Jones99 Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 On 19/01/2021 at 8:41 PM, Plasmod3 said: curious anyone want to buy sablon power cables? i have the king cables and have a few spares:-) msg me if you like Sent you a PM for more info
Jones99 Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 Isotek Ascension and Sablon .............thanks so much to @44maloo really appreciated for the opportunity to compare them in my system. 1
44maloo Posted January 22, 2021 Posted January 22, 2021 awesome hope there is plenty of beer in the fridge.
Kharma Audio Posted January 31, 2021 Author Posted January 31, 2021 @Jones99 has there been any opportunities for some listening sessions to compare the power cables?
Jones99 Posted February 1, 2021 Posted February 1, 2021 On 31/01/2021 at 8:12 PM, CremonaM said: @Jones99 has there been any opportunities for some listening sessions to compare the power cables? Sorry just seen this will put some thoughts down tomorrow.
Jones99 Posted February 2, 2021 Posted February 2, 2021 (edited) On 31/01/2021 at 8:12 PM, CremonaM said: @Jones99 has there been any opportunities for some listening sessions to compare the power cables? Been an interesting experiment for me. All of the cables were used on the DAC and transport Putting in the Evo3 Optimums on either the DAC or Transport the sound stage collapses a little and it definitely sounds like more haze is in the system compared to the Sablons and Ascensions. One should take in context Optimum is a very nice power cable. On my transport the Ascensions surpass the Optimums with a quieter background bigger sound stage and less hash with much more presence. Comparing Valhalla V2 to Ascension to each other on the transport is an interesting one. V2 on the transport and 2 Ascensions on the DAC the sound stage increases dramatically and there is a lot more detail ,tighter bass and air. With Ascension on the transport and V2/Ascension on the DAC the sound stage collapsed a little and there was loss of air and detail. The sound was more laid back .I had @teagle who knows my system quite well come around and have a listen, he confirmed my findings. Just seemed to reach into the music with more all round with V2 on transport and Ascensions on the DAC. I will get the opportunity to try another Valhalla V2 soon . Two Valhalla's V2's on DAC and Transport may be too much for my tastes as I prefer a more meaty natural sound but for someone who craves detail at all cost it may be exactly what they are after. Unless you try one never knows though........Odin 2 definitely worth a try as well and will do that soon The Sablons I had on loan were definitely a surprise. While I would not say they are completely right for my tastes they ticked a lot of my boxes for my preferences. If I can summarize the Sablons used on the DAC they seem to add weight ,realism and a relaxed presentation which are definitely traits I admire . Compared to Ascension I did appear to lose a little bass , clarity and focus. Definitely no right or wrong here and I could definitely live with either. As a final test I moved the Ascension to my Woofer towers. Valhalla V2 on transport and the Sablons on my DAC. This was my favorite combo by far. The music held its massive sound stage,detail,space and added more presence,weight ,naturalness. This combo I really enjoyed which has led me to pick up Sablons top power cable 2 X King Sablons for my DAC......looking forward to trying them out soon! While the power cable trialing has been fun,quite surprising and not quite complete next up I will be looking at isolation transformer systems......specifically Torus Power or similar. Hope the above helps Edited February 2, 2021 by Jones99 1
ppaul Posted February 2, 2021 Posted February 2, 2021 Interesting stuff indeed, I don’t think you’ll go wrong with the Torus products
Wayne Elliott Posted February 5, 2021 Posted February 5, 2021 @CremonaM My experience is Power Cables work best with good Power Conditioning.
Kharma Audio Posted March 21, 2021 Author Posted March 21, 2021 On 05/02/2021 at 12:38 PM, initforthemusic said: @CremonaM My experience is Power Cables work best with good Power Conditioning. Yes I totally agree! Ive since upgraded my Cawsey power box for an Isotek Evo3 Aquarius and has done wonders for my system. I’m also currently running 2 X Nordost QV2’s & 2 X QK1’s on the same power line that feeds my system which was an even better upgrade than the Isotek Evo3 Aquarius. 1
TerryO Posted March 22, 2021 Posted March 22, 2021 (edited) One of the best investments I had made in HiFi was the PS Audio P10 power regen several years ago, I recently updated it with a P15 and it was another step up. I also recently had dedicated power cables with their own fuses at the fuse box run to my listening rooms. Clean power along with proper room treatment are two of the most important things in HiFi even though both are often ignored. I’m presently going down the power cable upgrade path and it can get scary expensive, one thing that always concerns me though are the number of cables that are imported that do not have Australian compliance, they may and often do make a positive difference but what happens if something goes wrong and your left having to answer questions from your insurer or worse? This thread, I’m guessing in part because of no interruptions, has been a very interesting read, I hope it continues on. cheers, Terry Edited March 22, 2021 by TerryO 1
Gambit 1870 Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 4 hours ago, TerryO said: I’m presently going down the power cable upgrade path and it can get scary expensive, one thing that always concerns me though are the number of cables that are imported that do not have Australian compliance, they may and often do make a positive difference but what happens if something goes wrong and your left having to answer questions from your insurer or worse? I'm with Terry on this, I looked at some cables that a member recommended in another thread, I couldn't find any reference on Aussie certification so I contacted them. The reply went along the lines of we've never had any issues with the cables we've sold including hundreds in Australia, however our cables are not certified. I guess it's a case of buyer beware
Kharma Audio Posted March 23, 2021 Author Posted March 23, 2021 Definitely a valid point @TerryO Australian compliance & insurance! Often not even considered or discussed. To the seasoned Audiophile where sound quality matters above all else though this is mostly overlooked. If it’s from a reputable cable company though the quality of their products & how meticulously they are put together should give better confidence than a standard kettle cord hopefully! Back on the power conditioning side, did you previously have an Isotek product to compare to the PS audio P10 like where most begin the journey?
Gambit 1870 Posted March 23, 2021 Posted March 23, 2021 @CremonaM with respect, an insurance company won't care about reputation or qualities of their product, they will however care about compliance with the relevant Australian standard. 1
Kharma Audio Posted March 23, 2021 Author Posted March 23, 2021 Since Mid January after purchasing a Chord Signature Aray power cable, Ive been very happy with my power cables in the system and moved onto unit isolation & Ethernet switches which I know is another Hifi taboo topic for another thread I might start soon. But recently having the opportunity to upgrade my Chord signature Aray power cable (source cable which has been incredible as commented on above) with a Sarum T I just couldn’t resist! chasing the “live performance” + a true & natural tone with a high resolution benchmark, the Sarum T cable has, although briefly with 30+ hrs of playing time has so far been a revelation. Ultra high resolution & deadly accurate & fast picking up tiny background nuances playing out in the rear corner of a recording + a nice throaty vocal that has a lot more meat when compared to the signature power cable. As we all know, where there is resolution there has to be a trade off sometimes & in the early stages of the burn in, the brightness has appeared on not very well recorded tracks especially which luckily is diminishing the more hours the cable gets. I listened to the classic ‘Keith don’t go’ by Niles Lofgren and was floored with the tonal accuracy & guitar string note decay. Niles was in the room for sure! I also tried the Sarum T on my pre processor and again, vocal was the standout along with a deeper stage. As I used to have Sarum speaker cables, the big difference between the Sarum & Sarum T that I have noticed is both the extra but more accurate resolution + stage depth & air. I found the original Sarum to be two dimensional in comparison with the Sarum T.
Laura Edwards Posted May 9, 2021 Posted May 9, 2021 Hi I have just put a Cawsey power box in my system ( Cary 2A3, Robertson, Roksan, Oppo and Whatmough 211) the sound has more focus and clarity while extending the sound stage and depth. Taking it out this weekend to double check I am hearing thins and not imagining the change. will report later 1
Jones99 Posted May 10, 2021 Posted May 10, 2021 On 23/03/2021 at 9:25 PM, CremonaM said: Since Mid January after purchasing a Chord Signature Aray power cable, Ive been very happy with my power cables in the system and moved onto unit isolation & Ethernet switches which I know is another Hifi taboo topic for another thread I might start soon. But recently having the opportunity to upgrade my Chord signature Aray power cable (source cable which has been incredible as commented on above) with a Sarum T I just couldn’t resist! chasing the “live performance” + a true & natural tone with a high resolution benchmark, the Sarum T cable has, although briefly with 30+ hrs of playing time has so far been a revelation. Ultra high resolution & deadly accurate & fast picking up tiny background nuances playing out in the rear corner of a recording + a nice throaty vocal that has a lot more meat when compared to the signature power cable. As we all know, where there is resolution there has to be a trade off sometimes & in the early stages of the burn in, the brightness has appeared on not very well recorded tracks especially which luckily is diminishing the more hours the cable gets. I listened to the classic ‘Keith don’t go’ by Niles Lofgren and was floored with the tonal accuracy & guitar string note decay. Niles was in the room for sure! I also tried the Sarum T on my pre processor and again, vocal was the standout along with a deeper stage. As I used to have Sarum speaker cables, the big difference between the Sarum & Sarum T that I have noticed is both the extra but more accurate resolution + stage depth & air. I found the original Sarum to be two dimensional in comparison with the Sarum T. Taylon seems to look very similar to the material used on the Sablon bochinni plugs. Will try and track down the Sarum T to see if I can try it The Sablons Kings I purchased could not be used on my Select 2 Dac.....the Bochinni IECs are huge and will not fit due to the bevel on back of the Select 2 DAC....a real shame as I enjoyed the lower models. Have moved the Kings to Mephisto Solos. Quite a few more PC cables have come into the systems for trial .Recently acquired a Goebel Lacorde Statement PC (matches my existing XLRs and speaker cables )and also built a Furutech DPS4.1 with Furutech FI-50s connectors/plugs. Listening now so still too early to post thoughts. 1
MoveD Posted May 11, 2021 Posted May 11, 2021 11 hours ago, Jones99 said: ... and also built a Furutech DPS4.1 with Furutech FI-50s connectors/plugs. Listening now so still too early to post thoughts. I would like to hear you thoughts on this as I am thinking of doing the same. Is this worth doing? Has anyone else done this?
Jones99 Posted May 11, 2021 Posted May 11, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, MoveD said: I would like to hear you thoughts on this as I am thinking of doing the same. Is this worth doing? Has anyone else done this? Will do once I get a grip on what the DPS4.1 is contributing .....I will also try swapping plugs to see if this changes anything. I may also take some measurements using a Trifield meter and 879B BK precision LCR meter if I get around to it .....trying to see if I can identify specific characteristics to see why I seem to prefer certain power cables in my system Edited May 11, 2021 by Jones99 2
Kharma Audio Posted May 11, 2021 Author Posted May 11, 2021 I just love how much a power cable can improve / change a system (Not always better!) It’s actually quite profound. As my Sarum T has really settled in, I’m very impressed with how detailed & throaty the vocal has now become when the singers voice has those characteristics, such a realistic vocal from the depths of the belly. I have tried it on my AV Pre Processor also and has done the exact same thing with vocal giving a nice 3 dimensional realism drawing you into the movie or series so much more. On another note. I’ve also tried another Reference cable that was incredible for what it is capable of but just not for my system. I tested the Voodoo Air Tesla on my Naim power amp and even though my Cremona M speakers have incredible bass power, punch & authority the Air Tesla literally added 2 artificial subs to my system! This is a serious power cable for high current power amps if you are running bookshelf speakers or your towers speakers are missing a desired level of bass. For my system it just unbalanced the tonality making it way to bass heavy smothering the mids. https://voodoocable.net/product/air-tesla/ it appears to use a similar buss bar that the synergistic research SRX series uses. https://www.synergisticresearch.com/power/cords/ Although these power amp power cables can be seen to add monster amounts of bass, in some systems it may be a cheaper upgrade than bigger speakers or a bigger amp! 1
08Boss302 Posted May 11, 2021 Posted May 11, 2021 On 13/11/2020 at 9:15 AM, Bill125812 said: Peter Graves is a member here and runs Audio Principe Great guy to deal with and make a couple of different power cables. Very good indeed https://audioprincipe.com.au/australian-power-cables/premium-shielded-power-cable/ I can vouch for this, I grabbed one of Peters cables a few years back for my IA, was impressed so I went back and got one for my Tube Amp, AVR, DAC and also Oppo 205. Have not reconsidered my decision or had the devil on my shoulder suggest to try anything else since. 2
MattyW Posted May 11, 2021 Posted May 11, 2021 (edited) I was blown away by the difference the fake Accuphase 40th Anniversary power cables made going from my Furman AC210 AE to my power board, and from the power board to my DAC and 2x power amps. While there was an improvement on the source it was relatively minor in comparison to the gains found between the Furman and power board, and the power amps. Improved fine detail, body and fullness to the sound, darker background, improved dynamics. There really was no area that didn't improve. I was shocked as I really only changed cables as I'd run out of things to upgrade and they looked nice. I didn't actually expect an improvement as I had never been able to tell a difference in the past between various cables. Edited May 12, 2021 by MattyW 2
muon* Posted May 12, 2021 Posted May 12, 2021 (edited) Deleted as this cable that is not approved and is not being recommended, has caused too much confusion in this thread. Edited July 8, 2021 by muon*
DrMikeOz Posted May 12, 2021 Posted May 12, 2021 17 minutes ago, muon* said: I got a very noticeable improvement connecting my valve amp using the same cable as Matt mentions above, a lot more body and heft adding to a naturalness, the one connecting my CD Player made no discernible difference though. Is this the cable you mean @muon* - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/323265141568 ?
muon* Posted May 12, 2021 Posted May 12, 2021 (edited) Deleted as this cable that is not approved and is not being recommended, has caused too much confusion in this thread. Edited July 8, 2021 by muon*
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