Black Sand Cables Violet and Silver
OK, so here is my write-up of the latest power cord I've tried, which happens to be the BEST so far...
Web site: Website:
http://blacksandcable.com/
Pricing (6ft. cord): $180+
Review
Black Sand Cables is one of those low-flying, under-the-radar companies that prefers to let the quality of their products do the talking for them, rather than relying on marketing hyperbole. The man behind the company, John, has declined to hype his products on numerous occasions when he could have easily done so. It seems genuinely not to be his style. In fact, if you were to visit their modest web-site (as it exists as I write), you'd be quite puzzled by their offerings. You'd have a hard time determining what went into their basic offerings vs. what went into their more upscale offerings. It's basically a mess (sorry, John)...
Allow me to clarify (such as I can with the limited info even I have). Black Sand used to have a full cable product line, but more recently, they decided to focus exclusively on power cords only, as that was where they felt they had the most value-add. To that end, they've developed a few power cords, but at the low-end, after receiving lots of feedback, they decided to consolidate their products into a single design. These bottom-level products are all identical save for the color of the jacket they come in: White, Crimson, Arctic Blue. These are all pure copper designs. Beyond that, they offer a copper/silver hybrid called the Silver Reference Mark 4. That's their current top-of-the-line cable.
OK, so Black Sand has only 2 products, right? Well, not exactly. This review chiefly concerns their "Violet" power cord, a product that John is not yet convinced he should include in his product line. It was made as an experiment, and rests between their bottom-of-the-line cords and the Silver. John is not sure if he's going to ofer the Violet as a full-time product. I've written to him several times urging him to reconsider and to unleash the Violet on the world at large. We'll see...
I paid for and received a single Violet, and then later informed John about my intentions to review his product. He then sent me his top-of-the-line product, the Silver to put his best foot forward.
Well, after giving the Silver and the Violet equal time, and numerous swaps, I have to give the nod to the cheaper all-copper Violet (again, sorry John). This all-copper power cord goes WAY WAY beyond the level of performance I've achieved with any other cable. And at a fraction of the price, AND with twice the build quality. (And it's highly flexible, to boot).
Anyway, this cable (the Violet) is just stunning, I'm very excited; it's really like a component upgrade rather than a mere power cord swap. These impressions concern the performance of the Violet on my source, though I've ordered another one for my headamp.
Mad resolution, I'm constantly hearing things I've never heard before, and as you know, that's always a thrill. It's making old 80s CDs sound practically hi-rez. This thing is totally "un-veiled" in every possible way. Best soundstaging I've heard so far (not the biggest, but pretty astounding imaging, everything is so vividly defined and real), and ultra BLACK background.
The Violet is all about lifting veils. The question it poses to you is: how many veils do I *really* want lifted? Is there such thing as "too open" or "too revealing"? You wouldn't think so until you've heard your source with the Violet attached. Totally open and airy, with a nice full, firm sound. Bass is insanely tight and solid. Everything sounds extremely *real* with this cord. The Violet digs up so much information you've never heard before, it can leave you slack-jawed.
This cord (like all great audio products) has taught me something new. Yes, we are all intoxicated by that component which gives us a perceptibly "blacker" background. But, when you think about it, really, half of obtaining a "blacker" background is achieving whiter whites and thus, a greater sense of contrast. IMHO, the Violet is a lot like an Ansel Adams print-- it goes from absolute white whites to pitch blacks; yet it's incredibly sharp and detailed because he's used an absurdly large 4x5 negative. The Violet leaves you with the exact same feeling. It leaves nothing to the imagination, yet at the same time, it doesn't exaggerate or over-emphasize. It's almost realer than real.
The Violet excels in palpability-- you can reach out and touch the artist(s). Guitars are crunchy and vivid. Voices are so clear, you can easily make out expressions that were previously garbled.
Bass and dynamics are second to none. Bass is TIGHT and solid. Bass goes incredibly LOW. The sound this cord makes is eerily present and *real*. There is no way to extract greater dynamic range than to attach the Violet to your gear.
I just bought a second Violet for my headphone amp, I felt compelled to swoop in and scoop it up before they're all gone. John is still pondering whether to put it in the product line, I hope he does. It's the best cord I've heard so far (out of 20+), best built, and dirt cheap (as these things go), too. It's also considerably more flexible than your average aftermarket cord.
I spent another hour and a half with the Silver last night. There's definitely a family resemblance there so there seems to be a Black Sand "house sound". However, the Silver still sounds a bit more constrained, the background not *quite* as black. It has a *slightly* more mellow top end than the Violet.
So yes, it's definitely more "refined", but it doesn't have the same degree of impact, dynamics, astonishing dynamic range, and amazing holographic sound of the Violet. I would think if the Violet was "too much" in your system, the Silver would be a great alternative. But for me, the Violet is intoxicating, I pause and listen to songs I normally skip just because everything sounds so fresh and new. Even though this cord is beyond ruthless and ultra-high-rez, it does the neat trick of making everything sound great without resorting to syrupy euphony. Also, with further burn-in (or mental adjustment), the brightness I noted in the Violet is less and less of an issue.
Conclusion
Still with me? To wrap this up, it’s time for me to rank order all of the cables under review. This rank ordering reflects performance in my system, based on my own biases and needs. It reflects performance on those components on which each cable fared best. It is not a straight listing of cables in order of the “Overall performance” rating I gave within the individual reviews. Those ratings are dependent on cost/value, flexibility and other factors, the final rank order is based on pure *sound* alone, all other factors be damned.
1. Black Sand-- Violet.
2. Black Sand-- Silver
3. Split decision between the TG 688 (for my source), and the Wolff Source cord (for my headamp)
4. Virtual Dynamics Reference (since replaced/superseded by the David)
5. Split decison between KAS Audio Primus (on my headamp) and Oyaide Tunami (on my source)
6. VH Audio Flavor 1 and Flavor 2
7. Custom Power Cord Company Model 14 Series 2
8. Tek Line Eclipse
9. Iron Lung Jellyfish / Volex 17604
10. Straight Wire Blue Thunder
11. Audio Metallurgy Gold Alloy 9
12. Analysis Plus Oval 10
13. Absolute Power Cord
14. Zu Cable BoK
15. PS Audio XStream Plus
