I’m blaming it on @aangen.
Today I received the second Elite power cable with Furutech NCF connectors.
It is connected to my completely modified Oppo 203 player (power supply, clocks, isolation of the drive, modification of the dirt roads…) itself connected to HDMI on my TV.
Right from the start, I was amazed because the image and the sound of the TV were improved as if its “parasites” were evacuated by the Elite cable. They must travel through the HDMI cable.
On the Oppo player, the Elite cable has a less significant impact than on the P20 but very real. The music is quieter which improves the quality of the timbres and the dynamics.
As promised, I made a comparison with the Audience Frontrow cable, they are very close. The Frontrow is more focused, on the other hand, it has a narrower soundstage than the Elite.
I’m still waiting a few days for a final opinion on adding a second Elite cable. It is nevertheless positive enough to have ordered a third.
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Fred, I’d love to hear more about the comparison to the Front Row, especially with regards to frequency balance, naturalness, and articulation.
On my system, the Elite is a little more fluid, in terms of tonal balance they are equivalent.
The owner of the Fontrow cable had questioned Audience who had told him that an update with Furutech NCF connectors was possible.
Perhaps with these connectors there would be a gain in the fluidity and width of the soundstage.
Connecting the second Elite will require changing the size of the 3M sheet placed on the P20. This must be correlated with the drain function of “pollution”.
Despite Duncan’s special “cooking”, the cable and especially the Furutech NCF connectors take time to install… I’m still waiting a bit to give a more detailed account of the cumulative effect of the Elite cables.
Please share what you learn. Is it removal or adding of more?
Hi Vmax, From what I’m hearing and according to my tastes, it seems to me that it needs a smaller 3M sheet. But I’m waiting for my system to stabilize to do further testing.
Sometimes smaller width means sharper and thinner sound with more spatial cues. Especially in cable tuning rings. 1.75 compared to 2”.
The transformer placement on P20 is funny in that in too little can be too much dependent on how placed relative to center bolt. I
It all depends on room acoustics and your bass preference and the source music using to tune it. It can get frustrating you get one song perfect and everything falls apart on a different recording or genre where you end up questioning where the bass went or second guessing after hearing it a bit. If all you use is audiophile standard recordings it seems easy. Getting it decent, and consistent with a mix of music is a journey sometimes
One appreciates what manufacturers of speaker or electronics go through in voicing there products and why there’s no single answer to fit everyone.
The second Elite cable has finished burning. It confirms its qualities of silence, dynamic and natural.
The effect is less obvious on the P20 but it is nonetheless tangible.
I tested the rollback with its original cable (Furutech DPS 4.1) and there you can hear it. I’m waiting for news from Duncan for the shipment of the third Elite…
Finally, regarding the 3M sheet on the P20, I think I’m going to shorten it by a centimeter but I’m waiting for the third cable.
What are your plans for a third Whisper Elite!relative to equipment to place it on?
I will test the Elites cables on mono amplifiers. I will, therefore, remove the one that is plugged into the modified Oppo player and test.
If I get a good result on the amplifiers I will order a fourth Elite cable and if the result is not up to my expectations, I will put the number 2 cable back on the Oppo player and the number 3 will be connected between the wall and the DC Blocker that powers the P20. At this place I am sure that the third Elite will work well.
I look forward to hearing from Duncan to give me the delivery date
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I am sure the elite will do well on the mono amps. I am delighted how well the base cable with the new burn in and EMI sleeve works and trial comparing to the base without on mono amp just one channel really let’s one hear what improvements added.
Yesterday I took the time to rerun my Room Perfect DSP having not optimized it with the Whispers and the 3M tuning rings and added sorbothane isolators on the Dragon and Whisper Digital power cords. That was truly an eye opening experience in base solidity, mid bass vocals and percussion acuity. The DSP returned a lot of energy in those frequencies and listening to everything is such an alive and in the recording space experience with astounding images and clarity with jolting but defined bass, with vocal consonant annunciation voice nuances crystal clear. I ended up riveted and amazed with what was being hidden and now revealed in the old analog recordings.
It is like all noise hidden in the recording, electronics and cables had been removed in a clean sweep and noise floor lowering. I kept thinking oh this must be just tilted mid bass and high energy upper frequencies, except there would be a jolting defined bass note. Plus no harshness ni mid bass or high frequencies. So here I am at another watershed plateau wondering is this as good as it gets and is there anything left to improve? I know if I change anything it will be different but will it add or takeaway. So any moves away from here sonically will need to be slow and controlled.
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Hi,
I just received the 3rd Elite cables with Furutech NCF connectors.
Still as well built, I placed it between the wall and the DC Blocker which supplies my P20 with another Elite cable. It replaces a Cardas beyond power XL. In this place and plugged directly after a week of transport, the Elite cable surpasses the Cardas which itself surpassed a Furutech DPS 4.1 with Furutech NCF connectors.
The sound is cleaner, better defined with an increase in dynamics.
I wait several days to determine what its final place will be : between the wall and the DC Blocker or between the P20 and the amplifier.
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I want to add my thoughts to this thread, and apologize to Duncan for taking so long.
Several months ago, Duncan sent me one of his Whisper power cables. I’m not exactly certain which variation it is - it has the upgraded sleeve which I think he had just started to add to his design.
My system at the time was comprised of a Parasound JC2 BP preamp, JC5 amp, JC3 Jr. phono, Focal Sopra 2’s, V2 versions of Shunyata power products - Alpha V2 power cords for Amp/Pre/DAC, Delta V2 to the phono and Blu-ray, a Denali 6000 V2 and Sigma V2 C19 to the distributor. Digital served up by a Mola Mola Tambaqui.
Initially, I swapped the Whisper onto my DAC. Immediate impression was a pulling forward of the soundstage - everything was more “in the room”. Electric bass guitars had a different presence - more “locked in” if you will - bass wasn’t as deep but mid-bass was improved.
Was it better (on the DAC) than the Alpha V2? Not necessarily. Just different. The Alpha was more lean-in, with a less forward upper midrange. Bass seemed more extended but not as punchy as the Whisper. Overall, I preferred the Shunyata because I found the overall balance and less forward presentation to work better at lower volume levels, at least with the DAC. Interesting…
The Mola Mola seems especially sensitive to power cables, or perhaps it’s simply so resolving that it’s easy to identify differences, not sure. I’ve been experimenting with Cardas Clear Reflection in this slot recently. It’s clearly different than the Alpha - tonally rich, not as “lean-in” as the Shunyata, very “fast” in terms of transients. Bass is extended like the Shunyata, perhaps not as “quiet/black background”. Overall, a really nice pairing actually given how resolving the Tambaqui is.
I may have to revisit the Whisper on the DAC since most of my system has changed since the original comparison was made. The amp and DAC are the only main components I haven’t replaced in the last 6 months.
After experimenting on the DAC, I tried the Whisper on the JC2 Preamp - better, very good in fact. More balanced sounding. The Whisper added some tonal color without sacrificing what I liked about the Shunyata - space in between the instruments/“black background”. This is where the Whisper stayed until I started swapping components - you probably know the drill, especially if you have access to friends with gear they will loan or dealers with liberal loaner policies.
I had an opportunity to trade my Sopra 2’s for a display pair of Scala Utopia Evo’s, with the net price being under 50% of retail. The Scala’s are a bit more efficient than the Sopras. Without boring you with the details, I realized I needed a preamp with a better volume control at lower volumes.
I sold the JC2 and used a Naim XS integrated as a preamp temporarily - the Whisper was fabulous in that slot, both as a preamp and when powering the Scala’s directly.
I got my hands on a demo model LS28SE - very happy with that purchase.
Last weekend, I sold/traded some components and picked up a Modwright PH 9.0 tube phono stage (awesome btw). The Whisper is current powering the Modwright. Subjectively, I think the tonal strength of the Whisper, fast transient speed, great low-end and low noise really brings out the strengths of the Modwright PH 9.0 with no apparent downside.
I did try the Whisper into my JC5 briefly - I preferred the Alpha V2 but felt the Whisper was good in this slot and given the price difference, there’s an argument to be made for the Whisper being a better value especially after Shunyata’s recent price increases.
Without question, I’d buy Duncan’s cable over the Delta NR V2 - I don’t feel like the Delta V2 is competitive with the Whisper based at Shunyata’s current asking price ($1500 for 1.75m), at least in any application I have tried.
I can easily recommend Duncan’s power cable - it’s worth auditioning and I suspect many people will find it to be an excellent match. The Whisper will not, in my experience, trend your system toward being lean sounding, but it also won’t mask detail the way that some budget cables seem to. It’s neither “bloated”, “veiled” or “thin” sounding in my experience. I think the only risk could be in a system which is already too forward sounding - fix that issue first, or try one of his cables and cycle it through the gear to see if it puts a lens on where the problem is coming from - that could work.
I think Duncan is on to something with his grounding/shield design. Well done.
One final comment - 95% of the time, the Whisper was connected directly to my Denali V2. I did not attempt to quantify performance directly to the wall vs. through the Shunyata distributor. I do have a dedicated 20A line feeding the Denali.
Better late than never right Duncan? Thanks so much.
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Chris, does this mean you prefer it over the Sigma V2? I’m a little confused as I didn’t see any mention of comparison to the Sigma.
No. The Sigma XC is the C19 umbilical for the Denali. I only used the Whisper to supply individual components, not to power the system as a whole. I meant that the Whisper was always connected to my distributor’s output, then to the component. I never tried it as the main supply line to the Denali (which uses a C19 connector), nor did I specifically experiment with it directly from the wall.
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Hi,
The Elite cable has been plugged in for 4 days.
It brings more silence than the Caras beyond XL.
The music is clearer, you hear morethings, the microdynamics are increasing.
It lacks a bit of openness, but from experience, I know that Furutech NCF connectors take a long time to break in.
Once they are broken in, I will have to test where it is the most effective DC Blocker, amplifiers, or preamplifier.
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Thanks for posting.
Would you mind clarifying the difference between clear and open, in the context of you comments?
Just trying to get a better understanding of your listening impressions…
Thanks in advance.
SEE
For me “clear” means more detailed and with better placement.
And “open” means a “wide” sound that fills the room. Sorry for my approximations of language but in France the study of foreign languages is not very efficient…
In the same way the images of the television which is connected to the P20 and Elite power cable are much more precise.
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Perfect. I get it.
Gives me an idea of what you are hearing…
Wouldn’t it be nice to have the perfect balance of performers and instruments in space AND a sense of scale all at the same time? (That’s the windmill many of us are jousting with).
It’s a good marker to set, but I try to focus on such things when tweaking my system or room with recordings of live music performances and when I otherwise have a really good sense of the specifics of the recording.
Since recordings are often (if not mostly) artificial in their capture of a musical event, I have learned that chasing “clarity” and “openness” at the same time can be a bit counterproductive.
So…of late, I am trying to focus more on clarity (the way you define it) and realistic portrayals of the tone of instruments and musical notes. I figure if the system rings as true as I can get it in this regard, great recordings will naturally sound really good in the rest of the ways that matter. The pluck or striking of a string and the thwack of drum can be amazingly realistic when all is right with the world.
Sorry for the long post – all this is to say – I think you are on to something good if you are getting better “clarity” out of the Whisper PC in your system.
Cheers.