I have done more A/B-ing comparing Valhalla to PS Audio xStream Statement power cable, I compared them with my Cary transport which is plugged into P300 Power Plant.
I also experimented more with the multiwave settings of P300. I have heard the same differences every time, and today it was confirmed because I was free from bias. I was hoping MWave1 would be better so I could use Premier Power Plant instead of the old P300 Power Plant. The Premier only has MWave1.
MWave4 has been the best setting with Valhalla for over a year now.
[size=large]ABX test for Cary transport[/size]
Yesterday I was doing A/B-ing for many hours and the differences became smaller and smaller which made me doubt my previous impressions. The more I continued the more skeptical I became. The reason is simple:
1) If you ABX test something that makes huge differences, and then move on to something subtle, you won't hear a difference.
2) If you keep changing the gear for hours, your brain doesn't get used to a certain sound. And the differences appear smaller.
But if you have been used to a certain flavor and then change to something else, the difference is huge. The more you keep switching, the smaller the differences become!
The same thing applies to sports, pro athletes can confirm it.
3) When you are fatigued the hearing performance becomes worse.
Yesterday I was so fatigued I couldn't think straight, I was switching back and forth, eventually I couldn't hear a difference at all. It felt like everything was placebo.
Then I went to bed and today I'm trying again. The secret is to only ABX test a few trials a day, otherwise the results aren't accurate. The first impression is the most important one, but you also need to be free from bias. Since everything sounded the same yesterday right before I went to bed, today I'm free from bias.
The setup I call "home" is the one I have been used to the longest.
Home setup: (wall) Power Port - 1m Valhalla - Ultimate Outlet - 50cm Valhalla - P300 Power Plant (MWave4) - 2m Valhalla - Cary
Other AC outlet: stock - JuiceBar - 4 Noise Harvesters
First I removed the Ultimate Outlet and replaced it with JuiceBar, but I had to remove one Harvester to do so. I could hear many sound signatures at once and then I gave up, it sounded very different and I didn't know which difference came from what tweak. It sounded colder and thinner.
So I put back the home setup and this time I had 3 Harvesters plugged in instead of 4. Putting back the Ultimate Outlet made it sound heavier. It sounded like the home setup but something was missing, so I plugged the 4th Harvester back in.
Changed from 3 to 4 Harvesters: Holy ****! Bass is bigger and more solid. It sounds smoother, kind of buttery. With 3 Harvesters I couldn't hear the butter but with 4 Harvesters I can! There is no brightness whatsoever. I'm "home" and can listen for hours.
Then it was time for power cord testing. The visitor cable is PS Audio xStream Statement.
Changed from 2m Valhalla to 1.5m Statement: Darker and heavier. After a while it sounded muddy and fatiguing.
Changed from MWave4 to MWave1: More open and faster with more midrange emphasis, more detail. MWave1 setting is best for Statement cable. It still sounded too heavy and muddy which was fatiguing after a while.
Changed from 1.5m Statement into 2m Valhalla: More open, faster, higher, thinner, smoother, buttery sound more apparent, less fatigue. Transients are faster and thinner.
Changed from MWave1 to MWave4: More oomph in the bass, little muddier.
Changed from MWave4 to MWave1: Something is missing but sounds more open and smooth. Thin and lifeless.
Changed from MWave1 to MWave4: Fatiguing crazy heavy bass. Not thin and lifeless anymore. It sounds too heavy with an illusion of muddiness. Holy ****! More low-level bass transients than any combo!
MWave4 has more bass and low-level detail. With MWave1 it sounds empty because they are missing, but instead everything sounds more open with more midrange emphasis. MWave4 sounds dark while MWave1 sounds bright.
When using power cords for the transport I'm not sure which cable is more neutral, they both have the same low-level detail but they have different weight.
Statement sounds too heavy which makes the slow transients appear faster because they are closer to each other, but it also makes the tiny transients blend together because of too little silence in between those beats.
Valhalla is the opposite of that, the tiny transients sound faster because of more silence around the sounds. This also makes the soundstage more open and smooth. Everything sounds very clean.
Statement doesn't benefit from MWave4 because the extra low-level bass transients aren't audible anyway since the Statement covers them up. The best setting for Statement cable is MWave1 because it made the thinness and brightness heavier which made it more apparent.
So if the transients are too thin, Statement is best, if the transients are too thick, Valhalla is best.
MWave4 sounds very heavy compared to MWave1, and it also has low-level bass transient detail that MWave1 doesn't have. It also seems like MWave1 has more high frequency detail than MWave4. But Valhalla with MWave4 still has more high frequency detail than Statement with MWave1.
It sounds like Valhalla moves everything up to the surface which makes the details more audible. Since MWave4 has the highs lacking, Valhalla compensates for it by boosting up the highs higher. MWave4 sounds dark, and Valhalla moves up the darkness to the surface, what happens to the detail under the darkness? There isn't any detail, and that is what makes it sound clean and smooth like the background is dead black. Since all recordings have some background noise, then this is a very good thing. So what happens is, MWave4 gives true low-level detail, and Valhalla takes that detail and adds its own black and clean background under it. What MWave1 does is, it removes the low-level detail of MWave4, which makes it sound clean and open, but a part of the music is missing. Adding Statement cable to MWave1 covers up the missing parts by adding heaviness and darkness into the sound. So Statement tries to add detail by toning down the lowest level detail of MWave1. Statement tries to pull the detail lower and deeper, while Valhalla pulls the detail higher and more to the surface.
After reading that, the best combination of multiwave setting and power cord is obvious. MWave4 for true low-level detail, and Valhalla for pulling it up and making it audible. When all details have been pulled up, Valhalla adds its own clean and smooth bottom which makes the soundstage appear bigger.
