NEW ZenWave PSR-14 UPOCC Silver Ribbon Power Cable

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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I'm excited to announce ZenWave Audio's new power cable! :D

This cable is intended to be an all-out, no-holds-barred, cost-no-object power cable that is CLEARLY better vs top of the line copper power cables such as Furutech's DPS-4 and my own PL11 cable. It has a very vivid and dynamic effect that will highlight the shortcomings of other power cables and make you reconsider how much difference in sound is possible due to AC power delivery. It makes the DPS-4 sound colored, slow and a bottleneck to dynamics, both macro and micro.

I've been wanting to offer a UPOCC silver power cable for a long time now, but making a PC using the same wire as my D4 line of interconnect cables would simply cost too much. With the silver ribbon conductors I can now add a UPOCC silver power cable I am happy with in all areas... the silver ribbon geometry adds a touch of warmth round UPOCC silver wire does not have, and it costs A LOT less than UPOCC silver/gold alloy. Part of this is less overall wire is required, the ribbon type wire can be made larger gauge without the same negative effects as round wire. This also requires less teflon, which is a major expense when using small gauge round wire, in fact with UPOCC copper it costs more than the copper does, and adds a significant expense to smaller gauge silver.

So while the new PS14 cable isn't inexpensive, it can be compared to Siltech and Wireworld's top-end UPOCC silver cables which easily reach into the 5-figures... The PS14 is very reasonable in comparison and IMO should be judged on what it does for your system... I think many will find it to be a relatively great value for what it offers despite it's high price vs typical copper power cables. In this way it's a lot like Furutech's NCF receptacles. Grossly expensive for a receptacle, but a true bargain for the effect it has on a system's sound!

Now, let's talk about ribbon cables... they can be excellent sounding IME but they can also have significant drawbacks including:

- A cable that can't be bent without failing. Ok, so one of the major design requirements of a cable is it needs to be able to bend. Many ribbon cables are designed in such a way that excessive mechanical stress is put on the cable when it's bent, which causes failed insulation and terminations. I've been asked to repair and reterminate enough ribbon cables over the years and have seen these issues first-hand.

- A cable with conductors that corrode. It's not easy to protect ribbon cables from corrosion as most start out with bare metal ribbons. Even with round wire many cable manufacturers use silk or cotton insulation, which does little to nothing to prevent corrosion. Those who use very thin ribbons, or foil, have a very large surface area and very thin conductors which makes this even more difficult.

- Geometry that is too lopsided in terms of LCR and not noise-canceling. Ribbon cables often place the conductors side by side without any shielding, this is very susceptible to picking up noise. Also, if the ribbons are placed one atop the other you may have too much capacitance, in fact some cables strongly resemble an unwound film capacitor and require corrective networks.

- The ground leg of power cables is often an afterthought, and has poor spatial relationship vs the ribbon conductors.... but the truth is ground is very important. With conventional cables the ground is often run parallel to the hot and neutral which allows ground noise to couple... this is not ideal.

- Almost all ribbon cables are unshielded as the design doesn't allow for it without massive diameter.


How does the new ZenWave PS14 Cable Differ?

- The UPOCC silver ribbon I use in my new power cable solves LCR, noise-canceling AND bending issues described above by using an array of ribbons in a noise canceling geometry that allows the cable to bend evenly in any direction and allows balanced LCR.

- The UPOCC silver ribbon conductors are teflon insulated to prevent corrosion.

- The ground wire uses ZenWave's exclusive 14g UPOCC copper litz wire for ground. This ground has low impedance at high frequencies, and is run so that the silver ribbons do not couple closely with the ground wire. This makes for a blacker background and better resolution.

- The PS14 cable is shielded and uses pure, unbleached cotton filler in between the cable and the shield for best mechanical damping and dielectric properties.


Please feel free to ask any questions... and if you're interested and want to give it a shot, I do have demo cables making the rounds. :)

Price is $2500 for 1.5m and $350 for additional 1/2 meter increments. I recommend 1.5m as the shortest length and longer can be better for PCs, but I can make a 1 meter cable for $2150 to cut costs a bit. A good bit of the cost is labor, this cable takes forever to build and the ribbons are a huge PITA to terminate... I wrap them in UPOCC silver round wire and coat them with Furutech nano-liquid, and the litz wire requires a solder pot to terminate. Not to mention the cotton filler, shield and techflex jacket. It's by far the most difficult cable to deal with I make but the results are well worth it! :)

1-DSC00288.jpg



 
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bazelio

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2016
2,493
1,745
345
California
Dave sent me this new PS14 cable to demo last week. and I'll be short and sweet here: I think it's phenomenal. Surprisingly so.

The biggest impact it has in my system is connected to my phono stage, with my current-favorite DIY cable powering my amp (instead of vice versa). I could wax poetic in describing what I hear with this cable, but instead I'll just say the overall change it brought to my system is simply frustrating given that it's a damn power cable. Its impact on the sound would have you swear something had changed in the signal path. But, briefly, what I hear with this cable is clean, expressive, extended, detailed, layered, non-fatiguing, tight and controlled sound. More accurately, it is probably that these are attributes of my phono stage itself, and this power cable is somehow bringing out the best in it, like no other cable has to date.

I'll be passing it along to the next person in line soon. You're in for a treat.
 
Last edited:

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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Paul, the owner of Many Moons Audio just posted this on another forum. His remarks are exactly what I had in mind for the new cable... basically a D4 level power cable. :)


"My brief time with this power cable has really taught me.... Never have I ever, heard a power cable do what this one does.

I have tried so many power cables on my preamp (Sutherland Director) and none of the custom cables did what a simple 14ga stock rubber cord did for this preamp. It was always a night and day type of thing. 14ga rubber cord, preamp is happy.

I didn't mess with moving this cable around in my system. I just did not want to do that to myself. They are expensive! But I have a feeling my entire system loomed with this cable would be a different and wildly better one.

This power cable added weight in unimaginable ways to bass, mid-bass
Lowered the noise floor considerably filling all the space in my room with sound
Brought out more of everything with no detectable sonic character

A very intoxicating, clear, and natural sound. It in no way makes me think it is silver. I know some wonder about this aspect, and I can assure you. None of that.

On my preamp, it is the most neutral sounding power cable I have tried to date. It improves everything with no trade-off in any way. It is very hard to describe this one as it just does not make me think about the sound.

Congrats on your efforts here Dave. You have succeeded in making a neutral power cable that perfectly compliments your D4 interconnects. "
 

bazelio

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2016
2,493
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California
These statements in particular ring true with my impression of the same cable (I actually sent it to Paul after demoing it myself):

This power cable added weight in unimaginable ways to bass, mid-bass
Lowered the noise floor considerably filling all the space in my room with sound
Brought out more of everything with no detectable sonic character

A very intoxicating, clear, and natural sound. It in no way makes me think it is silver. I know some wonder about this aspect, and I can assure you. None of that.
 

DaveC

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Nov 16, 2014
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DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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Here's one more comment... I have another demo cable warming up on the cable cooker so please let me know if you'd like to demo it. Demos are free and no deposit required for current WBF members. If you've never heard a top end silver power cable this is well worth a shot. :)

Well guys you will want this cable if you audition it. I’ve tried it on 3 different components (CD Transport, Preamp, low power MOSFET amp) – the power cord enhances the strengths of all of them. I have not been totally satisfied with my preamp until I used the PS14 on it - the improvement was stunning.

I concur with what has been stated by Paul79 about this cable. FWIW I started with Richard Gray power cords on all my components years ago then replaced most of them with Zenwave PL power cords with Furutech FI-50 NCF plugs a few years back – the three components I tried the PS14 on had the PL cords. I have not tried any other silver power cords.

I have sent the PS14 to A_Shah – you’re going to love it – one PS14 will be enough to hear what it can do. If I could pick only one of the three components to use the PS14 on I would choose the preamp.
 
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DaveC

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Here's a comment from the other forum along with a new pic... let me know what you think as this pic is going to be represenatative of pics taken for a new website we're working on.

WOW !
just received the PS14 and connected it to my Tube pre-amp. For me the best time to listen is between 11 -am and 6 pm as my electricity is pretty clean ( sol;ar)my noises harvesters don't blink at all .

I alway believe in the first impression before I get confused with too many listening sessions . Any way I am very impressed with the Bass ! clean and very tight definitely lower noise floor ! the next impression I get is the mid's & the high's very detailed and sonically very pleasing , in most cases it is the small improvements that matter but with this PS-14 PC the improvements are very clear , the cable seems to be fast ? which is fine with me or maybe it is just my subjective impression


 

DaveC

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Nov 16, 2014
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Update with another review... please let me know if you're interested in a free demo. :)

First Impression with the PS14:

Wow this cable is pretty amazing! I've always been open to power cables making a difference and have a system that has allowed me to hear differences between stock pc's and good copper/teflon pc's but never experienced silver. This is like a component upgrade. I'm getting much better clarity and especially in the lower regions. Bass is much tighter and deeper. Overall the music is much more animated. Instruments coming out into the room even more.

I plan to try the PS14 in other components but the first place I started was with a Decware ZROCK 2 with 25th anniversary mods. The ZR2 is the stage right before my amps with the analog and digital sources feeding it. I was very surprised how a silver pc affected this line stage (eq).

After a few more days I plan to try it in the phono stage (Decware ZP3). I can already see wanting three of these cables, ZR2, ZP3, and the ZTPRE I have on order. Maybe even the 11ga for the monoblocks. Whew I’m definitely getting carried away… that’s like $7k in power cables. Based on what I’m hearing though, I know that will be the journey.


Follow Up:

I finally convinced myself last night to pull the cable from the ZROCK2 and try it in the ZP3 phonostage. It was a hard thing to do because it sounds so good in that stage and has both digital and analog paths going through it.

This cable (and maybe other silver PCs, I don't know haven't tried) just sounds amazing and adds level of clarity, quietness, and detail that has to be experienced. I truly encourage anyone skeptical of power cables making a difference to try this cable. What do you have to lose? Well, ok maybe a few thousand dollars. Because I'm willing to bet after hearing it, you like me can't imagine not having at least one of these cables in the system. I get it, it is a lot of money, but this cable has me figuring out ways to gather the dough.

With the PS14 in the ZP3 phonostage, I heard extended low and top end, more clarity, tighter bass, wider and deeper sound stage. Pretty much all the things that I heard in the ZROCK2 but with more presence. As if I moved closer to the stage or musicians.

I'm really impressed and again would recommend anyone skeptical to just try it

 

DaveC

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Nov 16, 2014
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DaveC

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Nov 16, 2014
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One more comment left on the new PSR-14:

I’ve had the demo power cable for a little over a week and wanted to share a few thoughts about it as I shipped it out today to Burt. I currently use a full loom of Sablon audio gran corona power cables and they are fabulous, but the Zenwave pc was better in every way. I tried it on my Border Patrol SE dac, Don Sachs preamp, and then on my Uberbuss power conditioner. I liked it on the power conditioner best then the dac second best. I found that it lowered the noise floor, more extension in highs and lows, very resolving and holographic. Ultimately it made the music sound more realistic and more enjoyable to listen to. Music sounded spooky real and live!

Kudos to you Dave on this design. Thank you for setting up this demo. It has sparked my interest in further exploring Zenwave products. I see some D5 IC’s in my future, speaker cables, and this PC. The whole friggen enchilada! Not all at once but slowly over time.


 
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VikingHorn

Well-Known Member
Sep 7, 2019
21
3
70
61
I'm excited to announce ZenWave Audio's new power cable! :D

This cable is intended to be an all-out, no-holds-barred, cost-no-object power cable that is CLEARLY better vs top of the line copper power cables such as Furutech's DPS-4 and my own PL11 cable. It has a very vivid and dynamic effect that will highlight the shortcomings of other power cables and make you reconsider how much difference in sound is possible due to AC power delivery. It makes the DPS-4 sound colored, slow and a bottleneck to dynamics, both macro and micro.

I've been wanting to offer a UPOCC silver power cable for a long time now, but making a PC using the same wire as my D4 line of interconnect cables would simply cost too much. With the silver ribbon conductors I can now add a UPOCC silver power cable I am happy with in all areas... the silver ribbon geometry adds a touch of warmth round UPOCC silver wire does not have, and it costs A LOT less than UPOCC silver/gold alloy. Part of this is less overall wire is required, the ribbon type wire can be made larger gauge without the same negative effects as round wire. This also requires less teflon, which is a major expense when using small gauge round wire, in fact with UPOCC copper it costs more than the copper does, and adds a significant expense to smaller gauge silver.

So while the new PS14 cable isn't inexpensive, it can be compared to Siltech and Wireworld's top-end UPOCC silver cables which easily reach into the 5-figures... The PS14 is very reasonable in comparison and IMO should be judged on what it does for your system... I think many will find it to be a relatively great value for what it offers despite it's high price vs typical copper power cables. In this way it's a lot like Furutech's NCF receptacles. Grossly expensive for a receptacle, but a true bargain for the effect it has on a system's sound!

Now, let's talk about ribbon cables... they can be excellent sounding IME but they can also have significant drawbacks including:

- A cable that can't be bent without failing. Ok, so one of the major design requirements of a cable is it needs to be able to bend. Many ribbon cables are designed in such a way that excessive mechanical stress is put on the cable when it's bent, which causes failed insulation and terminations. I've been asked to repair and reterminate enough ribbon cables over the years and have seen these issues first-hand.

- A cable with conductors that corrode. It's not easy to protect ribbon cables from corrosion as most start out with bare metal ribbons. Even with round wire many cable manufacturers use silk or cotton insulation, which does little to nothing to prevent corrosion. Those who use very thin ribbons, or foil, have a very large surface area and very thin conductors which makes this even more difficult.

- Geometry that is too lopsided in terms of LCR and not noise-canceling. Ribbon cables often place the conductors side by side without any shielding, this is very susceptible to picking up noise. Also, if the ribbons are placed one atop the other you may have too much capacitance, in fact some cables strongly resemble an unwound film capacitor and require corrective networks.

- The ground leg of power cables is often an afterthought, and has poor spatial relationship vs the ribbon conductors.... but the truth is ground is very important. With conventional cables the ground is often run parallel to the hot and neutral which allows ground noise to couple... this is not ideal.

- Almost all ribbon cables are unshielded as the design doesn't allow for it without massive diameter.


How does the new ZenWave PS14 Cable Differ?

- The UPOCC silver ribbon I use in my new power cable solves LCR, noise-canceling AND bending issues described above by using an array of ribbons in a noise canceling geometry that allows the cable to bend evenly in any direction and allows balanced LCR.

- The UPOCC silver ribbon conductors are teflon insulated to prevent corrosion.

- The ground wire uses ZenWave's exclusive 14g UPOCC copper litz wire for ground. This ground has low impedance at high frequencies, and is run so that the silver ribbons do not couple closely with the ground wire. This makes for a blacker background and better resolution.

- The PS14 cable is shielded and uses pure, unbleached cotton filler in between the cable and the shield for best mechanical damping and dielectric properties.


Please feel free to ask any questions... and if you're interested and want to give it a shot, I do have demo cables making the rounds. :)

Price is $2500 for 1.5m and $350 for additional 1/2 meter increments. I recommend 1.5m as the shortest length and longer can be better for PCs, but I can make a 1 meter cable for $2150 to cut costs a bit. A good bit of the cost is labor, this cable takes forever to build and the ribbons are a huge PITA to terminate... I wrap them in UPOCC silver round wire and coat them with Furutech nano-liquid, and the litz wire requires a solder pot to terminate. Not to mention the cotton filler, shield and techflex jacket. It's by far the most difficult cable to deal with I make but the results are well worth it! :)

View attachment 56577



Looks killer! Dave's stuff absolutely rocks!
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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2,141
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DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
3,899
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A new comment on the ZenWave PSR-14 vs Audioquest DRAGON!

This comment is exactly why I wanted to use UPOCC silver ribbon for this cable, UPOCC silver is often perceived as thin or dry sounding, the ribbon type wire is not. :) With this cable you get body, tone, clarity and dynamics that are on a whole 'nother level vs cables like Furutech DPS-4 and even the AQ Dragon. This is a 5-figure power cable for an amazing price!

This cable is pretty incredible for the price. I would say it’s comparable to the AQ Dragon in almost every respect and that cable retails for $4200 due to the solid core perfect surface silver. The main difference between them is the PSR-14 has a much sweeter treble, which is addictive to listen to over long periods of time and never causes fatigue. Ergonomically, the PSR-14 wins hands down and was very easy to move into both the wall and the DAC. The Furutech connectors are simply outstanding! The detail retrieval is easily in a class of its own and I suspect comparable to many of the other uber expensive power cables...
 
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DaveC

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The 11 gauge version of the PSR-14 is ready! Unsurprisingly, it's called the PSR-11. :D

The entire cable is 11 gauge, including the UPOCC copper litz ground connection, and it's not shielded. I think it's best to use shielding for low powered components and simply keep ICs from running parallel and touching your amplifier power cable, as shielding can soften dynamics a bit. I avoid this in the 14g cable by spacing the shield away from the conductors, but for an 11g cable it would result in a ridiculously large cable.

Other than the shield, it's basically a double-run of the 14g cable.


I also have copper ribbon versions of the PSR cables ready! Sorry to be boring, but they're the PCR-11 and PCR-14. These cables will replace the Furutech DPS-4 in my lineup. The ribbon geometry results in lower inductance, the litz-type ground wire is far more ideal as far as both electrical characteristics as well as geometry, and this results in a cable that's significantly better than the DPS-4 for close to the same price.

For the ribbon cables the idea is to use the shielded 14g cables for everything but the amp and the power distribution that has amps plugged into it. It really doesn't need more gauge, it gets the job done with finesse rather than brute force.:) For big amps and power distributors, the 11g cables can use 20A IEC plugs as well.

I also still have the UPOCC copper litz PL-11 and PL-14 power cables, these are more neutral vs the ribbon cables, while the ribbon cables are warmer and have a bit more bass. I recommend the 11g cable for everything, the more litz the merrier in my experience.

So I currently have silver ribbon, copper ribbon and copper litz power cables to choose from. These 3 cables will be the ZenWave Power Cable lineup going forward. I think they are the best power cables you'll find today, and they are priced fairly, designed to last, and use genuine name-brand connectors.

Please contact me for a demo! :)

Pictured is the 11g ribbon cable in "dark carbon" techflex.

 
Last edited:

kimurastanley

Well-Known Member
Mar 16, 2019
256
291
150
Singapore
I have PSR-14 for about 2-3 weeks now before I passed to next person for demo in Singapore.

When I first plugged in replacing AQ hurricane, I heard very minimal difference. As advised by Dave, the cable needs some time to settle down after shipping from USA to Singapore. I burned in using Frycorder2 for about 48 hours and listened again.

And for sure it changes after burning in. The striking features of PSR-14 is clean, quiet and resolving. There is a lot of details with airy vocal. The power cable itself is quite flexible and much easier to manage than Hurricane power cable.
I feel that PSR-14 is revealing and unforgiving. It will reveal the weakness of your system. If the foundation of system is good, it will reveal what your system is capable of.


20191113_190008.jpg 20191113_190043.jpg
 

JayT

Well-Known Member
Oct 10, 2017
29
10
108
I was the next person to demo the cable in Singapore

I have been very lucky to try a variety of power cables from big names, and I have to say that at this price point (and beyond) , the zenwave psr 14 ranks among the best I have heard.

In my system consisting of a Vitus pre and power amp to a pair of Marten coltrane tenor gen 1, I get a lower noise floor but no loss of details. This is something which I found very impressive, since most cords will either do one or the other, but not both.

I especially like it on my phono amp, with the lowered noise floor revealing more details on tracks which I thought I was previously familiar with.

I might want something with a warmer tone though, so will also appreciate anyone with thoughts on the PCR cable to chime in!

The cable is on it's way to the next lucky person, and I hope he enjoys it as much as I did.

Thanks for the kind loan Dave!
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
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Thanks for the post JayT and wookie1!

JayT, I'm happy you noticed the low noise floor, the cable's grounding and shielding are important aspects of it's design and the ground especially is often neglected in power cable design.

PCR-14, the copper ribbon cable is identical to the PSR-14, but it's hard to compare them as silver vs copper puts them in different categories of sound and performance... The PCR shares the same low inductance though, and I think the bass and dynamics are somewhat similar as a result. In my lineup the PCR is replacing the Furutech DPS-4, compared to that cable the PCR is clearer and has better dynamics.

The PL UPOCC copper litz cable wookie1 mentioned is less warm and more neutral overall vs the PCR, so the PL is the most neutral option while the PCR is the warmer option as far as my copper power cables.
 

Ikhuong

Member
Jun 22, 2021
7
7
8
36
I totally agree with some members' feedback here, the Zenwave PSR-14 power cables really shine when your system up to a high revealing level. I initially paired Zenwave PSR-14 with one of power supply in my dual PSUs of MSB Discrete DAC. So PSR-14 and the PSU feed streamer/digital modules and Furutech DPS4.1 and another PSU feed DAC analog section , the result was very impressed for clean, clarify and details. At that time, I thought the PSR-14 cable is great for the price verus big brand such as Nordost Vahalla 2 that I owned.

However, when I upgraded MSB Discrete DAC to MSB Premier with Premier Powerbase, this is where PSR-14 really shines when it beats the Vahalla 2 and even more expensive Zensati Angel power cables to bring a perfect synergy matching to the whole system. Just keep in mind that MSB Premier DAC is a much more detailed DAC and very true to source and tone. PSR-14's strong advantages are accurate and tonally correct in this system.
It brings up the mid, make vocal to pop up and highlighted in a very natural organic way, not exaggerate like Nordost Vahalla 2 in high/bottom or too smooth like Zensati Angel pcs.

So if you own PSR-14, do not judge them by first hours or first few weeks, play with those cables and your system in long term manners, your system performance will be pushed to Nivara state when the right cables at the right place or in a correct combination. Cables compensate each other for their own properties.

My system is Cube Mini Nenuphar speakers, Firstwatt SIT-3 amp, Pass labs XP-12 pre and MSB Premier DAC.
ICs and speaker cables are Zensati Seraphim and Zorro,

* Another feedback for PCR-11 on my mate's sytem, he replaced Voodoo PCs (entry level) by Zenwave PCR-11 for his Devialet 440 monos to feed PMC25.26, first minutes were impressed enough to say they will be keeper in his setup. I borrowed the two PCR-11 to replace two Furutech DPS4.1 in my system, one for power board feed and one for Mcintosh MC462 feed, PCR-11 are weight better cables in tone, details and overall performance, no brainer if anyone is considering top-of line Furutech PC or Zenwave PCR-11, run to get PCR-11 please.
 

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