It’s been approximately nearly 3 months since my first shipment of demonstration Shunyata Research products arrived and it’s been a bit of whirlwind with them ever since.
The number of customers who have tried a Shunyata power cable, power conditioner, ethernet cable or USB cable in their system has been quite astonishing, both from existing and new customers. It’s gone down incredibly well, people seem to really enjoying what is bringing to their systems and I must say the impact on system performance is far from subtle.
Shunyata focus heavily on scientific research and development, they have a huge array of patented technology and trademarks to back up their theories and science, Shunyata’s primary focus is on delivering low noise and the results so far are speaking for themselves.
I thought this initial blog post may serve as a useful introduction to the entry level to mid-range Shunyata power cables – I’ll be doing a few more posts when time permits focussing on their bigger power cables, digital cables (USB & Ethernet) and power conditioners as well.
NR Power Cables
NR stands for noise reduction and these cables are designed to reduce noise on your power lines and they do it by a huge 12 dB! They deliver objective and dramatic improvements in performance on whatever you use them on. They are designed to essentially reduce noise created by the components power supply. They utilise several unique technologies developed by Shunyata, such as CCI filters, KPIP processing and many more (which you can spend a long time reading about on Shunyata’s website!)
Many people will not know this, but Shunyata have a sister company called CIS who manufacture medical equipment, where accurate measurements and lack of external interference is critical for obvious reasons!
XC Power Cables
The XC range has been designed specifically for use on Shunyata Power Conditioners and also other brands of power block/conditioner. The XC range eschews noise reduction in favour of a high current delivery. They utilise a trademarked technology called DTCD (Dynamic Transient Current Delivery), this is a proprietary Shunyata technique which essentially measures instantaneous current through low impedance electrical conductors and contacts. This allows Shunyata to maximise the design and construction of their XC cables so they are able to handle maximum throughput of current delivery without compromise, which is essential on power cables that powers a block or conditioner with multiple devices potentially connected all demanding simultaneously current.
“Whether videos or white papers, Shunyata wants you not only to listen, but to pay attention to the science behind their products. I appreciate this. High-end audio has never been short on cable and power products that seem to be based on voodoo engineering. Shunyata wants you to know that they’re different, and they’ve gone to great expense to prove it.”
Jeff Fritz, SoundStage! – “Ultra Shunyata Research Hydra Alpha A12 Power Conditioner and Venom NR-V10 Power Cord”
All Shunyata power cable use proprietary mains plugs and sockets, just about all other power cable manufacturers use another companies plugs and sockets, Furutech, Wattgate and MK generally. The Furutech are the most abundant and they are superb as well. But with Shunyata they do things a little differently, leaving no stone unturned in delivering the very best performance coupled with Shunyata’s found Caelin Gabriel’s almost obsessive attention to detail!
The mains plugs are large and cylindrical in shape and highly engineered, their excessive size is actually very convenient, there’s plenty to get hold of, which is useful if your sockets are hidden behind a rack and you need to stand like a contortionist to reach them. The IEC sockets are the same, they ooze quality and attention to detail. The way these cables connect is quite something, I’ve never come across a power cable that gets such a tight solid grip of both the equipment and the wall socket, especially the IEC connection when you get to Alpha and above. You need a good hold of the component when you attach the cable!
NR Power Cables – The Range
The NR power cable range starts with the Venom V10 NR which is priced at £799, from there the next cable is the Delta V2 NR (£1500), then the Alpha V2 NR (£2500) and the Sigma V2 NR (£3500). All of these cables are 1.75m long by default. Above these cables is the flagship Omega which is available in QR or QR-S form, which is £9000 or £7500 respectively, the Omega cables are 2m long by default and they utilise a new level of technology to achieve their performance.
I’ve plenty of demo equipment to choose from to put a system together and decided upon a Melco N10 Anniversary Edition and the Vitus SIA-030 Integrated Amplifier, this has the optional DAC board fitted so the Melco connected directly via USB.
In terms of power conditioners I have a Venom UK6, Alpha A10, Denali & Everest on demonstration but I did not use any of them whilst I was testing the power cables initially, each power cable was connected directly a wall socket.
I focussed on the Venom V10 NR, Delta V2 NR and Alpha V2 NR and ran each of them over a period of around a week, listening as and when I had the opportunity, taking notes as I was going, then switching to another cable in due course. I didn’t just start with Venom, then Delta, followed by Alpha – I went back and forth so I could really hear what was changing – the system delivers almost unlimited levels of resolution and purity, it is a real open window into the music as such changes are always audible – Vimberg Mino and Avalon PM1 were on loudspeaker duties.
I had connected both the Melco and the Vitus connected directly to the wall using standard IEC power cables and spent some time listening to the system as it was.
I’ve a huge list of albums I always go to when evaluating equipment and cables – I don’t play the full albums, but they included
Leonard Cohen – Ten New Songs
Sharon Robinson – Everybody Knows
Radiohead – In Rainbows & Kid A
Elbow – Leaders of the Free World & The Seldom Seen Kid
GoGo Penguin – Man Made Object
Laura Marling – Semper Femina
Bob Dylan – Desire
Bob Dylan – Oh Mercy
Paul Simon – Hearts & Bones
Jon Hopkins & King Creosote – Diamond Mine
Sons of Kemet – Your Queen is a Reptile
The first thing I changed was simply adding the Venom V10 NR to the Melco. As soon as the music started it was immediately that the bass response had noticeably improved. It was deeper, but everything was much better defined and more controlled, it wasn’t just an increase in output. I left the system running with the Venom on the Melco for 4 or 5 days with listening sessions occurring as and when I was able to squeeze them in, I reverted back to the stock power cable on the Melco a couple of times over this period and every time I did this everything just shrank back down – Leonard Cohen’s raspy vocal become smaller and the swirling melodies from tracks such as Videotape from In Rainbows were simply just that bit smaller in scale. Every time I switched the Venom back in it made me smile, it was instant and quite obvious.
The Venom is a great upgrade and for many it will represent a great step and be as far as many people ever aspire to go in terms of upgrading their component with a better power cable, but swapping the Venom V10 NR for a Delta V2 NR was very interesting, it did all of the same things the Venom did – but it did something quite different in addition – the Delta instilled a sense of real calmness around the music. It still retained all the dynamics, scale and weight, but the music was now appearing out of complete blackness. It made the music sound more real and less like listening to a system, but a real musical event.
I enjoyed the system before but now I was enjoying it even more, there was engagement and coherence and things were obviously quieter in terms of noise. Switching up the Alpha V2 NR on the Melco simply brought more of the same, it uses the same NR filtration as the Venon and the Delta, but with heavier gauge conductors and a higher grade IEC connector, you can see just looking at an Alpha it’s a different design of cable, it’s much more heavier duty and substantial looking. In terms of sonics the big change here was an increase in the sense of scale of the overall presentation, it retained that sense of naturalness, but everything is bigger, but not in an artificial contrived manner. There was even more bass weight, but it was incredibly fast and agile in comparison.
Switching the cables over to the Vitus SIA-030 (putting a stock cable on the Melco again) showed similar results, but here the addition of the Alpha V2 NR was much more significant than on the Melco – it’s benefit was similar in terms of what it did, but it was so much more obvious here. Bass response from the SIA-030 is never lacking, but with an Alpha feeding it, the depth of bass and its speed and agility was quite incredible. The Venom and Delta worked really well, but the Alpha was most definitely a sweet-spot here. I have also used these cables on an RI-101 mk2 and it’s much the same here as well.
Venom V10 NR, Delta V2 NR and Alpha V2 NR – 3 different power cables at 3 very different price points – they all essentially are unlocking the potential in your system, stock power cables hold back performance and prevent you from hearing your system at any close to its very best. If you don’t believe that power cables can make a difference that’s fine and very well done for reading this far! If you have a good system and you trust your ears, don’t hold your system back and bottleneck its performance.
Which cable could serve as an upgrade to you very much depends on what equipment you are using and your budget. If you own a £4000 integrated amplifier a Venom at £799 would serve as a brilliant upgrade, a Delta V2 NR at £1500 or an Alpha at £2500 may appear to be little unbalanced in terms of use of funds, but until you try it……it’s all about creating a solid foundation for your system.
If you have a system that sits further up the ladder with higher quality components (like a Gold Note IS-1000, Vitus RI-101, SIA-025, Melco N1ZS) a Delta V2 NR or Alpha V2 NR could be a great fit, it’s all about finding out what works in your system and is to your taste/budget. Further up the range we have Sigma and Omega – the best advice I can offer on these 2 models is to not try them unless you are ready to invest in one! I installed a Sigma V2 NR on a Vitus RI-101 mk2 just last week and the customer was he shock when heard what it brought to his system!
I’m saving the Sigma V2 NR and the Omega power cables for another post for another day!
I keep all the power cables in NR form on demonstration from Venom through the Sigma, in terms of XC cables, I have the entire range all with C19 IEC connectors to fit into the power conditioners – Venom, Delta Alpha, Sigma and Omega, all of which are available for home demonstration.
In addition to the power cables I also keep the Venon UK6, Alpha A10, Denali and Everest on demonstration along with the all of the USB and Ethernet cables.
If you want to find out how Shunyata can help extract the best from your system please get in touch!
