Part of the excitement of being an audiophile is the fun derived from browsing online classifieds. Within our respective budgets, we can have so much fun examining the various listed equipment from the laptop on your lap in a lazy Sunday afternoon. So many times I was bent on acquiring yet another piece of gear, from DACs to loudspeakers, when my wife put a restraining hand on my shoulder just in time. Sometimes the more research and reading I do, the more I appreciate what I have. Still, the classifieds gave me ideas bountiful for further research excursions.

As much as I endeavor to remind my fellow Dagogoans that they should use their unique position in the trade to avail themselves of a broad spectrum of equipment to experience and review, I am beginning to realize that it is psychologically debilitating to not engage in serious equipment purchase once in a while. As a fully-credentialed member of our addictive audio pursuit, I feel it is appropriate to invest back in the industry we cover.

The one classified product category that I have not surveyed for some time is power cables. Considering that a power cable represents the last meter and a half or two in the miles of long, industrial utility lines that lead from the power company to our AC outlets, spending thousands of dollars on power cables can seem irrational and wasteful. But just like everything else in our hobby, listening is the ultimate determinant of whether a product deserves attention or not. On paper, the superior interface is supposed to preserve as much original information as possible while imparting minimal coloration to the sound. High-end AC cables should allow equipment to function at its optimum by providing the most pristine power possible. The waters are further muddied when different AC cable designs can be heard imparting differing sonics to the equipment they power.

Since the last time I published a review on a power cable, namely the Isoclean Super Focus & Supreme Focus in February 2007, I have auditioned no less than six power cables of various small and sometimes even unknown upstart operations. Some of these were designed and marketed by companies to complement their own amplifier or speaker lines, and some were primary products by specialty cable companies. While all sounded superior to generic power cords to widely varying degrees, these AC cables were all budget-priced and presented modest and inconsistent performances at best.

The comparison system I used featured three $2,300 Isoclean Super Focus power cables, two feeding a pair of Pass Labs XA100.5 monoblock amplifiers directly from the AC outlets, and one feeding the Audio Note DAC5 Special via the Isoclean $4,600 80A3 filter, in turn fed by their $4,400 Supreme Focus power cable. Besides the Isoclean products I also have several Combak Harmonix Studio Master and Granite Audio #560 power cables at my disposal. Even as I found myself reluctant to review yet another power cord, the press release of Furutech’s latest Piezo Powerflux power cable sent to me by Jonathan Scull of Scull Communications contained details unlike anything I had read from similar product offerings.

Being a sizeable operation in its own field, Furutech volunteers detailed information on its latest power cable for public examination, a most confident gesture as to be rare among its competitions. The Powerflux press release provides the following:

“Furutech Powerflux conductors are 68-strand α (Alpha) OCC strands with a special-grade PE insulation or dielectric. (Alpha conductors are fine OCC wire treated with Furutech™ Alpha Cryogenic and Demagnetizing process.) The dielectric is surrounded by an inner sheath of RoHS-compliant PVC incorporating carbon powder that enhances damping, and that in turn is covered by a full α (Alpha) conductor wire braid shield. Another flexible PVC outer sheath and a Nylon braid jacket finish the job.

The extraordinary FI-50 series connectors are a result of the meticulous way that Furutech engineers examine and improve each and every element of signal transfer using breakthrough technologies to reach their Pure Transmission Technology goal.

Furutech™ beautifully-finished FI-50(R) IEC and FI-50M(R) Piezo Ceramic series connector housings are made of multiple layers of carbon fiber in a damping and insulating acetal copolymer, surrounded by nonmagnetic stainless steel bands. The connector bodies combine two “active” materials: Nano-sized ceramic particles and powdered carbon. Nylon and fiberglass are incorporated as well forming an extremely effective, mechanically and electrically nonresonant connector body that may just be the most sophisticated in the world.”

One technology that stands out from the others incorporated into the new Furutech power cable but not mentioned in the press release is the Ground Jumper System, now called the Floating Field Damper to better describe its function. According to Scull Communications, Furutech’s U.S. public relations firm:

“Current flowing through a cable and its connector creates magnetic (and electrostatic) fields around them, building and collapsing 60 times per second in 120VAC systems. This magnetic field induces current flow — electrical potential — in small parts like the screws hoding the connector shell together which have to be metal for tight clamping. The current flow in these small parts actually creates ‘floating’ magnetic fields around them, and they interfere with the cable/connector’s larger surrounding magnetic field resulting in noise and distortion.”

“The Furutech Floating Field Damper solves the biggest problem you never realized you had by star grounding themetal parts in which floating magnetic fields are induced by current flow. As represented in the images below, a precisely engineered, spring metal bridge in the connector body ties the various metal parts together and shunts whatever electrical potentials generated to ground. This significantly lowers noise by reducing distortion for ultra-clean and stable power transfer.”

Scot Markwell of Elite AV Distribution, Furutech’s U.S. Distributor, and Jonathan Scull each sent a Piezo Powerflux to me to facilitate a more complete user experience. My gratitude toward these two gentlemen for their gracious consideration.

The first Piezo Powerflux was assigned to the Audio Note DAC5 Special, and was at first auditioned without the second Powerflux in the system. Replacing the Isoclean Super Focus, which made the tube DAC less tube-like with increased dynamic contrasts and spectral extensions, the Furutech Piezo Powerflux provided not as pronounced an improvement in dynamic contrast and spectral extension as a more pristine portrayal of soundstaging dimensionality and instrument tonality.

Take the JVC XRCD Dotou Banri disc by the group Ondekoza, for example, in track 5 “Yuki no Ashita (Snowy Morning)” which depicts a lone flutist treading in snow, the solemn mood amplified by the overlooking taiko drum. With the Isoclean SF powering the DAC5 Special, I was gratified to hear how the DAC could be transformed. On top of the level of gentleness that so many tube aficionados would pay thousands to have in a digital source, there was a force and punctuality no DAC I have heard, tube or solid-state, has managed heretofore in my experience. Via the Furutech, the presence of the flute was startling, with more ambience cues and low-level details than the Isoclean or any power cord I have used below $4,200.

The Furutech’s presentation of piano solo playing was an altogether finer and richer portrayal of the stringed instrument’s intrinsic tonal makeup. When comparing the two digital recordings of the Chopin Ballades, one a 1999 Evgeny Kissin RCA Victor Red Seal redbook CD recorded in 20-bit, the other a 2004 hybrid SACD by the same company but remastered from a 1959 recording by the quintessential Chopinist Arthur Rubinstein via the DSD remastering process, the Furutech presented not the punchy dynamics of the Isoclean, sounding slightly softer on attacks and transitions, yet the overall effect was one of superior microdynamic rendition and a more continuous presentation. By contrast, the Isoclean fell short on the revelation of the harmonics as accorded by the Furutech. Essentially, the DAC5 Special sounded as if it was on steroids when powered by the Isoclean, putting forth stronger spectral extensions and dynamic contrasts, while the Furutech was feeding the DAC5 Special with vitamins and nutrients to make it work more smoothly, bringing out the best of the machine in its most original form, but with richer details and better harmonic information.

In a most unreal aspect, this ability of the Furutech to bring out the deeper tonality of recorded instruments was almost the equal of Isoclean’s $4,200 Supreme Focus. To be fair, the Supreme Focus combined the million-dollar attributes of the Audio Note DAC5 Special in its beautiful tonality and powerful dynamics with the Pass Labs XA100.5 monoblocks’ high-precision spatial and textural makeup, thus injecting a system with finesse and force. The Furutech came closer to the $4,200 competition than all other cables I have auditioned for less than half the cost.

It was the combined workings of the two Piezo Powerflux cables in the Audio Note DAC5 Special and the Pass Labs X0.2 preamplifier system (3 chassis) that captured unequivocally the incredible nuances of the two machines working in tandem. Within the abundance of details that flowed from the DAC5 Special were super dynamics and dazzling tonalities that the two power cables were purveying onward to the X0.2, as was evident later most delicately by the preamplifier as well. It was as if a new level of communication was established between the source and the preamplifier because of the Furutechs.

It was thus interesting to see how the Furutechs also assumed duty in feeding the aforementioned Pass Labs monoblocks to satisfactory but not consummating performances. With the Furutech cords, the monoblocks did become more accomplished-sounding, with richer musicality and spatiality, giving the reproduction of solo instruments an additional degree of listener involvement not heard from the Isoclean Super Focus. A deeper tonal sophistication was conjured up from the XA100.5’s by the Furutech cords in the Master Music label’s XRCD24 disc Touching Folklore Music Masterpiece, in which the monoblocks’ newfound ability to hone in the beautiful tonal characteristics of the guitar absolutely captivated me. Piano aside, the sound of the guitar is perhaps the most prevalent in our collective memory, and yet I haven’t heard a guitar sounding so magnetic in texture and rich in spatial attributes as with the Furutech cables installed. I want to know what guitar Mr. Suzuki used for the recording.

However, the advantage of the Furutech’s in driving the Pass Labs at once receded in comparison with the Isoclean Super Focus, especially where driving the Rockport Mira Grand II loudspeaker system is concerned, although the Isoclean could not compare with the Furutech in powering the DAC5 Special and X0.2.

Whereas the comparably priced Isoclean would induced the most contrasting dynamics from the monoblocks, the Furutech cables went their own way in persistently retrieving low-level details and complex tonal shadings from the amplifiers. With the two Furutech Piezo Powerflux, the monoblocks sounded a little cleaner and more harmonically coherent, but not as muscular and vivid as what the two Isoclean Super Focus always made them sound. I suppose with such power, I really ought not seek more muscle from the Pass Labs but more finesse and infinitesimally layered sound as found via the Furutech cables. Still, for the majority of readers, unless your speakers ultra-efficiency and sound explosive on a 3-watt amplifier, hence rendering the case for using the Isoclean Supreme Focus moot, I will delegate the Isoclean to feeding hungry amplifiers of real-world speakers and the Furutech Piezo Powerflux as the perfect companion for source equipment. For readers not using a preamplifier, perhaps the colossal investment in the $4,200 Isoclean Supreme Focus for the digital player would be most rewarding; but for the rest of us requiring a preamplifier, investing in two of the Furutech Piezo Powerflux cables will yield sonic dividends that are still more affordable than the one Isoclean. Recommended.

As for myself, I continue to receive power cables from companies that just wanted a comment or two from me, and the Furutech experience reaffirmed what I have been feeling all along: Power cables of competent designs are abundant, while those of solid technological content, superior workmanship and groundbreaking performance are few and far between. I await the next power cable design that will excite me the way the Furutech did.

The post Furutech Piezo Powerflux Power Cable Review appeared first on Dagogo.

Jorma Design is a small Swedish company that manufactures loudspeaker cables and interconnects at a variety of price points. The Jorma cables utilize very high purity copper wire, non colored Teflon dielectric, WBT Nextgen silver connectors and in some instances Bybee Quantum Purifiers. All are handmade and evidence a level of fit and finish that would not be out of place in a top quality German automobile. The Prime interconnects and speaker wires are Jorma’s statement products. They were initially shown at the 2006 CES as part of a Swedish Statement System that also featured the Martin Coltrane Supreme speakers.

The Jorma Prime differ from other Jorma products in their use of 99.999999% pure copper,as a conductor, the use of the Bybee Slipstream Golden Quantum Purifiers encased in a non-resonant walnut enclosure, and in their geometry and shielding. The material used to separate the conductors is a special, ultra thin ceramic glass fiber. Inside the conductors are hundreds of these fibers. The conductors, tiny high purity copper or gold threads, are wound in parallel around these fibers. The conductor therefore forms a tube that has a thickness of 0.1 mm. As Jorma points out in their literature, a hollow tube would be even better but is not practical in normal use. These cables also employ sophisticated shielding which rejects radio frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI) and stabilizes the cables against vibration and microphonics. The shield is heavily braided, tin plated copper that works very effectively in conjunction with the special geometry conductors to reject incoming RFI and EMI.

In reviewing/listening to cables, it is natural for the ear to focus primarily on tonal balance, whether light or dark, ying or yang. To do this is to severely limit the comparison. A number of other aspects of the sound are equally impacted by the choice of cables: phase accuracy, leading edge, timing, dynamics, harmonics, distortion mechanisms, etc. Perhaps even more importantly, resolution. There is a common misconception that more detail means thinner, sharper or more intrusive in sonics while less detail might go hand in hand with a warmer, smoother sound. This is certainly not the case with Jorma Prime cables which are significantly more detailed than with other cables that I have tried, but at the same time warmer and more liquid than, say, Nordost Valhalla. The enhanced resolution is at all frequencies and not at some narrow band of frequencies that has been elevated.

I am always somewhat suspicious when another reviewer claims that the insertion of a single piece of interconnect transforms the sound of their system and that subsequent substitutions of the “magic cable” result in noticeable but less significant improvement. Nonetheless, I did start with a single piece of the Prime which I tried in various locations and then added one piece of interconnect at a time until all interconnects in the signal path were Prime. Separately, I inserted a single length of the Prime speaker wire into the system, then added additional pairs until the system was tri-wired with Prime speaker wire. In another listening session, I was able to compare the Prime against the Valhalla speaker wire and against the lower priced Jorma No. 1 speaker wire. While the results were predictable, they did suggest that when replacing cables in an existing system, there was a clear order in which cables should be replaced. The single most significant improvement came with replacing the speaker wire which was roughly equivalent in magnitude to changing all the interconnects in the signal path. Changing the interconnect from the source to the preamp also made a greater difference than changing the interconnect between the preamp and the amp, although each was dramatic. In a situation where the speakers benefit from bi-amping, replacing jumpers with a second run of Prime speaker wire was also clearly audible but less dramatic than the initial run to the speakers.

There is also an additive effect, particularly with respect to changing out all interconnects in the signal path as well as speaker wire so that the entire signal path from source to speaker is cabled with Prime. This is equal in impact to changing out the cabling from the preamp to the amp. I am tempted to say that any other wire in the signal path obscures to some degree what the Prime is doing. Given that the cost of changing out two pairs of interconnect is roughly equivalent to changing out the speaker wire, I would suggest beginning with the source to the preamp and changing that first, followed by the preamp to the amp, and then the speaker wire.

I compared the Prime to a number of other cables, including the William E. Low Reference, Audioquest Sky, Jorma No. 1 and Aural Symphonics. The comparison with Nordost Valhalla was quite telling. I have always had great respect for Valhalla’s speed, extreme bandwidth and detail/resolution but have shied away from using it in my system because of its tonal balance which has always seemed a bit thin and lacking in the midbass and a touch aggressive at the top. The Prime in comparison seems like an ideal mix of the Valhalla’s strengths, but with more body, a better foundation in the lower frequencies and an extended, but less aggressive top-end. The Jorma retains all the air and sparkle of the Nordost but with increased resolution and enhanced leading edge definition. They are more musical, more dynamic and quieter. By quieter, I mean that sounds emerge from a blacker background.

I have noticed that “blacker background”, particularly with respect to power cords, often means that all low-level sounds whether musical detail or noise are equally attenuated, so that the end result is less resolution which often manifests itself as a loss of ambience and low-level detail. In other words, the loss of those things which tend to make a performance sound more like a live event. In the case of the Primes, the attenuation of EMI/RFI is not at the expense of the loss of musical information. The Primes are by a considerable degree the most resolving cables that I have used. By the same measure, they are also the lowest in noise. Dynamic shading is also considerably better on the Primes. This is particularly evident at the soft end of the spectrum. Bass has more power without being overblown. The Prime also does an excellent job of capturing the sound of struck instruments, favoring neither the initial strike nor the reverberant tail. Voices are more real, more fully fleshed out and contain more of those subtle details that suggest to the brain that you are listening to a live performer in a reverberant space. Lyrics are easily intelligible.

In comparison to the Aural Symphonics Chronos, the Prime was voiced differently. The Jorma has a natural warmth and richness in the upper bass through the lower treble that gives a very realistic body to stringed instruments. Struck instruments have both air and articulation. Size and placement of instruments on the stage is quite believable. The Jorma is virtually perfect in the midrange. Struck bells have somewhat more presence on the Aural Symphonics but suffer from a slight thinness not present with the Jorma. While the Aural Symphonics does an excellent job of separating the voices in a massed choir, the Jorma is equally discerning but again richer and somewhat better at catching the interplay of different voices, and more emotionally revealing. The AS is equal to the Jorma in recreating ambience but has a slight edge or bite, actually more of a brass-like sheen. The reedy sound of a saxophone is a touch more prevalent on the AS than the Jorma.

With respect to the William E. Low (Audioquest) Reference versus the Prime, the Audioquest has a more prominent upper bass/lower midrange. This is particularly evident in the sound of a bow drawn across the strings of a violin, viola or cello. The Prime has significantly better leading edge definition and is much faster, with the AQ sounding a bit slow and soft in comparison. Staging and depth are very natural on both. To the extent that the AQ has a weakness in comparison to the Jorma, it is in ambience retrieval and top-end extension. In particular, the top-end of the WEL is comparatively soft or rolled off. The resulting sound is euphonic and less accurate subjectively.

Conclusion

The Prime provides a level of resolution, refinement and clarity that in my experience embarrasses every other cable which I have tried in my system. This, combined with a natural warmth and richness in the upper bass through the lower treble, gives a very realistic body to stringed instruments and voices. It has an ability to convey the richness and warmth of live, unamplified music without sacrificing detail or articulation. Percussion is also very well served, preserving leading edge but not at the expense of truncating the reverberant tail. Size and placement of instruments on the stage is quite believable. The stage created has nice width and depth perspective. Depth is layered. Image focus and edge definition are again excellent.
These parameters are also extremely software dependent. The cable itself does not seem to impose a particular acoustic on the music played. Instead, the nature of the piece of music, the recording venue and the manner in which it was recorded dictate the size of the stage. An orchestra performing a large scale work will occupy the full width of my room extending far to the outside of the speakers, and depth will seem to push the back wall into the yard. With respect to more intimate works, the stage will appear much smaller. Not every CD or record has an expansive stage or incredible depth. In general, well recorded instruments are surrounded by a blanket of air and appear three-dimensional with believable body cavities.

This is a cable that gets the midrange right. Baritone, as well as massed female voices, are well served. If this cable sacrifices anything, it may be some extension in the top most octave; however, the cables with which I am familiar that have a bit more extension at the top are also plagued by various amounts of what I would term a metallic shade. Likewise, it may exhibit slightly less power in the lowest octaves than some competing cables although this is not really a lack of extension. In my system, I find the Jorma Prime’s reproduction of the bottom two octaves to be almost perfect. The Primes are more musically “right”, more truthful and less fatiguing than any competing product with which I am familiar, and infuse musical performances with a degree of liveliness and energy that suggests the real thing.

This cable also handles dynamics well. It can play loud, but more importantly given its low noise floor, it does an excellent job of differentiating shifts in volume at the softest end of the dynamic spectrum. To the extent that the Primes have a negative, it is clearly the elevated price. While the Primes are expensive, they sound better than most, if not all, cables that cost even more—sometimes significantly more. Not surprisingly, Jorma’s less expensive cables bear an unmistakable family resemblance to the Prime, and stand in a similar relation to the competition.

Postscript

Shortly after I had finished the initial review of the Jorma Prime interconnect and speaker wire, Dan Meinwald, the importer, contacted me to let me know that Jorma had a new Prime product. My initial response was of dismay, thinking that the months spent listening might be invalidated by a new Prime product. As it turned out, the “new” product was an AC power cord which supplements the existing cables, and resembles the interconnets.
I immediately launched into a series of listening sessions, comparing the Prime power cord against others that I have on hand: First those which do not incorporate Bybee technology, such as the Nordost Valhalla and Isoclean, then switching to cords which did incorporate Bybee modules, such as the latest Tweek Geek (incorporating ebony encased Bybees and plugs) and Bybee’s own cables (various versions all using the latest SE technology). While I have no desire to bore you with extended comparisons, I can say that on instruments like the saxophone and double bass, their sound with the Prime AC was more detailed, more resonant, and more tonally and harmonically complex. As one listener commented, the sax was more expressive and did a much better job of conveying rhythm and emotion. Voices were also particularly well served.

In comparison to the best of the cords incorporating Bybee SE modules, the Primes had more presence and detail, somewhat less bass (particularly with respect to the Tweek Geek cords) but much better control in the bass. Most importantly, the Prime AC gets the midrange right. It also handles dynamics well and has an extremely low noise floor.

Not surprisingly, the Jorma Prime AC cord is consistent in approach to their interconnects and speaker wire and enhances their effectiveness.

The post Jorma Prime Interconnect and Speaker Cable Review appeared first on Dagogo.

I’ve waited an extended period of time to write this review about the five months when I have now had the four LessLoss DFPC Signatures in my system. During that time, I’ve had plenty of opportunity not only to evaluate the DFPC Signatures and compare them to other PCs, including the original DFPCs, but also to evaluate their performance in conjunction with the DFPC Firewall and ruminate on how power affects the performance of audio (and video) systems.

Is the Quality of Your Power More Important Than, Say,
The Quality of Your Preamp?
As time has gone on, I’ve moved the aspects of power and power conditioning up on my list of most important factors that must be addressed before a system achieves true musicality. In experiments over the last two years with a wide range of both mid-fi and high-end equipment, I’ve consistently been able to attain equal or greater performance from mid-fi systems powered by superb power cords than the performance of high-end equipment with merely good power cords. Let me illustrate. Several years ago I used a Proceed HPA-3 power amp to drive my speakers, a specially-modded Pioneer Elite DV-38 as my source and a Sony EP9ES digital preamp/outboard HT processor as my preamp/DAC. I discontinued this system because it sounded too electronic, too sibilant and a bit bloated in the bass. However, I kept those components and used the HPA-3 to drive the center and rear speakers and the Sony as the outboard HT processor in my home theater setup. Out of curiosity, I pulled those components out of the home theater system and set them up as their own 2-channel audio system, but powered them through my dedicated circuitry using upgraded power cords and high-end power conditioner. I was somewhat surprised to find that they sounded quite good – much better than how they sounded way back then plugged into non-dedicated outlets with average power cords. If they had sounded this way four years ago, I might not have felt such a need to upgrade. The worst aspects of the system were eliminated, and system aspects that I had thought were average came to sound pretty good.

My experimentation has included dedicated circuits (three for my listening room running from their own wall panel), high power circuits (separate 20-amp circuits to feed extremely high-power monoblocks), upgraded wall outlets (Walker, Wattgate and Synergistic Research Tesla) and after-wall power conditioning (PS Audio, Nordost Thor, Audience Adept Response, Monster, the excellent Walker Velocitor and my own preferred LessLoss Firewall – see below). I have yet to experiment with the effects of upscale circuit breakers and isolation transformers, but I don’t doubt that I could obtain even further improvements from such devices. The main point is that power really matters, and we’ve reached a point where we have a wide choice of products that are designed to address this fact.

My Experience With LessLoss

You should know that I’ve been a fan of the original LessLoss DFPC and replaced all my Silent Source power cords (which are superb power cords that I absolutely continue to recommend) with the DFPCs. The Silent Source PCs themselves replaced a fairly substantial line of prior cords I had in my system: Nordost Brahmas and Valhallas, Z-Cable (now Clarity Cable) Cyclones, Transparent Reference Power Links, PS Audio Statement and Premier SC, and the Bybee Power Cord (earlier version). I freely admit that, insofar as power cords go, it’s become difficult to separate my personal tastes from my analytical side. I will describe the “objective” qualities of the DFPC Signatures, but you might as well know up front that they fit my personal musical tastes perfectly. It’s up to you to determine whether I’m writing a positive review because they produce the type of sound I like, or whether I love them because they are objectively that good.

The Original DFPC and the Firewall

As a reference point, it would be useful to refer back to my August 2008 Dagogo review of the original DFPCs. A key conclusion I reached at that time was that unlike many other high-end PCs, the DFPC did not have any one particular quality that distinguished it from others – it was simply a bit better across the board, and much less expensive. Comparing it to my Silent Source PCs:

“… I found that the LessLoss Dynamic Filtering Power Cable was more extended both in the treble and in the bass – not by much, but it was clearly so. And it wasn’t just more extended in a vague way. It was also more resolving at the extremes, all while bringing out the body and dynamics of the music in the way that made me really like the Signatures. This was a cable that had it all: body, speed, dynamics, microdynamics, bass and treble extension, absence of glare, etc.”

I thought that the across-the-board strengths of the DFPC made it sound incredibly natural. I bought DFPCs for my entire system and subsequently acquired a LessLoss Firewall power conditioner and extended the benefits of the all-DFPC system even further. I found that the Firewall multiplied what the DFPC did on its own (see my April, 2009 review). A few months later I couldn’t help myself and acquired two more Firewalls so that I had one for my front-end and one each for my power amps. (See my companion article about the effect of three Firewalls in my system.)

Enter the DFPC Signature

I received four DFPC Signatures for review. I used them in multiple configurations, substituting at different times original DFPCs, a PS Audio Statement, Silver Audio Wattmasters, and a Kimber Digital One. Each configuration produced, in one degree or another, the effects described in the next section. So you can get a sense of the variety of uses, here is a summary of the sequence of configurations I tried.

I first applied the four DFPC Signatures exclusively in configurations feeding my front-end. The first front-end configuration in which I used the DFPC Signatures was between the LessLoss Firewall and four front-end components. This was usually an Esoteric P-70/D-70 transport/DAC combo, an MBL 6010D preamp and the Lyngdorf RP-1 digital room correction device. However, I also inserted a Marantz DV8300 and a Qsonix Q105 Music Server (review to come). Under the original scenario, an original DFPC was used to connect the Firewall to a dedicated 15-amp circuit and the four DFPC Signatures were used directly on the front-end components. I then proceeded to try variations of this scenario: I switched the original DFPC connected to the wall with the DFPC Signature connected to the MBL preamp; I substituted a PS Audio Statement for the original DFPC in the wall and later the original DFPC attached to the preamp; I substituted a Silver Audio Wattmaster in several different feeds; I swapped a JPS Labs Digital One in the digital components; etc., etc.

After several weeks I acquired a second Firewall, so I removed my existing Firewall from the front-end components and used both Firewalls between separate 20 amp circuits and my monoblocks using original DFPCs (oh my!). This meant that there were four DFPC Signatures now plugged directly into the 15 amp circuit that fed the front-end.

After two more months I acquired a third Firewall and inserted it into the front-end and repeated much of my first round of experiments.

Finally, I used the four DFPC Signatures by placing two between my monoblocks and the two Firewalls feeding them, and two between the Esoteric D-70 and the Lyngdorf RP-1 and the Firewall feeding them.

Exhausted, I decided it was time to write the review.

The Results

Every configuration I tried with the DFPC Signatures resulted in obvious improvements over every other power cord I had on hand, and to the extent my memory is reliable, to every power cord I’ve ever had in my system at any time, owned or demo’d, at any price range. As I mentioned above, some of these were very pricey cords, up to $3,000 per 2-meter cord. The first set of comparisons was of the DFPC Signature to the original DFPC.

Compared to the original DFPCs, the Signatures produce a wider and deeper soundstage, with improved performer placement, including “air” around each performer. The Signatures are also more extended at both the top- and bottom-ends without changing the overall balanced sound that the DFPCs produced. Furthermore, the bass weight became the most realistic I’ve heard – clean, detailed and chest-thumping when called for, but without calling undue attention to itself on pieces that are meant to be dominated by the mids and treble (ever hear a subwoofer set at too high a volume?). Detail improved even more, again without calling undue attention to itself. Instead, each additional detail had its rightful place in the overall performance.

Notwithstanding those clear improvements, the even more gratifying aspect was the reproduction of instrumental timbre, which I compared directly to live grand piano and violin (I have 2 family members who each play one of those instruments). This ability to reproduce the nuances of timber put things over the top, achieving that elusive quality of “musicality”. Musicality means many things to many people. Some seem to use it when they encounter a system that doesn’t sound artificially reproduced. My definition goes a bit beyond that. “Musicality” is the word I use when I can suspend reality and have the clear sense of being at the recoding or concert. It is the reproduction of music in a way that is so natural that you absolutely and completely ignore the equipment.

Over the course of the next three weeks I started substituting other power cords that I had on hand. Substituting the PS Audio Premier SC for a DFPC Signature at any place in the system resulted in a shrinking of the soundstage’s width and depth and added some emphasis to the bass. After careful listening, I concluded that the additional bass emphasis was artificial and negatively affected the balance of the presentation. Substituting the JPS Labs Digital One for the DFPC Signature at the input of any digital component was like adding several veils to the music. Substituting the Silver Audio PCs resulted in loss of extension in both the upper and lower ends and shrunk the soundstage. An inexpensive proprietary power cord provided by Ian Grant of Grant Fidelity was surprising in its overall balance and glare-free upper extension, but couldn’t come close on bass or soundstaging. I could elaborate on further nuances and give you a more complete description of the differences, but the advantages of the DFPC Signatures were so obvious it would be pointless. I was able to easily demonstrate the DFPC Signature’s superiority to visiting non-audiophiles, all of whom preferred the DFPC Signature without hesitation. In fact, the only cables that came close were the original DFPCs. They performed better in my system than any of the other cables, but they were clearly bested in all respects by the DFPC Signatures.

Conclusion

I don’t know if the DFPC Signature is the best power cord out there. I’ve not tried the best from Isoclean, Furutech, Shunyata, Kimber or Tara or heard the Nordost Odin or Silent Source Music Reference. Furthermore, system synergy beats a mindless assemblage of all-star components 9 times out of 10, and there are always a variety of PCs with the synergy to improve your system. All it takes is to figure out which works the best. However, there are reasons why the DFPC Signature is a no-lose proposition for any serious audiophile who’s looking for a top power cord. First, the DFPC Signature’s extremely balanced strengths will likely improve several aspects of system performance at once. It isn’t just superb in doing one or two things – it does everything well, whether detail, extension, transparency, performer placement, soundstage depth and width, PRAT, etc.

The second reason is comparative value. In my review of the original LessLoss DFPC I indicated that “it is a product that would typically fit in the $1,200 to $2,000 range but which sells for $569 on the LessLoss website, including shipping”. Well, the DFPC Signature is a product that would typically fit in the $2,000 to $3,000 range but which sells for $1,150 on the LessLoss website, including shipping. This is still a lot of money, and I’m not going to insult your intelligence by pretending it’s not. But if you want to take a shot at a serious upgrade, but simply can’t afford (or maybe justify) $4,000, $5,000 or even $7,000 for two power cords, $2,022 (discount for 2) will, for example, get you a pair of DFPC Signatures for your CD player and integrated amp that will likely make those two components sound like they both got much more expensive upgrades.

The DFPC Signature is a serious contender for top power cord available at any price. Even if you later find something you like better you will likely want to keep it for some other component or system. Highly recommended.

Manufacturer’s Comment:

Thank you to Constantine Soo and Ed Momkus of Dagogo for these articles on the DFPC Signatures and the Firewall power conditioner. I look forward to further collaboration with Ed Momkus regarding the exciting new Blackbodys and other future projects.

We have made considerable progress and are well on the way to fine-tuning the sleek design of the new Firewall, approximately 9 cm x 9 cm x 33 cm. Instead of oak, we are using polished Tankwood, (also called Panzerholz) a high tech multi-layered and extremely densely compressed wood, which sinks in water. Our research has led us to investigate this material not only because it is bullet-proof, but because it has among the best acoustic resonance damping characteristics known, and is therefore used for the chassis of F-1 cars. Also of interest is its use as a neutron shield in nuclear research. Most important, however, is the sound, which we are finishing the fine-tuning of.

Regards,

Louis Motek

LessLoss Audio Devices

www.LessLoss.com

The post LessLoss Dynamic Filtering Power Cable Signature Review appeared first on Dagogo.

Inevitably, the choices made by a cable designer, conductor type, dielectric, spacing, geometry and shielding, and how these are balanced, determine the electrical properties and thus the cable’s sound. Stage III Concepts has been designing and meticulously hand crafting audio cables since 1996. My initial experience with their cabling was the purchase of one of their “Heighliner” power cords about ten years ago. At the time it represented the top of their AC product line. Its massive conductor array and extremely low resistance made it a natural partner for high powered transistor amplifiers, while its ability to lower the noise floor and deal with EMI and RFI made it an excellent choice for source components. During the intervening period, Stage III further refined their technology. The result of that effort was first the A.S.P. Reference Zyklop power cable and more recently the A.S.P. Reference Minotaur power cable. The Minotaur was designed at the request of customers who wanted the excellent sound of the Zyklop in a more compact, flexible cable at a lower price.

Technology

Both power cables utilize flat, solid core, pure silver wire whose edges have been carefully tapered to reduce the portion of the wire that comes in contact with the insulating tube in which the ribbons are mounted. The conductors are made exclusively for Stage III using an ultra-slow, temperature-controlled wire extrusion process that minimizes crystal grain boundaries and stresses within the metal. After extrusion, they are subjected to controlled cryogenic treatment, where a temperature of -300 F is maintained for 48 hours. All other connectors and terminations undergo the same cryogenic tempering process. While the Minotaur employs six palladium/silver alloy AeroStrand Ultra™ conductors (2.5mm x 0.55mm) for each polarity in a tubular helix geometry which utilizes an air dielectric with FEP Teflon air-tubes, the Zyklop employs eight. The massive conductor arrays allow these unique cables to have extremely low resistance. The plus/minus twisted pair geometry is very effective in reducing induced noise and lowers both capacitance and strand interaction. The cables are shielded from outside interference with a proprietary foil plus silver plated copper braid, with individually protected ground, positive and negative conductors. The construction is multi-layer with a silica/ceramic/ferrite mechanical damping/shielding layer. The shield is never used as a signal conductor.

All Stage III power cords, except the entry level Vortex, are now terminated with Exclusive Hyperion Ceramic plugs with silver/copper alloy electrical contacts, palladium plated and cryo-treated, with Custom handmade polymer-filled, carbon fiber plug housings (custom made by Stage III Concepts). Prior to these new ceramic plugs, the company had used the best available from other major manufactures. According to the company, in a direct comparison, substitution of the new Hyperion ceramic plugs resulted in about a thirty percent improvement in the sound of the cable. A Minotaur with the new ceramic plugs actually outperformed the more expensive Zyklop with the older industry standard plugs.

Methodology

The Minotaur was subjected to a fairly lengthy break-in on a cable cooker prior to any listening tests; thereafter, it was installed in my reference system at various points in place of the power cords which I normally use and with which I am intimately familiar. Once I had familiarized myself with the sound in my system, I moved theMinotaur to a second system owned by a local audiophile where with a small number of friends, I proceeded to compare the Minotaur to a number of other well respected AC cables. We had determined in previous listening sessions in a third system that the location where a power cord seemed to have the greatest effect was running from the wall, namely via an Oyaide R-1 duplex to the Bybee Curl AC line filter which provided power to the system’s source components. This was clearly not the case in the second system which used a Weizhi in place of the Bybee. (See also Ed Momkus’ Weizhi PRS-6 Review. –Ed.) While the cord from the wall to the Weizhi made an audible difference, the cord running from the Weizhi to the component made a much larger difference. Each amp was plugged separately into its own dedicated line, again using R-1′s. We had a sufficient number of cords to one-by-one change out of most of the cords in the system. As discussed below this allowed us to determine where the substitution made the most difference, as well as the additive effect of adding additional cables to the system.

We also had a number of other cords which we could insert for comparison. Although this methodology yielded consistent results, it did have several major weaknesses: 1) the more complex the geometry of the conductor, the more it seemed to benefit from being plugged in for an extended period prior to listening tests; and 2) the substitution of the power cord, since it fed a device powering all the front-end components, required that the system be powered down, at least momentarily, each time a different power cord was introduced. As time passed, we did get more adept at making quick switches.

Although a number of different CD’s were played during the listening sessions, the following software provided the primary basis for comparison:

1. A1 Dimeola, Consequence of Chaos, (Hybrid SACD, Telarc 63649);
2. Jorma Karkonen, Blue Country Heart, (Columbia CS 86349);
3. King Crimson, Beat, (DGM 0509, 30th Anniversary Edition);
4. Kelly Blue, Wynton Kelly, (XRCD, JVCXR-0050-2);
5. Soultrane/John Coltrane (VICJ 60159); and
6. Jerry Garcia/David Grisman/Tony Piece, The Pizza Tapes.

While there are various ways to present the data from the listening tests, it seemed most instructive to talk about each cut separately focusing on how a conductor when inserted into the system altered the sound of that recording.

The power cords compared included:

1. Vortex Prime;

2. A.S.P. Reference Minotaur;

3. A.S.P. Reference Zyklop;

4. Tweek Geek Bybee Super Effects (SE); and

5. Jorma Prime.

In earlier sessions, additional cords had been compared; however, given the clear superiority of the Stage III and Jorma Prime and SE over the other cords, it seemed pointless to prolong the comparisons by adding the previously eliminated cords. At some point in the listening, I find it helpful to install the review item in friends’ systems. If nothing else, this provides a check against my own experiences. The initial comments below resulted from extended listening sessions in a system built around Acoustat Spectra 6600 speakers driven by EMM Labs separates and FM Acoustics power amps. Most of the cabling except for power cords was Jorma Prime. One key aspect of this system was that it employed Curl Bybee AC Line Filters on the low level electronics. For the most part, the power cords were Tweek Geek Bybee Super Effect.

Listening Tests- Al Dimeola

Initially, we installed a pair of Minotaurs to power the FM Acoustics amps, leaving an SE on the preamp. Starting with Al Dimeola’s Consequence of Chaos, cut 6 “Sanctuary,” the system did a nice job of recreating the stage left to right with good detail and tight, well controlled bass and nice mid range. Switching to a Vortex Prime on the preamp resulted in an audible increase in loudness, perhaps 1-2 dB. Again, the placement of instruments on the stage from left to right was locked in, but now there was a better sense of depth. Bass was significantly more prominent. The different drums hard left were better articulated making it easier to identify the type of drum being struck. Detail was excellent, but not noticeably better than with the SE. The Minotaur’s presentation on the amps was very even handed not favoring one instrument over the others.

Further Listening-Jorma Karkonen

silicon molds for insulators Switching back to the SE on the preamp but leaving the Minotaur on the amps, we then listened to Jorma Karkonen’s Blue Country Heart, cut number 1. The tonality of Karkonen’s guitar was spot on. Fiddle and voice were very realistic with good detail and no spot lighting. The soundstage was well defined left to right, but, on this material, somewhat forward and somewhat lacking in space around the instruments, and two-dimensional. Substitution of the Vortex Prime on the preamp significantly improved both definition and depth with images taking on body and dimensionality.
We next replaced the Minotaurs on the amps with Vortex Primes. The Minotaurs were clearly superior on the amps. They were much more three-dimensional, better detailed and had clearly superior bass. In comparison to the Minotaur, the sound of the Vortex Prime could be characterized as somewhat duller, with bass that was less controlled and noticeably lower in level. The Vortex Prime did a nice job of recreating the soundstage; however, the Minotaur in comparison was holographic with better leading edge and better decay of struck instruments. The SE was very nice in the dead mid-range, but otherwise suffered in comparison to both the Minotaur and the Vortex Prime.

During the listening sessions at my friend’s home, the speakers were large planar electrostats. In this particular listening environment, the image which they created had a tendency to shift as one moved his head. This was very pronounced with all cords auditioned except the Minotaur and the Zyklop, which created a relatively stable soundstage. I suspect that this may be related to the phase accuracy of these two cords.

At this point, we decided to stop listening to the power cords and just focus on the music using the Vortex Prime on low level equipment and the Minotaurs on the amps. Of the remaining music played, the two JVC XRCD’s, the Kelly Blue and Soultrain were particularly nice.

Long Term Listening Impressions

While comparative listening sessions like the one described above are extremely helpful in identifying gross differences between cables, there is no real substitute for long term listening in your own system. As a general rule, the more complex the geometry of a conductor and the more exotic the dialectric, the more the cable will benefit from being continuously played in a system without being moved. If anything, repeated plugging and unplugging of a cable over a short period disrupts the formation of the dielectric and plays havoc with its sound. While the Zyklop was the best cable in the test group, certainly the one with the best balance of strengths and weaknesses, the Minotaur was a very close second and in some instances better on some source components. The Zyklop was clearly better when more current was necessary such as on power amps or power strips, but the Minotaur could sound as good or better on equipment with very low current draw. In comparison to the Jorma Prime, either could sound somewhat less rich in the midbass and lower midrange. Both had a cleaner, more extended top-end than the Jorma and were more balanced and cleaner from top to bottom. Over the course of an hour of play, the tonal balance of both the Zyklop and the Minotaur in the midbass and lower midrange filled in but never quite matched that of the Jorma. Over time, the ASP cables retained the extension at the top, and control and extension in the low bass that the Jorma lacked.
Although the CD’s actually played were too numerous to list, the following were used as references:

1. Allan Holdsworth, All Night Wrong (Favored Nations FN 2330-2);
2. Prometheus, Hugo Wolf (HMC 901837);
3. American Beauty Soundtrack, particularly cuts 1 and 2;
4. Eagles, Until Hell Freezes Over (XRCD);
5. Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms (XRCD); and
6. Defalla, Three Cornered Hat (FIM).

While long term listening did not really change my evaluation it did clarify my earlier impressions. This cable really has the ability to startle the listening “jump factor”. Intelligibility of voices was excellent. The sound of stringed instruments was never strident. Although it did a great job of preserving the leading edge, that was never at the expense of truncating the decay or tail. It seemed to add solidity to images. If I were to use a one-word descriptor for the sound, it would be “balanced”.

My reference SACD/CD player continues to be the excellent EMM Labs XDS1. During the review period, I substituted the Minotaur for a Jorma Prime with spectacular results. Treble and midrange were smoother and better defined, while bass increased in depth and articulation and the unit became quieter and more dimensional. All this while removing artifacts and noise that subtly masked the fine detail in music and images.

Conclusions

While I am a lawyer by trade and not an engineer, many of my friends have very solid engineering backgrounds and are quite skeptical about the effects of wire and power cords. Some of that skepticism has rubbed off on me; consequently, I much prefer that a manufacturer explain his products in scientific terms without resorting to voodoo or pseudoscience. This is one of the things that I like about Stage III. But more importantly, their cables deliver on their promises. Zyklop and the less-expensive Minotaur power cables will enhance almost every performance aspect of your system. Increased video contrast and sharpness will make images practically holographic. This design represents the current limit for linear, silent and unrestricted power delivery for the best audio and video components. In comparison to almost all other power cords that I have auditioned, the Zyklop and Minotaur power cords represent significant gains in frequency extension, stage depth, retrieval of low-level detail, transparency, recreation of soundstage, noise, natural tonality and dynamics. In addition, they have an uncanny ability to balance the instruments in a mix so that all receive attention but none predominates at the expense of the others. Perhaps most importantly, it has the ability to draw you into the music and communicate the excitement of a live performance.

As you may have noted, this cable is not cheap, but a single strategically placed power cord can have a major impact on the sound of an entire system, particularly when that one cord is providing power to a multi-plug distribution center into which other components can be plugged. This is particularly true when the other cords are also from the Stage III line-up.

The post Stage III Concepts A.S.P. Reference Minotaur Power Cable Review appeared first on Dagogo.

Introduction

Cable reviews are a very tricky endeavor. In the best of situations, a well-chosen and placed interconnect or power cord can provide that touch of magic to a system in order to bring it to new heights of musical enjoyment, or just simply provide that extra measure of quieting to bring a system to an apparent higher state of transparency and detail. In the worst of situations, a poorly selected interconnect inserted in a critical signal path can literally destroy the very balance and presentation you labored so hard to construct.

In simple terms, the wrong choice in power cord for an amplifier, preamplifier, or front-end component can shrink your sound stage, cause midrange glare, or can greatly diminish bass response and tunefulness. The search for cable-synergy magic can be endless and there is certainly no assurance of success at the end of that journey.

In the case of speaker cables, I find that the choice is somewhat less critical. As long as construction and material quality is of high standards and lengths are kept reasonably short, a misstep amongst that select class of cable is not likely to seriously tank the overall sound of your system. This may sound like heresy to the legions of tweakers and by those afflicted with cable-nervosa out there, but I guess I’m entitled to my opinion on the subject, eh?

I guess it would be fair at this point to disclose my particular biases and kinks when it comes to cabling in my personal system. For the past 20 years or so, I have pretty much stayed true to the same basic formula. My speaker cables are quite short: 4 feet or so. In fact, back in the day when I utilized monoblock amplifiers to power my various Martin Logan Electrostatic hybrids, I had the amplifiers perched in satellite speaker stands behind each speaker and virtually docked to the speaker binding posts using just a pair of Cardas Golden Cross jumpers. Yeah, the set-up was not particularly attractive, but it sounded great! So, it goes without saying that my systems tended to have long interconnects and short speaker cables. I know that there are plenty of people and even manufacturers that recommend the complete opposite, but in my experience, which is admittedly limited to being with mini-monitors and with various incarnations of electrostatics, I have found the opposite to be optimal. Of course, much of this is very system-dependent, and has much to do with component compatibility with the electrical properties of the cables, such as inductance, capacitance, DC resistance, etc. I certainly do not want to downplay the importance of component compatibility when selecting cables. Some cables could actually cause electronics to malfunction due to their electrical properties. Much attention needs to be given to cable specifications and equipment manufacturers’ guidelines. RTFM is the golden rule.

Another topic of great interest to the cable-nervosa set is that of the wire itself.

When it comes to power cords for instance, I have pretty well stuck to the heavy gauge copper solid-core ones. Of course, the list is long, and the audible differences were varied and my choices always represented some sort of compromise one way or another. In the case of interconnects and speaker cables, my system has been quite stable for the past 15 or so years. After much experimentation and trial, I settled on a particular “family” of silver wired interconnects and speaker cables, silver ribbon to be exact. These have been updated over the years and there have been roughly 8 or 10 updates to these cables, but the basic neutral character, wide bandwidth, and sonic signature has remained stable.

So there we are, I’m a silver-cable-fan that has been set in his ways for nearly a couple of decades on the same basic small gauge silver ribbon speaker cables and interconnects from the same constructor, and has largely been a happy camper. Who better then to review a family of cables that are by all counts the absolute opposite of this formula!

In this multi-part review of the Aural Symphonics family of cables, I will be describing the progression of effect each cable has wrought on the sound of my system in three distinct stages, power cords first.

Part 1 – Snakes in the Berber

The power cords I will be describing in this essay are the Aural Symphonics Magic Gem v2t and the Aural Symphonics Cappuccino.

The Magic Gem v2t is quite an imposing power cord. It is a rather huge fire hose of a cable, with a 1.5” to 2” of diameter, but it is not at all as stiff as many smaller cables I have experienced. In the words of Tommy Dzurak, designer and owner of Aural Symphonics llc, “it’s not stiff like a frozen fire hose”. The exterior shell of this cable is hard but flexible. The wire and connectors are cryogenically treated via infusion in a nitrogen soak of minus 310 degrees, and the Magic Gem v2t’s circuit topology boasts low capacitance and low inductance. The cable also sports a circuit design that results in EMI and RFI filtering. Being the flagship power cord in the line, a 2-meter Magic Gem v2t will set you back just under $2,500.

At the other extreme in the line of power cables is the Cappuccino. Some of the technology found in the Magic Gem v2t is trickled down to this cable. The wire is cryogenically treated and the overall design results in very low measured values of capacitance. At a tad under $400 per 2 meters, this cable supposedly packs a lot of performance and features at this price point.

Speaking of Performance

I first inserted the Aural Symphonics Magic Gem v2t power cords on the Pass Labs X350.5 solid-state stereo power amplifier and the MartinLogan CLS IIz 20th Anniversary electrostatic speakers. After a brief overnight burn-in/warm-up, I gave it a listen. What immediately struck me was the absolute black backgrounds. I never found my system to particularly suffer from a high noise floor. However, the Aural Symphonics Magic Gem’s clearly cleaned up whatever was out there and made it disappear into a total and complete blackness.

My previous experience with power cords is fairly extensive and it still astonishes me how this final 1 or 2 meters of wire can impart any sort of audible character to the sound of any system, but I am resigned to the fact that they indeed do just that. Another of those “mysteries” is that of power cord break-in. It’s enough to accept the fact that power cords affect a component’s sonic signature, but quite another stretch to accept the fact that power cords also have a break-in period in which they themselves actually change in sonic signature. My current reference power cords are an extreme example of that sort of cable, with roughly a 300-hour break-in before they settle in. Such did not initially appear to be the case with the Magic Gems as they sounded quite good literally out of the package. This did not remain true as time progressed.

Once I made note of my initial impressions of the Magic Gem power cords after 100 hours of burn-in, I continued the process by inserting the Aural Symphonics Cappuccino power cords to my front-end components, Conrad Johnson CT-5 preamplifier, McCormack/Conrad Johnson UDP-1 Deluxe universal player, and ASR mini-basis phono stage. Once again, after a 5-day burn-in, I sat for a brief listen. Here, the immediately recognized advances made with the Magic Gems were not replicated nor were they negated. The black backgrounds remained intact. However, the sound changed to a slightly more forward sound in the midrange and a little bit of the imaging “magic”, which has always been the nature of my reference power cord, seemed to have diminished. To confirm what I was hearing, I swapped out the Cappuccino on the digital player with my reference cord and indeed, the soundstage width and depth returned to its former self. This is really the first time I ever evaluated a power cord with very little burn-in time on it, so I decided to take the Cappuccino’s and swap them in to the two active subwoofers and run the entire system with my burn-in track for an additional three weeks, 24 x 7. This was not a big deal since I also had a power amplifier in for evaluation that required extensive burn-in. So I was able to kill two birds with one stone.

The Sound of Silence

Confident that burn-in had taken place and that things were stabilized, I sat down for some very critical listening with Cappuccino’s in place in the front-end, and the Magic Gem v2t’s powering the amplifiers and electrostatic speakers.

Overall system changes were significant. The noise floor was dramatically reduced. The bass became more solid, visceral, with substantial weight. This added heft did not seem to sacrifice speed and tunefulness, an important consideration when mating dynamic subwoofers with full-range electrostatic speakers. For the purposes of this review, I listened mostly to CD’s, SACD’s, and DVD-(A)’s, since these involved all components that were affected by the change in power cords.

In listening to the combination of Magic Gems to amplification and speakers and Cappuccino in front-end and preamplification, I found that my system had noticeably blacker backgrounds, better and more tuneful bass, and a somewhat sweeter midrange, particularly with diverse female vocals such as Katie Melua, Patti Smith, and Dawn Upshaw. Along with the black backgrounds came the apparent increase in low-level detail and sense of weight. Listening to ‘live’ CD’s in particular, such as my favorite “live” reference, Not Necessarily Acoustic by Steve Howe, added a new dimension of apparent detail and transparency. Still, it seemed that this newly discovered blackness and associated transparency came at a cost of dimensionality. I seemed to have lost the sense of size of the venue from recording to recording. Along with this diminished sense of space came a sense of loss of realism that has always been a key attribute of my system and with this recording in particular.

Since it seemed that the overall sonic qualities of my system had taken a downturn in some respects after replacing the power cords on the front end equipment, I went back to my original power cords on the digital player and Conrad Johnson CT-5 and had a listen. The results were mixed. The dimensionality returned, but this time at the expense of ultimate bass impact, quieting, and some of the newly found midrange “magic”. This was absolutely not acceptable. Like any voracious and greedy audiophile, I wanted it all!

I decided the only logical course of action was to remove the Magic Gem v2t’s that were presently doing electrostatic speaker duty, and place them on the Conrad Johnson CT-5 and the digital player. Then take the two Cappuccinos and connect them to the electrostatics. From the moment the CD started, I knew that I had hit that magical sweet spot in system synergy.

What words simply cannot express (but I try)…

The sound of the very same CD’s I had been playing transformed into a plane of sonic performance that I had not ever experienced in my system. Overall, the changes were consistent with upgrading the entire audio chain.

The same Dawn Upshaw CD, White Moon Songs to Morpheus, was transformed to pure goose-bump material. In her performance of Monteverdi’s “Oblivion Soave” and of George Crumb’s “Night of the Four Moons” in particular, you become consciously aware of the vast expanse of the recording venue, the eigenton of the room emanating from total blackness, as Ms. Upshaw’s voice takes on an intimacy and purity that I found absolutely breathtaking. Then, with her voice transformed into more of musical instrument than voice in Crumb’s very esoteric piece of music that weaves vocal sounds with Tibetan prayer stones, cello, flute, cymbals, and castanets, the sense of space, weight, size, and realism, simply transcends what I have come to expect from my system.

Switching gears and playing Patti Smith’s Twelve (as in, twelve covers), the improvements are parallel to those I discovered with the Dawn Upshaw CD. For the readers who are not familiar with Patti’s voice, suffice it say that it can be a real challenge for any system. In Patti’s rendition of Neil Young’s “Helpless”, the sound took on a sense of space, three-dimensionality and realism that gave the illusion of a live recording. Yes, her voice had the familiar edge and bite, but not the metallic overshoot that is more typical of my system with the prior power cords. In her recording of Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise”, once again the realism of the recording takes over and you simply can’t help yourself from bobbing your head and tapping your foot to the beat. We’re talking full immersion in the musical experience.

Switching to an actual “live” recording, Steve Howe’s Not Necessarily Acoustic, the improvements yielded by the power cord swap is exposed to its fullest. This is a superb recording of a night club performance that contains loads of ambient information, sounds from the audience and superbly recorded guitar. This is one of my acid test CD’s and I have it with me wherever I go. Once again, the results remained consistent, the dead silent and black backgrounds, and sheer weight, scale, tunefulness, timing, and detail my system demonstrated with playing this CD proves beyond any reasonable doubt that my system has attained a much higher plane of performance. The Magic Gem v2t’s, in particular, had made across-the-board improvements that simply defy reason. After all, we’re talking about power cords.

Summing it all up

I would like to state that when it comes to cable performance, it is all about system synergy. The performance enhancements I experienced in my system are not going to necessarily translate to the exact same effect and degree of change in another system. (There are too many variants at work in every system. –Ed.)

On Aural Symphonics’ literature and website, the MagicGem v2t’s are described as, “…(having)greater range of dynamic contrasts, upper frequencies are slightly softened but not rolled off or veiled, overall a quieter and blacker sounding background, bass frequencies have more authority and weight with increased transparency, increase of nuance and detail…”.

My findings parallel much of these assertions. In fact, I would also point out that the “softening” of the high frequencies is simply not the case at all. I equate the effect to a reduction or even elimination of a high frequency hash or distortion. The effect is much the same when upgrading a power supply to a component, such as the case where my digital player’s power supply was completely overhauled and upgraded by Conrad Johnson. In the same way, the resulting high frequencies could be considered “softened” but only because the distortion and “hash” disappeared and was replaced with a tube-like sweetness in the mids and highs. This audible performance upgrade was replicated to every single component.

The Aural Symphonics Cappuccino power cords provided a build quality, level of technology, sonic performance (e.g. level of detail) and noise reduction that belied its fairly modest price point. In my particular system, the carefully chosen cables I use as reference cables did indeed offer a higher level of performance overall. However, they cost 1.5 to 3 times the price of the Cappuccino. In my book, that makes the Cappuccino an all-out bargain for the performance it does deliver.

As to the Magic Gem v2t’s, these indeed are in a class of their own. The performance they deliver in my system equated to substantially upgrading each and every component that they were connected to. If I had to take a guess as to what aspect of the Magic Gem v2t’s design most contributed to its stellar performance, I would have to say that it may have a lot to do with its quality of construction, attention to detail, and resultant isolation of the actual wire from outside vibration. Suffice it to say that the overall effect that they had on the digital front-end, linestage, and power amplifier(s), were essentially similar to the effect of upgrading the power supplies of each of those components. Granted, at $1,865 per 1.5 meter of cable, they are not cheap. However, if this power cord can substantially improve the sound of a $9,500 and $6,000 power amplifiers, $8,500 linestage, and $4,000 digital player to a level of sonic performance that could otherwise not be achieved without doubling the cost of each component, then is it also not a bargain? I believe it is.

The post Aural Symphonics Magic Gem v2t & Cappuccino Power Cable Review appeared first on Dagogo.

It happens in the blink of an eye, in a flash, at the speed of light – the signal is sent, the music plays, and the ears are awash in waves of sound. The soul is stirred, and the mind feels… Free? Empowered? Thrilled?

What is it like to hear sound conveyed at the speed of light? While that may be difficult to report in terms of natural phenomena, I can report what signals sped through optic channels sound like. In this article we will trip the light fantastic, by investigating light-linked, nimble-toed components by INEX Innovation.

Shedding Some Light On The Subject

INEX stands for Into the NEXt generation, the company being composed principally of Jimmy and Mitch Ko, Sean Tan and Kevin Tseng, all with engineering backgrounds and strong ties in the development of fiber optic technologies. The vision held by these men is for fiber optic cables to replace wires in all signal transmission, including high-end audio applications. The advantages of fiber are in its nature of rejecting EMI and RFI, unidirectional transmission breaking ground connection which yielding a perfect, dark sonic background, and light-speed transmission for all signals to arrive at the receiver simultaneously.

Consequently, INEX Innovation products treat all audio signals fully in the analogue domain, then convert electrical signals to light, then back once again. A swap is being conducted, photons for electrons, which INEX believes yields a truer musical result. At one point in my interview with INEX I was told, “All INEX Photon products have never transferred the audio signals to digital formats after the signals [sic] out of the audio sources. We keep all sound paths in the truest analogue domain. This is true even for the Photon Digital Cable.” According to INEX, all A/D and D/A conversions cut off some of the original sample and the details are lost after the transfer. INEX felt theirs was a more elegant way to handle the signal. There has been some confusion on this point. Audiogon’s 2011 CES show report claimed (it may be corrected at some point) that INEX indicated their system uses no digital conversion in their CD player. This player does have a DAC as the nature of the beast. However, once that conversion has been attained the signal remains analogue either optically or electrically from source to speaker.

According to INEX their Photon products, “change the signals between electrical and optical formats to fit in different transmission media… we take the electrons coming in, analogue or digital domain being irrelevant, and map it directly to the same ration of photon and send it down the path and convert it back.” If I understand correctly, then INEX is linking the frequency of the sampling to the frequency of the light. As the digits of a Redbook player are quantified, so also the frequency of light would capture the precise value of the bits read from the player. The rapid reading of the light stream would produce the map of the sonic equivalent of a digital stream.

If this is so, then the quality of the sound would be related to the quality of the fiber optic gear – INEX uses glass fiber, not a form of plastic – reading the bits at the disc, transmitting the light frequencies via the cables, and reassembling the signal at the amp. In theory it seems to me that it would work, considering the amazing rates at which discs are sampled and converted digitally. Why not sample light frequencies in a similar fashion to avoid the quantization errors?

The concept does seem to have merit logically, and there does seem to be an inky black background when using INEX products. What’s strange is that the intensity of the light in the fiber optic channel of the interconnects and digital cable, as well as the quality of DC power sent to them, seems to influence the result audibly! We will hear more about that later.

The Measure of A Photon

The four sizable boxes of INEX gear arrived well packed with minimal instructions. I was instructed to refer to the website, where busy illustrations of systems utilizing multiple powered components and cables were portrayed. There was no manual online for the monoblock amplifier. It took a few emails to INEX to get the system layout ready, as it is not entirely intuitive to me. INEX needs to fix this problem immediately, as people with less technical savvy than me will throw up their hands in despair at seeing such an array of devices. If INEX wants these cables to become the standard, they need to standardize installation, making it much clearer to the user. Perhaps a color coded termination system would be helpful, the way computers use different colored jacks to assist with assembly of the computer. We audiophiles typically use red and black; INEX could do with a couple more colors for all the extra wiring and power supplies involved.

First, let’s admire the smooth, polished aluminum casework of the Photon series components, starting with the Photon A200 preamp. On the left side of the brushed face of the preamp resides the rather simple digital display, with industrial appearing LED characters. One can see that the perfect melding of art and industry is not yet in place at INEX; there is a bit of a feel that the components would be at home in a lab rather than an audiophile’s room. Especially since the blue LEDs on the amplifier are eye-scorchers. Even in a well lit room at eye level they are piercingly bright. Fortunately, the brightness level can be adjusted via remote.

The display is split with the left channel pushed to the outer left edge and the right channel at the opposite extreme, both having their own digital indicator of level from 0-100. Centered in the display is the variable volume control indicator, allowing for stepped increments of 1, 5 or 10 units. The corresponding controls for this are found on the opposite side of the front panel in a cross shaped formation, the VOLUME buttons top and bottom, the BALANCE buttons left and right of the centered unit control button. The full control set is also found on the remote with similar arrangement physically. The remote is minimalist, with enough buttons to control all functions and is hewn in rugged aluminum, but is not backlit. There is a very narrow window of operation with the remote. If the components are at floor level you will find yourself reaching down to issue commands; keep the components up high on a rack directly ahead and you should be fine. One should be able to memorize the functions and use them in dim light by feel. One can adjust the balance and level of each channel independently. It took a while for me to get used to the ability to vary the volume units used to change output level; many times I found myself cycling the units indicator instead of actually varying the level. However, once I got the hang of it, jumping by a multiple of five or ten was nifty, as it saved effort. The accompanying electronic ‘beep’ at every push of the volume control was similarly annoying at first, but became part of the rig after several days. Similar to the gatling gun sound of the Cambridge Audio Azur 840E preamplifier’s stepped attenuator, the noise associated with the component became less critical as time went on, and by the time I had lived with the unit a while it was a non-issue. The beep ramps up in level to pace the system’s output, so that it never is overwhelmed by the music.

If INEX really wanted to make this feature more useful they might perhaps correlate the pitch of the beeping to the multiple of the volume increase/decrease. That way the audiophile could tell instantly by listening what the settings were on the volume control. The display is too small to see easily with my nearly 50-year-old eyes unaided by glasses, so the variable pitch of the volume control would come in handy. If a component is going to beep when the volume changes, it may as well convey as much information as possible.

Also seen on the front to the right of the display is the IR sensor, four INPUT Indicators (two for single-ended and two for balanced) and the indicator for the MUTE function. The preamp starts on MUTE with the left and right channels zeroed out. Oddly, at one point I tried muting the Photon and swapping a Photon Interconnect for a Photon Digital Cable, as I do on some more traditional systems to hear if there would be a change to the sound. When I conducted the switch of the cables, even though the unit was on zero volume there was slight sound emanating from the speakers. After cycling the unit on and off a couple times the seepage from the volume control ceased. Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that the volume control is managed in the optic realm as well.

On the rear of the Preamplifier are the anticipated POWER switch and 15A IEC receptacle to the left, a pair of single-ended inputs (marked S1 and S2), pair of balanced Inputs (B1 and B2), and the complementary pairs of single ended and balanced outputs. I ran into another mystery when attempting to connect the Monoblock amplifiers as there was no indication on the rear of the preamp as to which inputs would coordinate with the outputs. I was told that either would do; the amp is balanced and one can use either set with whichever input is selected. This also needs to be highlighted in the Manual/Directions.

Starting up the Photon Preamp was surprising as I heard what sounded like a small motor making adjustments. Upon inquiry I learned that this was the optic volume control setting itself. Now it had become clear why the volume control was messed up when I muted the system and swapped cables. Resetting the system solved that problem.

The Photon Monoblock Power Amp is a straightforward deal. It has complementary chassis design to the Photon preamp, and they look like a space age class act together. Only the blue LED interrupts the smoothness of the façade, and the back is uncluttered, having besides the power cord receptacle the single ended and balanced inputs, as well as the power ports for the amp end terminations of the Photon Amp Cables (no i-Pure DC unit is required at the amp end).

The post INEX Innovation Photon A200 Preamplifier, Photon Monoblock Amplifier and Photon Cables Review appeared first on Dagogo.

This review started with an assault upon me by Chris Owen. Well, that might be a bit of an overstatement; I should say that Chris has been a persistent man, catching me at every show I have attended and asking that I stop by to hear the systems he has displayed.

I thought I might not hear much from Chris after CES 2009, where I told him politely but directly something he did not want to hear. He had me listening to his tweak, “Audio Pillows”, to see what my initial reaction was. As the system played, he deftly positioned the Pillows, then moments later removed them from the components. At the conclusion of the demo (my music) he asked my impression. I was fairly blunt, “…they do not pass my Law of Efficacy.” In other words, I could not hear a significant, clear distinction between their use and non-use. I could tell that he was not expecting that answer, especially in light of the previous listener who thought they were great. I pointed out that I would have to conduct a much more thorough test in my room to conclude definitively – but that I had no desire to do so. Chris seemed hurt by my words, which is why I thought he might not want to have much to do with me from that point on.

How wrong I was, as Chris cheerfully corralled me at this past CES and urged me to hear a system with Clarity Cables and the Raven Studio Bard speaker. Rather than turn me away for a negative assessment of a tweak, Chris ultimately accepted my directness without offence. I was impressed by that and was happy out of courtesy to comply. I will share more about that momentarily.

Manufacturers are a bit taken aback when I pronounce directly my being unimpressed by tweaks like the A.R.T. system which I demoed at RMAF 2009. The vivid Giya speaker system I was mightily impressed by; the wooden blocks and cups not so. Why not? I have reached the point in dealing with so many rigs, so many products that I have concluded I’m tired of wasting time with fairly ineffective things. I want serious, major changes, not nearly inaudible audio incrementalism! If I have to strain to hear the supposed change, it fails. If it has to be repeated over and over to demonstrate the effect, it fails. If it does a little good but costs too much, it fails. Seeking such minor adjustments to a rig only enmeshes the audiophile in that level of sound, forsaking changes which could bring monumental improvement at a much higher level of performance. When such tweaks are tried and fail to elicit the desired amazement the audiophile is often fooled into thinking, “Perhaps my rig is at the end, the top level of performance.” Hardly; dozens upon dozens of levels of improvement, very meaningful changes, await the audiophile who doesn’t settle for less.

In a dramatic contrast the Opamp rolling of the Eastern Electric Minimax DAC (see review) was another idea brought to me by Chris. He caught on quickly that I tolerate no subtle tweaks and brought me a clear winner. Rolling Opamps was akin to adding turbo to a small engine, an extremely efficacious improvement. I share this with you as I demand big improvements from cables as well. If I put a wire into a rig and it does little to improve things in one or two configurations, then there’s not much point in spending inordinate amounts of time with it. Perhaps you think I’m too impatient about system building. Maybe, but I am no longer inclined to spend years futzing with miniscule changes. I’m going to get my brand of “serious sound” and get it sooner rather than later; I prefer to spend the majority of my time as a fulfilled audiophile!

Chris and Melissa Owen Background

Chris and Melissa Owen have been judging sound at car audio contests for the last 20 years. Chris regularly tells me that Melissa’s ears are better than his, but then five minutes later he’s discussing very nuanced distinctions in sound that only someone with acute perception would consider. I would suggest that if someone is looking for an industry mentor to educate on how to listen well, the Owens would be a good selection.

Returning to the Clarity Cable room at CES 2010 proved to be a very good decision resulting in being moved by a system with monitor speakers, something which does not often happen. I tend to be a big speaker guy and I like a truly full range experience. I was taken aback by the scaled up, crystalline beauty of the rig. One thing I have come to learn hearing hundreds of systems at shows is this: You can wreck a good rig by using poor cables, but almost always if the system has fantastic sound, the cables are worth attention.

Has that perception been verified in this review, in my room, with my gear? Absolutely; the great sounding cables I have found at showrooms and demos have sounded nothing short of stupendous with the systems I assemble. That may sound like boasting, but as we continue I think you will see that it is not. The excellent performance has to do directly with the nature of the cables. Harmonic Technology was a favorite of mine years ago, and it sounded good to my ear with a variety of gear. Wireworld has been a very fine product and I can nearly hear in my mind the influence it will have prior to assembling a system in a review. Clarity Cable can now be added to that list, and in its own particular ways it excels beyond the other two. I plan on discussing the aspects of Clarity Cable which make it a valuable element of an audio system.

It is a bit ironic that products in audio are named with terms taken from nature, such as the Clarity Cable “Organic” line. There’s not much natural about ore being mined, refined, annealed, drawn and worked into various configurations along with dielectric and sheathing, not to mention the terminations. In one sense it’s anything but natural, as an electronic signature is impressed upon electronic processes which pertain to some music which is acoustic or natural. We wouldn’t have stereos if humans didn’t impose inorganic blueprints upon the natural world.

Then again, audio is hardly the only sector of manufacturing where nature’s terminology has been pressed into service to human creativity. Witness the Saturn Sky vehicle, White Cloud toilet paper, Dawn dish soap, Summer’s Eve… well, never mind – a myriad of inventions and institutions named after plants and animals. It is a bit tougher to conceptualize the term “organic” when applied to sound. For instance, can a stereo playing electronic music sound organic? Can any stereo be organic sounding? Without pressing the philosophy of the matter too far, I believe some stereos sound far more organic than others. What are the qualities inherent in an “organic” sounding rig? It is worth pursuing that question in this article.

What’s in a name?

We begin with my assertion that Clarity Cable’s Organic series has been named appropriately. Clarity has its own reasons for its nomenclature, reasons I’ve been asked not to divulge. I believe that the company has pursued one of the most important facets of organic sound by putting an extremely high emphasis on clarity in audio reproduction. I am always on a mission to find a higher degree of clarity in high fidelity music. In fact, I like clarity in my listening so much that I take a contrary position to most audiophiles; I insist that a system cannot have too much clarity.

Before you choke on your highly organic saliva from guffawing, pause a moment and consider that one of the most universally applauded aspects of live acoustic music is its ineffably clean, clear sound which even top end audio systems struggle to imitate. Would it not stand to reason that if an audio system is capable of prodigious amounts of clarity, then it will more approach the sound of live music? I think so. All one has to do is hear a not-so-clear system to know immediately how critical clarity is! Unheard of is an audiophile waxing poetic about a diminishment of resolution, or uttering in adulation, “… it was as if a veil had been placed in front of the speaker!”

Of course, other variables complicate cabling in audio systems including impedance, capacitance and inductance, which in turn influence timbre and dynamics. On the whole, I find that over the past 25 years or so that I have been in the hobby of music listening I have always pushed for more precision and purity in the sound, never less. It took a great many years of experimentation and system building to conclude firmly that clarity is not the issue when a system sounds too harsh – something else is wrong, typically the tonality or timbre. Detail and precision in a system are often blamed as the problem, when in reality these are never the problem. How they are influenced by other parameters of playback is the problem.

A good example has been the progression of dozens of CD players I have owned over the years. As they have climbed the ladder of cost and capability, they have increasingly yielded higher precision and cleanness in sound. One of my favorite reference quality players, the Ayon CD-5, has beautiful detail and cleanness, such that it is very hard to go back and listen to any mid-level player at all, for they sound muddled. The finest players, unlike mid-level offerings, do not sound harsh because of detail. The sound harsh because they may have a lack of warmth, and/or because of poor speaker selection, and/or a white or clinical sounding amplifier, and/or an unrefined preamplifier, and/or cables with serious design flaws. However, this article is not about CD players, but cables, in particular the Clarity Cable brand. Clarity Cable is designed around the concept that bringing a higher amount of detail to a system is a very good thing.

The post Clarity Cable Organic Interconnect, Speaker, Digital Cable Review appeared first on Dagogo.

Introduction

Over the past 12 months or so, I have had the pleasure of auditioning four unique families of cables. Each cable design is quite different from the others in terms of finished product, but each gives unique insight in their interpretation of the sonic truth. The focus of this review is the Tel Wire system. Tel Wire is a small company that is owned and operated by Chris Kline in Allentown, PA. I have known Chris for a few years. We were “co-conspirators” on the audio forums, the Vinyl Asylum and on Audiogon in particular. Several years ago in the early days of Tel Wire’s start-up, I participated in Chris Kline’s efforts as a Beta Tester of his “Cord” power cord. It was in those days that I began to realize and appreciate Chris’ talent in constructing high quality cables that were essentially neutral in character and tonally “right.” Over the years, Tel Wire’s cables have undergone continuous improvement and the lineup currently includes balanced and single-ended interconnects (“Connect”), both standard (“Cord”) and high current (“HC Cord”) power cords, as well as speaker cables (“Cable”). In this review, I will focus solely on the single-ended Connect interconnect which retails for $699 for the first meter, and the Cord power cord which retails for $799 for the first meter.

Connect

The Connect is really like no other I have come across in recent memory in terms of look and feel, as well as detailed quality of construction given the asking price. The Connect is jacketed in a handsome and simple-fitted cotton material that aids in the cable’s extraordinary flexibility and immunity to external vibration. The wire employed in the Connect is OCC (Ohno Continuous Cast) single crystal copper of the highest purity available. Terminations are Xhadow Silver RCA’s that are hand-picked by Chris Kline for their sonic attributes. Lastly, and most importantly, the Connect is constructed with cable directionality ascertained by ear by Chris himself. With him doing the heavy lifting in what can otherwise be a long and trying process, you can simply “Connect” and listen immediately with no fuss.

The Connect interconnects actually sound quite good brand new, and improve rather dramatically in imaging, focus, and bass response after 100 or so hours of break-in time.

Writing an essay about the Tel Wire line of cables is both easy and quite difficult. The Connect has the smallest and least noticeable sonic signature I have encountered in an interconnect. It is, for all practical purposes, dead-on neutral. It provides an unaltered view of the source where it is connected. For our readers who actually make use of interconnects as a tone control or filter, you may wish to look elsewhere. It will not embellish any part of the musical spectrum nor will it do a very good job of hiding warts that may exist. The Connect remains as honest as any cable I have heard in recent memory to the source, no matter how good or bad that may be. In my system, this particular attribute plays quite well indeed. I personally prefer my source components to provide the signature of the system and let everything else up the chain stay the heck out of the way of that signature. In past essays, I have written about the pitfalls and personal challenges I encountered when unwittingly assuming a power amplifier is neutral and then making choices in preamplifier and even cables that actually offset that coloration. Playing this type of zero-sum match game can be quite laborious and is ultimately a very slippery slope.

So far, I have only written about what the Tel Wire Connect does not sound like. What the Connect does bring to the table is a very broad bandwidth, including excellent fast and authoritative bass, smooth and slightly relaxed midrange, and extended high frequencies without so much as a hint of ringing or brightness. For instance, on the excellently recorded intimate setting of the Peter Gabriel album Scratch my Back, the image is believable, focused, unembellished and rich in tone; really about as good as it gets. When playing other material that plays well in the audiophile sense of larger spaces and deep images, such as the superbly recorded Townsend and Lane LP Rough Mix, differences emerged between the Tel Wire Connect and the Aural Symphonics Chronos. In terms of transparency and detail, the Connect does not quite match the Aural Symphonics Chronos. The space and distant cowbell on the song “When the Rivers All Run Dry,” was somewhat shallower and less distinct with the Connect. So, too, on the R Crumb piece from Dawn Upshaw’s CD, White Moon Songs to Morpheus, the expansiveness of the venue was noticeably diminished. Conversely, the Tel Wire Connect maintained the pristine nature of the percussion instruments and exhibited no softening of the highs as the Chronos tended to do. This is very impressive performance on the part of the Tel Wire Connect.

Cord

The Tel Wire Cord power cord is also constructed of OCC single crystal copper of the highest purity available. The plug terminations used are state-of-the-art Oyaide 004 series with Beryllium copper bases and platinum & palladium plating. These materials once again were very carefully chosen by Chris Kline to ensure the highest quality and consistency of sonic performance. As is the case for the Connect, the Tel Wire Cord’s jacket was chosen by Chris for its flexibility and ability to minimize the impact from external vibration. You will need to give the Cord roughly 100 hours of play before the upper bass evens out and the low bass tightens up. With an MSRP of $799, this cable clearly is a value just taking into account the materials used and the quality of construction.

In terms of sound, the Cord does not disappoint. Once again, it is clearly evident that the cable has no contribution at all to the signature of the components it is connected to. This power cord lays down a quiet and black background, and delivers clean powerful bass and pristine highs without any sense of heaviness or darkness in its character. In fact, when it came time to directly compare the Cord against the Aural Symphonics Magic Gem V2t on each component, the Cord did not come across as a product cord costing only roughly 1/2 the price. On one hand, the areas in which the Aural Symphonics continually surprise and excel is its uncanny ability to present an absolutely black background, and allowing recorded room acoustic detail to emerge from certain recordings. By comparison, the Tel Wire Cord provides as fluid and clean a sound as the Magic Gem, but does not quite match its bass response nor “blackness.” I compared the Cord to the pricey A/S cord mainly because the Tel Wire completely embarrassed my go-to cable in this price class, the Zu Audio Mother Mk2.

Summing it all up

There is no doubt that the relative newcomer Tel Wire has plenty to offer. Under the careful watch of its founder and designer Chris Kline, the Connect and Cord are clearly cables of the highest order in terms of performance, quality of parts, construction, and value. I look forward to hearing further developments in his line of cables as they come available. The Cord and Connect are a must-audition at their respective price points.

The post Tel Wire Connect Interconnect And Cord Power Cable Review appeared first on Dagogo.

The Review System

I recently reviewed Sablon’s remarkable Panatela interconnects. When possible, I most often use the same cables throughout my system, so for this review I hooked up my whole system with Sablon cables: The phono cable from my AMG V12 turntable to my Auditorium 23 homage T1 SUT, a pair of the Panatela interconnects from the SUT to the Shindo Giscours, and another pair from the Giscours to the Wavac EC-300B.  The Wavac was connected to the Teresonic Ingenium XR Silvers speakers via the Sablon Panatela speaker cables.  I used a Gran Corona power cord for the amp, and the Shindo power cords on the Giscours because of Ken Shindo’s grounding scheme .

Description and listening impressions

Every set of Panatela cables are hand built and cryogenic treated starting with the bare wire. They don’t use solder joints because Sablon claims feels they degrade the sound. Both the interconnects and speaker cables use cryogenically treated silver-plated copper Xhadow connectors for terminations, which Sablon considers to be the best sounding terminations available. If you want more technical info go to website and read away.

With the Sablon cable throughout my system, I was quite pleased with the sound. It had a very transparent and clear sound without any of what I think of as a silver sound. In fact, on many albums I would describe the sound as full bodied, silky smooth, and with great musical flow. With other recordings it was quick and tight with great snap. The Sablon cables will not cover up bad sounding recordings, but neither will they shout out at you, “this sounds really bad.”

The sound of my system with the Sablon cables was very alive. When I say alive, I’m trying to convey a sound that is natural and very realistic, in opposition to a system that sounds like a great high end system, especially not what is often referred to as a musical sounding system.

The system reproduced layers, textures, colors, and the tonality of music in an exemplary manner. Vocals both male, female and rather quirky voices all sounded very natural. Occasionally, I thought the cables might tame the edginess of some voices ever so slightly. Truth is, this is a rather glorious thing on digital recordings and many would think a pretty good thing overall. The cables did nothing to hinder the coherent soundstage that I so enjoy about my system.

Conclusion and Comparisons

The Sablon cables replaced a full set of Shindo Silver cables and their power cords in my system. I also had on hand Teresonic gold and silver cables. In my review of the Panatela interconnects I compared these cables and said, “The Teresonic Clarison Silver EXP cables are probably the most neutral of all three cable I had on hand. They are very fast, very quick, with great bass impact. The Shindo cables fall in between the two in regard to tonality. The Shindo are definitely the most organic of the three, with the Panatela coming in a very close second. As the Panatela is the warmest of the three, I would certainly pick it for digital playback. Now, don’t get me wrong in this comparison – these three cables sound much more like each other than they do different.”

Nothing has changed my mind about this assertion. The big difference here is that you get equally good sound for significantly less money with the Sablon. If I had an all-Shindo system, I would use Shindo Interconnects, power cords, and the Sablon Panatela speaker cables. For any other system it would be hard to justify spending more for either of the other two cables. I’m not saying the Sablons are the best cables in the world. They are not, but they are the best I have heard for the money. I know these are not entry level cable prices, but they are near state-of-the-art cables for a reasonable cost. I honestly feel they are quite a bargain and cables that more people need to hear.

The post Sablon Panatela Speaker Cables, Interconnects, Phono Cable and Gran Corona Power Cable Review appeared first on Dagogo.

In the beginning of the year at the 2012 CES, I observed that the room hosted by Sutherland, Merrill-Williams, and Vandersteen sounded particularly good. The cabling in that room was by a company that was previously unknown to me, Enklein Cables. During this visit I was introduced to company president Dave Kleinbeck and it didn’t take much time at all to get to a heady conversation regarding the role of cables in a neutral system, and in particular how his designs were contributing to the overall listenability, detail, image specificity,  and neutrality of the system in that room.

The Enklein story is certainly an interesting one. The company was formed out of the need for improved performance from high quality studio recording gear. Their analysis concluded that external noise and interference were compromising their ability to capture the emotional content of the performances they were recording, and they endeavored to correct the problem through design of proper cables that provided an extreme level of noise reduction without damaging or altering the sound and timing of the music and recorded space.

Fast forward to this past May and after a few brief email exchanges regarding silver cables and past experiences, Mr. Kleinbeck offered for review his Enklein Zephyr Interconnects and Enklein Taurus power cords. I, of course, jumped at the chance since they had already proven at CES that they were definitely of high performance. In the course of this review, you will see that a couple of months into the process, I added a set of Enklein “Titan” speaker cables to the mix, thus creating a full end-to-end Enklein-connected system. You will read much more as to why and how this further development was necessary in order to fully realize a faithful evaluation of the Enklein family of cables.

As a matter of reference, for the major portion of the review period  my system was configured with a Pass Labs X350.5 power amplifier, the superb Pass Labs XP-20 line stage, Zesto Audio Andros PS-1 phono stage, and Eficion F300 speakers. Cables used were TRS Audio Pure Note Designer’s Edition interconnects and speaker cables, Aural Symphonics Magic Gem v2t power cords and Telwire “Cord” power cord on the Conrad Johnson/McCormack Universal Digital player UDP-1 Deluxe. The analog source is the excellent Merrill-Williams R.E.A.L. 101 / Ortofon TA-110 Rubber Injected tonearm and Accuphase AC3 phono cartridge combination. Viewed holistically, this system provides a neutral and highly detailed workspace that would be required for evaluation of the Enklein cables.

The Method

Reviewing a cable or set of cables is decidedly a tricky endeavor. After all, there is a certain amount of trial and error that goes into changing cables and evaluating the resulting changes in sound in the overall system. That is, if indeed the system even changes enough to be perceived; typically, that’s not at all an issue. Cables generally, in fact, make a world of difference in a system and can either improve its overall performance or can also cause it to tank. In the world of high-performance audio, the latter is not generally the case but there is always that distinct possibility.

My preference is to evaluate each cable independently beginning with the power cord, then interconnects, and finally speaker cables. In order to fully capture the changes wrought by each cable, I do each swap independently by re-inserting the reference cable back into the system prior to moving on to the following cable being evaluated. This method, though time-consuming, has proved to be worthwhile in the past in exposing overall differences and sonic signatures in each individual cable. I followed this methodology when reviewing other cable systems such as the Aural Symphonics cables, Telwire cables, and of course the TRS Pure Note Designer’s Edition cables.

Enklein “Taurus” Power cord

The Enklein “Taurus’ reference power cord is Enklein’s best from a lineup which includes the entry level ”Jake” and the mid-level “Big Tom.”  The Taurus is constructed using 37 strands of silver plated copper in a 10 gauge bundle for the current-carrying conductors.  These are coated with a thick layer of a Teflon dielectric. Terminations are also of very high quality materials sporting platinum-coated beryllium copper base metal connectors.  The outer wrap is made of a solvent-resistant plastic shell and exudes both quality of construction as well as durability and purpose.  Visually, the Enklein Taurus is flat and stiff without being rigid. It can be flexed and molded to whatever shape is necessary to accomplish wire routing. This is quite a contrast to the Aural Symphonics Magic Gem v2t whose girth is more akin to a pool vacuum hose than power cord. However, as I pointed out in my review, the Magic Gem v2t remained remarkably flexible for its size.

I decided to start off with inserting the Enklein Taurus reference power cord to my system, specifically to the Pass Labs X350.5 power amplifier. Of course, none of the Enklein cables had been used nor broken in, so I therefore set my expectations accordingly.  At first blush, when directly compared to my long time reference Aural Symphonics MagicGem v2t, I found the Enklein Taurus Reference to hold its own in the key areas where my reference cable excels, low background noise and top-to-bottom integrity; an interesting start. To hasten the pace of progress, I utilized a second system to run continuously for purposes of breaking-in two Enklein Taurus reference power cord and the balanced pair of Enklein Zephyr silver wire interconnects.

I evaluated the sound of the Enklein Taurus reference power cord a week later to see how things were progressing and indeed, the sound had changed mainly in the area of bass response. While it had already seemed quite good in this area, having approximately 100 or so hours of run time proved beneficial in dramatically improving both impact and focus. This came through as improved imaging and coherence which were areas where they demonstrated a weakness right out of the box.

Once assured that break-in was complete, I conducted a series of listening tests with an Enklein Taurus reference power cord at the Pass Labs X350.5 power amplifier and another at the one front-end component that is most affected by power cords, the Conrad Johnson-McCormack UDP1 Deluxe universal player.

The results as they relate to the Pass Labs X350.5 followed my initial impressions closely. The Enklein Taurus reference power cord provided a clean and quiet background and did not hinder image depth, width, or height. Overall, the Taurus distinguished itself from my reference MagicGem v2t in two key areas. The Taurus provided excellent quieting without the slight darkness that seemed ever-present on the Aural Symphonics. The second notable change, though slight, was an impression that the Enklein Taurus appeared to alter front-to-back image perspective. Voices, both male and female, seemed slightly forward in presentation, but without any tonal inconsistencies or added colorations.

Inserting the second Enklein Taurus to my universal player yielded a clearer view of the sonic influences the power cord change imparted in my system. In the case of the McCormack/ Conrad Johnson UDP1 Deluxe, most recently I had been utilizing the superbly neutral and transparent Telwire “Cord” power cord. With respect to the Telwire Cord , it’s selection had really amounted to a compromise between the imaging prowess of the Zu Audio “Mother” MK II which it replaced and the slightly dark yet tonally rich Aural Symphonics Magic Gem v2t. Once inserted, the Enklein Taurus proved to yield significant sonic benefit to the performance of my digital player.  Specifically, images seemed to become more resolute and clearer. Bass clarity and impact also improved without altering the overall sonic balance and neutrality of this unit; certainly another very positive outcome.  If my review were to conclude here, I would say that in the case of either inserting one or even two Enklein Taurus reference power cords to my system, the overall effects were certainly positive and I would have concluded that the change was most impactful at the system’s front-end. However, the review and story do not end here. In fact, they have barely begun.

Enklein Zephyr Balanced and Single-Ended Interconnects

Once comfortable with the sonic signature my system had with the addition of the two Enklein Taurus reference power cords, I proceeded with inserting a 5-meter run of Enklein Zephyr Balanced interconnects.

The Enklein Zephyr is the second highest model of interconnect in Enklein’s line-up of four distinct models. The Enklein line of interconnects consists of (from the bottom up), the entry level copper-based Aura, the continuous cast copper-based Prairie Fire, the solid silver conductor-based Zephyr, and the top-of-the-line Aeros which utilizes both silver and copper in its construct.

The Enklein Zephyr interconnect is a flat and stiff-yet-bendable cable that is constructed with 20 gauge silver solid conductors placed parallel in an air dielectric. Zephyr has a shield network that is specifically designed to preserve the signal and protect against any AC line 60 Hz noise and any digital noise conductance. The XLR terminations utilize a unique billet brass with gold and rhodium over silver plating. These have a particularly solid feel when inserted into position.

The Enklein Zephyr in particular interested me very much. As a user of silver cables from a single source for over 10 years, this is where my preferences have generally gravitated towards. Over those years, though not at all perfect, the TRS Audio Pure Note models are the sole silver cables that consistently delivered wide response and neutrality in my system that was previously anchored by full range electrostatic speakers, without the brightness and edginess that others in this category often exhibit.

After roughly a 120-hour break-in period, I had my first listening session with the Zephyr balanced cables in place. I first started with some new vinyl that I had just purchased and wasn’t at all happy with what I was hearing. So I moved on to more familiar recordings, which proved useful but also raised additional questions.  My initial impression of the Zephyr interconnect was indeed a mixed one.  Low frequency weight was excellent, though not quite as impactful as my standard-bearer TRS cable. On acoustic works, I found that the forward quality that I had noted with the Enklein Taurus power cord had increased in severity and gave the impression of loss in image depth and movement of the overall image forward of the speakers.  Since this can easily be due to insufficient break-in, I decided to continue the break-in process of these cables and double down on the 120 hours. This is not at all atypical for silver cables. In fact, as I noted previously in my review of the Pure Note cables, their cables have always required substantially long run in times into the hundreds of hours. Anecdotally, I have heard the same of a few other well-regarded cables, so I had no reason to question the results at this point in the process.

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It has been many, many years, (perhaps 25 or even 30?) since I have had my system decked out in MIT cables. Back when I discovered the joy of electrostatic speakers I splurged and invested in some MIT CVT interconnects and speaker cables. Those were in my system for a number of years until I discovered silver wire, and then rarely went back to copper. As I wrote that previous sentence, I couldn’t help but shake my head and laugh because, of course, we all know better. It’s not really about just the metal, is it? Of course the person laughing the hardest is MIT founder, Bruce Brisson. Mr. Brisson has been evangelizing the real and correct role of interconnects and wires for more than thirty years. Back in the 80’s (or was it the late 70’s?), when  Mr. Brisson founded MIT, he founded the company on the basis that linking electronics and speakers requires more than just strands of conductive metal. They were required to be component interfaces. This was a term that was rarely used in those pre-computer software days. Through MIT, Mr. Brisson introduced the concept of engineering cables through use of individualized “poles” of differing measured characteristics that together provide a reliable, musical, and harmonious connection between two components.

Many of us may not understand the science or math behind component interface matching or worse yet, deny the fact that cables affect the sound of a system, but we have all fallen victim to improper or incompatible cables and/or components. Still, we roll the dice and perform a series of crapshoots when making key decisions in our component systems in the hopes that these will miraculously function harmoniously. I certainly have written enough cable reviews and you, the reader, have read many more of these to know that seeking out compatibility in cable and component is sometimes an expensive, time-consuming, and frustrating endeavor. This is especially true if you are shopping for cables that are affordable for us mere mortals. MIT is looking to change all of that. It is therefore with keen interest and measured excitement that I accepted the offer to review MIT’s latest offering in the world of Music Interfaces, the MIT StyleLine Series.

The StyleLine Series is the latest line of cables being offered by MIT. In fact, they are an entry level line of cables that include products for audio and video systems. This means that in addition to the usual audio-based offerings of speaker cables and interconnects, this new AV line includes such offerings as USB cables and HDMI cables. Most importantly, the MIT StyleLine represents the latest in a simplified and trickled-down “Multipole” technology that is employed in MIT’s more costly offerings, such as the Matrix and Oracle series of cables. In today’s world of high performance audio, the StyleLine Series cables are indeed attractively priced should they achieve their lofty sonic goals.

The MIT StyleLine speaker cables are available in configurations of 5 (SL-5), 9 (SL-9), and 12 (SL-12) poles of articulation with pricing of $500, $800, and $1,200 respectively per 8 foot pair. In similar fashion, the MIT StyleLine interconnects come in three configurations 3 (SL-3), 6 (SL-6), and 8 (SL-8) poles of articulation with pricing of $200, $300, and $500 respectively, for a 1-meter single-ended RCA pair. They are also available in balanced XLR configuration in 3 (SLXLR-3) and 6 (SLXLR-6) poles of articulation with pricing of $300 and $600 respectively, for a 1-meter pair. In this review, I will be exploring the sound and impact imparted on my reference system when configured with MIT StyleLine SL-8, SLXLR-6, and SL-12. Rounding out the full MIT set-up for purposes of this review, I am also employing the use of MIT Shotgun jumpers on my Eficion F300 speakers, and a full complement of MIT Magnum ZIII power cords for the power amps and MIT Shotgun ZIII power cords for source components. The MIT StyleLine Series includes power cords and jumpers in the future.

Installation and Break-in – Power Cords

For the purposes of this review, I decided to deviate from my normal method and first replace all power cords with the MIT cords since the actual subject of this review is the MIT StyleLine Series. I did so not just because of the opportunity to have an all-MIT system approach, but also because my reference power cords have proven to sometimes be a difficult match to cables of other designs. The MIT Magnum ZIII was installed on the Pass Labs X350.5 power amplifier and MIT Shotgun ZIII power cords on the Pass Labs XP-20 line stage, Zesto Audio Andros PS-1 phono stage, and Conrad Johnson UDP1 Delux universal disc player. I had already been advised by MIT that the cables were burned in. However, after quickly listening to the system’s signature, I decided to give the cables an additional burn-in of one week while away on business. Upon my return I confirmed that the additional time proved to be beneficial. This set the stage for establishing a baseline sound before introduction of the MIT StyleLine Series. To that end, I also installed the MIT Shotgun jumpers on the Eficion F300’s and noted a slight, audible change in high frequency extension and detail from the excellent EnKlein Titan jumpers.

My reference system’s signature did change in several aspects due to the change in power cords. First, the overall signature had an overall slight, added warmth in the upper bass. In addition and more importantly, bass response clearly improved in force and clarity at the lowest registers. Overall, it was a pleasant surprise to find these improvements in place moving into the main focus of the review, the MIT StyleLine Series!

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iFi-audio Micro Series – iDAC

iDAC – $299 + Mercury USB cable – $99 for 0.5 meter, $129 for 1 meter

I recently became somewhat serious about computer audio.  Last month I bought an Asus laptop and two external hard drives to be used in combination as a dedicated music server.  Previously my Sony laptop served as an uber everything computer.   I felt I wasn’t getting the maximum benefit from playing digital music files through the USB as there were way too many programs and other peripheral crap loaded on the Sony.  I have stripped down the Asus by deleting non essential programs, with almost all music files stored on the external hard drives.  I also bought JRiver because this music software is capable of playing both high resolution PCM and DSD files.  The iDAC is the first digital audio device auditioned with my new music computer setup.  Congratulations iFi for deflowering my new laptop, musically speaking of course.

The iDAC is a USB only Asynchronous DAC with sampling capability of up to 24 Bit/192 kHz.  According to information on the company website, the iDAC utilizes an ESS Sabre chip – without specifying the model.  I will assume that in all probability, it is the lower price Sabre ES9023 chip that is employed, given the low $299 retail of the iDAC.  I’m quite familiar with this particular DAC chip, having auditioned several other brands’ using the same, most notably the DAC section of the Peachtree iNova.  Achieving excellent sound quality though, is not only a matter of selecting a particular DAC chip, but also involves proper circuitry, parts selection, implementation, topography and a host of other factors and considerations.  Oh, and of course, countless listening hours after every change.

An information/warranty card, a short USB cable, and a pair of generic RCA cables are also included with the unit.  The company probably clones these cables by the tens of thousands!  Connections are kept simple on the iDAC with one USB input and one pair of RCA output, but frankly, there’s no more room on the small chassis for anything else.  I should warn readers not to use RCA cables with wide diameter connectors because they will not fit into the iDAC’s output jacks.  My Audio Sensibility RCA cables with twist connectors, which are only a little wider than standard size ones, barely made connection with each connector touching the other.  There is a headphone mini-jack and volume knob on the same end as the RCA jacks.

Quality on the Mercury USB A/B cable is evident by iFi’s choice of materials and construction.  Included is an adaptor which allows connection to devices with only mini USB inputs, rather than the full size B input.  There are also three adjustable ferrite type beads attached to the Mercury, what iFi calls “RF silencers.”  I was curious why three ferrites were used instead of the usual one or two, so I asked.  Both Vincent Luke of iFi-audio and Darren Censullo responded with essentially the same answer.  Apparently, much research was done in the area of RF interference on digital frequencies.  The fruits of this research allowed iFi to “tune” each ferrite bead to a specific set of frequencies.  By doing so, all possible RF interference is effectively filtered from entering into the components.  I was told to move the two outer silencers to each end of the cable and initially situate the middle silencer about one-third the way down; creating the “Golden Ratio” rule.  I then experimented by moving the middle silencer further along the cable to determine if there were any changes in the sound; I could not hear any differences so I went back to the GR rule for the rest of the review.  Perhaps those listeners living in “dirtier” areas will benefit from the experimentation.

Because I live in a heavily congested urban area I firmly believe in RF filtering, which is why I have attached ferrite beads to all of my audio components.  For those of you living in less congested or rural areas, RF interference may not be a concern.  I think it’s wonderful though that iFi has the forethought to include the silencers just in case some of you decide to move to more urban areas.

When I opened the box, I found the Mercury cable sleeping in a nice felt string bag, the kind provided when one buys a piece of fine jewelry, or a nice watch.  To waken it, I connected the Mercury to the iDAC and my laptop, from whence I started playing music.  This is what I found:

Mercury USB cable

iFi-audio Micro Series – iDAC – digital input side

The Sound of iDAC and Mercury (not a Greek myth)

After experimenting between WASAPI and ASIO interfaces on the JRiver player, I ended up preferring the WASAPI output because music sounded more natural and thus used that format for all further listening.

For comparison, I borrowed from a friend an original Schiit Bifrost, with optional USB board.  I connected identical Audio Sensibility Impact RCA cables to both DACs.  The iDAC produces a more relaxed and slightly darker musical presentation.  The original Bifrost appears to emphasize the leading edge of vocals and instrumental notes, while the iDAC seems to soften each slightly.  Imaging wise, the iDAC seems to throw out a more believable sound stage (for me) than the Bifrost, with the latter presenting slightly more definitive forms and the former slightly more amorphous outlines.  Different strokes for different folks: original Bifrost better for those who prefer cutout images and iDAC better for those who prefer imaging more like at a concert.

Bass output and articulation are very good with both DACs.  For example, the fingering and plucking of the upright bass on Holly Cole’s “I Can See Clearly Now” have the appropriate flex, rebound, texture and punch that I have heard from expensive DACs, with perhaps the Bifrost slightly edging out the iDAC in detail, though both falling short in terms of definition to the highest achievers (read very expensive) in this regard.

Dynamics is also very good on both DACs, as evidenced on Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony, with the softest pianissimo to the loudest crescendo reproduced admirably.  What is significant in this regard is the dynamic flow: continuous throughout the range without any indication that the music is noticeably jumping from a softer sound to a louder sound level.

On “Set Things Aright,” Daniel Martin Moore’s pronunciation of “s” words is emphasized more and instrumental notes sounded sharper on the Bifrost than with the iDAC.  The differences heard were noticeable on several other albums as well.  In this regard, the presentation of the iDAC is more natural sounding to my ears.

Overall, I feel the iDAC is slightly more organic sounding than the original Bifrost with the former retrieving as much detail (for the most part) as the latter, but sounding less sharp and “hifi.”  Of course, some listeners may prefer a “hifi” sound.

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