WARNING - I DESCRIBE SIGHTED CABLE COMPARISONS IN THIS POST. You’ve been warned.
@kevemaher thanks for taking a look. Shunyata products are also used to support imaging devices in medicine. Here is a link to information from the company about that. https://shunyata.com/medical/. I realize video is a different animal from audio, but in either case, noise emitted from any source seems to be the enemy.
I have been experimenting with power related products (cables, distributors, conditioners, even fuses) for over 20 years now, including Shuyata’s, My first experience with Shunyata products was in 2006 when I tested their entry level power cable (Venom), about a hundred bucks, with a slightly upgraded cable (Diamondback), about $300, with a much upgraded and more expensive product (Anaconda) which was the diameter of a large king snake. I was testing the cables on a modest Cambridge Audio Azur 640V2 CD player, but playing it through what were at the time high level Moon electronics and Dynaudio Contour stand mount speakers with quality cables. The shop owner shut me in the listening room and generously let run through a number of familiar cuts from CDs with the different cables to see what I thought.
I started with the least expensive cable listening to about six different pieces of music, and then swapped out cables moving up in cost. Then reversed the process and went backwards down the price ladder. That was particularly informative. The difference between the Anaconda and Diamondback power cables as I recall was small, noticeable in things like background silence and soundstage, but not dramatic. The difference in performance going from the Diamondback to the Venom was a chasm. Everything was better with the more expensive cable, details, dynamics, bass, soundstage, everything. I also brought in a lower gauge printer cable I had fetched out of the recycle bin at work and had been using with the Cambridge CD player at home. I really could not discern a difference between that cable and the Shunyata Venom cable. As I noted, the CD player was modest, and perhaps there was just no more detail to retrieve with the highest level PC tested, dunno. I bought the Diamondback on sale and am still using it in a second system.
I had already upgraded interconnects in my modest system at the time, but that experience with power cables really cement for me that there is something going on with upgraded cables. I had a similar experience much more recently with digital coax cables in an unsighted ABX test with another experienced listener who readily picked the most expensive two cables out of the seven tested as their favorites.
My general experience continues to be that the differences between cables can be quite dramatic. I have used cables from many other brands over and have assembled over ten power cables myself with various parts from the US, Japan and China. Materials matter - especially introducing silver to the mix. I also realize my limitations and the results obtained by companies like Shunyata and Nordost are truly next level.
Oh, right, this thread is about cable break-in. Nordost says it’s a real thing, and that has been my experience too, some cables benefiting more than others - like my 21’ runs of speaker cable for example. YMMV
kn
