords, the smearing, they eat up a lot of details. These power cords strangle your system. Go ask KF, he is willing to testify in the witness stand. Exit is only natural.....

Wrong cords can be fatal

Some power cords are picky at where they are used. It could sound marvelous at the front end but not elsewhere. And some unavailing. I would not recommend a thick power cord for your front end, much as you do not want to agitate Bruce Banner, "You wouldn't like me when I am angry!".

When comes to girl friend, look comes first. Come on guys. Look always come as an expense, high maintenance chick, you got to pay for it, buddies. When choose a wife, look is secondary. I know a few guys are sworn by certain brands, me choose to listen. Garden hose, psychologically give a feel good factor, like a dick to a man. Bigger is better, that's so corky ....

Dude, if only you know how thick your house in-wall wires, you might have a second thought. My first and foremost criteria for power cord is no smearing. You know what cause the smearing, right. I have heard many with smearing sound but I choose to keep mum. That's not the nicest thing to say. I hear a lot of after market power cords that emphasize the bass too. Personally, I avoid these because there will always be a trade off. Like a Canto phrase 捉蟲入屁股 loosely translated to "do not let a worm goes into your backside", asking for trouble.

My current power cords on duty are Nordost Vishnu, Wywire Silver and Reality Cable, the later being my power amp cord.

Nordost Vishnu, you got to love this cord. This cord is really clean, airy and detailed. I can almost hear the drop of tear with this cord. The ambiance retrieval is its forte. Some claimed that Nordost sounds thin but I found it to be honest. Love the speed and attack. The bass remained to be its Achilles heel, bass volume and weight could be more. Nevertheless, it was my great buy. I could not think of a better cord at its price range for front end.

Wywire Silver is the back bone of Wywire that springboard the company. Silver is noticeably warmer than Vishnu. It is not overly warmer, it has a healthy BMI. Silver is now serving my BMC PureDac. If Vishnu and Silver trade places, the whole presentation will slip to the lean side. I prefer the details Vishnu offered at YBA transport, it has adequate sheen to sound realistic. The brass demonstrates the right amount of sheen to my ears, of course. The other benefit is the superb ambiance retrieval. Silver is neutral with adequate meat to the bone, the highs remained Vishnu's forte. You got to love the highs extension. The Silver's edge delineation strikes me, the tenacity and the Q-ness of bass awed me. Almost sounds like no power cord.

And lastly, Reality Cable red cord. This is an off the shelf cord. My gamble paid off. This is a star quad cable, very quiet and capable of throwing a huge soundstage. It provides a lot of juice. The tenacity and Q-ness are magnificent. The highs might have rolled off a bit but I appreciate the bass tautness, that I would not trade for others. I love bass definition, bass weight, SET like tonal density, soundstage, clean sound, it literally stomped my previous power cord, Shunyata Cooperhead at its game. I hear no smearing bass which itself is a compliment. Cooperhead is twice the asking price, mind you. This is an off the shelf cord, good for solid state electronics, the designer warned.

Audio Research designated power cord, this alone places Shunyata on a higher ground. Shunyata Copperhead does not look as bad as one might think even though they are not the cream of Shunyata. It does everything well. Only slightly smearing comparing to Reality Cable, Copperhead's highs betters Reality Cable, only a smidgen more airy. While Reality Cable matched Copperhead in soundstage dimension, it was in low registers Reality Cable is a runaway success. It trounced Copperhead in terms of quietness and bass quality. It better be, or I will hang my neck with it!

HMS power cord is a DIY cord, that accords serious bass grunt. This cord as if power on steroid. This cord reminds of PSY, oppa HMS style. If your bass needed some help there, this cord can storm. It turns bookshelf to floorstanding speaker, seriously.

WE power cord Model IV has a coquettish quality, the perverts first choice. It is like Sandra Bullock, an innocent girl who lives next door. The vocal has the flirting properties, melting you in your chair. Rounded note, very lovely sound that trade for transient and attack. To sum it up, Model IV is easy on ear. I know some fi are craving for the coquettishness, the least you are straight.

If budget is your concern, no worries. Get Viablue X25 and go DIY. This is very good power cord for the money. Baby Vishnu, I'd recommend it for front end, its performance will pop your eyes. Fast and airy power cord, detail like dropping from the sky.

If you favored ultra pure copper power cord, dense tone, I suggest you listen to HiDiamond P2 power cord, third from the line up. Not dull, I found this cord amazing on dynamic. Very nearly smitten by it.

BrunsAudio AC Soundstage Enigma, a DIY cord that share similar construction with the red hot Loosless, at least from the aesthetic point of view. It uses German copper and braided locally, presents a similar presentation with WE power cord Model IV, but with a broad bandwidth. Inoffensive and a unique flavor like English candy. Sweet, rounded with no rough edges. A warm performer that favor a smooth and easy on ear presentation.

PS Audio xStream Statement SC is a thick, stiff and heavy cord. The problem with all heavy cords is the sagging connection at the wall socket. You will have to think again if you have limited space because it didn't like bending that much. If you system thirst for fluid, this is the cure. This cord has a mellow and with a soaking wet presentation.

The problem with power cord purchase is you never get to test them, unlike in the States. Risk is inevitable. To help you in power cord purchase, I have gathered the following reviews from av-forums.net.

Accustic Arts Ferrite II - quiet, fine resolution, refined highs, neutral, spot on focal point, tight bass, lack of color.

Acrolink 4020 - quiet, good resolution, smaller focal point, slightly lack dynamic and punch.

Acrolink 4023 - good for CD player, good resolution, quiet, warm. Quieter and more highs than Acrolink 4020.

Acrolink 4030 - quiet, good resolution, relax, good vocal, bigger focal point, not lacking dynamic and punch.

Acrolink PC 7100 - muscular, slightly grainy.

AET HCR - neutral, quiet, detailed, lean. Excellent choice for subwoofer.

AET Hin - forward mids, transparent, detailed, fine vocal, smooth extension.

Belden 83803 - not quiet, prominent highs, hard, quick to raise, quick to retract, transparent, powerful.

Belden 15A - more balanced than 80803, good value.

BMI Orca - balanced, quiet, very smooth and attractive sounding, limited bandwidth and shorter decay.

Cardas Golden Reference - forward mids, slow sounding.

CSE L7R -  punchy, neutral, good resolution, spot on focal point, sounds similar to AET but quieter.

CSE L30R - good density, good tonal balance, strong bass, fairly highs extension.

DDL Revolution - good drive, warm, slightly less transparent, stiff cable.

Ensemble Megaflux - punchy, slight pacey, quiet, lean, highs eccentric, low tonal density.

Fisch P0 - good punch, quick to raise, quick to retract, thin mids, fairly quiet.

Fisch P2 - quiet, highs eccentric, quick to raise, quick to retract, dark highs.

Fisch P5 - very quiet, quick to raise, quick to retract, balanced but harden highs, small focal point, good value.

Fisch P7 - very quiet, quick to raise, quick to retract, balanced but harden highs, small focal point, good value.

Furutech 3TS20 - quiet, slow sounding, weak low bass, forward, slightly bigger focal point, lustful vocal.

Furutech 3TS762 - poor resolution, thick, slow, bloated upper mid.

Furutech Reference III - smooth, good vocal, sumptuous, soft bass, fair imaging.

Gutwire Power Clef - neutral, average dynamic.

Harmonic Tech Magic - delicate, rounded, easy on ear.

Harmonix Studio Master - warm, smooth, less punchy, fair resolution.

JPS AC+ - quiet, sumptuous but grab attention, weak mids, quick to raise, quick to retract, wide soundstage, powerful.

JPS K - quiet, sumptuous, weak mids, quick to raise, quick to retract, wide soundstage, powerful.

Kimber PK 10  - punchy, neutral, good resolution, slightly coarse sounding.

Kimber PK 10 Gold - punchy, neutral, good overall resolution, slightly warm vocal, good value.

Kimber PK 14  - balanced, good speed, solid imaging, right image size, good value.

Kimber PK 14 Gold - extended highs with sheen, pacey,  punchy, solid imaging, right image size.

Kharma KPC-R2A - polite, refined, warm but not thick sounding.

M5000 - very quiet, balanced, highs eccentric.

Mogami - balanced, smooth highs, average quietness, neutral.

NBS Monitor 2 - excellent bass.

Neotech 3003 - extraordinary resolution, fine, long decay.

Nickle Signature - good highs, slightly less bass, laid back.

Oyaide 2.6mm - neutral, slightly thick sounding, not slow, quiet, good resolution, generous bass volume, taut.

Oyaide Tunami - quiet, warm sounding, muscular, good soundstage width, caution to space constraint, this is a stiff cable.

PAD 20th Aqueous - average quiet, slightly thick mid, slow to raise, slow to retract, wide soundstage, smooth highs, strong bass but fair edge delineation.

PAD Dominus - punchy, average pace, extraordinary quiet, balanced, extraordinary tonal density, slightly flavored, good layering, smooth highs.

PAD Ven - average quiet, slightly thick mid, slow to raise, slow to retract, wide soundstage, smooth highs, strong bass but lack edge delineation.

Power Snake Viper V2 - high resolution, not hardened, detailed, big soundstage, grandeur.

PS xStream Statement - good bass delineation, quiet.

Python Helix VX PC - balanced, relaxed but good grunt, good compatibility.

Siltech G6 Ruby Hill SATT - excellent strings and vocal, sounds faster than older Siltech, good mids focus, very quiet, good resolution and control.

Sine Coliseum - balanced, very quiet, average dynamic, long decay.

Stealth Dream - dynamic, fast, neutral, quiet, good extension, sumptuous, good bass control, holographic.

Stealth M7+ - punchy, fast, quiet, balanced, refined highs, high tonal density.

Supercryo 30A - punchy, slight pacey, quiet, lean, highs eccentric, low tonal density.

Tara Labs Prism - rounded highs, huge soundstage, fast, clean bass, thin vocal, weak upper bass.

Tara Labs Prism AC Special - fast, punchy, clean bass, weak bass.

Transparent Power XL - extraordinary quiet, forward mids, good density yet good resolution, less vigor.

Van den Hul The Mainstream Hybrid - prominent highs, sumptuous, thin vocal, weak bass.

VH Flavor 4 - balanced, tight sounding.

XLO Reference 2 - nothing in particular stand out.

We always complain that there aren't many choices, but when there are plentiful to choose from, we get headache. Even with new power cord, some dealers does not allow testing in the showroom, home trial is a long shot unless it is flirty expensive.

Now, I do not recommend you guys to use what I use. The power cords are there for a reason. Suitability of power cord and your sonic preference supposed to your major concern. 

Consclusion
錢要花在刀口上, spend when it matters. Typically, 1.5 to 3.0 meter is the sweet zone of any power cord to really impart its sonic signature. I know some who overwork the math, buying a 2 meter length wire, cut into half to get 2. Like I always say, if you are unwilling to spend reasonably to get good sound, go fly kite. It is cheaper to fly a kite too.

How you coil the power cord also changes the sound. A joke?

Despite my current cords, I still have an urge for one specific cord. Keep you in suspense. A word of caution, used power cord prices may sound too good to be real but beware there is a lot of fake power cords around. They are copied but not equal like your night market Rolex Submariner. Some were so cleverly copied that the dealers would not able tell the authenticity. You may need to exercise cautions there.

Until then, Happy Lunar New Year.

New year sound

In politics, we have the ever contradicting right and left wing. We also have the same in audio. On one side, there are fi wanted neutrality and believable timbre which is the mainstream, on the other hand, there are fi longing for aesthetical presentation - beautiful tone. A very experienced fi once said, only if you have achieved an acceptable high standard of audio playback, you can then talk about euphonic. What he is trying to say is only add euphonic properties upon a balanced sounding system. Started off with imbalance sounding will get you to Holland. 

A new year, a new beginning had me reroute to believable timbre. No more chasing rainbow. All of us have our own idea of an accurate sound like. Unless you were present during the recording, it is impossible to know the actual presentation, let alone the mixing and EQ in the process of recording.

Make things worst, we can't resist the temptation of wanting something more, more highs, more lows. Too zealous to add something extra to impress thyself and thy guests, spicing up the presentation with gutsy, sweet, moist and lustful will inevitably deviates from the true content of music. The sonic influx largely distorts the timbre, pseudo strings, forward mids, impaired dynamic, sluggish bass etc.

Music is all about harmonic, a system ability to recuperate the wholeness of harmonic is its worth. I spent crazy hours perfecting my sound, so much so that I can't find time to write. There were many misses along the way and I can always take in stride. Audioing is a journey of no end, it is an endless progressive improvement. My ego acutely ward off any unconstructive criticism, like a air bags. I must say great majority fi pride their system on how they sound. Unconstructive criticism, you wouldn't want to be running in a landmine, would you? More so, criticism without remedial solutions. It is plainly full of hot air. That is of course, if you can pull a rabbit out of your hat. Then, my ears are all yours.

To me, it is perfectly OK to criticize my sound. But it is entirely up me to accept your critics but challenging my tweaks via stupid blind tests is an outright insult to my intelligence. I don't deserve this. You can choose not to believe my tweak and you may have it your way too. Crossing that border, I will scrutiny your system mercilessly. You better have a system that live up to your "status". Criticize and be criticized, that's a fair game.

死凈一把口, Death man talking

Sounding balanced is the minimum playback standard. How is your highs fare? Does it have the refinement? Does it have lightness, nimbleness and yet heavenly? How far does it recreating the ambiance? Does it differentiate Stradivari or Guaneri? At a right density? I despise fi who have not proven his worth but lecturing audio. Talk is cheap. Get there first then I will start listening.

I don't like speakers with strong characters, the recognizable sonic signature is like a tag on the system. I also don't like hungry speakers too, they tend to eat up a lot of details. I favor neutral and easy to drive speakers. Pioneer S1EXs are not easy speaker to set up. To make thing worst, playing in a small room. It is a recipe for disaster. My friend goes as far saying Andrew Jones shortchanged S1EXs midbass. I was struggling with that. A rough estimate, you need at least six months to study the speaker characteristics and bringing out the best in them. There is no perfect speaker in the world nor speakers that do not need tuning. Buy a system, bingo! World class sound, it is just silly wishful thinking.

Emphasis on certain frequency range that adds excitements will no doubt attract attention, maybe winning praises too. I look for emotion connectivity in a system, not hi fi-ish properties that you use to impress your guests. A system that conveys emotions is more enjoyable than a "show off" system. Beware, hi fi-ish property is a great temptation, your mind is playing you. Too much of it will lead to peculiar voicing.

Live recording is a great way to measure a system. The crowd, the ambiance, the staging, the band, the performer and the imperfectness make a system sweat. Unpretentious. Could you achieve the sense of being enveloped 包圍感? Floating notes in the air 飄逸感? The luster of notes 光澤感? The rosin smell 松香味? The tendon-ness 牛筋味? The delineation 線條? The nimbleness of notes 鮮活感? The reverberation of musical instrument 共鳴感? The emotions 感染力? The layering 層次感? The dynamic 張力或扭力? The Q-ness 彈跳力? The clarity 清晰度? The transparency 透明度? The descending bass like waves washing the shore 伸延感? Most importantly, the decaying 諧音. Now that I mentioned them, I had started already working toward these departments. Sure, I am harsh on myself, if not, I will do other hobbies.

To self examined, I took an audiometry test. There is a story behind the test. The result showed that I have got a balanced hearing. Boy! Am I happy to see the result. My hearing ability is pretty good according to the nurse.

Cantate Domino remained to be my test CD. It is easy to tell playing this CD. Recreating the church natural ambiance is breathtaking like you were literally transported to the scene. The depiction of space and occasional pipe organ caressing the carpet is delicious. It is a good linearity test. 

My take : A good sounding system makes you forget you are listening to stereo but immerse in the music. Live event is often loud but it will not irritate. Hence, a great sounding system will not chase you out the room even you crank up the volume.

French kiss of death

In the world of culinary, the French and Chinese are considered the best of the best. These are there for two reasons, creativity and originality backed by a rich history of revolutions and civilizations.

French has long been considered unusual and quirky. It goes as far nobody (non French) understands French! French romance, this psychological affection plague anything French.

Why with all the French things? The story begins with my Marantz CD94 MKII LE temperamental behavior, picky on disc. Feeling discontented, I was out to hunt a CD transport. CD transport is a thing of a past, there aren't many out there. A paradigm shift, people listen to download music.

The cheapest dedicated CD transport can be had for RM3k+, Stello top loading CDT. RM5K gets you a Cyrus CDT. For significant more, you get CEC CD transport. Alternatively, I could buy a Chinese CD transport, hey, it is just a bloody CD transport. How complicated can the CD transport get, right?

I have my reservations on Chinese stuff. First and foremost, 220V power rating. Current voltage is the mother of good sound. Within 10% tolerance, everything is fine. However, 250V is not uncommon here, the sound will get aggressive and grumpy. Secondly, only a handful of Chinese know how. Creamy mids and exaggerated lows voicing, I can't help feeling a lit greasy. Not my type of sound.

Under the hood of a Chinese product, you see boutique caps, exotic components and complicated circuitry and this is contrary to its western counterparts. Impressive as it may seem, but let's not get carry away, it is the voicing that matters. Pass Labs uses only common parts, so is FM, so is Goldmund, so is TAD, so are many others. Their design is simple. Think of a second, if boutique parts guarantee good sound, it would be much easier achieving good sound. Absolutely not, it is all about implementation, implementation and implementation. Each of them has a unique voicing that appeal to certain group of fi.

Trust me, I had been through that path, trying to outsmart the game is not a bright idea. The audio companies do not hire engineers to produce a mediocre sound. Honestly, I do not see high level audio any difference than performance car. If you want high quality sound, you could not not spending. You are paying for the design work. There is no two ways about it.

YBA came to me by eventual consequences. Heritage is the latest series to YBA product line up. Heritage is a line up from the entry Design series, fourth line down after the flagship Signature, Passion and Genesis series. In my opinion, the offering is too wide and they should narrow their product range.

Heritage CD100 (above), Passion CDT450 CD transport (below)

I happened to test XTZ CD100, price was right. For the sake of benchmarking, the friendly dealer gladly plays YBA Heritage CD100 for me. Look, I have patronized this dealer on many occasions, never spend a penny. Soong's sales attitude is highly commendable that he entertain requests. Some dealers snobbish attitude, let just say I'll rather spend my money elsewhere even though they sell good sounding products. So what? I'd not recommend my friends to spend there too.

YBA employs a standard clean faceplate to all series, black faceplated Design series is excluded, simple and elegant. Instead of press button, YBA opts for small toggle switch. Neat, the toggle switches provide tactile response. The CD transport is located at the right side, pretty ergonomic for the righty. The drawer mechanism is smooth. The reading of TOC, table of content is blissful. Overall, the minimalist and clean faceplate of YBA spells elegance.

The heart of Heritage CD100 is Wolfson 8740, not a red hot chip for digital conversion. Knowing Yves Bernard Andre the man through media interview, Yves Bernard Andre has some serious credentials to his name, a teaching professor in a renowned university, worked in Goldmund and Audax, later went on started a luxury audio company named after his initials. Among YBA design philosophies, simple design, short signal path, thick bottom chassis plate, nonmagnetic screws, three isolation footers, anti resonance, power, thermal, electromagnetic, vibration and electrostatics distortions management, these merit how YBA sounds. Yves Bernard Andre himself, an engineer, a learned musician and a tweaker, is a rare breed on his own. He is currently teaching at Ecole Polytechnique.

Most engineers don't think outside the box, it is a real sad thing. YBA later sold to a French businessman, it did not take long to later sell his shares to Shanling. Shanling is top Chinese audio company with worldwide distribution. YBA would leverage on Shanling distribution strength to revive YBA and re-entering high end audio. Shanling later hires Yves Bernard Andre as technical consultant. Shanling gave YBA a serious second sting of life in high end audio with a new French management.
 
Well aware that Heritage CD100 would beat XTZ but I did not prepare for the significant improvement. My heart for XTZ turned cold instantly, my mind was as if being bulldozed, blank. Heritage CD100 has a sonic that reminiscence of high end audio, breathtaking clarity, pristine, clean, decoupling notes that are captivating. A sound that associate nobility.

There is a SRC feature that I could upsample to 192kHz from 44.1Hz since I omit the DA. How could this be? I wrote to YBA and they told me SRC is not applicable if I use as CD transport but my ears are telling me the obvious difference. At 192kHz indicated on the display, an expansive soundstage, a magnificent spacious 3D albeit slightly thinning of sound. That 192kHz had put the final nail in the coffin. The dealer told me he outsold YBA Heritage CD100 player, I grabbed his last unit and the new batch will see price up. Blame our weak currency.

Heritage CD100 in my system, O my God! noise floor dropped to a new level. The cleanliness has become my new pride. It helps a great deal to let the wholeness of harmonics permeate through, hearing more detail, longer decay, feeling more ambiance. The space grew in magnitude. Could it be a fresh pick len? Could it be a more accurate read? I am clueless. One thing I quite certain is a quieter transformer. A buzzing transformer? You can kiss the unit goodbye.

YBA tonal balance is vastly different from Marantz. Marantz comes with fuller mids and lows. French romance at work, more refined highs, shed off some body, more Q and dry bass. As such, the image is more pinpoint, more spacious sound field as if the crews had switched the lighting at back stage.


Conclusion
Today's audio has a peculiar polarization, entry level and high end. Middle kingdom is slowly becoming a vacuum. Audioing is not cheap no more like those days in 80s.

Quality is a repeatable standard regardless the locality of production, it is the attitude, it is the mindset. Some Chinese companies can produce good quality products too. Designed elsewhere and made in China is the way to go to beat the price. KEF LS50, Stereophile recommended class A component is an excellent globalisation example, BMC, TAD, YBA, XTZ, Audioquest, Tara Labs and many others too adopting this strategy.   

Get yourself to listen to French flavor for a change of taste. This is my last catch in 2013. French kiss of death, I am now RM5k+ short. Beware of the risk of French romance, don't blame me for not warning you. Happy New Year everyone.

Follow ups
My guests could tell the improvements brought by YBA, citing the higher resolution and darker background.