No, not decided. More later, and thanks for asking, David. |
On first listen, I do like it better on the CD50 than I did on the amp, and that's a first. Still pretty sure it's too bright, but will continue evaluating and comparing. On a side note, I'm also comparing Cardas Neutral Reference speaker cable with MIT Terminator 3, and the MIT is winning so far...in MY system context, anyway. Let's see, $90 versus $900; who'd a thunk it? The Black Mamba is staring at me, as if mocking me.... |
Yes, the two pronged DVD player connector has to be retrofitted onto a cord, as far as I know. You could probably order some cords with it, perhaps even the powersnake cords. I have no idea which coord would work best with your DV-05, but I'm sure you'll find others that have tried several with theirs. Unfortunately, one can never know how cables will synergize with a syatem, until they try. |
Agreed on the HT cord, Redkiwi. Would have had a demo Black Mamba two weeks ago if guys like you all would stop keeping them past your appointed limit. Anyway, I'm primarily looking for a cord for my amp, since the MIT has killed every one of the others I've tried with the CD50 (no matter what cord was on the amp, and amp and player are the only two components I'm using for evaluation). Can't afford King Cobra right now, and anyway, I'M DISCUSSING THE SIDEWINDER IN THIS THREAD, SO LET US STAY ON SUBJECT. (I'll have another thread when I've evaluated the Black Mamba). So far, I prefer the Purist Audio Design Proteus with my amp, WAY and the hell over the Sidewinder. I feel its small conductors are limiting current, and causing the amp to turn brighter than even the Magnan Signature power cord did. OF COURSE I'LL TRY THE SIDEWINDER ON MY CD PLAYER AS WELL, but the Magnan cord was MUCH worse on the CD player than it was on the amp, so I'm not expecting much. It uses highly resistive conductors also. MY DEMO PERIOD IS LIMITED TO TWO WEEKS...bitch to Paul at the Cable Company about that, not me. ANYWAY, I DON'T CARE IF OTHERS HAVE HAD THE OPPOSITE EXPERIENCE, cause I have more faith in my hearing than just about anything in my life. I'm also brutally honest, and have no axe to grind either way...especially since I've not bought any of these yet, and don't feel the need to justify my money spent... |
That's not the way I've heard it. |
Yes, those interconnects have a way of doing that. The MIT cord isn't dynamic enough with my amp. I'm hoping to get some quality listening time in tonight. |
I took the Sidewinder off the amp last night, and put it on the CD50. I put the Tiffany Electronics cord back on the amp, and am letting these SETTLE until tomorrow (May 15) before I do any more listening.........What I conclude (subjective though it might be) about the Shunyata Sidewinder with my KAV-250a amplifier (after a week of settling time):.........There were some improvements. The bass got very slightly more extended, and became vastly better defined in pitch (it was awful at first, worse than a boom car system, with a "one distorted note" quality). The treble brightness receded slightly. The grain present thru the entire frequency range mostly went away, and so timbre was much more liquid. Listening fatigue went down a bit. All of that was good......But, other drawbacks remained. Stage depth was still more shallow than it needed to be. Dynamic contrasts/weight/solidity in the bass/extreme low mids were still missing in action, as was most of the bass below 50 Hz that I've been able to coax from the Maggies with other power cords on the amp (i.e., Synergisic Master Coupler). But, the bass "snap" factor was there in abundance, almost as much as the Magnan Signature, and about equal to the ESP Power Flo (the Magnan being much faster still with less bass dynamic contrast, and the ESP besting both Magnan and Sidewinder in the bass overall...had the best combination of speed, punch, slam, roundness, fullness, definition. It had a forward presence region though, both with amp and CD50, and that was annoying).........The "separation of instruments" became very good indeed with the Sidewinder, but still not quite what the Magnan was. As I've said before, the Magnan's treble equaled that of my analog rig, with "ONLY" my CD player (all of this is still with the MIT Z-Cord 2 on the CD player)! BOTH OF THEM HAD A FORWARD TREBLE with the amp, and so were/are not tonally neutral in my book.......Another bad thing that crept in with the Sidewinder was that the midrange became as much forward as the searchlight-bright treble was in the beginning. So now, tonally the Sidwinder was shelved up, from about 500 Hz, all the way to the top. Dynamic contrasts in the midrange and treble were quite good, with the upper midrange taking on an occasional "hard" character at times, moreso than the treble range (except in the beginning). This gave all solo and accompanied piano music a "tin" or tipped up quality, with the "left hand" work radically recessed and over-polite. Most every midrange instrument's edges were almost "hyper-delineated" in space (such as in symphonic pieces), giving a false sense of image definition in my opinion, and erasing the 3-D depth of each instrument's individual "image". And make no mistake, they were projected about 15 feet closer than they actually are, with regard to the rest of the orchestra. Very distracting. Also, the size and height of each instrument's image seemed artificially small, and out of proportion to the space they occupied...as if cellos were the size of violins, etc. I attribute this to the tonal problems, and the inadequate dynamics from the lower mids and downward. THE SIDEWINDER MIGHT SOUND RADICALLY DIFFERENT WITH THE CD50, I DON'T KNOW. We'll see.... |
I might do that, but wouldn't that be like me doing your homework for you? It's not difficult to just look up the prices yourself. |
That's what I'm doing with the Cable Company, guru. Yes David, I got the same. Review of Sidwinder w/CD50 forthcoming. The Black Mamba came today, and it looks big, like it swallowed a smaller one, and had to take a nap. |
The best arrangement so far has been the Sidewinder on the CD player, and the Purist Audio Design Proteus cord on the power amp. This combo was only slightly bright in the top octave and a half, while being very neutral/detailed/high-rez/unfatigueing. Please note that I preferred the Proteus on the amp, INSTEAD of the Black Mamba, while the Sidewinder was on the CD player. With the Sidewinder on the CD player and Black Mamba on amp, the presence region was forward and analytical, bass pitch definition wasn't as good as with the Tiffany cord on amp, and Sidewinder on CD player (this combo is still the most neutral and features the best bass rhythm/snap/jump facor, but I very slightly preferred it less than the Proteus/Sidewinder combo).................The Black Mamba is now on the CD player, and the Proteus is on the amp.........(More on this combo after I've listened enough...BTW, I plug the CD player into a Chang Lightspeed 6400, and the power amp's cord into the wall; there's nothing special about my outlets, or circuits. We have only 200 amp service, and live 25 miles from the power plant, and about one mile from a "substation".)............I will then switch back to the Sidewinder on amp, and then lastly my current "reference" of MIT Z-Cord 2 on CD player, and Tiffany on amp.....................I think that next I'd like to try Synergistic Reference on amp, and ESP Essence on CD player. |
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Tonight I got bogged down with just the Cardas speaker cable in the system, so I can't make an accurate observation on how the current combo (Black Mamba on CD player, Proteus on amp) actually compared with the Sidewinder-Proteus combo, but hope to do that tomorrow. The sound was the best in many ways that I've heard the Cardas (Neutral Reference), and that's why I listened longer than I should have (2.5 hours, too long for the volume level I chose; sometimes I have no will power)....and then I ran out of time, like I always do. My take is that there are three things inevitable in life: death, taxes, and running out of time (when everything is just starting to get good!). |
And thank you for the clarification, Albert. |
Black Mamba on CD player, Proteus on amp:................(from my notes).....More "simultaneous details" within the ambience of recordings. Much more liquidity than when the Sidewinder was on the CD player (and the same Proteus on amp). Instrumental images were more separate and distinct. "Jump factor" and pace are noticably reduced, however. Musical subtlety is conveyed in the manner that analog can convey it (mostly in the midrange and treble); a good thing indeed! This is the closest I've heard yet to the character that the Magnan Signature AC cord had (it exhibited this ONLY in the treble, however, and only when used on the amp; it was just VERY bright on the CD player). Comparing this combo to the Magnan (the MIT Z-cord 2 was on the CD player at that time), the dynamic contrast is actually not as resolved as the Magnan did it in the treble, but better in the upper mids, and on down thru the bass. The Magnan had the very fastest bass I've ever heard in my system (again, only when used on the power amp), and it would be nice to have most of that, and dynamics too; oh, well.................THE DOWNSIDE........Basically, the Black Mamba on the CD player seemed to exaggerate the Proteus's "speed/pace" weakness below 300 Hz. This is in contrast to what the Sidewinder did on the CD player, which was that it actually never failed to correct that weakness, somehow. IMAGES were less solid and yet more delineated, but "instrument edges/outlines" weren't necessarily hyped (like my Dragon speaker cable can do sometimes); so there's some good, with the bad. SOUNDSTAGE depth was normal for the front two-thirds, but got quite truncated beyond that (when compared with the Sidewinder on the CD player)...................Next, will be the Black Mamba on CD player, and Sidewinder on power amp. |
Yes, it is good to have more than one set for different aspects of performance. I only have one set of AC cords that I own right now, and just want to get the best that I can get, so I'm auditioning tons of different ones, and have been doing it for 6 months. It's sort of fun, because I do feel like I'm closing in on it. |
BLACK MAMBA on CD player, SIDEWINDER on amp (from my notes):..............(These are just in the order I made note of them, you'll have to read the whole thing to decipher the positive from the negative aspects).........................Despite an upper bass hump, allowed me to hear into the deep bass range more clearly, even though it wasn't as loud. The deep bass was better focused, and I was somehow able to hear deeper, even though it was proportionately quieter and with less weight/slam. The TONAL ANOMALIES were still there (from the last combo I tried, where the Sidewinder was also on the amp, then). I.e., the upper midrange and treble were shelved up a little. Images seemed to float less freely of the speakers, and the background wasn't as black (when compared to the Black Mamba-CD/Proteus-amp combo). There was a grainy, hazy type of distortion thru pretty much the whole range (it had not been near as noticeable as, say, with the Sidewinder on the CD player, and the Proteus on the amp). The entire presentation was decidedly DIGITAL, not exactly a good thing (however the "jump" factor was the best it's been, so that was terrific, and by far THE BEST ASPECT of this combo). The treble was still forward, and attack transients were definitely hyped. The upper midrange could (again) turn hard at times. DESPITE ALL OF THIS NEGATIVITY, fatigue after long periods of listening wasn't as high as it has been with lesser AC cord combos, but as we all have been known to say, "it still wasn't exactly what I'm looking for", either..................And also to the credit of this combo, I did prefer it this way, as opposed to having the Black Mamba on amp, and Sidewinder on CD player. As I've already indicated, upper bass pitch specificity and dynamics (rhythm and "snap" factor) were OUTSTANDING, and do surpass all other combos (so far) in this regard.................Plucked acoustic guitar strings sounded "hi-fi", their attck transient over-hyped/delineated, and somewhat unnaturally related to the wooden body sound................Stage depth was quite good, but again with high frequency sounds coming slightly disconnected and forward several feet from where they really are in the recording's acoustic. The outlines of an instrument's edges were hyped, and the midrange/treble did possess an almost "cheap solid state", unrefined quality. The wonderful ANALOG QUALITY that was present in the mids and his of the Mamba-CD/Proteus-amp combo was COMPLETELY gone......................The extra distortion present in the mids and treblewas similar in character to that of a compression horn driver, but to a lesser degree. TO SUM UP: Putting the Sidewinder on the power amp (with Black Mamba on CD player) barely seemed to help, more than it hurt. This of course will vary depending on what one feels is important, besides the myriad system matching factors out there. THE TRADE OFF is tonal and image refinement, for dyanamics (from the upper bass, and upward) and imaging solidity. The Balck Mamba is SOOOO tonally refined (on the CD player, less so on the amp...also current limited a little bit on the amp) that IMHO it would be a shame to throw that refinement away in order to get the limited (albeit substatnial) benefits, from what the Sidwinder did right in this combo. I suppose if an otherwise similar system to mine, was EXTREMELY LAID BACK, but had subterranean bass extension, and otherwise had the creamiest/smoothest timbres and tones on earth (to a fault), then this combo would perhaps be well suited. |
One more aspect of the above combo: I like rock music, and have been using a live concert CD often: Rush's "Different Stages Live". I must say that the drum solo (with the above AC cord combo) on disc 2 was really a singular experience in my life with the Maggie MMG's! I WAS FORCED TO SMILE WIDE AT HOW GOOD THIS DRUM SOLO SOUNDED. The start/stop factor was just amazingly good, combined with the dynamic and tonal detail of Neal Peart's drum kit. "I was there"..... |
Forgive me for being so long winded lately, but all I'm really doing is quoting my notes.................This will be my impressions of the BLACK MAMBA power cord on CD player, and TIFFANY T-60 power cord on power amp................................More tonal neutrality, but the midrange got kind of noisy, and could turn quite "hard" at times (it's never done that with the Tiffany cord before; a curiousity). The air between instruments was not as clear as the most recent combo (from directly above: Black Mamba-CD player/Sidewinder-power amp). However, bass extension was thankfully helped. It had more weight, but also gave up a large amount of pitch definition and upper bass "snap". I'm really missing that aspect of the Sidewinder, by far it's strongest performance feature (it's now on its way back to the Cable Company).....................The entire soundstage's depth became truncated (again when compared to the previous ac cord combo), but now at least the treble range was not being projected forward at all. Basically, there was a tad less resolution and some grain added, with less refinement, and less liquidity. The images of instruments were less distinctly defined in space, with less ambient/reverberant detail retrieval. Fine detail just didn't get resolved like the Sidewinder could do, but dynamic contrasts were better (except in the treble)........................Tonal balance was EXTREMELY even, and the timbral color of midrange instruments seemed more faithful, but less detailed and liquid. The Tiffany didn't start and stop as quick, but revealed the dynamic envelop with a more even handed approach to the entire frequency range. The Tiffany, in this combo, was slightly less fatigueing after a long listening session. I attribte this to less "hyping" of the upper bass and treble ranges. |
Romies, I'm glad you heard improvements after your experiment! I've got a Synergistic Reference Coupler on the way to try next, and hope to also try the Shunyata Cobra, and an ESP Essence........I've never had so much fun evaluating cables before, and never realized that AC cords make as much difference as the cables actually carrying the signal, but they sure do! Maybe a good analogy could be a car's engine, where the AC cord would be like the fuel line/fuel injection for the engine...since it would have total effect on the engine's performance. The interconnect and speaker cables would be the drivetrain, and the speakers would be the wheels/tires. |
So far, it's a keeper, yes. I bought it, and have had it six months. |
Treble was very extended, and detail retrieval was very good. Low level details from the presence region, and upward, were quite amazing. However, some of the "analog ease" quality that the reverse cord combo had, was missing. The upper mids could be very slightly "hard" on rare occasions. Another strange tonality was that occasionally, the "chest range" of both male and female vocalists could turn overripe. But the biggest problem was the lack of ryhthmic drive and pace, especially when compared to any combo that included the Shunyata Sidewinder cord (although it kind of exagerrated pace). And compared to most of the other cord combos, the images of instruments did lack solidity. The treble could almost be "wispy", but was very liquid. Stage depth was good (but ultimately U-shaped), and fatigue factor was very low. Layering of depth, especially in the treble, was intoxicating (the U-shape notwithstanding). My attention kept being drawn to instruments whose range occupied it, and away from the instruments in the rest of the range. Stage width was slightly beyond "average". The air between/around instruments was very clear, and the background was kind of medium black. Attack transients were only slightly hyped, and midrange timbre was almost too transparent; or at least not "juicy" enough, lacking warmth and tonal color...but wasn't really cold either. Bass was very extended with good weight, but lacked focus; had a good "round" quality, though. And yet somehow, I COULD CRANK THE VOLUME TO ELEVEN, and wasn't overly bothered by the problem with the lack of pace. It was there in abundance, but it didn't scream at me...kind of a sin of omission. Tonally, overall the presentation was strangely reminiscent of my Sennheiser HD-600 headphones (except for the bottom octave, of course).................About the U-shaped soundstage: I noticed it the most on the RCA UV-22 remastered Rimsky-Korsakov "Scherazade" gold CD, Fritz Reiner conductor. I realize the Chicago concert hall was wide and shallow, but somehow the Proteus/Black Mamba combo missed what little depth there was in the back corners. I freely admit that the ac cords don't deserve 100% of the blame here, but....while listening to this CD, I was nowhere close to believing I was back in that 1960 concert hall, especially during "The Young Prince and Princess"........My quest continues. |
It had the neutrality I was expecting ahead of time, and the loss of resolution (mostly in the treble range) was also what I was expecting. The "analog ease" factor was noticeably diminished, but overall, I THINK I PREFER THIS COMBO MORE THAN ANY OF THE REST OF 'EM. The soundstage was very deep, with instruments way in the back in natural focus. The background was just shy of absolute black. The treble was slower and less liquid (than the previous Proteus/Black Mamba combo). But, and here's where it really makes me want to keep this combo, IT'S MUCH FASTER THRU ALL OF THE REST OF THE RANGE, and images are more naturally solid. The 3-d soundspace did have a "continuousness" that was very intoxicating, even though the air between and around instruments wasn't maximally clear........................To compare the Z-Cord 2, to the Shunyata Sidewinder (when either is used on the CD player): The Sidewinder was noticeably more liquid and detailed, but that detail was HYPER delineated. The Z-Cord is COMPLETELY tonally neutral, where the Sidewinder had an upper bass hump, along with the upper mids and treble being shelved up. To me, the MIT seems to have 95% of the Sidewinder's upper bass speed/snap/focus, and 100% of its upper bass punch (and without the "hump" and the forward treble). Also, the MIT had 98% of the Sidewinder's soundstage depth, and about 90% of its width. I may have found a winner combo with the Black Mamba on the amp, and the MIT Z-Cord 2 on the CD player, but I have a couple more AC cords I need to try, before i make the final decision on what to buy.......................................................I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE ENJOYED MY LONG WINDED REVIEW OF THESE AC CORDS, and wish you all the best when it comes time for you to decide on your next AC cord upgrade.....Carl |
OK, let me try yours, then. Be much easier than waiting on the list. |
I'll try to e-mail you, hope you're a member. |
Don't know anything about them, but hope to try a PS Audio 300 soon. |
