First, let me correct myself. Nordost Red Dawn, not Red Dragon. (What a mind...)

Unfortunately, they are back ordered at the dealer, so I'm still waiting.

Charlie

Thanks for the update, Charlie!

That’s the one I’m considering trying on my Oppo when I get back to TX in Sept.

Red Dawn appears to be a popular choice. I do like how the one below that performs on my AVR, the Blue Heaven. May switch the two between receiver and player just to test.

I’ll be very interested in your impressions when you try it on your DAC.

Another aside, I just upgraded the Modem/router combo here in NH. Hadn’t expected much except better download speeds, whichI got. Well, even sound quality streamed through SONOS to a Bose Wave got better, tighter, cleaner. Hmmm. Have to do more experimenting when I get back to TX on streaming SQ options. Router upgrades, better Ethernet IC’s, who knows..

Do we ever stop looking, thinking? I hope not.

Rick

OK! The Red Dawn cable arrived yesterday. Since I'm a chinzy guy I only ordered a 1 meter. That meant I had to move my stuff around yet again, but now everything's back up and working.

I'll report on what I hear.

Charlie

Look what showed up at the front door today, an Audience Forte F3 PC. An early Birthday present from my wife. Ain't she a Sweetie!! Hopefully Saturday ill give it a listen. Pray for me...

I will pray for you. Now we are at the power cord level; there is no end to this!

Charlie

OK, here's the report on my Nordost Red Dawn power cable. This was about $350 for a 1 meter. I have given it three days of listening, and it seems to have stabilized after day 2. Or maybe I did.

A quick history...I had noticed that my Aurelic Vega DAC was most sensitive to power interruptions, so I concluded from that that it might be more sensitive to upstream power problems and would benefit from a power cord upgrade. So the Red Dawn is going from my Furman 20 amp power conditioner to my DAC. The Furman has its own captive power cord that seems quite up to the task. The Furman goes into a 20 amp hospital grade outlet with a death grip.

I bought a 1 meter cable, which is shorter than the stock DAC cord, which is probably also good. I'm a strong believer that in the world of analog, the less cable the better.

My impressions, subject to the effects of Audiophile Self Delusion (ASD), a known psychological malady.

1. More bass power! This was a complete surprise. The Vega always had good bass (way better than my Oppo 105), but I guess it was still choking on the old power cord. Now, there is so much more down there that I may end up turning down my TRef sub amps a bit. This bass is not only more, it's very fast.

2. Imaging seems more precise. In my mind this means there is less temporal smearing, so the wavefronts must be more compact, making for clearer timing information. This is most noticeable on drum hits and woodblock strikes. And...they are right exactly THERE. This is the same kind of improvement I experienced with good quality interconnects and speaker cables. Only now even more so.

3. Orchestral strings are smoother and have better spatial definition. I think the smoothness means that the system is more linear, since nonlinearities create harmonics that create an artificially brighter sound. Also known as distortion.

4. Overall, the sound is cleaner and with less strain, and I find myself wanting to play the system louder than I had been. Another layer of harshness has been eliminated. Brass is sweet and clean, even at high levels. (Of course, I said that before when upgrading other cables, but it really is better again.)

5. There is a slightly better sense of low level spatial detail. This is not a big difference, but it is noticeable at times. Maybe I'm hearing it because I have turned the system up louder. Or maybe it's related to the imaging thing.


All in all, I'm pleasantly surprised. I really expected no difference. In fact, there's still a part of me that thinks I'm nuts and am imagining things. But I have listened every day and it really does seem real.

Now this means I'm going to have to get better power cables for my amps. Argh.

Charlie

P.S. Yes, the cable is red.