Before I share the power cord I was referring to and where to get it, I want to say that I do not know the sellers and have never tried a Chinese clone of an audiophile cable before I got this power cable. Of the 60+ audiophile power cables I have tried (laughing as I type this) this is likely the best under $1000 power cord I have listened to. This power cord is plugged into my source which is a Windows 10 based PC and a custom isolation PLC. For reference, headphones are Audeze LCD-XC (2021 model) and is EQed, amp is Schitt Jotunheim 2 and DAC is Schitt Modius. My setup is highly tweaked but this post is not about that. As an aside, the reason I even purchased this cable was two clients of mine that are audiophiles have the original cables on mono blocks that power their Wilson speakers. They told me the clone cables perform 95% of the original cables and are 1/170th of the price! They told me this with straight faces. I laughed so hard I was tearing. They dared me to try the cable and the rest is history. I have since purchased and am using the ethernet cable, digital, balanced XLR and on order now the Gold version of the power cord.
The Chinese clone power cord is a Nordost Odin 2. I will include some pics of my cable. Now this cable is not all sunshine and roses. Below I will list in my opinion, in my system the pro and cons. I have not tried this cable anywhere else in my setup because it performs so well where it is. The other power cables currently in my setup lean a tad to the warmer side which are 2 XLO Reference (hard wired to isolation PLCs), Electro Glide - Electro Glide Signature (amp), custom power cord designed with Alan Maher based off of the XLO Signature wire. All of these cables came from my home reference setup which is currently in storage. So no, I did not purchase expensive cables for the headphone rig. I have a lot of high end cables before the headphone rig. Oh, the power cable that was on the computer before was a VH-Audio Flavor 3, also tried a ZU Event power light and couple others I can't remember now I was not fond of. The Odin 2 clone out performed these be huge margins.
The Pros:
- Dirt cheap, I paid $102.70 shipped for a 1.2 meter version
- Compared to the cables that was powering the computer before, it added a deeper and wider soundstage, more micro resolution and clarity throughout the frequency spectrum, quicker and better PRAT. Also felt like the lower and higher frequency extremes were expanded, which kind of surprised me.
- Fast, between pure copper and pure silver speed. What I mean is a pure silver power cord feels very quick when listening, this feels close but not quite as fast.
- Build quality from inspection is very good. Connectors appear of high quality with highly polished contacts. I doubt I could buy connectors of this quality for what was paid for the entire assembled cable.
- Balanced sonically, meaning did not emphasize any frequency range on my setup.
- I have listened to the original Nordost Odin 2 power cable on 3 home reference systems. In all three cases never preferred the cable to another when doing comparisons. The reason is the cable is fast, exceptional resolution BUT was not musical to me. The clone is not quite as fast, not quite in the league of the original in the resolution dept and not as neutral leaning as the original. The clone feels more musical. Pretty much what my clients told me.
- Cable performance is elevated when Furutech Nano Liquid is applied to contacts, also Oyaide EMI tape at the two connector ends improve performance.
- In the 25 years I have been in this hobby this is the best bang for $ power cord I have experienced. Performance is amazing if Furutech Nano Liquid is applied to contacts, also Oyaide EMI tape is used.
The Negatives:
- Took 3 weeks to reach California
- Leans a tad toward neutral. So if a system or component already leans neutral this cable may not work well in that system. Probably work really well on a tube component, which I have not tried yet.
- If a cable burner is not used on this cable to condition it, takes "at least" 600 hours for the cable to come into its own. So patience is required.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought just telling you what the cable is would be of little value. Hopefully this was helpful. As a closing thought, the more resolving a system and discerning a lister is, the more cables matter. Here is where I purchased it from:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/325...tList_2002815841771.5&gatewayAdapt=4itemAdapt
