I've been demoing various power cables for a while, and this brief writeup covers those in the $1000* or less price range. The following are my notes, and preferences. I used each cable behind my phono stage (Emia D3a w/ silver Slagle SUT and silver AVC) and again behind my amplifier (Dartzeel NHB-108 model 1 w/ SCNP).
1. Zenwave PL. 11-guage w/ Furutech NCF connectors. $1200ish as configured, but can be had under $1000. Thanks @DaveC for the demo.
My favorite cable of the bunch, and really a great cable overall. Litz construction, super flexible and easy to manage. Most importantly, linear top to bottom. Very open, casting a yuge yet cohesive soundstage. Neither polite nor over-hyped. It can attack, or it can be soft depending on the source material. It doesn't sound like it's really there at all. Oh and did I say yuge soundstage? The best of this bunch in terms of extending beyond the outer boundaries of the speakers, and deep behind them. In fact, when I was doing an A/B between this and #4, it was startling at times going from #4 back to the PL as sounds would appear far off to the left or right of the speakers that just weren't there at all with #4. Nits: Slightly sweet timbre. Slightly lacking the resolve to extract the last bit of minutiae. Difficult to complain, though. Dave has something really good and really reasonably priced here.
2. DIY. Nanotech 308 cable with generic carbon fibre and rhodium connectors. I used Deoxit Pro Gold during assembly. Total cost was about $200 for a finished 1.5m cord. This is a 13.5mm OD cable that is very pliable. Not as pliable as the Zenwave PL, but very easy to deal with. Sound is excellent, besting many higher priced alternatives in my book. Definitely on the sweet side, but well balanced up and down the spectrum. Neither bright nor dark and good extension in both directions. Fast and dynamic, but not analytical. Open and airy, but a bit forward in its presentation. Nits: A little excitable on the leading edge. I prefer a less forward presentation. Takes FOREVER to break in. One month behind my wine fridge eventually did the trick. Overall a great cable for the price, but just not as refined as the Zenwave PL. There's a new Nanotech 309 which is 2x the price at $199/m for the wire, which I haven't tried yet. Darin says it's more refined, more smooth, and more detailed all at the same time. This could be scary good. Must try.
3. DIY. Furutech FP-S55N cable with same connectors as #2, and Deoxit Pro Gold. About $190/m MSRP for the wire. So about $350 to build a 1.5m cable. It's a stiffer cable that is not great in tight spaces or in making sharp turns. Sound-wise, I felt it to be a bit bass heavy and not as open and airy as #2. Good quality bass, though. But it definitely imparts a sound signature. Some will like it. It is probably slightly more detailed than #2, but for me less preferable overall.
4. Wywires Platinum. $1000 MSRP. Another litz wire, but couldn't be more different in personality from the Zenwave PL. Much less flexible too. The Wywires Platinum is all detail, all the time. However, I detected some grain with this cable that might be masquerading as enhanced detail. Take the sound of a guitar pick sliding across a textured string changing chords. This micro detail is very prominent with the Wywires. And I don't think this is "real" so to speak; it's certainly not natural sounding to me and no other cable I've heard does this. The Zenwave, comparatively, presents this same detail as a nuanced micro detail without the enhancement. The Wywires also doesn't have the soundstage cohesion that the Zenwave has. With the Wywires, you get this very analytical collection of point sources. Everything sounds somewhat constrained to a small area of the stage. Whereas with the Zenwave, the instruments just open up and bloom; decays fill the stage, and sometimes the room. So, overall, the Zenwave is clearly more "right" sounding in my system. I bought the Wywires used on Agon for a song, and haven't sold it yet. I may find a place for it in a second smaller/lesser system.
5. DIY. Furutech FP-3TS20 with the same connectors as #2. About $80/m for the wire MSRP. So, under $200 for a finished 1.5m cable. Sound: meh. More air than #3. But details, especially micro details, are starting to get harder to hear. Nothing to write home about. Why'd I even try this cable? Cause it was free.
6. Ching Cheng purchased from @ddk . $20. The only $20 power cable I've heard that doesn't suck the air out of the sound stage. Try a "hospital" cord or a Tripp Lite computer cord off Amazon, and you'll see. But for me, just too flat and dull with restricted frequency extremes and slow on the attack. "Neutral" is one way to describe it, but I wouldn't use that word. I'll use the word "restrictive" because that's how this one sounds to me. Perhaps this cable is one way to calm an overly energetic chain. But it is not my cup of tea.
7. High Fidelity Reveal $1299/m. I bought mine used for 50% of MSRP. The seller was moving up the line, and it's no wonder why. It was my least favorite cable of this bunch despite having the highest MSRP in the bunch. And "least favorite" is a euphemism. Something is just really wrong with the bass when this cable is plugged in to my phono. Bass gets terribly wooly - lacking impact, detail, everything. It's almost hard to explain. And, forget about using it behind the amp as it's even worse there. Overall, beyond the bass problems, I found this cable to sound congested, just plain dull in terms of macro or micro dynamics, and quite blunted on the leading edge. Maybe it was just a bad match for my system somehow. I'm just not sure how.
* In some cases, the sub-$1k price is achieved via the used market.
1. Zenwave PL. 11-guage w/ Furutech NCF connectors. $1200ish as configured, but can be had under $1000. Thanks @DaveC for the demo.
My favorite cable of the bunch, and really a great cable overall. Litz construction, super flexible and easy to manage. Most importantly, linear top to bottom. Very open, casting a yuge yet cohesive soundstage. Neither polite nor over-hyped. It can attack, or it can be soft depending on the source material. It doesn't sound like it's really there at all. Oh and did I say yuge soundstage? The best of this bunch in terms of extending beyond the outer boundaries of the speakers, and deep behind them. In fact, when I was doing an A/B between this and #4, it was startling at times going from #4 back to the PL as sounds would appear far off to the left or right of the speakers that just weren't there at all with #4. Nits: Slightly sweet timbre. Slightly lacking the resolve to extract the last bit of minutiae. Difficult to complain, though. Dave has something really good and really reasonably priced here.
2. DIY. Nanotech 308 cable with generic carbon fibre and rhodium connectors. I used Deoxit Pro Gold during assembly. Total cost was about $200 for a finished 1.5m cord. This is a 13.5mm OD cable that is very pliable. Not as pliable as the Zenwave PL, but very easy to deal with. Sound is excellent, besting many higher priced alternatives in my book. Definitely on the sweet side, but well balanced up and down the spectrum. Neither bright nor dark and good extension in both directions. Fast and dynamic, but not analytical. Open and airy, but a bit forward in its presentation. Nits: A little excitable on the leading edge. I prefer a less forward presentation. Takes FOREVER to break in. One month behind my wine fridge eventually did the trick. Overall a great cable for the price, but just not as refined as the Zenwave PL. There's a new Nanotech 309 which is 2x the price at $199/m for the wire, which I haven't tried yet. Darin says it's more refined, more smooth, and more detailed all at the same time. This could be scary good. Must try.
3. DIY. Furutech FP-S55N cable with same connectors as #2, and Deoxit Pro Gold. About $190/m MSRP for the wire. So about $350 to build a 1.5m cable. It's a stiffer cable that is not great in tight spaces or in making sharp turns. Sound-wise, I felt it to be a bit bass heavy and not as open and airy as #2. Good quality bass, though. But it definitely imparts a sound signature. Some will like it. It is probably slightly more detailed than #2, but for me less preferable overall.
4. Wywires Platinum. $1000 MSRP. Another litz wire, but couldn't be more different in personality from the Zenwave PL. Much less flexible too. The Wywires Platinum is all detail, all the time. However, I detected some grain with this cable that might be masquerading as enhanced detail. Take the sound of a guitar pick sliding across a textured string changing chords. This micro detail is very prominent with the Wywires. And I don't think this is "real" so to speak; it's certainly not natural sounding to me and no other cable I've heard does this. The Zenwave, comparatively, presents this same detail as a nuanced micro detail without the enhancement. The Wywires also doesn't have the soundstage cohesion that the Zenwave has. With the Wywires, you get this very analytical collection of point sources. Everything sounds somewhat constrained to a small area of the stage. Whereas with the Zenwave, the instruments just open up and bloom; decays fill the stage, and sometimes the room. So, overall, the Zenwave is clearly more "right" sounding in my system. I bought the Wywires used on Agon for a song, and haven't sold it yet. I may find a place for it in a second smaller/lesser system.
5. DIY. Furutech FP-3TS20 with the same connectors as #2. About $80/m for the wire MSRP. So, under $200 for a finished 1.5m cable. Sound: meh. More air than #3. But details, especially micro details, are starting to get harder to hear. Nothing to write home about. Why'd I even try this cable? Cause it was free.
6. Ching Cheng purchased from @ddk . $20. The only $20 power cable I've heard that doesn't suck the air out of the sound stage. Try a "hospital" cord or a Tripp Lite computer cord off Amazon, and you'll see. But for me, just too flat and dull with restricted frequency extremes and slow on the attack. "Neutral" is one way to describe it, but I wouldn't use that word. I'll use the word "restrictive" because that's how this one sounds to me. Perhaps this cable is one way to calm an overly energetic chain. But it is not my cup of tea.
7. High Fidelity Reveal $1299/m. I bought mine used for 50% of MSRP. The seller was moving up the line, and it's no wonder why. It was my least favorite cable of this bunch despite having the highest MSRP in the bunch. And "least favorite" is a euphemism. Something is just really wrong with the bass when this cable is plugged in to my phono. Bass gets terribly wooly - lacking impact, detail, everything. It's almost hard to explain. And, forget about using it behind the amp as it's even worse there. Overall, beyond the bass problems, I found this cable to sound congested, just plain dull in terms of macro or micro dynamics, and quite blunted on the leading edge. Maybe it was just a bad match for my system somehow. I'm just not sure how.
* In some cases, the sub-$1k price is achieved via the used market.
