chessman's Sigma HC power cords

[chessman]

Thanks, camtwo69!

[jpgr4blu]

The Sigma HC pc from amp to wall made the most significant change for the better in my system of any pc or ic I have ever used. It's all good, very very good.

[chessman]

Originally Posted by jpgr4blu

The Sigma HC pc from amp to wall made the most significant change for the better in my system of any pc or ic I have ever used. It's all good, very very good.

jpgr4blu, thanks for the encouragement! My second cable is cooking until 8:00 pm Friday night and the anticipation is killing me.

[Bavarian05]

I have two Sigma HC on the way as well. Very anxious to hear your thoughts once you have them placed in your system. Big congratulations!
Waiting for full run in is tough. But all good things...right?

[chessman]

The moment finally arrived.

After "cooking" each cable for 168 hours each, I finally hooked them up to my dual mono design amp (right down to two power cords) and fired up the amp. These are directly wall to amp on a 15 amp circuit. I had carefully listened to Steely Dan's "Gaucho," Keb' Mo's self titled debut album and the "Frankenstein" cut on Winter's "They Only Come Out At Night" before making the switch.

I have to admit I had some trepidation. I already had a heavily tweaked system, except for the glaring omission of dedicated 20 amp circuits. I already was using WireWorld Silver Electra 5^2 power cords on the amps and a mix of Shunyata and WireWorld on everything else. At the same time, I was afraid the Sigma HCs would not make a difference and afraid that they would.

I left the volume at the exact same setting on the preamp and played "Babylon Sisters" using an Extech 407730 sound pressure level gauge, slow speed, c weighting and measured an average 70 dBs using the WW cables. Changing only the Sigma HCs, I reran the test and it showed an average 75 dBs. Now that was hand held, so I will swear to only a 3 dB gain, but it was enough that my wife heard it without knowing what I was doing. I did not run it double blind, or use pink noise, or the rest so I offer it only as an anecdotal experience.

The most readily discerned improvements were better dynamics, lower noise floor, better identification of instruments and support singers, and more sparkle in the upper register. Was a veil lifted? Um, no. But the improvements were not subtle - they were immediately apparent. My wife asked me why the music had gotten clearer.

I am reserving my final verdict for a few days to let these settle down. But at least initially, I am very happy with these. It is an admittedly expensive upgrade, but the system has evolved to the point that each gain is hard won.

[Bavarian05]

Originally Posted by hifidelitea

I did not have the patience to cook the cables, I've recently added three Sigma HC to the three amps and one Sigma Analogue to the pre amp. I just plug it to the system and let the system cook it and feel the music quality change over time. Enjoy the difference is space, depth, quietness amongst others. Because the cable makes your system so much more accurate, you'll start to ask, what is the next thing in the system that needs to change to make it better? As for me, it's now down to speaker cables, but that's got to wait.

Try the Shunyata Anaconda line for signal and speaker cables.
Really nice. You likely already know this though. :-)

[Bavarian05]

Originally Posted by chessman

The moment finally arrived. After "cooking" each cable for 168 hours each, I finally hooked them up to my dual mono design amp (right down to two power cords) and fired up the amp. These are directly wall to amp on a 15 amp circuit. I had carefully listened to Steely Dan's "Gaucho," Keb' Mo's self titled debut album and the "Frankenstein" cut on Winter's "They Only Come Out At Night" before making the switch. I have to admit I had some trepidation. I already had a heavily tweaked system, except for the glaring omission of dedicated 20 amp circuits. I already was using WireWorld Silver Electra 5^2 power cords on the amps and a mix of Shunyata and WireWorld on everything else. At the same time, I was afraid the Sigma HCs would not make a difference and afraid that they would. I left the volume at the exact same setting on the preamp and played "Babylon Sisters" using an Extech 407730 sound pressure level gauge, slow speed, c weighting and measured an average 70 dBs using the WW cables. Changing only the Sigma HCs, I reran the test and it showed an average 75 dBs. Now that was hand held, so I will swear to only a 3 dB gain, but it was enough that my wife heard it without knowing what I was doing. I did not run it double blind, or use pink noise, or the rest so I offer it only as an anecdotal experience. The most readily discerned improvements were better dynamics, lower noise floor, better identification of instruments and support singers, and more sparkle in the upper register. Was a veil lifted? Um, no. But the improvements were not subtle - they were immediately apparent. My wife asked me why the music had gotten clearer. I am reserving my final verdict for a few days to let these settle down. But at least initially, I am very happy with these. It is an admittedly expensive upgrade, but the system has evolved to the point that each gain is hard won.

Thank you for the update. Sounds like Shunyata recommends about 336 hours (2 weeks) of solid run in time on the HC version of the Sigma.
You will likely still notice some peaks and valleys. Keep us posted.

[chessman]

Originally Posted by Bavarian05

Thank you for the update. Sounds like Shunyata recommends about 336 hours (2 weeks) of solid run in time on the HC version of the Sigma.
You will likely still notice some peaks and valleys. Keep us posted.

I have been listening continuously for 5.5 hours. The grin on my face just gets bigger. Piano sounds brilliant.

[chessman]

Now up to 11 hours of actual use after 168 hours of cooking. The Sigma HCs continue to improve. Dynamic transitions are distinctly better: percussion and piano have better "attack." In the better mastered CDs the piano is simply amazing. Mid-bass also is punchier. So far there have been no rough patches.

[chessman]

Listening to k.d. lang's "hymns of the 49th parallel." The noise floor is vanishingly low. I am listening at about 75 dB, but I can hear very clearly and deeply into the mix. The music is effortless, soaring and powerful. I cannot quantify the improvement other than to say it is definitely better and still getting better.