[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by jayvis

I appreciate everyone's comments, but this is part of the reason why I've resisted jumping onto the power cord wagon for so long. Many claim that they've found the Shunyata Venom HC to be the best bang for the buck while others claim that the similarly priced Wireworld Electra 7 outperforms it. Others put more emphasis in plug design when making their buying decision. Audio Art Cables claims that their different plug options are the determining factor in their cord's ultimate sound qualities. If you look at plug design alone, one would think the WW Electra 7 to be better because of its silver clad copper alloy contacts vs. the Venom HC's nickel plated brass. So, as with everything else in audio, it's obvious that power cord selection is very subjective and somewhat component brand restrictive. If I decide to dive in deeper, my only choice is to take the time to actually try multiple cords in my system, probably starting with my power amp. It's too bad that Shunyata and Wireworld don't offer a satisfaction guarantee like Audio Art does. It would make it a lot easier for people like me to make a decision.

in my personal opinion, Caelin Gabriel of Shunyata Research is a veritable genius (he was a signals intelligence data processing scientist at NSA for about 20 years); and any decisions he makes regarding materials science are well-informed and come from a deep understanding at the level of physics and electronics of what the right materials are for a given applicaiton. While the silver clad copper alloy contacts on the WW power cords are nice, as far as I am concerned, it's a minor detail.

A power cord is not delivering analog or digital signals like an interconnect or speaker cable would be, where the nature of the conductor material might have an influence on the quality of sound. The are simply delivering AC current. They have a completely different set of functional requirements than signal cables. The key attributes one is really looking for in a power cord are 1) the ability to deliver AC current and AC current transients as quickly as possible (this is why Shunyata developed a sophisticated measurement system to measure Dynamic Transient Current Delivery aka DTCD; they are the only company that measures this), and 2) the rejection of noise, i.e., keeping noise from getting IN to the power cord, and being able to draw large AC current almost instantaneously without emitting electromagnetic radiation. Having read all the science behind this (and some of Shunyata's patents), I personally am of the view that it explains why I've found Shunyata power cords to be the best performing, in my experience. I also think they provide the best value per dollar.

I don't want this to come across in any way that I don't admire, respect, or value Wireworld's products. I've met David Salz in person, and he is an excellent, and more importantly, thoughtful engineer and an absolutely terrific guy, to boot. You won't meet a nicer or classier guy in all of audio. I own, use and admire his products and his design philosophy highly. Of all the cable companies that I've tried out in various applications, my top three are Wireworld, Shunyata and Audioquest, in no particular order.