Shunyata Research alpha hc vs Shunyata Research original black mamba

Hi @ghosthouse

You may be correct on this. My power distributor is also Shunyata (Everest), so for me XC makes sense. The reasoning is that whatever benefit the NR technology provides (noise reduction), is already in the Shunyata power distributors, whereas such tech may or may not exist with other brands’ power conditioning.

By the way, I used to own the Isotek Aquarius. It was great for the money. Everest is better for me, but of course, much more expensive

@thyname 

Hello to you.  Yes...your explanation is exactly the rationale I was given for choosing XC vs NR.  

I am a Shunyata fan boy.  I have a full loom of Shunyata Sigma v1 cables, upgraded over time from the Alpha NR v1.  Power cables do make a difference, but it is rarely anything more than an incremental difference.  But  the biggest bump in my system was upgrading the speaker cables, not the power cables. For example, the difference between the Alpha NR v1 and the Sigmas was especially significant on the speaker cables . . . maybe 10% improvement(?).  The least noticeable was on the power amp.  But I also have an Everest.  Now that was a component level upgrade in my system.  Very impressive, to my surprise.  So the difference between older Shunyata’s and newer ones of the same level is probably pretty incremental -- you will likely hear a difference, but not a "wow" type difference.  Of course, discerning differences in power cords also requires a reasonably revealing system, so cabling expenditures should be relative to your component expenditures.

Have had all the models in your post. But you said Alpha HC in the title and then Venom HC in the body of the post. Which one are you inquiring about?