Review: Fusion Audio Impulse/Enchanter Power cords Power cord


Category: Cables

These cables, along with Dream State Veridical and Lucid Dream power cords, were graciously lent to me by Eric Love of Audio Surroundings (www.audiosurroundings.com). Eric did not ask me to write a review of his cords, but I plan to audition a good bit of equipment this year, and intend to memorialize each audition for my own records and hopefully the benefit of others. While these cables are made by Eric, I have taken care to write a review that is true to the cords. Not a difficult task, because...

These cables stand on their own as one of the best values on the market right now. As it goes with all gear, and particularly cables, listening preferences, hearing loss, age, and associated equipment will all play roles in an individual's assessment of the "best" cables, and to a small degree comparable cables relative to each other.

As with the other review of these cords, please skip to "Analysis" if you're not interested in my personal biases regarding equipment and cables.

Review philosophy/methodology
For me, I rank cables on one objective criterion before making judgment calls based on the factors mentioned above. First, if I'm forking out cash for an aftermarket cable, I expect it to be free of colorations. Piano seems to be the best test for me. It's astonishing to me how many high end cables can't get the tone, much less the attack and decay of a piano note correct. Brass instruments also seem to be a stumbling block for certain types of cords.

After listening for coloration, I sit down and listen critically to see if I cnn determine what the cable is doing. If I can easily tell, I have to figure out if I like what it's doing. Generally, though, if I hear some sonic signature I'm going to rank the cable lower than I would a more transparent cable, since my philosophy is ideally I don't want to hear a cable. I want to hear music, and let my equipment determine the sonic attributes I hear.

At some point I just let go, and listen more passively. I ask myself, If that "toe tapping" quality is lacking in the cable, I'll notice it pretty quickly in this phase. This can be the kiss of death to me, because for me this hobby is about emotionally connecting to the music and being able to step out of reality for a bit and step in to a world of memories, imagination, or both. The better the reproduction of the music, the easier it is for me to just drift off in to La La Land.

Musical preferences
Pop/rock from the 60s forward, with emphasis on the 80s; Country over the last 20 years; jazz; some classical (mostly stuff I played while in band in high school and college); contemporary christian and praise and worship dating from the early 80s.

Personal preferences in cables
I enjoy a warm cables as much as the next guy. Unfortunately, warm cables IME deprive rock and country from the excitement of the percussion, and particularly cymbals/high hat. Order of importance for sonic attributes after coloration is: speed, soundstaging, detail, tonal balance, dynamic range. I like a lot of detail, but not to the point of coldness. My Cary 303/300 prevents most cables from falling off the cliff in the cold department, though.

ANALYSIS OF FUSION IMPULSE/ENCHANTER POWER CORDS
Coloration: None noted. Piano and brass instruments sounded natural. All other instruments and vocals sounded natural as well.

Sonic signature: Detected, though only when swapping interconnects to test soundstage. I did not hear the fairly dramatic difference between my KCI Silkworms, Gabriel Gold Revelations, and Straley Reality Cables that I hear when the Stealth Dreams are in. I did hear more of a difference than when the Dream State cords were in, however.

Speed (PRaT): Very nice. On par with my Stealth Dream cords.

Soundstaging: Also very good. Not wall to wall good, but as good as my Stealth Dreams and the Dream State Audio Veridical and Lucid Dream. Swapping a Gabriel Gold Revelation interconnect in helped this a bit. Regardless of surrounding cables, these presented a nice middle ground between "forward" and "laid back". I suspect this contributes to the much better than average layering of the stage I experienced with these.

Detail: Eric had set me up to expect the cords would take a big hit here; they did not. They actually had better detail than any of the warm cords I've tried, and were more detailed than the older model DCCA cords I used to own. There is some diminshed detail in the sense of hearing the recording venue, but in terms of the individual notes I found the cords plenty detailed. These are about the right balance between "detailed" and "musical" for me. There is certainly no hint of coldness or sterility in these cables.

A subcomponent of detail is background blackness. These were obviously excellent in this area, as it is prerequisite to the level of detail I like from my system.

Tonal balance: balanced. Midrange not lush but not sterile, either. Top was present and palpable. Very nice job on the opening of "Subdivisions" (Rush, "Signals", Mofi remaster) with the percussion. Getting that right isn't an easy task. Bass is tight. Not overpowering, which is to be expected if the cable is balanced, fast, and detailed as this one is. Bass is certainly adequate by most people's standards.

Dynamic range. The best I've heard, period. The antithesis of the Dream State cords (this was the one big flaw of those cords) and even blew away my Stealth Dreams in this area. I tested three genres for this: classical, jazz, and pop with orchestral background accompaniment. Where the Dreams go from Piano to Forte these babies go from pianissimo to fortissimo! I don't know what about the construction of these cords gives them such dynamic range, but the boys are on to something here.

Toe-tapping enjoyment of the music: It's there. These are "fun" as well as "serious". They lend themselves to either listening type for me. I've been listening to music as I type this review with the Fusion cords in place, and I've had to stop several times because I wanted to really pay attention to an upcoming passage because I'm enjoying the music.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
I'd never heard of these cords, and really only listened to them to humor Eric. Wow, I'm glad I did! They surpassed my expectations by a huge margin. I expected them to be somewhat like my old DCCA Source/Extreme Reference II cords, but not as good. How wrong I was. I would rank them in the same class as the DCCA cords: small company, good value, performs very close to the very best cords on the market. I would rank them ahead of the old version of the Source and Extreme Reference II by a moderate margin. I have not heard the newer DCCA cords to compare to these. At the end of the day, I'd say I'd actually keep these in my system over the much more expensive Dream State power cords, because these sound more "right" to me.

Objectively speaking, I would say these are cables anyone with a budget greater than entry level should hear. I would think at worst they would be found "not your cup of tea", but very meritorious. And for those looking for honest cables with good balance, these just might be the cords you've been looking for at a fraction of the price you thought you'd have to pay for top-tier performance.

Associated gear
Click to view my Virtual System

Similar products
DCCA, Stealth, Dream State, Vitual Dynamics, Kubala-Sosna, Tara Labs, some others that weren't memorable.
aggielaw
Nice review. I too have the impulse and enchanter in my system. Although I did not compare them to as many pc's as you once I heard them I never considered anything else. Well I did compare them head to head with the Nordost Brahma and vahalla's and still have Eric's pc's regardless of price.

Did you ever try the interlocker or interlocker II? I have the interlocker II's and love them.

Eric is great and very easy to deal with.
I also have the enchanter an impulse powercords and have found them to be very good for the money. However, in my experience, I found them to sound different depending on where they were in the audio chain.
The enchanter for example was very good on the preamp and CD player but was thin sounding on my amp. The impulse sounded good on preamp as well as CD player( but not as good as enchanter)not good on amp at all. Neither was very complimentary on my analog setup, they both seem to accentuate the highs( a little too hot for my taste)
I now currently have the enchanter on my power conditioner and the impulse on my CD player, shunyata python helix alpha on preamp an amp. In this application, I think they balance out the shunyata's very well as the shunyata's have a more natural and neutral sound.
All in all I think the fusion cords are very good but seem to favor digital more than analog in my system.
Having said that, I think it is very important to try them everywhere in your system to see where they'll be best suited. IMHO
Xti16,
I haven't tried his interconnects yet, but if I start looking to upgrade Eric will be one of the first guys I call. :)

Eee3, interesting observation. Eric mentioned to me that foils are "tempermental" for want of a better term, and do not mate well with some gear. I think his cables use foils, so that might explain significant differences in experiences. Definitely good to know they can behave differently with different equipment whatever the cause. Thanks for sharing.
Hello Aggie Law,

Great review that you wrote. I appreciate the time it took you to do it. Thanks for sharing it with the A'gon community.

I have also had the opportunity to audition the Fusion Enchanter pc's as well as owning several of the pc's that you have also used such as the Dream State Lucid Dream and many different iterations of the DCCA line with the most recent being Don's newest Reference Masters.

I would agree with Eric that ribbon pc's can be very tempermental. Perhaps it was my tubed gear that was the issue, but I have never been able to warm up to this type of pc as I find the sound it produces rather artificial in nature. They can be initially exciting to listen to but in the long run fatiguing.

I did find the Dream State Lucid Dream the best of the lot when compared to the Fusion Enchanter, Electraglides or Elrods.

I would also encourage you to try DCCA's newer pc's such as the Reference Master or Power Master. They are a significant improvement over the Source or Extreme Reference....kind of like comparing a Ford to a Ferrari. His newest pc's have an uncanny ability to add warmth to any given musical presentation without sacrificing the accurate representation of the performance.

Having listened to more than enough pc's to fill up this page, my personal bias now runs towards copper wired pc's such as DCCA, Shunyata or NBS.

Obviously the musical enjoyment one gets from an audio system is in the ears of the listener and YMMV. Nevertheless I value your opinions and found your review very informative.

Scifi,

Thanks for your thoughts. I will have to contact Don sometime soon. I just started a quest for a new CD player, but once the new unit is selected and in place I'll go back to the cable hunt. :)

I liked the sound of his older cords. They sounded much like Stealth Dreams, but with a little less air and less soundstaging ability. They were very good for the price, to be sure.

Thanks again for your thoughts. Hopefully future a'goners will find all of this informative.

Howard
Great review Howard, very well written. I may have to give the Fusion cords a listen someday.

As for something even more intruiging (to me at least) are your RSAD Sason speakers. How long have you had them? Did you buy direct from RSAD or used here on the 'GoN? How do you like them? What would you compare them to as far as speakers go? Do they need much room from the rear wall due to the rear bass port? When you say 'full range monitors', how full range? Down to 35-40 hz? I can't imagine a monitor going much below that.

Again, thanks for the great review on the Fusion power cords.

Cheers,
John
John,

Howdy! Great to hear from you again. I bought the Sasons from RSAD back in '05 or '06 when RSAD was first introducing them. At the time I lived in Arizona and another Sason owner was very kind to let me hear them in his home. I was blown away and had to have a set. I've heard many great speakers since, but none that made me consider a change. In fact, I may never let these go unless Steve Rothermel at RSAD ever fulfills his dream of making a version 2 of these with more exotic materials. The sense of air and realism that can be obtained from these speakers is just beyond compare IME.

I have never placed the Sasons less than 3' from the wall behind them, so I don't know how they'd respond, but the rear port is adjustable, and RSAD supplies port plugs to obtain an even cleaner midrange, so they're very easy to adapt to different listening areas. I have experimented with the speakers as far as 12' from the wall behind them, and the imaging was just amazing. They could image all the way back to the wall behind them, though the bass response was compromised to a degree.

I think the designation of "full range monitor" was an a'gon thing. I haven't measured the bass response, although Robert or Steve at RSAD could probably tell you how low they go. I don't listen to pipe organs or the like so I don't think I have much need in the 20-35Hz range, and the Sasons offer plenty of bottom end from around 45Hz up I'd say. I seem to recall seeing the graph once, and the speakers performed very evenly with a very steep drop to f10 down at the bottom of the range.

FWIW, I heard the new Sasons with the external XO at RMAF last October, and they weren't more than 3' from the wall behind them, and I didn't detect in booming, and I think the only treatments in that room were at the first reflection points on the side walls.

Knowing your system and preferences, I think you'd like the Sasons, as they would allow you to very clearly hear the synergy with your upstream components, as well as detect even minute differences when changing anything upstream.

Another Sason owner once called them "truth mongers", which is pretty appropriate.
Thanks again Howard for yet another review. I've always enjoyed Robert's work, I can't say that I am familiar with Steve though. I've been looking at these speakers for a couple of years, maybe one day I'll find a local owner for a listen. I did look at the speakers on the website again, and I noticed the price has jumped considerably. I recall them being around $7K, and I see now they are selling for $10.5K. That's out of my league....new anyway.
I'm also a bit surprised at just how heavy they are, at 185 pounds each including stands, they have to be about the heaviest monitors on the market.

I've had my Verity Parsifal Encore's for about 3.5 years now. Though the Sason's have always interested me, I don't see myself spending more $$$ on speakers until this economy thing gets straightened out.

Cheers,
John