Never say never....a $10,000/1 meter power cable?!*

[rontoolsie]

So this is what is now resident. The upper green cable is the hardwired Cablepro power strip using their then top-line Revelation power wire. This power strip supplies everything apart from the digital power supply (a custom made choke-regulated jobbie) which is now juiced by the Ansuz Mainz Diamond. Let me be clear....THIS IS NOT MY POWER CABLE...I DID NOT SPEND 5 FIGURES ON ANY POWER CABLE. I borrowed it. Although it will be with extreme reluctance I will have to return it.
I must say I did not expect ANY real significant changes compared to the pretty damn good Pangea AC14XL (which was already an easy step up from the left over Naim kettle lead). During installation my 84 year old mother looked with near disdain at this massively overpriced trinket and thought anyone who would buy that had to be stark raving. But it only took a minute to plug in and power up again. I put on a 320 radio stream of a station that plays pretty much all day (Calm radio which to my ears has better sound than the 320 Radio Paradise streams). I then sat down around the corner at my computer and did some emails while the gear went through whatever 'warm up' gears go through.
About 3 minutes later, my mom pops here head around the corner and says...this REALLY sounds better.

Later on that day, we sit down and listen to some music. Without any prompting, she tells ME how she thinks it sounds better. She has never ONCE described any character of sound to me, but she did so. According to her, the low notes were easier to hear and feel, the squeakyness when sliding up guitar frets was not quite as intrusive (although just as easy to hear), and the soprano vocals in were much more intelligible (she is a native german speaker). All without me saying a word about what I could or could not hear.

So, if you want to go on a rant about power cords not making a difference, don't get mad at me...get mad at my mom.

BTW, I know of one guy who has replaced all his Chord Music loom with this stuff...which makes the Music seem like a budget line. A 1.5 m length of this cable runs almost $20,000. And don't even ask about the speaker cables.

Now, let the bullets fly.

 

[Octavian]

Ah, mom argument instead of wife argument. Highly original and innovative.

 

[ryder]

It made my £2,400 Chord Signature XL speaker cables sound like a bargain. I didn't have much luck with exotic power cords. I read that cords with American plugs bring a more significant difference when compared to power cords with UK plugs. Perhaps that may the reason power cords with American plugs are more popular than the ones which come in UK plugs?

 

[rontoolsie]

It made my £2,400 Chord Signature XL speaker cables sound like a bargain. I didn't have much luck with exotic power cords. I read that cords with American plugs bring a more significant difference when compared to power cords with UK plugs. Perhaps that may the reason power cords with American plugs are more popular than the ones which come in UK plugs?

In terms of sheer numbers, the number of US-standard power sockets and cables must be orders of magnitudes higher than the UK standard ones. The last time I say those UK sockets was in Gibraltar. The last time I saw a US socket was today.
Here's something interesting. A senior Naim guy I knew in the US, once replaced his 120V home sockets with UK plugs and used the UK power cords to fire up his active DBL system. He found it sounded worse than the US sockets/plugs, so swapped them back in. This may have *something* to do with the internal plug fuses, but there has to be more than just that.

 

[Evan D. Jay]

Ron, is your mother available for A/B’s?

 

[Mr Pig]

So your mother is going senile, is that what you are telling us? ;0)

 

[narabdela]

Now, let the bullets fly.

Nope, not gonna bite. The madness ends here, now. Enough already!

 

[Mr Pig]

What is a cable made of to justify £10.000 a meter? I'd be surprized if NASA use cable that costs £10,000 a meter? So, assuming the mark up is enormous, which I think it must be, the question is not 'does it sound better' but is 'am I happy to get totally ripped off'?

Even if it does sound better I object to be taken for a gullible fool.

 

[rontoolsie]

What is a cable made of to justify £10.000 a meter? I'd be surprized if NASA use cable that costs £10,000 a meter? So, assuming the mark up is enormous, which I think it must be, the question is not 'does it sound better' but is 'am I happy to get totally ripped off'?

Even if it does sound better I object to be taken for a gullible fool.

I am not attempting to justify any cost/benefit ratio here. Only to document that insanely priced products can outperform merely expensive ones. But unlike Rolex watches, something like this is more rooted in raw performance rather than pride of ownership...how many people have actually *heard* of Ansuz, or even can find Denmark on a map?. In order to restore some sense of balance I have ordered a Pangea AC9 SEmk2 for $175 per meter, that I will compare this Ansuz with. I should have that tomorrow.
Think about this more like test driving a dream car...you would/could never buy it, but it is an experience.

 

[Hook]

Ron, if you REALLY loved your Mom, you would buy her this power cable. C’mon man, she deserves it!

 

[rontoolsie]

Ron, if you REALLY loved your Mom, you would buy her this power cable. C’mon man, she deserves it!

Lets see...I would need 1x1m, 1x1.5m, 2x2m power cords, 1x5m interconnect, 2x4m speaker cables and whatever USB cable they have going.
You know things are really expensive when you have to switch your calculator to scientific notation to add up the prices.

 

[AndrewR]

The real test is to plug in a kettle and see if it makes a better cuppa tea for your Mum

Andrew

 

[myles]

Not saying these cables are better, worse, different sounding because frankly I don't care. However, if it cost another 10k for 0.5m more, I'd just spend 1k on having a load of sockets fitted as close to my kit as is humanly possible - 50cm power cables anyone?

 

[fegs]

Not saying these cables are better, worse, different sounding because frankly I don't care. However, if it cost another 10k for 0.5m more, I'd just spend 1k on having a load of sockets fitted as close to my kit as is humanly possible - 50cm power cables anyone?

which begs the question .....

 

[myles]

which begs the question .....

There are more questions than answers.

 

[fegs]

There are more questions than answers.

exactly

 

[Olsen]

Silly cable prices often offered with mega discount to tempt a weak soul, say 60-75%
Must be a strategy

Set price at 5000
Happy with 12-1500

 

[Nero]

I don't doubt Ron's ears, but I don't think I'll even go there at that price. I was blown away by the smattering of strange words in this image. Dither. Tesla. Anti Arial. Internal Resonance Control.

Hmm.

I well remember going to a Nordost presentation at a Whittlebury show, and I had to leave as I was giggling too much.

 

[lyndon]

I’m a firm believer in good cables having progressively upgraded through the years
However I would always look to having a relative balance between equipment and cables
And get the equipment upgrades done before cables
This is especially important for active systems as the cable outlay can be a serious commitment
I’m currently north of £40k and with the release of the Chord Burndies I have a feeling that first digit will change

lyndon

 

[Nero]

I certainly don’t have a problem with good cables. But why do some manufacturers feel they have to resort to stupid marketing bollocks to try and get their point across? Just be honest.
PS : active doesn’t always mean lots of cables