Hi rb2013,
the Cerious Graphene power cord seems to be efficient, but the Cerious price is seriously high !
Regarding "efficiency" of a power cord, is this related to current and how clean it is ? Why not using the power cord provided by Breeze and adding a filter, like a Schaffner ?
Schaffner price is 25USD av..
If the Breeze is senstive to the power cord, maybe its power supply is sensitive to the current & how clean it is. Thus maybe, a Schaffner could do the job of the Cerious for 25USD instead of 20times that price.
Right / wrong ? that's just an idea.
Well for me $250 for the Cerious Graphene is reasonable. If it makes a significant improvement in performance - as it has in spades. Funny I had 'invested' $180 for a Regen and other $150 for a LPS for it - and the sound became worse! This was my second Regen as the first made a nice improvement in my office system. So it's about sound vs cost for me. I sold the second Regen and used the money to get the Cerious Graphene.
I sold the Hydra Z for $600 and it took a $150 LPS TeraDak - and replaced it with the $150 DU-U8 - with a major sonic improvement. And that was before the Cerious. With the Cerious another significant leap in performance. So net net - I'm ahead by $350 over the Z/LPS and with much better sound.
I don't think what the Cerious Graphene is doing is just a matter of 'efficiency' - many factors come into play such as variable inductance, impedance (the lower the better), EMI/RFI shielding, capacitance, eddy wave reflections from the conductor surface and dielectric, etc... Constructing a great power chord is harder then it looks.
As for the Schaffner - that is just a Balun in a small metal housing. It acts as a common mode AC power filter - I went one better - using a $80 Art Audio PB4X4Pro which is both a common mode and differential mode C filter (also a surge protector). So that base is covered in spades.
Before the Cerious I was using a nice silver power cord with very nice rhodium plated connectors. The stock cable is just a $2 generic Chinese chord. The DU-U8 sounded better with this silver/rhodium cord plugged into the PB4X4Pro.
The cable was something like this:
https://app.audiogon.com/listings/ac-cables-6-black-shadow-power-cord-braided-2-meter-silver-rhodium-cryo-2015-12-05-power-34207-college-plaza-fl
The Cerious replacing the silver/rhodium cord was the major improvement I posted about.
Schaffner:
Art Audio Pro PB4X4 PRO
All PRO SERIES models have an additional internal discrete module called APF™ (Advanced Power Filtering) which filters out digital and dimmer hash as well as any high frequency noise that is above the audio range. Some off-the-shelf add-on modules saturate and lose their filtering effectiveness as the load increases, but by using a high power discrete design we were able to create a filter that stays effective over the full operating range.
By using both Common Mode and Differential Mode topologies in series for the filter design we are able to block virtually all of the unwanted noise that is between the AC line and ground, and also the two sides of the AC line. This has the additional benefit of reducing ground loop problems in your system. High frequency noise currents in particular are highly attenuated in both directions so that any line noise that could be generated by one of your components is not allowed to get back into your main A.C. wiring so if you use a number of PRO SERIES Power Conditioners in your setup, you can distribute and isolate the noisy components from the sensitive components in your system. Additionally, any signals above 10kHz are filtered from the line with over 40dB of attenuation above 100kHz and beyond.
Every PRO SERIES power conditioner is designed with a power capacity of 1800 Watts, surge/spike protection, APF with EMI & RFI filtering, front-mounted unswitched power outlet and an adjustable rear-mounted gooseneck light source for bright illumination behind the rack. The spacing and alignment of the rear outlets to accommodate various size power plugs and AC adapters.
I have 4 of these currently - using separate ones on each of my DU-U8's (including the ReGen/Remedy in the office system) and a separate unit for each DAC.
I also use a thick solid copper shield around each components AC plug - you can get these at Lowes for around $10 each:
