May 3, 2012
-
Shunyata Research Hydra Model-8 Power Conditioner, Part 2
How Does It Sound?
I’ve only used one power cord with the Hydra-8 and that’s the Shunyata Taipan Helix Alpha 20 amp power cord. Therefore, I find it nearly impossible to separate the “sound” of the Taipan from that of the Hydra Model-8. Although a good cord, the Taipan was the bottom model in Shunyata’s product line of Taipan ($700), Python ($1,200) and Anaconda ($2,000) power cords. They have since been replaced with newer models: the Zi TRON series Cobra ($995), Python ($1,995) and Anaconda ($2,995) and perhaps the closest, at least in terms of price, to the Taipan, the Black Mamba ($600). The Black Mamba, as far as I know, doesn’t utilize Shunyata’s Zi TRON technology.
Please bear this in mind when reading my listening impressions of the Hydra-8 because in a very real sense, they are my impressions of both products.
That having been said, I did give the Taipan a well-deserved vacation recently back to its original home on the West Coast. While there, the Taipan basked in the warm California sun and was also treated to an invigorating spa treatment via the audiodharma Cable Cooker. I will, therefore, be able to comment on how my system sounded minus both products and when they were reintroduced, any changes I may have heard in the Taipan.
There was one other confounding affect to all of this. Once the Taipan returned and the Hydra Model-8 was hooked back up, I also removed two Venom3 power cords (one from the Oppo BDP-95 and the other from the c-j Premier 16LS2) and sent them to the same spa in California for treatments of their own. I realize that I’m breaking audiophile-approved rules left and right, but that’s what happens in real life.
After the Taipan and Hydra-8 were back in the system, my immediate impression was that of a smoothness to the sound that hadn’t been there during their absence. Additionally, the bass was more weighty without the quality of the bass suffering from bloat or overhang.
Over the three or so days it took for the Taipan to recover from its treatment, the system gained an added degree of extension in the high end of the frequency spectrum. This was heard as a sense of air around instruments previously missing and a bit of extra detail to boot. Two words that kept appearing in my listening notes were “subtle” and “delicate”.
All the while the power cord settled in, the smoothness remained and I attribute that primarily to the Hydra-8 itself because that was one of the characteristics I remember prior to all of the changes having been made.
Once both the Taipan and the Hydra-8 were back in service, the sound stage became deeper and its images a bit more solid. One change I can attribute to the Taipan’s Cable Cooker treatment, was the shape of the sound stage. Previously, the sound stage had been fairly squared-off behind and in the plane of the speakers. Depending on the tubes in service, source, and material, the sound stage would extend to my listening position on occasion, in a triangular shape. After treatment, however, the sound field near my listening seat has become, for lack of a better way of expressing it, more populated. And not only is there more going on, but the shape of the sound field has changed also. It’s now square further into the room and is more like a truncated pyramid at my listening position rather than a triangle.
This may sound as if I’m splitting hairs or counting dancing angels, and maybe I am. But I don’t think so. Something the c-j equipment has always done very well in conjunction with the ESL-989 speakers is project a three-dimensional sound stage. As a result, I tend to pick up on auditory cues and changes in this regard pretty easily. It’s one of the reasons I tend to focus on this aspect of my system’s sound reproduction as much as I do. Perhaps to the detriment of other qualities such as evenness of frequency response, micro- and macro-dynamics, etc.
I always find the portion of the review dealing with describing a subjective experience in a somewhat objective manner the most difficult. There is always the tendency, I find, to read more into the experience than may actually be there. Hopefully, I have enough listening time at this stage in the game that I’m able to recognize when that’s beginning to happen and I can prevent it. But in the final analysis, other than using measurements that may or may not have anything to do with the actual listening experience, what can we do?
