Based upon a discussion started in another forum, I decided to examine differences between the –EB (standard) and –DR versions of the Russian made 6H30π small signal tube.  The subject tubes are the 6H30π-EB (2009 and 2011 vintage, both cryo-treated and marked Sovtek) and the 6H30π-DR (1989 vintage, untreated and from the same Reflector Corp., Saratov plant as the Sovteks although obviously separated by 20 and 22 years in time). 

According to Victor Khomenko, founder of Balanced Audio Technology, and the person credited with naming the 6H30π as the “super tube,” the –DR is the military-specification version of the 6H30 while the –EB is the commercial (lower grade) version of the tube.    

Just as a point of information, if you look at the tube, the lettering appears to be 6H30n-DP in Cyrillic which actually phonetically translates as 6N30P-DR.  Mr. Khomenko prefers 6H30 and leaves it at that.  

The two 6H30π function as the phase splitters in my conrad-johnson Premier 140 power amp.  I purchased the 6H30π-DR as a set of four back in 2005, or so, from Conus Audio for $50 each.  They currently list them as costing $175 apiece, so I guess I bought them at the right time.  I bought the cryo-treated 6H30π-EB last year from Upscale Audio in the Platinum Grade at a cost of $43 each.

6H30π-EB                                                                                            6H30π-DR
     

Side-By-Side Front View                                                                         Side-By-Side Rear View
     

 

I don’t usually make snap decisions, but after less than an hour’s audition, the difference between the –EB and –DR versions were readily apparent.  It was particularly surprising to me because while I remember the –DR version as being both a little smoother and detailed, the difference was not night and day.  I can only assume that the Teflon capacitor upgrade to the Premier 140 is the reason for the change in my feelings this time around.

Compared to the –EB, the –DR tubes were superior in all categories.  This is not a common occurrence for me where typically advantages in some areas are offset by deficiencies in other areas.  They were more extended at the frequency extremes, more airy, with better inner detail (timbre) and low level detail.  Even sound staging improved with better defined images in a deeper and wider field. 

Frankly, I don’t know if it’s just the sun, the moon, and the stars all lining up or what, but I am mighty pleased.  I’m also a little disappointed I didn’t order eight of them back then.

If you think your equipment is sufficiently resolving and you can swing the not inconsiderable cost, these are worth it, even at today’s prices. 

This review will be short and to the point. 

Mapleshade makes a variety of brass footers and the reader is directed to their web site for more information regarding their philosophy and details regarding their products.

I’ve used their brass footers for almost 10 years with consistently positive results.  The specific brass footers I use are their Original Triplepoints and the Megamounts. 

The Original Triplepoints have been used under just about all of my source components and every preamplifier I’ve owned.  They are made out of brass and weigh 1 pound 10 ounces and measure 2 inches in diameter with a height of 2 ¼ inches.

The Megamounts are big, heavy suckers that I’ve used under my conrad-johnson Premier 11A and 140 amplifiers.  They weigh in at 5 ½ pounds each are 3 inches in diameter and height.

Family Shot                                                                                          Under BDP-95
      

Close Encounters of the Third Kind                                                          Under Premier 16LS2
     

Under the Premier 140                                                                          Megamount Close-Up
     

 

In my last installment, I described using vibration dampers and footers and remarked that for my tastes and in my system, I’ve discovered that less in more.  However, when it comes to these brass footers, given the same context, more is more.  Specifically I find that these Mapleshade brass footers add more detail, air, transparency and sound stage depth. 

I recently tried switching the interconnects on my Oppo BDP-95 from Nordost Red Dawn to Shunyata Altair and didn’t care for how the Altair’s sounded.  So, I put the Red Dawn back and having a very low frustration tolerance, left-off putting back the Original Triplepoints when I couldn’t get them to all stand properly under the universal player.  When I started using the BDP-95 again, it just didn’t sound right so I gritted my teeth, and after a good deal of foul language, got the Triplepoints properly positioned.  Mapleshade recommends that you place them under the heaviest portions of the equipment.  You might want to experiment yourself with what you think sounds optimal.  Anyway, once the Triplepoints were back in place, the treble had noticeably more sparkle, the bass was cleaner and the sound stage went from being flat to once again filling my listening room.   

These footers aren’t inexpensive.  The Original Triplepoints cost $140 for a set of three and the Megamounts retail for $375.  Shipping is also not inconsiderable, especially for the Megamounts.  Mapleshade backs these products with a 30-day money back guarantee.

 

You might want to check them out.

 

As time has gone by, an audiophile truism has become increasingly obvious to me:  everything makes a difference.

For the last 10 years or so, I’ve experimented with all sorts of things which may be generically labeled as tweaks:  tube dampers, footers and crystals included.  The first two categories are attempts to control vibration and microphonics.  Today’s installment will cover two products I’ve used from Herbie's Audio Lab plus another type of damper, O-rings, which I’ve obtained from both conrad-johnson, supplied as original equipment, and from an online vendor. 

My observations should in no way be construed as an attempt to either dissuade or persuade you from trying them.  What I dislike or like may very well bear little, or no, relation to your assessment of these very same products.

What I can tell you, however, is that you will almost assuredly hear a difference with them in your system.  Whether you perceive these differences as benign, malignant or a mix of both is what makes this hobby so interesting. 

 

Tube Dampers

The Herbie’s product I’ve been using the longest is, I believe, no longer available in exactly the same form but may be found both on the used market and their successors are available at Herbie’s web site, too.  They are what I will refer to as Herbie’s HAL-Os and they came in a number of sizes and two flavors at the time I purchased them.  They’ve been in my system, on and off, ever since.

Herbie’s Hal-Os are intended for use on both small signal tubes and power tubes.  They also come in a form designed for “normally” hot small tubes (6DJ8, 12AX7, etc.) and for “really” hot tubes and/or power tubes (5687, 6H30π, 6550, KT88, etc.).  As far as I know, the normally hot HAL-Os only come in the smaller sizes.

Additionally, the HAL-Os may be used on the barrels of interconnects and other spots in your system that are cylindrical and where vibration may be a problem.  My comments will be confined to their use with vacuum tubes, both big and small.

Small signal tube, normal temperature range                                          Small signal tube, high temperature range 
     

Both sizes and temperature ranges                                                        HAL-O on Premier 140 input tube
     

 

Rather than use a Listening Impressions section as usually done, I’m going to just cut to the chase and describe what they do.  Regardless of whether used on the small signal tubes in my CD-25 compact disc player, Premier 16LS2 preamp or either of my power amplifiers (the Premier 11A and Premier 140), the effect was basically the same. 

When in use, the HAL-O tube dampers help to focus the images more clearly within the sound stage.  There is an increase, at times, in perceived inner detail or what is also described as truth of timbre.  What’s the down side?  Initial transients are less sharp, trailing decays are more abrupt, some of the air is sucked out of the presentation, and while individual instruments may in some ways sound more realistic, the music is somehow also more disjointed and less organic.  The result is, for me, a less emotionally satisfying experience.    

You may appreciate the HAL-Os for precisely the reasons I do not.  Herbie’s offers a generous 90 day trial and it may be worth your time (and the shipping charges) to try them and see for yourself.  They also offer an unconditional lifetime warranty in which they will repair or replace any of their products free of charge.  That’s refreshing, as well.

 

O-rings

conrad-johnson supplies silicone (maybe they’re rubber) O-rings with both their preamplifiers and power amplifiers.  A pair of them is to be used on each of the small signal tubes in their preamps and on the input tube(s)-only for their power amps.  Phase splitters should be left naked.

How do they sound when placed approximately one-third of the way from the top and bottom of the tube(s)?  Just like the HAL-Os, only more so.  Working from the premise that more is more, I’ve also placed aftermarket O-rings on the phase splitters and even gotten really big ones to place on the power tubes. 

 

Premier 16LS2 tubes fully dressed                                                          After the bris
     

 

How did that work out?  Badly.  At least for me, it sucked.  It sucked not only the air out of the presentation, the music became constricted and lifeless.  I was strangling the sound to the point where it became boring.  Plus the big ones made my ST-shaped power tubes look like they’d been circumcised.  Not necessarily a bad thing when applied to a male’s genitals (opinions differ), but a definite eyesore on power tubes.

 

Microphonics  

The HAL-Os and the O-rings may indeed work properly in reducing low levels of microphonics but I wasn’t pleased, overall, with what they did to the presentation of the music.  And if a tube is seriously microphonic to the point where it starts to ring in sympathy with nearby church bells (okay, I’m exaggerating about the church bells part), I found them to be ineffectual.  The tube continued to be microphonic.

 

 

Herbie’s Soft Tenderfoot

This is a product that I’ve recently acquired and have tried, so far, in two applications.

 

A pack of Soft Tenderfeet                                                                      Both sides now
     

What I used as the bottom
 

 

Herbie's web site states that the Tenderfeet may be used with either side placed facing the bottom, that is, on the shelf-side.  I initially opted to place the ridged portion against the shelf and the wider portion with the white circle resting under the component.  When I reversed the orientation I could not hear any differences in the sound.  They also recommend that four be used so that's what I ordered.  Three will work, too but the effect is supposed to be more pronounced with four.  I've found that the optimal number for me, so far, is zero.

My Clearaudio Concept turntable is especially sensitive to footfalls.  This is due to any number of factors including its Verify tone arm which has a friction-free magnetic bearing, the floors in my apartment are of sprung-wood construction, and the fact that pachyderms live in the apartment over me.

I had been using Black Diamond Racing pucks (review forthcoming) under the Concept's three stainless steel pointed feet with some success prior to trying the Soft Tenderfeet (I’m officially changing their name for the purposes of this review).  I found that the Tenderfeet didn’t work quite as well in terms of isolating the turntable from footfalls.  In addition, they also changed the sound of the Concept.  Bass and treble were less pronounced and the music became more midrange-centered.  Some detail was lost in the shuffle, too.

I then tried it under my Shunyata Hydra Model 8 power conditioner which had previously been resting on its own laurels.  Reputedly, the power conditioner would benefit from some additional support.  In this case, there did seem to be some additional sound stage focus (sound familiar?) but at the loss of some presence to the music.  Dialogue also seemed to be a bit clearer, as well.

 

 

What I’ve Learned

The lesson, for me, has been clear:  less is more.  As I stated at the beginning of this installment, my intention is not to dissuade anyone from trying these tweaks.  In the right circumstances and depending upon your goals, these may be just what the doctor ordered.  Just not in my case.

  

 

  

The subject of this review is the Philips ECG 6550 ST shape output tube.  It has a three hole, grey plate structure with a top getter and two side getter rings positioned near the center of the plate structure.  Six tubes of the set have a brushed gold colored collar and the remaining pair have a shiny chrome colored collar.  All of them have a black base which is typical of later production output tubes.  Although not dated, I believe these were most likely produced sometime during the 1980s.

The set was well broken-in and was auditioned over a period of 39 hours.  They replaced the previous set of SED =C= 6550C power tubes which still remain my current favorite in the c-j Premier 140 amplifier now that it's had the Teflon capacitor upgrade.

 

Packaging Sleeve Marked Sylvania ECG                                                    Front View  (chrome collar)
     

Rear View (chrome collar)                                                                      Close Up of Plate Structure
     

Brushed Gold Collar

 

Listening Impressions:

• The Four Seasons CD featuring Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert revealed borderline excellent detail with the solo violin having nice leading edge transients but lacking the pleasant "bite" heard with the SED 6550C.
• The sound stage was more distant than the SED 6550C with dense images occupying their own acoustic space.
• Wooden blocks were a bit muted although vibrato on vocals was clearly rendered.
• When the XLO Signature 5.1 speaker cables were introduced into the system, their deep, solid and well articulated bass came through unhindered.
• Dynamic swings were excellent as was evidenced on The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith SACD.
  
• Changes made to the system involving tube dampers and footers were readily apparent and repeatable.

These are excellent tubes although increasingly difficult to source nowadays, as is the case with many vintage output tubes in the 6550 family. Fortunately, the SED =C= 6550C comports itself very well (at least in my current application) and in my opinion, is actually superior overall.

 

---

The following has been added subsequent to the above post.

Some readers may have noticed that I did not discuss the country of origin for the Philips ECG 6550.  This is simply due to the fact that I'm not sure where they were made.  The Sylvania ECG Electronic Tubes sleeve in which four of the tubes were purchased reads the following on its bottom:

Philips ECG, Inc.
Waltham, MA 02254
A North American Philips Company

So we can probably say with some confidence that these tubes were distributed by Philips but not with any certainty can we say where they were made, or when for that matter.  No place on the tubes themselves is there any indication of either.  

I'd like to thank the Triode, USA web site for the following information regarding the vagaries surrounding these tubes and others from this time period:

In the 1970's GTE reorganized Sylvania into several "groups", the Lighting Group, the Consumer Electronics Group, and the Electronic Components Group. Thus , Sylvania tubes began carrying the "Sylvania ECG" logo, ECG meaning Electronic Components Group. Sylvania was a large supplier of all types of replacement electronic components to electronic distributors at the time, including both tubes and transistors.Its successor, Philips ECG, still is.

About 1980, some weird transactions took place. Philips got tired of making tubes in Europe, and its Amperex subsidiary wasn't doing too well, so they sold off their English & Dutch tube making assets and the rights to the Mullard & Amperex brand names to Richardson Electronics of La Fox, IL, and withdrew the license to use the Mullard brand name from International Electronic Components of Long Island, NY.But at almost the same time, in a shrewd move that greatly strengthened their position in electronic components and consumer electronics in the USA, they bought the Electronic Components and Consumer Electronics divisions of Sylvania from GTE, which included the Sylvania tube plant. This plant continued to make the same tubes, but under the new Philips ECG brandname, which doesn't have anything to do with European Philips Miniwatt, or Amperex tubes.Production was discontinued ca. 1987, but Philips continued (and as far as we know still does) to market tubes under the Philips ECG brand name, by outsourcing tubes from current production manufacturers, when stocks of US made tubes were exhausted.

My guess is that they are American made and date from the 1980s.  However, it is also possible that they are of Russian or Chinese manufacture (I think that latter is much less likely) and could be from the 1990s.

 

 

 

I've had the XLO Signature 5.1 speaker cables in my system for a few days now and have clocked 30 hours of playing time on them.  So now would be a good time to give my initial impressions of them.  For those of you that like pictures, I've included one more that happens to also include my toes in the shot which is why it didn't make the first cut, but what the heck.  If I have to look at them, you can too.

And since I have all this white space next to the remaining picture of the cables, I'm going to include something totally non-audiophile:  a photo of the Orchid House at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, NJ that I visited yesterday.

     

 

Listening Impressions:

• The Signature 5.1 cables, more than any other characteristic, just get out of the way and allow you to hear the music and your system with very little editorializing.  Depending on your upstream components this can be a very good or bad thing because imperfections will be apparent.
• They present the music from the quietest background of any cables I've owned.  Notes seem to keep trailing away and away into silence. 
• The tonal balance is even but to a degree I haven't heard before, my system has a stronger bass foundation and increased sense of rhythm.
• On the Solo Violin Works CD by Arturo Delmoni you can clearly visualize the bow being dragged across the violin's strings and while the recording is sometimes a bit bright, the violin is never steely.
• Differences in sound reproduction between my Modwright/Music Hall CD25 and Oppo BDP-95 were readily apparent when listening to Hilary Hahn's Bach Violin Concertos SACD.  I expected the BDP-95 SACD rendition to be more smooth sounding than the CD layer played on the CD25.  In fact, while the BDP-95 may have been a tad more detailed, the tubed output stage of the CD25 presented a more musically involving experience.  This turned out to be an almost consistent difference between the two players when spinning both CDs and SACDs.
• The DVD-A copy of Jackson Browne's Running on Empty was stunning.  The segue near the beginning of the track "The Road" from the studio version to the live rendition firmly plants Mr. Browne in your listening room.  He never leaves.  Neither do the musicians.

 

I could go on in this vein with other examples but I would be stepping on the toes of other reviews I'll be doing shortly on footer tweaks, tube dampers and tube changes.  All of these changes have never been more clear or simple to differentiate than they have been since the introduction of these cables into my system.  I have never been more pleased with any other set of speaker cables.  The XLO Signature 5.1s are keepers.

 

Thank you, John.

 

This review will serve as an introduction to the XLO Signature 5.1 speaker cable.  The subject set was purchased used on Audiogon, is 10 feet long and terminated on both ends with spades.  

XLO introduced the 5.1 series of speaker cables c. 1994 and they retailed for $240 per foot for a stereo pair plus $150 for termination.  Thus this pair would have retailed for $2,550 when new.  Not an inexpensive item and especially so for the mid 1990s.  Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator, that translates to almost $3,950 in 2012 dollars.  Definitely not inexpensive but still not in the stratosphere considering how much certain cables are priced nowadays.

Each leg (this is a four legged creature) of the Signature 5.1 cables is comprised of 30 strands of 23 gauge wire.  The cables are insulated with Teflon but I have been unable to determine whether the wire itself is all copper, or silver-clad copper, all-silver, etc. and what the purity of the wire may be.  The cables are silver/grey and lavender.  You get to pick which is positive and which is negative.  I chose the lavender leg for the positive in my set-up.    As usual, I made sure that the positive and negative connections were inverted (at the speaker side, in this case) since my conrad-johnson Premier 16LS2 preamplifier inverts phase.  The cables are marked with directional arrows indicating the current flow from the amplifier to the speakers.

These cables are heavy (eight pounds for the stereo pair), very stiff, and unwieldy.  It's easiest to work with the natural bend of the cables when installing them otherwise you may be asking for trouble.  Make sure to tighten the spade lugs as securely as possible because the weight of the cables may naturally loosen the connection over time.  Periodically checking and tightening the connections is probably a good idea.  Finally, these may not be the ideal cables for light and/or stand-mounted speakers where the cables' weight would definitely come into play.  

This set came in a hobbit-sized knapsack                                                XLO Signature 5.1 Speaker Cables
     

Directional Arrows Showing Speaker End                                                  Spade Lugs Showing Some Wear
     

I've only clocked about six hours on the cables so far, but even not fully settled-in, I'm very impressed.

Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

   

I've clocked 59 hours on the Forest Ethernet cable since its introduction into my system connecting the Oppo BDP-95 universal player and Olive O3HD music server to the Netgear router.  There have been some changes.

The picture quality has improved to the point where it's approximately as good as what I was seeing with the wireless connection.  The change has been gradual and appears to have plateaued at the current performance level.

The ability to start and stop on a dime during Netflix streaming, however, has fallen by the wayside and its behavior in this regard has returned to the previous "I'll respond to your remote when I feel like it" state.

Sound quality has been constant as far as I can tell.  I may put the system back to a wireless status and if so, will report what I discover.  As it stands now, I'm very pleased with how it sounds and picture quality is a draw.

 

June 3, 2013 Update

At this point, I've clocked hundreds of hours using the Forest Ethernet cable connecting both my Olive O3HD music server and Oppo BDP-95 to my Netgear router.  Performance appears to have plateaued and there have been some additional changes.

When streaming movies on Netflix via the BDP-95 (using both the WireWorld Chroma 6 and Mapleshade Vivilink Plus HDMI cables), picture quality is superior using the Forest versus the wireless connection.  There are less mosaic artifacts and fine detail is more apparent.  Color saturation is approximately the same between the two streaming methods.

Audio quality continues to be a compromise during playback of FLAC files on the O3HD and WAV/WMA files on my personal computer via the BDP-95.  This also holds true for the audio portion of Netflix streamed movies using the Oppo.  Sound images are denser using the Forest cable which results in a more natural and easier to understand rendition of voices.  Music has a slightly more analogue smoothness via the Forest, as well.  What is sacrificed using the Forest cable, however, is some air, fine detail and upper treble extension.  Moving up the AudioQuest Ethernet line may help to correct these shortcomings but it's not likely I will be venturing into this territory.     

 

Before I get to my initial impressions of the AudioQuest Forest Ethernet’s video and sound performance, I want to get a few more housekeeping items out of the way.

The Oppo BDP-95 is connected to my Samsung 46" Series 550 LCD HDTV with WireWorld Chroma 6 HDMI cabling.  The Chroma 6 cable is right after the entry level model in WireWorld’s six cable line-up that’s topped by the Platinum Starlight model.  It’s a competent performer and I also use the Chroma 6 to connect my cable box to the Samsung.  The Samsung is also a competent HDTV but by no means a barn burner, whatever that expression means.  For video purposes, the Forest/Oppo combination comes into play when I’m streaming Netflix movies.  The films stream at Netflix’s highest quality setting which approaches, but is definitely bettered by my cable box’s presentation, especially for HD content.

The Olive O3HD is holding down double duty in my system.  Connected via the over-achieving XLO Ultra 1 interconnects, it’s plugged straight into my preamp and functions as a direct access music server.  Second, the Oppo, now connected to the router with the Forest cables (as is the Olive) is also used as a playback device for the Olive.  The difference being the FLAC files on the Olive are now processed by the Oppo’s Sabre³² DACs instead of the internal DAC used by the Olive.  

 

Picture Quality

I have been, quite honestly, disappointed with the Forest’s picture quality.  I don’t believe it’s either as sharp as what I was getting from the wireless connection, or are the colors saturated quite as well.  The degradation, while noticeable, is not night and day but I’d been hoping for something at least as good as what I had been previously experiencing.

 

Sound Quality

Here is where I have been impressed.  Although right out of the box, it was a push between the previous wireless connection and the wired Forest Ethernet cables, this changed gradually over a few hours of use.

• When playing FLAC files on the O3HD via the Oppo, the sound was smoother but without any apparent loss in detail.  This was easily apparent when listening to solo violin music recorded from the CD layer of the SACD Glass, Live at Grace Cathedral by Emily Palen.  The files sound as smooth and detailed, to me, as the SACD layer played directly on the Oppo.
• When listening to a playlist of tracks from various Hearts of Space collections, the high frequency extension was borderline reference quality, acoustic guitar was feathery and (especially electronic) percussive sounds were impactful.  This solid bass foundation was heard again on the The Koln Concert recording by Keith Jarrett.
• The sound stage is more nuanced and enveloping with a more continuous feel.  In some ways, it’s as if I’d swapped out the Electro-Harmonix 6922EH for Amperex Bugle Boy 6DJ8 in the Premier 16LS2 preamplifier. 

 

On a practical if not a quality level, I’d always had some hesitation in the response time when using the remote control while watching Netflix.  This seems to have stopped occurring and pause, stop, etc. now engage instantly.

So far, the Forest Ethernet cable has been a mixed bag in my applications.  Its video performance has been a little disappointing but the sound quality has been nothing but an improvement, and a quite noticeable one at that.

 

With the profusion of computer-based music sources, connectivity can be one of those grey areas.  Should I go wireless or wired?  USB or Ethernet?  In my case USB is not an option since my router will only accept an Ethernet connection. 

I've tried both wireless and Ethernet, and in the next couple of installments, I'll be describing my experiences.  The dramatis personae in this aural adventure are as follows:

• Netgear WPN824N Router
• Oppo BDP-95 Blu-Ray Universal Player
• Olive O3HD Music Server

Let me begin by saying that my original set-up was to have my BDP-95 wirelessly access the music files on my laptop and O3HD via the dongle supplied with the universal player.  The dongle allowed the BDP-95 to communicate with the Netgear router which in turn would fetch the files from the laptop or O3HD and then send them along back to the BDP-95 for decoding and playback.  The O3HD music server was connected to the router via a generic Ethernet cable.

The BDP-95 is also able to access services on the Internet such as Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, and others through the router.

The system, as it was set-up, worked flawlessly and sounded very good.  So naturally, being a true audiophile I got to thinking what would happen in terms of picture quality and sound quality if I hooked the universal player to the router with an Ethernet cable and while I was at it, how about upgrading the generic cable on the music server to the same cable I was getting for the BDP-95?

Thus into the picture enters the AudioQuest Forest Ethernet cable.  The Forest is the entry level Ethernet-only cable in the AudioQuest line and the copper wiring is coated with 0.5% silver.  They also do make a more generic type Ethernet cable which is fetchingly called RJ45-G CAT5e.  The Forest happens to be a CAT7 cable and while I know there are technical differences between the two, I'll leave that to you if you want to investigate further.

The Forest is available in lengths ranging from 0.75M at $29, 1.5M at $35 up to 5M at $69.  I'm guessing that the connectors constitute the bulk of the price for this model.  Their RJ45-G CAT5e only appears to come in a 2M length and retails for $35.  As you go up the line, they have the Cinnamon (1.25% silver) at $69, the Vodka at $179 (10% silver), and the still-to-be-released Diamond at $595 (100% silver and the AudioQuest Dielectric Bias System).  All prices stated are for 0.75M lengths.

Here are some pictures of the two cables I received today.  The 0.75M cable connects the BDP-95 to the router while the 1.5M cable is assigned to the O3HD music server.  In the next installment I'll report on what affect they have on sound and picture quality.

     

     

 

NB:  AudioQuest states that the cables are directional.  I've oriented them in the direction of the flow of information with the cable from the O3HD pointing towards the router and the cable for the BDP-95 pointing from the router to the BDP-95.  If you want to think of it this way, the router functions as the preamp with the O3HD as the source and the BDP-95 as the destination (which would be the amplifier in other situations).

 

 

Well, it's been a week now since the original version of Shunyata's Taipan power cord was inserted into my system, so here are my impressions of it, to date.

The Taipan Alpha was purchased from a private seller on the internet and when first introduced by Shunyata, retailed at $649 for a 1.8M length.  This particular sample is a little unusual in that it's marked on the IEC end as a 10 Amp 250 Volt cord.  Typical values for an American C13/C15 power cord would be 15 Amps and 125 Volts which leads me to believe this may have been terminated for a European customer.  However, I've experienced no difficulties since hooking it up to my conrad-johnson Premier 16LS2 preamplifier.  Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact --as you'll read below my impressions have been almost entirely positive.

The review sample consists of cryogenically treated silver-clad copper wires in a clear Teflon outer sheath.  Both the plug and IEC connector indicate they were manufactured by Maranco.  I believe they power cord is 10 gauge. 

The Taipan Alpha replaced a Shunyata Venom3 which had been pulling electrical duty previously on the preamp.  I have another Taipan, the 20 Amp Helix version, which connects my Hydra Model-8 to the wall.  The reader is directed to the second installment of that review for my impressions of those two items.

 

  Taipan Alpha                                                                                     Close-up of the power cord's braiding
     

Maranco Plug End                                                                                 Close-up of Maranco Plug
     

Maranco IEC Connector                                                                         Close-Up of Maranco IEC Connector
     
 

Listening Impressions:

• The music was more dynamic and the bass had more heft without any bloat or overhang.
• The sound was clearer and more detailed with purer tones.
• At times I detect a tizz to the uppermost registers which can be heard on some recordings.  Vocals can have a slight sibilance I never noticed previously.  However, I'm not sure if this is an artifact of the Taipan or if I'm hearing imperfections in the recordings not noticed before.
• The piano has never sounded this good on my system.
• Tonal decays are longer with musical notes simply fading away into a lower noise floor.
• The sound stage is the best it's ever sounded with more distinct spatial cues.  The CD of The Alan Parsons Project's 1985 release Vulture Culture was a revelation.

 

A fellow audiophile whose opinion I value very highly has recommended the following hierarchy for the placement of aftermarket power cords:

1. Between the power conditioner and the wall
2. Then the preamplifier since this is the system's control center and affects every component feeding it
3. The primary source component
4. The power amplifier

In the case where there is a sole source component, you could consider placing the power cord there and then the preamp.  Experiment with this list as you add power cords and see what sounds the best to you although the initial placement should be on your power conditioner.

Is the original version of Shunyata's Taipan Alpha power cord perfect?  Of course not.  But installing it on the Premier 16LS2 has raised the performance of my system to an entirely new level.