I've never used the Stratus, but I do have a couple of Wireworld Electra 5.2 cables in my system. Neil Gader reviewed these along with a dozen others PCs in The Absolute Sound a few years ago and rated them among the best of the group. They are manufactured with a higher grade of copper than the Stratus. I use one of these on my CD player and it performs very nicely. If you shop around online, you may be able to find these used at a price not much higher than the Stratus. Overall, I would characterize these as very neutral cables. Perhaps not as pronounced in the bass, but very solid. Another cable that has worked well for me on digital gear is the Shunyata Venom 3-s (not the regular Venom, but the smaller 14 gauge model)and it is competitively priced at around $75 for a 1.5 meter length, I believe.
Power cords: does SS vs tubes drive a difference
I've not payed a lot of attention to power cords other than acknowledging they can help, the only one I had until a few weeks ago are the entry level PS Audio Jewel cables. After reading some reviews on how the Wireworld cables help filter noise,improve low volume reproduction I acquired their entry level product, the Stratus 7 and started doing my usual A/B swapping to see whether it made a difference and where it best fit in my system. What I observed was the following
1) the PS Audio Jewel cables were markedly better for high frequency articulation, dynamics and bass with tube preamp, tube integrated amplifier and tube headphone amplifier. The Stratus behaved like the problems I got from having a noise filter between wall socket and gear, snare drums were inarticulate and low bass muffled.
2) The Stratus used with the Oppo 103 or the Metrum Octave cleaned up "grunge" in massed voices providing clearer articulation in choral works like 'Carmina Burana'. I did not detect any differences in dynamics and bass between the two cables used with digital gear.
My end conclusion out of this was that tube amps are fairly wall noise insensitive but need minimal interference with current draw. Digital source gear on the other hand appears to care far less about current draw and far more about noise from the AC source.
Can't draw any conclusions about SS amplification since I don't have it.
Does this match your experience? I am going to pursue new power cables along the lines of the Stratus for CD Player and DAC, wondering if there are any other contenders out there whose design betters the Stratus 7 synergy for digital gear at an entry level price?
1) the PS Audio Jewel cables were markedly better for high frequency articulation, dynamics and bass with tube preamp, tube integrated amplifier and tube headphone amplifier. The Stratus behaved like the problems I got from having a noise filter between wall socket and gear, snare drums were inarticulate and low bass muffled.
2) The Stratus used with the Oppo 103 or the Metrum Octave cleaned up "grunge" in massed voices providing clearer articulation in choral works like 'Carmina Burana'. I did not detect any differences in dynamics and bass between the two cables used with digital gear.
My end conclusion out of this was that tube amps are fairly wall noise insensitive but need minimal interference with current draw. Digital source gear on the other hand appears to care far less about current draw and far more about noise from the AC source.
Can't draw any conclusions about SS amplification since I don't have it.
Does this match your experience? I am going to pursue new power cables along the lines of the Stratus for CD Player and DAC, wondering if there are any other contenders out there whose design betters the Stratus 7 synergy for digital gear at an entry level price?