At the Musikmesse i got to know Mr. Kenji Takechi from OYAIDE ELEC, Inc., a high-grade audio cable manufacturer from Japan. He kindly sent me their new finger-thick power-cable BLACKMAMBA. Here's my observation notes, 2 independent runs ABX, replacing a standard IEC cable: # Summit Audio EQP200-B : The sound is very dynamic, less stressed and less condensed/squeezed. It sounds relaxed and noble, the mids are very transparent, the highs smooth and clean, bass is deep, dimensionality (width and depth) increased. # Millennia NSEQ-2 / discrete mode : The sound is solid and stable, assertive, compact. The lower mids appear lighter and the upper mids stronger, bass is round and broad, highs are shimmery, the overall bandwith seems increased. # RME Fireface800 : The sound is fast, attacks articulated, direct. The upper mids seem accentuated and the overall impression is extremly tight with an increased bandwidth, even though the dimensionality has not changed here. # Thermionic Culture Phoenix (replacing the Vovox power cable) : Comparing it with it's contender, this one is the toughest to detect. I find that spectrum, dynamic and depth are very similar, while the Oyaide sounds a tad cleaner and and the vovox a little more straight forward. This could be caused by how much distortion there is left in the power distribution or simply by cable-design. I can't decide wich one i like better, but one as an engineer is at least left with an option ;) - Although all differences i experience are in a certain felt range of ca. 5-10%, this small changes can make a very reasonable difference. After one more day of observation i'd really like to have all the rest of my regular power cables replaced with high-grade ones as there certainly is an advantage and gain in sound. Power cables are having a bit different effect on diverse units depending on the gear construction and function, but you can say there is a quality in sound that is evident on all tested units: for OYAIDE that's clean, transparent, solid and noble. I think that's great to get yet more sound out of your hardware: converters and interfaces, that's where i like it applied the most by now ! OYAIDE NEO
