Delta NR power cord replaces Black Mamba HC CX

[jimtranr]

Late this morning my friendly UPS driver delivered a signature-required package containing what I'd ordered from Ivan 11 days ago (I'm one Brown Ground shipping day's drive from Poulsbo):



It's a C19-terminated Delta NR power cord that replaces the Black Mamba HC CX that came bundled with the used Hydra 8 v2 I'd snagged a couple of weeks ago to replace the original-version Hydra in my bedroom system. (The latter and its joined-at-the-hip Venom NR v10 have migrated to the living-room, where they're rendering stunningly sharper colors, contrasts, and images on our 15-year-old Sony Bravia 40" flat screen and extracting more musicality out of the associated system's c-j/Paradigm lineup.)

The Delta has barely had time to settle in even as I've already thrown Copland, Sarah Vaughan, Berlioz, the Turtle Creek Chorale, Gershwin, and some Previn-noodling piano at it. So this is a first impression, and I'll keep it brief.

WOW!

What jumps out at me at first blush: The purity of trumpet tone, the skin-throbbing solidity of drum sustain, the articulation of subtle vocal nuance (Sarah had a lot of it), the parsing of venue space, the precise locatability of individual instruments and voice in complex passages, the crystalline clarity of piano timbre and decay, the overall sense of being "closer" to the performers as more electronic "haze" is stripped away. It's all better. More better.

And that's just at the beginning. More, I'm sure, to come later.

[For The Love of Music]

I’m amazed on the performance you can get from older TVs with proper power aside from audio benefits.

I have 3 Pioneer Elite Plasmas I paid around $8K each 10/12 years ago, maybe longer - no plans to change

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

Late this morning my friendly UPS driver delivered a signature-required package containing what I'd ordered from Ivan 11 days ago (I'm one Brown Ground shipping day's drive from Poulsbo):



It's a C19-terminated Delta NR power cord that replaces the Black Mamba HC CX that came bundled with the used Hydra 8 v2 I'd snagged a couple of weeks ago to replace the original-version Hydra in my bedroom system. (The latter and its joined-at-the-hip Venom NR v10 have migrated to the living-room, where they're rendering stunningly sharper colors, contrasts, and images on our 15-year-old Sony Bravia 40" flat screen and extracting more musicality out of the associated system's c-j/Paradigm lineup.)

The Delta has barely had time to settle in even as I've already thrown Copland, Sarah Vaughan, Berlioz, the Turtle Creek Chorale, Gershwin, and some Previn-noodling piano at it. So this is a first impression, and I'll keep it brief.

WOW!

What jumps out at me at first blush: The purity of trumpet tone, the skin-throbbing solidity of drum sustain, the articulation of subtle vocal nuance (Sarah had a lot of it), the parsing of venue space, the precise locatability of individual instruments and voice in complex passages, the crystalline clarity of piano timbre and decay, the overall sense of being "closer" to the performers as more electronic "haze" is stripped away. It's all better. More better.

And that's just at the beginning. More, I'm sure, to come later.

Yup. Sounds like the Delta NR power cord to me.

One of the things that really jumps out at me is the dynamics in the reproduction: the depth, speed, and scale. If you have a copy of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, put on the first part of the ballet, and have a listen.

Its pretty remarkable.

[Audiophilehi]

Nice....I'll have to try one someday and compare to my Wireworld Silver Electra PC.

[LarsT]

Originally Posted by Audiophilehi

Nice....I'll have to try one someday and compare to my Wireworld Silver Electra PC.

Plus 1

[jimtranr]

"This is the best I've ever heard."

Thus declared Saint Mrs. after we'd put in a two-plus-hour listening session with about 50 settling-time hours logged on the Delta NR feeding the bedroom audio system's Hydra 8 v2. A few of her specifics: the timbral "rightness" of the voices of Mirella Freni and Christa Ludwig as they blended in "Scuoti quella fronda di ciligeio" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly (London, 24/96 download); the three-dimensional separation of Herbert von Karajan's Vienna Philharmonic from the aforementioned duo; the breath she heard Carlos Barbosa-Lima take as he played Jobim's "Luiza" in a guitar duet with Sharon Isbin (Brazil with Love, Concord 16/44 rip); the spot-on articulation of the voices and positional layering of the Turtle Creek Chorale as they sang Bernstein's "Make Your Garden Grow" from Candide (Testament, Reference Recordings 16/44 rip).

I "amen" all of those observations. And add a couple of my own.

Henry Mancini's 1959 recording of his score for TV's Peter Gunn (RCA Living Stereo/Analogue Productions DSD64 SACD rip) is a jam-session gem in which the star-studded ensemble lets out all the stops. There's trumpet bite, trombone blatt, and percussive whack and tingle, and I've never heard the venue's air moved as gut-tickling convincingly into the bedroom prior to the Delta NR's arrival. With the Delta, the sit-in-with-'em ambience is three-dimensional in-your-face, a sensation enhanced by, among other things, the plangency of the brass and the tonally-accurate sonorous attack and decay of the piano (with Johnny Williams at the keyboard--yes, young Skywalker, that Johnny Williams).

Cue up, at Stephen's suggestion, Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. I have a number of these in either the full-ballet or the ballet-suite versions. The sword fight scene in Lorin Maazel's vigorous reading of the full score with the Cleveland Orchestra (London, 16/44 rip) has the violin section hanging on for dear life. With the Delta, all that sawing away resolves itself into a more distinctive melodic line than heard previously. The heavy, ponderous "Montagues and Capulets" (the opening passage of which served as the title theme for an early-1950s TV series, "Tales of Tomorrow", where I first heard it as a pre-teen) has some sneaky dynamic swings. The original-version Hydra/Venom NR v10 combination handled them very well, noticeably better than I'd heard previously in terms of speed of attack. The 8 v2/Delta NR tandem is even "cleaner" in this respect for each of the score versions I auditioned (Maazel, Neeme Jarvi, Paavo Jarvi, Kurt Masur). There's clearly more foundational heft and a perceptibly "airier" soundstage with the Delta.

My overall impression is that with the Delta NR in place, I'm noticeably "closer" to the recorded performance than previously. And that's at a little over 50 hours.

[Masterlu]

Jim... I am very pleased to read about your positive experience, you’re excitement comes shining through.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

"This is the best I've ever heard."

Thus declared Saint Mrs. after we'd put in a two-plus-hour listening session with about 50 settling-time hours logged on the Delta NR feeding the bedroom audio system's Hydra 8 v2. A few of her specifics: the timbral "rightness" of the voices of Mirella Freni and Christa Ludwig as they blended in "Scuoti quella fronda di ciligeio" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly (London, 24/96 download); the three-dimensional separation of Herbert von Karajan's Vienna Philharmonic from the aforementioned duo; the breath she heard Carlos Barbosa-Lima take as he played Jobim's "Luiza" in a guitar duet with Sharon Isbin (Brazil with Love, Concord 16/44 rip); the spot-on articulation of the voices and positional layering of the Turtle Creek Chorale as they sang Bernstein's "Make Your Garden Grow" from Candide (Testament, Reference Recordings 16/44 rip).

I "amen" all of those observations. And add a couple of my own.

Henry Mancini's 1959 recording of his score for TV's Peter Gunn (RCA Living Stereo/Analogue Productions DSD64 SACD rip) is a jam-session gem in which the star-studded ensemble lets out all the stops. There's trumpet bite, trombone blatt, and percussive whack and tingle, and I've never heard the venue's air moved as gut-tickling convincingly into the bedroom prior to the Delta NR's arrival. With the Delta, the sit-in-with-'em ambience is three-dimensional in-your-face, a sensation enhanced by, among other things, the plangency of the brass and the tonally-accurate sonorous attack and decay of the piano (with Johnny Williams at the keyboard--yes, young Skywalker, that Johnny Williams).

Cue up, at Stephen's suggestion, Sergei Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. I have a number of these in either the full-ballet or the ballet-suite versions. The sword fight scene in Lorin Maazel's vigorous reading of the full score with the Cleveland Orchestra (London, 16/44 rip) has the violin section hanging on for dear life. With the Delta, all that sawing away resolves itself into a more distinctive melodic line than heard previously. The heavy, ponderous "Montagues and Capulets" (the opening passage of which served as the title theme from an early-1950s TV series, "Tales of Tomorrow", where I first heard it as a pre-teen) has some sneaky dynamic swings. The original-version Hydra/Venom NR v10 combination handled them very well, noticeably better than I'd heard previously in terms of speed of attack. The 8 v2/Delta NR tandem is even "cleaner" in this respect for each of the score versions I auditioned (Maazel, Neeme Jarvi, Paavo Jarvi, Kurt Masur). There's clearly more foundational heft and a perceptibly "airier" soundstage with the Delta.

My overall impression is that with the Delta NR in place, I'm noticeably "closer" to the recorded performance than previously. And that's at a little over 50 hours.

Just another outstanding review, Jim.

I'll have to get some of the recordings you refer to for my library.

I'm very glad you have the Lorin Maazel/Cleveland Symphony version of Romeo & Juliet, that's the version I have in LP, and its one of the best performances of that legendary ballet score I'v yet heard Side note: when Prokofiev first composed the ballet under comission from the Bolshoi (IIRC), it was renounced as being "unplayable". So much for first impressions!

The reason I referenced it for you is because of the magnitude of the dynamic scale in the composition; its a wonderful recording to determine if the system can keep up with the sheer dynamism and force of the composition. The Delta NR really allows the system all the current in needs in the very short time frames it needs it to really reproduce the scaling from pp to fff so quickly. The noise suppresion functionality breathes quietness, breath and life into the performance, especially after the orchestra comes in so quietly after the big crescendos at the end of sword fight passage.

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Jim... I am very pleased to read about your positive experience, you’re excitement comes shining through.

Thanks for making that excitement possible, Ivan.

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

Side note: when Prokofiev first composed the ballet under comission from the Bolshoi (IIRC), it was renounced as being "unplayable". So much for first impressions!

Tricky it could be in sections, but one of the reasons Romeo had its first performance in Czechoslovakia rather than the USSR is that the Bolshoi executive who acquired it for the company wound up a victim of Stalin's Great Purge, and associating oneself with the ballet at that moment in time could be a--how to put it gently?--liability.

The reason I referenced it for you is because of the magnitude of the dynamic scale in the composition; its a wonderful recording to determine if the system can keep up with the sheer dynamism and force of the composition. The Delta NR really allows the system all the current in needs in the very short time frames it needs it to really reproduce the scaling from pp to fff so quickly. The noise suppresion functionality breathes quietness, breath and life into the performance, especially after the orchestra comes in so quietly after the big crescendos at the end of sword fight passage.

No question about the turn-on-a-dime dynamic scaling demands of the piece. Or the Delta NR's ability to keep the reproduction of them from disintegrating into mush. The Black Mamba held up its end pretty well in this regard. But the Delta excised not a little "thickening" (noise-induced, I suspect) of instrumental texture that masked detail and rhythmic-drive microdynamics embedded in the macro. A noticeably "cleaner" presentation.

Last night I played the "Baba Yaga" ("Hut on Fowl's Legs") and "Great Gate of Kiev" movements of Fritz Reiner's reading with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra of Mussorgsky's Ravel-orchestrated Pictures at an Exhibition (RCA Living Stereo, SACD DSD64 rip), where dynamic scaling (and, in "Baba Yaga", rhythmic "quickness") is again a demanding consideration. What impressed me here was the put-the-listener-in-the-hall rock-solid stability of image delineation and focus amid the rat-a-tat dynamic swings and complex orchestration. As Saint Mrs. put it, "the best I've heard."