I've had the opportunity to spend the last 8 days with Triode Pete's latest TWL 7Plus power cords before passing it along to Rich. I have to say, Pete has another winner in this power cord.
(Note that I posted the following review over on AC as well in case you feel you're seeing double
First a little background... about a year ago I tried Pete's somewhat earlier incarnations of his power cords and ended up replacing my mix of different power cords with his 8awg, 10awg and 12awg cords. Never looked back! What I said then is still absolute true... they provide an extremely relaxed, balanced, and highly musical presentation.
In my experience, every power cord (or any wire for that matter) functions a bit as a "tone" control to some extent. Some excel on tight and fast bass, some on clarity and extension, some on dynamics and transient response, some with blacker blacks and a bigger soundstage. But truth be told, we all want something that excels at everything while doing no harm. No easy thing! And therein lies what I think is the strength of Pete's TWL cords. They seem to excel across the board - tight and fast bass, open and clear extension, big soundstage, toe-tapping PRAT... all adding up to a highly musical and engaging sound.
OK, a few specifics... when I got Pete's new cord, I have to say I was a bit concerned... it was in need of burn in and for the first couple days it was a bit harsh and edgy. But Pete cautioned of that right from the start, so I just let it play continuously as much as possible. Skip forward 5 days and everything was as it should be. Well, actually, better.
I won't dwell on all the things his cords have already been praised for, but I do want to comment on where this new one excels above and beyond. Most of my listening was using it to feed my PI Audio UberBUSS replacing an earlier TWL BUSS cord with the new 7+. Pete has changed his design a bit and is also now cryoing his cords. You'll need to probe Pete for the details on exactly what the 'Plus' means. What I heard after breakin was a sound clearly of the TWL family but with a tighter, more impactful bass and a bit of a blacker, silent background. When I put the BUSS cord back, it confirmed what I was hearing, but that's when I realized that the 7+ had also been giving me more of the music venue & ambience. I could hear further into the presentation with increased awareness of voice and instrument decay. Nice!
The biggest surprise occurred when I swapped an early 8awg TWL cord on my Oracle DAC/preamp for the new 7+ cord there. The same differences became even more apparent. I have never really understood why a power cord seems to have the most influence as the last leg of the power chain, but damned if it isn't true. Perhaps it's because the UberBUSS is doing so much cleanup anyway so what feeds it may not be quite as important as what feeds each component. That's my theory anyway (at least until I hear a better one).
Of course, in the end it is all about the music. There's an album that I just love... Sarah Jarosz's Follow Me Down. She's a singer/songwriter and bluegrass instrumentalist. This album is not only very well recorded but the music, in its genre, is just wonderful. This ain't your grandaddy's bluegrass! The details and decay of her mandolin playing or banjo picking coupled with the power of the drum kit and backing band is something to be heard. But what I find really interesting is her voice... if your system is learning toward harse, edgy and/or bright, you might cringe a bit with this album because her bluegrass vocalization and simbilance can seem hard, but when all is well, this album and her voice just gives me goosebumps. When I was initially breaking in the new 7+ cord, this album was hard to listen to. Last night... nothing but goosebumps!
There are a LOT of power cords on the market and I've had my time with a few (and still have a bunch hanging in the closest). I do believe that after-market power cords replacing cheap stock cords are going to get you a nice benefit regardless of how much you spend. On the other hand, I think the megabuck cords are just silly money for all but a few that have the system, ears and money to warrant the investment. For the rest of us, there is an over-abundance of mid-priced PCs, each of which brings something a bit different to the table. IMHO, if you're wanting to try new power cords in your system, you owe it to yourself to give these a try. Pete is great to work with and his 30 day eval gives you plenty of time to hear these in your own system. But I bet you won't give them back
