AudioQuest NRG-X3 Review (AC Power Cord)

[voodooless]

But...but... what about the six months of blind testing???
View attachment 198265

That has nothing to do with my dyslexia

 

[57gold]

It didn't happen to be 6 moons ago by any chance?


JSmith

Nope. Can't read the babble on that site. Listen to odd equipment and compare it to other odd equipment and do it whilst meandering through a sea of verbal confusion. Someone said, the editor of the site thinks he is providing audio reviews for folks who like to read. To me its reviews leave me frustrated, as in why did I read a very long article about equipment that isn't available to listen to anywhere near me and have it compared to stuff that is equally unavailable in a way that seems pretty inconclusive. YMMV.

Why have I read this stuff at all? Well, back in 2004 a guy named Chip Stern wrote a review of an amp I had just acquired and still use, a McCormack DNA-500, for 6 Moons. It was well written, included information on unique design of the amp informed by a discussion with the designer, compared it with stuff I had heard with music that I listen to and he described what I liked about the amp. It did a much better job driving my Aerial 10Ts than the humongous and more expensive tube monos I had been using (4 pairs of KT88s providing 200+ watts per amp). Chip understood music. Believe he is a Jazz Times and Stereophile writer these days.

 

[Spkrdctr]

I have a personal conflict there. I know the founder of Shunyata. Been to their local factory and they were super nice and kind to me. They also do fair bit of objective analysis and own an Audio Precision analyzer like mine.

Of course if someone sends me their products then I will fairly review it. But I prefer to not go and buy their products to test.

In other words, you partied with the devil himself!

I do have to say in my experience all snake oil peddlers are very nice. They want you to buy or recommend their stuff. So, they are generally nice until you call them out. Then they will lie their heads off.

 

[egellings]

Bah, humbug. This power cord silliness is stupid (thoopid!). Once safety and ampacity requirements for a power cord are met, it's a done deal. Move on to more important matters and stop wasting valuable test time on that.

 

[Spkrdctr]

Bah, humbug. This power cord silliness is stupid (thoopid!). Once safety and ampacity requirements for a power cord are met, it's a done deal. Move on to more important matters and stop wasting valuable test time on that.

But, but, Shunyata says it matters so much you should pay thousands of dollars for fancy Belden wire! Plus, we found out that they say this and own the famous AP555. They have no excuse for the extreme snake oil they sell audiophools. They even sweet talked Amir and gave him a look see at their impressive snake oil manufacturing center. Luckily Amir overcame the baffling BS and continued his mission. Shunyata though needs to be run out of the audio business!

 

[egellings]

Maybe Shunyata could get into homeopathic product sales as a sideline. Both types of products operate under a similar mechanism.

 

[Spkrdctr]

Maybe Shunyata could get into homeopathic product sales as a sideline. Both types of products operate under a similar mechanism.

Gee, they just might. Snake oil is so productive in earning cash that I think they just might do it. Or, for us older guys, bring back the 70's and 80's "Pet Rock"!

 

[57gold]

Maybe Shunyata could get into homeopathic product sales as a sideline. Both types of products operate under a similar mechanism.

LOL! Last evening, whilst watching CNN and being tortured by the multiple recycling of drug adds, mentioned my visit on Monday to Costco to my wife, she had asked that I look for white Dial soap. Struck out on the soap but decided to take a look at the aisles in the health product section and there were hundreds of products with stuff like turmeric, garlic, fish oils, green tea and other stuff that I had never heard of that was guaranteed to clear your skin, bring you hair back (could use some of that action), treat your gut, expand your memory, stop the ravages of time and space on humans...it was incredible in terms of retail floor space dedicated to this stuff.

Hey, I like turmeric in my curry, garlic in shrimp scampi, salmon rich in fats on the grill, green tea with my sushi...but who is buying all these pills?

Did find a deal on shaving cream, 3 cans for the price of one at Walgreens. Also a great Barolo labeled Kirkland (hardly Piemontese name), with a check on my iPhone of the required producer number on back label, saw that it was made at the Fontanafredda winery we had visited outside Alba, formerly owned by the last king of Italy and now by the guy who owns Eataly and helped start the slow food movement. Fantastic wine for $20, not cheap as Costco wines go but most decent Barolos are @$45-50 and up.

 

[BlackTalon]

Hey, I like turmeric in my curry, garlic in shrimp scampi, salmon rich in fats on the grill, green tea with my sushi...but who is buying all these pills?

My 79-year-old mother. My wife.

I'm okay with it except when they try to foist that stuff on my son.

 

[57gold]

BlackTalon - Dig the "health food" in your signature photo (whatever those dealios are called).

We are digging Hatch Chiles from NM and I get crap from my wife on the number of hot sauces I have cluttering the fridge. Also attempting to grow Pimientos de Padron, the ones served in Spain, that are way better than the now ubiquitous Shishitos, seared in olive oil and then some sea salt they are fantastic health food!

 

[theREALdotnet]

Bah, humbug. This power cord silliness is stupid (thoopid!). Once safety and ampacity requirements for a power cord are met, it's a done deal. Move on to more important matters and stop wasting valuable test time on that.

Credit where credit is due. Shunyata dared to tread where no other cable manufacturer went. Moving right past PTFE, PE foam, cotton or wax as insulators, they wrap their conductors in $100 notes. This carries the Ben Franklin seal of approval, but it does come at a cost, naturally.

 

[JSmith]

they wrap their conductors in $100 notes.

I believe polymer notes have a better sound than paper notes too... something we should look into.


JSmith

 

[theREALdotnet]

I believe polymer notes have a better sound than paper notes too... something we should look into.

Ok, what do we do, send Amir a bundle each of plastic and paper notes, for testing?

 

[JSmith]

Ok, what do we do, send Amir a bundle each of plastic and paper notes, for testing?

Sounds good... 10 x $100 each?


JSmith

 

[Spkrdctr]

Amir says YES! Send him 10 US $100 notes and 10 $100 equivalent notes in a foreign plastic note. He will test speaker wire with the different notes wrapped around the wire. At the end of the test he will keep the notes for future research. He will need about 5 people to send this amount in so he has more than one sample for his tests. So, send your money in to Amir!

 

[egellings]

The power cord problem has been solved an eon ago. If expensive test equipment made by the likes of Tektronix, Keysight and the like use generic, good quality cords on their very sensitive test equipment, what makes audio equipment so special that exotic cords are needed for it to perform its best? Would one of those cords make my snazzy Rhode & Schwartz 10-bit scope work better? If it did, I'm sure R & S would have included one with the scope, an RTM-3004 model.

 

[57gold]

E - Not sure what that snazzy scope does, but the Shunyata folks claim to have "bamboozled" heart surgeons into using their power cables on their snazzy medical equipment. From their site:

With a science-based approach to peak-current transfer and noise reduction, our power cords have found broad applications: from the system used to remaster Dark Side of the Moon at Astoria Studios to systems used in performing delicate heart surgery at hospitals around the USA.​

So, perhaps there is a role for their cables with your snazzy scope?

 

[egellings]

The scope (sorry about the snobby 'snazzy") displays electrical waveforms over time. Voltage is on the vertical axis, and time, generated by an internal clock, is on the horizontal axis. As I may have said before, if such an AC power cable improved the scope's performance, R & S would have either supplied one with the scope or offered it an additional upgrade accessory I could purchase. R & S is a worldwide-renowned leader in test & measurement equipment, and they know what they are doing, as exemplified by their competent highly acclaimed user-friendly scope. Audio goes up to 20kHz, and this scope goes up to 1GHz. In spite of the larger bandwidth demand, R & S is content to supply a well-made generic power cord. If it's good enough for my scopeski, it's good enough for my home brewed tube (preamp & mono block power amps) stereo setup. If a high-end cord really made a difference I could hear, I'd definitely get one. I tried a nice Shunyata one and could not tell the difference. If my equipment is too crummy to tell the difference, then the whole topic is moot anyway. By the way, I am not affiliated with R & S beyond being their customer.

 

[Spkrdctr]

E - Not sure what that snazzy scope does, but the Shunyata folks claim to have "bamboozled" heart surgeons into using their power cables on their snazzy medical equipment. From their site:

Well, that was easy. If you know anything about the medical field, they have boat loads of cash. Also, they are not electrical engineers, and would buy the snake oil pitch if it just sounds good and sciency.

 

[BlackTalon]

My medical insurance does not cover visits to offices that use any cables more expensive than AudioQuest.