Two audio friends came over to visit me yesterday. One brought his two new Shunyata Venom HC V2 power cords to try on my Pass Labs XA160.5 amps. I use 8AWG JPS Labs In Wall cables from the panel to my outlets. My favorite power cords so far in my system are some NOS Ching Cheng cords. I use five of them to power my components. I have compared them to quite a few high end audiophile cords, and they always seem to sound better.
My friend wanted to see if the three of us could hear a difference between the cords, given that my Pass amps draw some current and the Venoms are 10AWG while the Ching Cheng are only 14 AWG and almost twice as long. We kind of expected to hear a cleaner and more dynamic sound with the new Shunyatas. This was not the case.
We went back and forth listening to an orchestral movement and a jazz classic. With the Venoms, I heard an "accenting" of high and low frequencies, a “spotlight” around the musicians creating a black halo silent background around the performer, and a foreshortening of the soundstage. Bass drums and cymbals became too big and moved forward on the classical music. On the jazz, there was a softening of the sound, and a slight loss of energy and sense of life to the music, though the bass was "tighter" and the cymbals more "splashy". The CCs were simply more natural in tone, scale, and presentation. They did not draw attention to themselves, and they were less "hifi" sounding.
I heard similar "effects" to other audiophile power cords that I have tested from small to large manufacturers. They all seem to color the sound by accentuating some frequencies, creating this "black halo background space" around the performer" and homogenizing the soundstage information. With more and more exposure to different power cords in my system, I now recognize these same colorations, just to differing degrees, with all of them. I want a cable, a cord, a component, that does little or less harm to the sound and one that allows the information on the recording to come through to my listening room with as little corruption or alteration as possible.
I was actually a bit surprised by this latest result, not because I have no confidence in the Ching Chengs, but rather because the Shunyata cords are so highly regarded and they share measurements, etc. Many consider the brand to be the reference, and these latest versions are supposed to be improved.
In my system, the three of us all preferred my cheap Chinese power cords, though we did not quite agree to the same extent. The Venoms are not very expensive by audiophile standards, and they corrupted the sound less than some others I've tried that were much more expensive. It was another interesting power cord comparison with the Ching Chengs again winning the day.
I post this on my system page because I know others will have different results and impressions in different system/room contexts. This is a controversial subject, so I share it here for those who have been following the evolution of my system.
EDIT: These were NOT the much touted "NR" versions of these new Shunyata cords. There does not seem to be the noise reduction technology in them. We did try those on some amps in another system and they choked the sound, though they did sound better on a digital source component. In that system, we did prefer the Ching Cheng cords, and stock cords, in all cases to the noise reduction cords, especially on the amps. These new Venoms are designed for higher current conditions so I presume on amplifiers, they will sound better than the NR version.