AudioQuest NRG-X3 Review (AC Power Cord)

[AM88]

Because plenty of people who buy them don't!

Test them all I say!! The more the merrier. Some people will still not get it and think that this cable was just too low on the ladder to show any real difference. If every cable that gets tested shows the same result and loads of cables, especially $1000 ones get tested, maybe, just maybe it’ll convince them.

 

[Countach]

"made me a happy guy." - oh yeah! I would be so happy with my wallet lighter by 100 bucks.

 

[bidn]

From that Stereophile "review" quoted by Amir:

...managed to more fully convey the artists' intentions,

Can they know what was in the artists' minds during their recording sessions?
Of course not. That quote alone is enough to see that that Stereophile talk, as usual in the reviewing business, is mere B.S.

Such fake reviewers are so creative and feel so inspired in inventing marketing, praising lies that they don't even realize that what they say cannot be true (unless they're all-knowing gods...)

Thank you Amir for exposing the snake oil and the reviewing lies. All these fake, "creative" reviewers must hate you. I hope that their businesses will go bankrupt and that they will do real, ethical job instead...

 

[mcdn]

So, about a year ago, I decided to check out a new local audio store, where they sell Paradigm speakers, since I never heard them
[...]
Then, he recommended that I spend $1000 on speakers and the other $1000 budget to buy their premium "brand" power cable, because that's where the difference is heard.
[...]
I was just shocked and said "You just lost my respect and all opportunities for future business." and walked out.
...

Well that is literally the business model for these things. The margins are massive, so salespeople love to sell them. Audioquest or whoever invest the marketing money, send a cable with $10 manufacturing cost to the retailer on consignment, and when the retailer sells it for $1000 they pass back $500 (or whatever) to the manufacturer.

Always remember, the manufacturer sells to retailers and distributors, not to customers.

 

[restorer-john]

I remember in the early 90's customers asking if the cables make a difference and I told them they are good for a better connection. It was a grind selling them cables and for the extra money spent on cables I just told them to buy better speakers with the package they where looking at. I sold a ton of Yamaha packages. I wasn't into tossing cables into the deal and so I advised customers to spend the extra on speakers. That eliminated the grind of selling cables and got me out of including no-charge cables. I never sold a cable to a walk in that was only looking for cables. I left that for the front counter staff. In the early 90's the fat'n bigger cables where just starting to come out, like Monster Cable. Before that if a customer wanted a cable they had a choice of the $2 one or the $3 one...lol. We ordered them in by the thousands to get a good deal on them and sold them for pocket change.

Yamaha always supplied RCAs with the gear we sold in Australia. The higher range products came with pretty decent OFC cables. I still use some of them on my bench for testing stuff, decades on.

 

[voodooless]

Should the claim of zero characteristic impedance not be checked? If it turns out to be false, that’s clearly fraud!

 

[Doodski]

Yamaha always supplied RCAs with the gear we sold in Australia. The higher range products came with pretty decent OFC cables. I still use some of them on my bench for testing, decades on.

All the gear had RCA's included then. I never saw thicker OFC RCA's in the expensive source components in Canada. Some of the Sanyo, Fisher and other lower end stuff that I sold had questionable RCA's but as you say the better gear had decent basic RCA's. I disassembled a couple of the cheaper ones out of curiosity and they where not soldered. If one tugged them a little too much they would go intermittent or outright open internally.

 

[martijn86]

What, has Will Smith been promoting them?

No but he has been smacking recently.

The least that Audioquest could've done is make this piece of hifi jewellery look good. I'd honestly have more respect for a company that doesn't claim sonic improvements but just builds a really durable and good looking cable. Something that doesn't look like a garden hose.

 

[martijn86]

Stereophile will bring in 100 or 1,000 "expert" witnesses to claim they can hear things that we can't measure.

I'm 100% certain that part of such a group honestly has a different experience if they're primed to expect a difference. Humans are terrible at recalling exact observations.
Furthermore, there is always the fear that admitting to nót hearing a difference will mean you're not part of the in-group. That's a strong incentive to fool yourself into hearing an improvement.

 

[Chrispy]

No but he has been smacking recently.

The least that Audioquest could've done is make this piece of hifi jewellery look good. I'd honestly have more respect for a company that doesn't claim sonic improvements but just builds a really durable and good looking cable. Something that doesn't look like a garden hose.

Smacking? Translation perhaps. I could care less about how a cable looks myself, and it isn't particularly hard to dress one up. Fraudioquest aesthetics I've not particularly thought much of in any case, or any of them....like I said it's not hard to dress one up if one wants to gaze upon it for some strange reason.

 

[FrantzM]

Speaking of Fraudioquest, anyone notice that Denon sells an "accessories" upcharge for avrs (in the $300-330 range IIRC) for an hdmi cable and reel of speaker wire from fraudioquest?

Indeed but Denon was among the first companies in Audio Video to advertise a "special" Ethernet Cable, the AK-DL1, it did cost $500 in 2008, yes! I am not sure they are proud of that fleecing expedition, as can be seen from Amazon if you search for this cable: "Discontinued by manufacturer" . Please read the reviews, they are hilarious. I know this is off-topics, but a sample, for a three-star review:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rift in the time-space continuum
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2013

The minute I plugged this cable in, I knew something was amiss. The first evidence? The small wormhole that appeared in our living room, right next to our holstein cowhide recliner. Peering into it I could discern the snarling face of a Ferengi, likely somewhere out in the Gamma quadrant.

Then things got really hairy. Brad shouted from the kitchen that he was detecting elevated tachyon levels from our Vita-Mix, so we immediately diverted power to our forward Romco Rotisserie array. Set it and forget it, indeed.

Still no go. The wormhole continued to grow. So I did what anyone in this rather awkward situation would. I recalibrated our George Foreman
I guess what I'm saying is that you can use this cable, but only if you have substantial Star Fleet training.
12,629 people found this helpful
Grill (about 10 picometers), ejected the warp core from our Dyson Ball Vac, and unplugged all the Magic Jacks in the house. Bingo. No more worm hole.

Sorry but I laughed so hard, I had to share it with the collective.

There are others similarly hilarious...

The hobby, I would even say the industry needed people o the caliber of Amir to step in and push back with facts against the BS, although fleecing, would be a more appropriate term. The margins are very high in the BS department. In AV sales, the salespersons are encouraged to sell these things. Their commission increases when they add accessories, where serious margins are for everyone involved... Think about it for a second. The margin on this $99.95 AC cable that cost them, probably, not more than $3.oo. Even if we factor 40% (or more) to the dealer... Audioquest much more than the other Snakeoil-ware manufacturers have found a way to the middle-round aka mid-fi, stores. They use their HEA, "credentials", as advertising for a line of not-too-expensive cables and accessories, a trickle-down line of products for the AV masses. They are common fare in most brick or mortar or online AV store, more so than any HEA BS peddlers... They seem to have replaced Monster Cable as the accessories Brand of choice, in this space.


Thanks to ASR, again


Peace

 

[Vict0r]

I don't judge anyone that buys fancy cables just to add that last sprinkle of audio jewelry to their pride and joy. It's like adding RGB to your computer, basically. I myself appreciate a nice looking cable, especially when it's custom made to match the rest of the setup, even when it doesn't change a thing about the quality of the output itself. This Audioquest doesn't even look attractive, though. Waste of money.

 

[antcollinet]

That is interesting and might be marginal useful for power amplifiers, towards full load.
CE marking means nothing, they can do that if they wanted, because it is a self-certification.
On the other hand, lack of UL listing (third party) might be worrisome.

The rest of the stuff is indeed irrelevant.

That .11ohm at 16A is going to create an additional voltage drop of a massive 1.76V. No it is not going to make any significant difference for a power amp.

 

[antcollinet]

Really, really low resistance. That's a very good thing, from an environmental perspective.

It would be interesting to calculate how long this thing would have to be in use to pay for itself in reduced line losses.

Should note I voted "waste of money." But if payback were, say, 5 years at typical usage I could see changing that vote.

I'll waste my time, so you don't have to


At typical 1W listening levels (Lets say an ab amp with 30W input), then current is around 0.25A, so extra power consumed by the 0.11ohm is 0.0275W.

Running for 5 years 24 hours a day = 5 * 365.25 * 24 = 43830 hours. * .0275 = 1.205 kWh (Just over 1 unit of electricity).

What do you pay over in USA for 1 unit? Around 20cent?. So the cable will save you 20C every 5 years. Payback in around 2500 years.

Good ROI

 

[whazzup]

Smacking? Translation perhaps.

Google 'Will Smith Chris Rock'....

 

[GambaKufu]

Not bad, but this is only contingent on them explaining how they get these cables into the EU without certs..

CE testing is presumably only done on the versions with EU/UK compatibility? No sense paying for certification of a US power cord.

 

[restorer-john]

So the cable will save you 20C every 5 years. Payback in around 2500 years.

The EU will mandate low-loss IEC cables soon enough. Go green or go home.

 

[LearningToSmile]

The most egregious part is that this cable can't even be considered audiophile jewelry or something because it actively looks worse than a regular plain black cable. I guess if you want one that looks nice you'd have to get an even more overpriced one.

 

[Kaiju]

You better watch what you say about AudioQuest, or Will Smith is gonna smack the shit out of you.

Didn't expected will smith jokes here.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Why do you do these test/reviews when we all know the outcome?

Because the f***wits at Stereophile and elsewhere keep on making absurd claims about power (and other) cables!