“Same power cord I have used with good results on line stage preamp for years. Finally got around to adding the same for the digital preamp. Of all upgrade cables I have tried over the years, this one offers the best QPR. I have neither the budget nor the inclination to shop the high-end preamp power cord market any further.”
“Bought this cable on sale for $100, burned it in for 7 days, plugged it into the back of my headphone amp and it never sounded worse...I plugged my Shunyata Venom power cable back in and realized it was the far superior cable...”
“Added this cable to my old PS Audio Ultralink sound is clearer with better bass response. I have confidence in this product as My system contains a few of these great cables. Great price also, and excellent service from AA.”
“So I have dilly-dallied with woo-woo wires over the decades....MIT Shotgun, TARA Rectangular Solid Core, Kimber KS interconnects, kilobuck custom built hand polished silver interconnects, and sometimes they did make a great improvement (the first time I borrowed the MIT 750 Shotgun speaker cable I was floored by what a massive difference a 'hookup wire' could make). But many times they were no better than much cheaper alternatives. I even tried out a full loom of some Russian military wires that probably retailed for $30k, and much preferred the free interconnects that came with a $59 DVD player! I admit I only tried a few power cables with any pretensions-starting with the Tiffany AC60 back in the 1980s.
But then I ended up with a full-blown Naim system and used their supplied cables including power cables. Apart from the their amazing tuner and a 2-box CD player, my Naim gear is long gone. Now I am using some large tube monoblocks and a DAC fed by a Squeezebox touch that is in turn powered by a massive linear supply. But for some reason the 18ga and 16ga Naim power cables remained.
I happened upon the reviews of the Pangea series of power cables. And with the very liberal Amazon return policy, I took the plunge and got one AC14 SE and another AC14XL.
And today I tried them out. I ended up with the 14SE on the DAC and the 14XL on the SBT linear supply (the ends of the 14XL are just too massive to fit through the circular cut outs of the entertainment center). And from the very first note something very different was happening. Think about the time you went from a mid level moving magnet cartridge to a special moving coil one, or from an integrated amp to a high end pre/power combo. These are the level of improvements I am hearing. Tonally the first thing that leaps out-literally- is the shuddering bass extension, that is matched by its tightness. Voices and instruments are grounded in space and quite separate from each other. Clarity and crispness of the top end is significantly improved. Its like having a really cruddy stylus and giving it a good clean-it not only looked wooly, but it sounded it too.
My speakers by the was are some custom built ones that went for about $25k a decade ago and are still very difficult to beat.
I am sure there will be some who say this is all imaginary or placebic. I am totally convinced it is not. How convinced? I just ordered another 2 XL cords for the power amps. I may at some point swap the 14SE for another XL for good measure, although that will require taking a 2 inch hole punch to the backboard of the entertainment center. BUT.....that will also allow me to try the 7-ga AC9 power cords along the way too!
Once my two other power cables come I will also swap out the 5-year old octet of 6550 tubes in my amps, and hopefully hear the full benefits of these cables.
One caveat though...the IEC end of the XL is really, really chunky and may not easily fully seat into the receptacle without duress-which is what happened to me when I first installed it-and was rewarded with some gut wrenching burping sounds that thundered out of my speakers. It was probably arcing or something. It needs a really firm push, after which it becomes almost hermetically sealed.”
“The AC 14 XL MKII is my current go to reference cable. I have tried and used many others that cost many times the price including Wireworld Platinum, Cardas Clear etc and find myself keep coming back to this. This cable sounds very accurate and neutral without exaggeration any particular aspects of sound. I have the AC 14 XLs on all of my gears including DK reference 160 x 2 watt class A Integrated, Chord Dave, Mutec MC3 USB, Mutec Ref 10 Master Clock and DCS Network Bridge. I prefer the AC 14 XL on the amp even to the AC9se Mk2! Highly recommended.”
