Cable Sutra - Whisper Power Cord, Common Ground Cables

I’ve found it’s the “magicness” that hits you first when you return from a week off. Great tweak that reminds you why this is fun.

The tuning ring on the QPoint DC cable was an absolute revelation. Surprisingly new levels of 3D sensation unlocked. I can’t wait to listen today!

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I would think even if on wall power and WiFI the tuning ring could still help. Interesting test case.

I am continually surprised by the 3M absorber and how it can transform sound when present on power cords both AC and DC.

I watched home theater last night and was halfway through a movie before realizing i had not triggered the surround amplifier and i was getting 3D sound in two channel. The DC tuning ring on router and switch was also feeding Ethernet to my apple TV. It is definitely a keeper.

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I’m getting a little excited. Duncan gave me the tracking number today for an Elite with the Furutech FI-50 (R) NCF connectors. Should be fun experimenting with that sucker after I run it on my center-channel amp for, well, another 100+ hours.

For anyone using one of these, do you think it would be more significant powering my pre-amp, streamer or DAC for the first real listening session?

I’m currently using a Shunyata Sigma NR v2 on the pre and Alpha NR v2 on both the DAC and streamer.

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When I tried the base model surprisingly it made the most impact on my streamer and CD transport, with DAC next.

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Hi,
For instance I only have one Elite with Furutech NCF connectors.
I plugged it into my P20 where it works great.
I ordered a second one that needs to be plugged into my player.
According to Duncan, the best results are on the current regenerator then on the digital elements and finally the amplifiers.

If. You have a power distributor or regenerator I would try that location first. Next would be router or switch, streamer, then DAC.

I got back the refreshed base whisper from Duncan today with the ground return burn in and R/F EMI outer jacket. I plan to introduce that into my system comparison to base whisper and elite and also to the power cord on the HDPLEX300 powering most of my streaming boxes.

But I had to rebaseline my system after installing the 3M absorber tuning ring on a Ghent Gotham DC cable per s suggestion Duncan had made. It was a pretty shocking 3D improvement

I finally plugged in the base whisper that @Duncan_Taylor so kindly updated to the latest shielding and his ground burn in process. First off I compared to a Base Whisper without Duncan’s magic recipe. But both base whisper cables had a 3M AB7050HF tuning ring in an equivalent position. The cable swap was just to one of my MC1000 mono amps right channel.

I swear it can’t be the same cable i shipped to you and had played with previously. The improvement on just one channel in stereo is outstanding. Clearer, cleaner tonality balanced with more inner details. Taller and wider soundstage. This is a totally cold cable that I had just plugged in. The instruments that come out in stereo i can clearly tell Duncan’s magic has lowered the noise floor and now hear congestion in the left channel.

Now I am completely spoiled and will have to ship him the other two base Whisper cables for-the latest anointment. I will play with some more swaps.first and head to head with the Whisper Elite. But i truly can’t un-hear this improvement in transparency and 3D holographic openness to just the right channel! I want it all now.

Why did I wait so long? Its like listening with one ear tied behind your back without a balance in clarity. But this swap on one mono amp really tells the real story on how good the Whisper improvements are on his base cable.

Thanks Duncan!!

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That is great news! Duncan’s “new” Whisper with lower noise floor should be a killer cord. That was the only issue I heard from the previous version.

One cable on one channel made a difference means it must be a major improvement for you to hear. You need to upgrade the others for sure. Don’t you also have Whisper Elite? Do they sound close to each other now?

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Yes I will compare to the elite after I swap it into the left mono amp and previous whisper back to right. I will have to transition back to hearing the stereo with the whispers without the treatment RF shield and ground nd burn in. The Elite i have has more silver wire and the RF and ground burn in. This is first time I have tried different power cables to the monoblocks at the same time. It turns out to be a good way to tell how the power cable changes sound if your system is balanced beforehand.

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Enjoy your adventure :blush:

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The improvement’s definitely follow the cable to the left monoblock. The congestion is back to the right channel and left is more open. Dang I definitely need this improvement on both monoblocks. And all three of these base whispers with the update. The soundstage improvement is crazy good either channel.

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@Vmax I’m thrilled to hear that it made such a big impact! In one of our podcast episodes we chatted about Darren’s reaction to hearing just the sleeving change. Both are doing big things in the RF sphere. The high wattage / high freq blasting of the ground directionally gives the cable way more HF and RF than it will see in use. Some think it’s affecting the relationship between that conductor and its dielectric, and some believe it to be “forming the capacitor” of the ground element.

The sleeving is a passive shield element, but interestingly I’ve recently discovered how to make it active. Furutech’s NCF plugs connect the connector shell and the shell hardware to the earth ground. When my semi conductive sleeving (thanks to suspended carbon particles) is placed over the ends of the shells it forms another path for RF to actually flow. High impedance at the IEC side and low impedance at the male earth plug means current flows in some form. This also could explain why the tuning rings have a smaller effect when NCF connex are used. I’m now experimenting with a bypass wire to connect the sleeving to the grounds with the standard plugs.

Send the other cables when you can!

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That likely explain the reasons there is even greater disparity in better performance using NCF connectors with the elite as you and the customers that opted for them. I will experiment with the copper foil tape wrap that has conductive adhesive shunting to the ground prong on the male end. And a Cu wrap at the female connector but letting it float on that end but no connection to ground. This provides the additional RF drain I found helpful on my other lesser cables. The internal conductor on NCF connectors is probably still superior performance but this might close more of the performance gap between base and elite cables built with the standard connectors. If I recall from your podcast or our emails you spent some time testing different standard connectors and had found this the best performance until you tried the Furutech NCF which offer premium performance at a very premium price.

I might try a 2" ring on my Dragon Source again. I remember I liked it on some music better than 1.75", but I ended up settling with it. That was a couple of weeks ago and the Dragon has not been completely broken in yet. I could end up like 2" better now.

I have been running the 2 inch wide tuning ring at 4 inches back of IEC of Dragon HC after moving my P20 forward on the rack. I am really enjoying tonight. I will switch ch in the 1.75 tomorrow The bass is really hitting solidly. Mids and highs and soundstage is great too it seems less muddled than 3.5 back. Ambiance of recording space is way better than previous. I like HT sound better hat 4 inches too.

Wrap is 1.5 turns.

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Your Dragon HC recipe for the regenerator is a winner! 1.75 inches wide and 4 inches back from IEC at one and a half turns. Resting on sorbothane. The 2 inches wide was too thin and Dragon no tuning ring was very thick muddied and muffled in comparison.

Thanks again for taking this tweak adventure with me!!

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I vaguely remember I like 1.75” better than 2”, and I even had a 2.5” at one time on Dragon HC. Ultimately I settled with 1.75”. It is good to hear your confirmation! Thanks again for inventing this tweak.

I’m not sure if it was invention I think it may of been borrowed from Stealth Audio.

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Creativity is the better word to use, I think :slightly_smiling_face: