V14 Digital vs V12 NR on a digital component
 

I can be pretty darn stubborn at times. Many times both Caelin and Puma Cat mentioned that the V14 Digital can be the better choice for purely digital components - and yet it seemed too good to be true that this very affordable power cord could be better than one of their more expensive power cords.

In fairness, I thought I had a good excuse. Powering my digital component -a Chord Hugo M-Scaler (HMS) - is a Farad Super3 linear power supply - and not a SMPS. But I guess I should have known better as inside the HMS is a noisy FPGA. Swapping the V14D for the V12 NR brought a reduction in noise that was easy and somewhat surprising to hear.

There was no downside either. Bass weight was just as good or maybe even better with the V14D. The same was true with dynamics.

Another surprise came from first burning in the V14D on the cheap linear supply powering the Sonore opticalModule on the upstream side of a fiber run. Even though my streamer is “isolated” from the opticalModule with a run of fiber, I still heard an uptick in sound quality when powering its linear supply with a V14D. I’m not sure the improvement justified the price there though.

As far as my HMS powered by a Super3 - the V14D more than justified its price there. In fact I’d have to say it’s kind of remarkable that a $250 power cord could have such a positive impact.

I will be getting another V14D for the Farad Super3 that is powering my EtherRegen. The Super3 brought a very significant improvement to the EtherRegen so I’m definitely curious as to how much better it might get with the V14D. I’ll post an update to this thread once I get to try it.

I hope this report was of interest.

Ken

Are you saying the V14 Digital was better than the V12 NR on your M-Scaler?

Hi Ken,
Nice write-up. Your experiences with the Venom V14D Digital PC are very comparable with my own. I observed a notable improvement when I put one on the Keces P3 LPS that powers my SOtM SMS-200 UltraNeo network bridge, and also for the Uptone Audio LPS-1 that powers my Uptone Audio EtherREGEN.

I've found that they improve every part of an "all digital" component chain you put them on. They also really improve the video and audio quality of an HDTV.

Would be curious about that as well.

Sorry for the delayed response. I hadn't noticed your post until Serge just mentioned it.

Yes, I found the V14 Digital to be better than the V12 NR on my M-Scaler because it did a better job of reducing noise. The V14D seemed to give my Denali more of a boost in terms of noise reduction.

I also found the V14D to be better than a Nordost Magus (predecessor to the Blue Heaven) on my EtherRegen. Greater naturalness emerged after swapping in the V14D.

Yes it was of very much of interest, as I'm considering a power cord change for purely digital components - including the m-scaler.

But I'm wondering how far up the chain can the V14D keep giant killing?
For purely digital, low power components, could it beat a Delta, Alpha or Sigma for example? If so, that would make it the bargain of the century.

There are only two fundamental principles that government power cord performance. The first and most important for audio components is DTCD - instantaneous current delivery. This is different than the commonly spec’d continuous current rating. DTCD is decreased as resistance and inductance of the cable increases. Also, contact junction impedance can dramatically affect DTCD.

The second principle is noise which can manifest as conducted noise and radiated noise. NR, Noise Reduction is desirable if and only if it can be achieved without degrading DTCD.

For purely digital components that have neither an analog input nor an analog output the order and balance of the two principles is reversed whereby NR predominates and DTCD is secondary. The Venom V14 Digital was designed, initially, by our CIS medical division for use with heart surgery systems. The cable reduces radio frequency noise and very importantly reduces impulse noise that is commonly present with equipment that uses power bricks or internal SMPS power supplies.

Things like Ethernet switches, routers, computers, upscalers, monitors and disk arrays can all benefit with a V14D. Using a bigger, more expensive cable has marginal to no benefit.

On the other hand, something like a DAC or preamp will demonstrate quite dramatic sonic improvements as you move up the power cable pyramid. So, save some money in your power system budget by using the V14D for computer related devices and use the savings to get a better cord for your critical audio devices.

Hi Ken,
Thanks for adding additional info and context for this thread. Your experiences are consistent with my own, and that V14D can in fact, outperform other PCs for the specific use-cases and applications that it was designed for. It does bring a very effective and specific type of noise reduction for this class of products.

:goodpost:

For additional audio applications, I've found the Venom V14D Digital to be effective on the power supplies for fiber media convertors and network bridges.

The V14D power cables also work very well with home theatre setups, specifically HDTVs, cable boxes, Blu-Ray disc players and streamers like Apple TV, etc. You can actually see the improvements it brings on-screen.

What about a wireless speaker, like the McIntosh RS200? Would the V14D be the way to go?