PS Audio AC-12 power chord with NAP200DR

Posted by: catalinmetal on 07 December 2015

hello.

those last days, among other things to solve, i got my hands over a serious looking and designed power cable, namely the highest ranking in their (rather) new PerfectWave series AC series power chords. i got the 2m version, which actually looks and feels very, very massive and well build, i mean it actually gives you confidence that someone actually has thought that a high-end cable, especially when costs some 4 figure buks, should also look the price tag suggests...

while i will not make the appologies or praises for the power cables in particular, as i will not do neither for signal cables for that matter, my usual belief being that almost every single time, if patient enough, one can find the cable that fits at least at the same level, if not better, for a fraction of the cost, i must say that this time, a few things caught my attention (well, besides the physical looks and feels, of course...)

first thing, rather a premiere to myself, was that i actually spotted a cable that sounds rather far from it's capabilities when brought cold to work, and by cold i mean maybe weeks or months of non-utilisation... it's like a new burn-in, and while i faced this form time to time with various hifi components, i never expected this (although i read about it -and smiled) from a cable, much les from a power cable...

 

the difference was so significant, that initially, at the first tracks played, i swapped back in my own Chord company powerchord, and preffered this one, although some aspects were better resolved by the PS audio AC-12, even from cold. i felt that AC-12 was somehow restrained the music flow, like something was literally struggling to get out from the system... i said "well, PS audio and Naim don't go together"... luckily enough, i had the curiosity of putting it back in the setup and hook it on the 200DR once again the next morning, and let it play, without being too focused on music or performance... and then, at a certain track, actually the first track from Metallica's "...Justice..." album, while i was doing something in the kitchen (we have open space with the livingroom where system lays), it really struck me how even more "dangerous" and kicking and pounding Mr Lars Ulrich drumming was! i actually stopped what i was doing, and said to myself, "damm', this dude really seems that has got some steroids, it seems it really hits his drums harder than before!"...

so i sat and started to listen carefully, and then i swapped one or two times back to Chord cable, and one DIY powerchord that i accidentally own, and it seemed that the AC-12 really does something to the 200DR, something actually useful! the most easily spottable effect was when, after two or three ours of playing with the AC-12, i swapped back the Chord, and it seemed that the music started to be more shy, less authoritative... and the shimmering of the cymbals (actually one of my favourite hifi treats) was actually a bit "dusty", sort of speak... the bass was a little less bodied, and a bit blurred, ok, all those were not night and day differences, but enough to be heard, nonetheless!

and gone was that restrained feel i heard when firstly installed the AC-12 into my 200DR...

does this cable worths his high price tag (i think it's around 1,5 keur in 2m shape)? well, i cannot say this right now, i'm just anxious to get home and get a listening session, and maybe a few swaps with the other 2 cables, and see the changes... the best answer will be replied after i will switch back to my own cable, when i will be using the PS audio for several days in a row... if something will be missed then, it is worth considering as an option, and maybe start looking for cheaper alternatives (if any, who knows).

reading on the net, a reviewer sworn that he tested the AC-12 on it's led or plasma TV, and the improvement was also easily seen, and also an improvement was spottable when powering the computer he uses as a digital source for it's asynchronous USB DAC... who knows, back a few weeks ago, maybe i was a bit more skeptical about an expensive power chord... now there is something this time, that grabbed my attention... and i tested litterally tons of cables, either signal or power, in various setups over time... something makes me go with further testing with this one...

has any of you experienced PA Audio products on Naim gear?

 

 

Posted on: 07 December 2015 by Massimo Bertola

Sorry, I only have some experience of a huge pair of PSAudio speaker cables, apparently made with the same stuff of their mains cords, that I owned ten years ago and sold to my brother-in-law, who used it successfully with his Naim gear through many changes up to a few months ago, when he bought TelluriumQ.

I have always found the PSAudio - due probably to the huge amount of copper inside, that made it weigh a ton -  rich in bass, wide in soundstage and with a certain incoherence between the lower and the upper range.

Back then PSAudio seemed mainly concerned with mains related products; I believe that their mains cords were among their oldest designs.

Posted on: 08 December 2015 by catalinmetal

well, last evening was "fruity" sort of speak, since it confirmed me that all i heard a day before was right indeed. this cable brings the 200DR to another level, it's like changing the amp altogether... while neutral in tone, the AC-12 manages to get a lower noise floor and thus the fine details, at both ends of spectrum, are revealed easily. the bass instruments as well as cymbals have a more "visible" texture and seem a tad more upfront, but actually they are not more upfront, it's just that my older Chord cable was "drowning" some of those fine details into noise from the power network, and the PSAudio cable manages to filter this way better, thus rendering those finer details with ease.

also, at macro-level, the dynamics increased with the AC-12, and thus the music has more authority, compared to the older cable, which sounds a bit more "shy", so both levels of dynamics increases woth the AC-12, at micro and macro-level.

 

I know there are many, still, who don't understand how a power cable can have an impact on sound, and those people's general belief is that those last one or two meters of good quality cable cannot compensate over miles and miles of doubtful cables from the power distributor.

which is actually a wrong approach! we should really consider the power chord not as the last bit of power cable from distributor, but as the first bit in the product we use it with. a good power cable acts as a noise filter for the power network, which, without using a power conditioner/generator of some kind, is, always, with lots of noise from all other consumers, both in the same establishment as the system running, as also all other establishments that rely on the same phase...

the easiest approach to view this would be to describe the flowing of the current as a loop through the power chord, and inside the gear, but this is just not quite correct from electrical point of view, is merely a description, since we use AC to power our gear and not DC. Anyway, consistent documentation, some of it useful, is to be found on some power chords and hi-fi cables manufacturers' sites, like on Shunyata Research for example...

the "downside" of all this experiment is that i am forced now to invest a rather big amount of cash over a cable, a thing that - no matter how well i understant the role of it, and i feel it - is not a ease to my own criteria... i ussually search for a lesser priced alternative when such a cable comes up, but this time, i have the opinions of two dear friends very familiar with this AC-12 cable, and their opinion is that i will not find - this time - an alternative which will have exactly the same performance, not even the lowest products in PS Audio line, like AC-10, AC-5 or AC-3 (this last one being the cheapest).