AudioQuest NRG-X3 Review (AC Power Cord)

[anmpr1]

You can moralise about it as much as you like, but there are customers that require products and if you don't sell them, someone else will, and you will lose other business besides. And it goes down the chain. It's been like this for millennia.

Once economics become separated from ethics, it's a clear sign of the beginnings of a general social decay. I don't know that it's been millennia, if by that you mean several thousands of years. My take is that once we got away from the guilds, and local production, where a more honest trade was the norm, things could be said to have deteriorated, ethically. But that's just my view.

I think you are right about how this stuff 'goes down the chain', and that if X doesn't do it, Y certainly will.

I would question your notion about customer 'requiring' certain products, to the exclusion of others. I think a more ethical dealer could sell a twenty dollar power cord, convince him that it will do exactly the same thing as the more expensive one, and then both dealer and customer would feel much better about the deal. The first knowing he took care of his customer in an honest manner, and the latter knowing he wasn't sold a bill of goods.

BTW, whenever I've bought electrical gear, I always got a power cord with the device. So one really has to go out of their way to consume these 'special' products. They really have to be 'convinced' of their benefit. No one, on their own, has ever woken up and said to themselves, "You know, my stereo doesn't sound as good as I think it could. I bet an expensive power cord would help it out!"

 

[HiFidFan]

Obviously you have a bad sample. Please return to Audioquest for repair. Thank you.

 

[Joseph Crowe]

@amirm, I like that you chose the word “dubious” in your review since it allows for the possibility that stereophile simply perceived a difference based on their own expectation bias. I’d like to hope the majority of cases are simply that. We all experience this strong effect in our own testing and it’s difficult to parse through what is real and what is perceived.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

It seems likely the entire audio industry is infected people who believe that these measurements are

At that resistance the voltage drop across the power cord would be tiny/miniscule. Not audible.

I need a blind test for verification please.

 

[JSmith]

I need a blind test for verification please.

2004;

Using the blind ABX protocol, we failed to hear any differences between an assortment of generic power cords and Nordost Valhalla. Therefore, we cannot conclude that different power cords produce a difference using the blind ABX protocol.

Welcome Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

Home Theater Systems and Audio Components | Audio Visual Equipment Product Reviews, Technical AV Guides, Home Theater Equipment and Product Reviews

hometheaterhifi.com

They were shocked... shocked I tells ya.


JSmith

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

Direction controlled AC?!

Harman sells headphones that correct for the shape of your ear.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

2004;

Welcome Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity

Home Theater Systems and Audio Components | Audio Visual Equipment Product Reviews, Technical AV Guides, Home Theater Equipment and Product Reviews

hometheaterhifi.com

They were shocked... shocked I tells ya.


JSmith

PSAudio could win the argument just that easily. One test, one link, win.

Show us the evidence, not the babble.

 

[Keith Conroy]

Because plenty of people who buy them don't!

Well, forum posters, just to let you know. I'm saving for my PS Audio P-12 power plant. Now, I will also be purchasing some Audioquest AC cords to plug my equipment into my P12. I'm a little sad the Audioquest AC cord only cost 99 bucks though. I would know the quality was better if it cost 1000.00 bucks....Anyway I'm so excited & looking forward to my purchase. After my purchase, I'm confident my music will just Bloom! I know all the music notes will become more intimate! There will be greater pace & timing! Boy I can't wait!! If by chance I can't hear a difference. While, based on Sterephile review comments, it will be MY EARS!! Darn, then I'm going to have to pay for an Ear Transplant......???????????? LOL........!!

 

[restorer-john]

I still use some of them on my bench for testing stuff, decades on.

Ok, they looked disgusting, so I cleaned them with CRC 2-26:

These are my standard loop-back/insert cables as they are short, have vrtually no appreciable capacitance and measure ruler flat, and I have several identical sets. Beats the BNC coax plugs/adaptor deal.

 

[Inner Space]

A while back I was hired to make a live recording on location. So far it has clocked nearly two billion streaming minutes, has made #1 in physical media, has been well reviewed, including in audiophile circles, and has won two awards. These were the mains cables I used:

I took the photos, anticipating a thread like this. What puzzles me is the illogic of needing fancy cables to get the magic out of the signal, when this is what was used to get the magic into the signal. Believe me, if I could get a better result using $1000 wires, I definitely would ... but I can't.

 

[Doodski]

Ok, they looked disgusting, so I cleaned them with CRC 2-26:

View attachment 195937

These are my standard loop-back/insert cables as they are short, have vrtually no appreciable capacitance and meaure ruler flat, and I have several identical sets.

They appear fine now. Nice Yamaha branding on them too. I've never seen those before.

 

[telemike]

But but but did the cable "burn in" for 300 hours?

 

[KxDx]

A while back I was hired to make a live recording on location. So far it has clocked nearly two billion streaming minutes, has made #1 in physical media, has been well reviewed, including in audiophile circles, and has won two awards. These were the mains cables I used:
View attachment 195938View attachment 195939
I took the photos, anticipating a thread like this. What puzzles me is the illogic of needing fancy cables to get the magic out of the signal, when this is what was used to get the magic into the signal. Believe me, if I could get a better result using $1000 wires, I definitely would ... but I can't.

See! This is the "veil" that gets put into music recordings that must be lifted with audiophile gear! It takes a $1000 power cord on my end to clean up the mess you made with that $5 power cord.

 

[restorer-john]

Nice Yamaha branding on them too. I've never seen those before.

You'd remember the time when they shipped SVHS/RCA and the IR control cables in the AV/AVR switchers. Around the time when it went from dolby surround/pro logic to Dolby digital. You'd get a bag full of cables and then, boom!, none. Bastards.

 

[Jake Cushing]

Let's put out an ASR hi-def audiophile wall powerpoint to replace standard powerpoints. The switches will be gold plated and feature Amir's face.

We'll make a motza and Stereophile will write "It made the music more engaging, authentic and four dimensional."

 

[DWI]

Once economics become separated from ethics, it's a clear sign of the beginnings of a general social decay. I don't know that it's been millennia, if by that you mean several thousands of years. My take is that once we got away from the guilds, and local production, where a more honest trade was the norm, things could be said to have deteriorated, ethically. But that's just my view.

I think you are right about how this stuff 'goes down the chain', and that if X doesn't do it, Y certainly will.

I would question your notion about customer 'requiring' certain products, to the exclusion of others. I think a more ethical dealer could sell a twenty dollar power cord, convince him that it will do exactly the same thing as the more expensive one, and then both dealer and customer would feel much better about the deal. The first knowing he took care of his customer in an honest manner, and the latter knowing he wasn't sold a bill of goods.

BTW, whenever I've bought electrical gear, I always got a power cord with the device. So one really has to go out of their way to consume these 'special' products. They really have to be 'convinced' of their benefit. No one, on their own, has ever woken up and said to themselves, "You know, my stereo doesn't sound as good as I think it could. I bet an expensive power cord would help it out!"

Business ethics is dealt with fairly substantially in the Bible. For example, here's Leviticus 25 verse 14:
When you sell property to your neighbor, or buy any from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.

That might be the case, but I don't think the Catholic Church is yet to excommunicate someone for selling an overprice set of RCA cables.

When someone comes in and spends $500,000 on an audio system in an hour, they are not interested discussing cheaper options. They want the best and don't look at the price, because the price does not matter. I suspect for many ASR people price does matter, and ASR seems to be pretty obsessed with value for money. But for some people money is not an issue at all and for others they want to spend as much as they can, up to a limit. That works at many levels. It's not just audio, its general consumer mentality. Manufacturers will make products to fill that consumer-driven need.

I have an uncle who is an art dealer. Years ago he went to the library and read about various 17th and 18th century sculptors that no one was interested in. He found them in dusty basements, started collecting, writing about them etc. He created interest and value and was successful. I read he's worth at least $100m. What represents value is different to different people and they are always influenced by some outside factors. Is my uncle any more guilty of a fraud as AudioQuest? How about any perfume manufacturer, where almost all value is branding? I don't suppose Mandrona operates as a not-for-profit.

I think there may be some excellent engineers a little naive about business.

 

[SIY]

I credit (maybe it's debit) Noel Lee with the fad. He was the first large-scale cable huckster I recall. This was about 1980. Obviously, given the market trajectory, Noel was a mere piker, but I'd say that he was pretty much the start of, and responsible for, the subsequent nonsense.

Before Monster, you'd go to your dealer, buy a 'system', and the salesman would thrown in a run of 'hook up wire'. Maybe a cartridge at dealer cost, to sweeten the deal. Once Noel came on the scene, it didn't take dealers long to figure out that selling expensive wire (for little up front cost) went a long way in keeping the landlord at bay, when it came time to pay the rent.

It predates him, but he was the first to really make a bundle peddling fraud. If memory serves, the notion was first put forward by Jean Hiraga (the Ur-source of almost all ignorant audiophile nonsense), then Bob Fulton. Polk and one other company whose name slips my mind* were right behind.

*edit: Discwasher

 

[muslhead]

I think there may be some excellent engineers a little naive about business.

This is proven out here daily on almost every thread here over 2 pages

 

[CedarX]

To me, the biggest flaw in the AudioQuest claims is that they appear to ignore the upstream & downstream part of the wiring: if the NRG-X3 cable is that good, wouldn't you want to re-wire your entire house/building with this type of cable? How come AudioQuest doesn't offer bulk cable supply? Wouldn't you want to petition your local utility company to do the same and use this cable as well?
How come AudioQuest forgot to advertise the use of that super-cable inside their own Niagara power conditioners? These are wired with that cable, no?
Oh yeah... I forgot: the distortion gremlins are way smarter than we think and only attack that section of the power cable, only in your room, and only when you are playing real music on your high-end system... The gremlins loose interest when they see it is a test setup...

 

[Offler]

I recently replaced bundled generic cable for a computer PC with this:

SRS Black Power - Trinásty

SRS Clear Power - sieťový magneticky tienený kábel

www.trinasty.sk

a) Its way too expensive, it really costs between 15-25 Euro.
b) Bundled generic power cable should be able to deliver up to 5A @ 230V, but it was barely capable of 4A.
c) its OFC (oxygen free copper), but its way too thick (2,5mm), but the "weaker" plug is rated at 10A, the better one up to 15A.

The real reason for the purchase was that sometimes I might need a cable, capable to deliver up to 2300 Watts. And since everyone gives away a lot of these cables, its impossible to purchase anything else than "bundled" or "audiophile" - i was aiming at "industrial" quality - but nobody was selling anything like that at 10-15A @ 230V rating.

Did it had any impact on my system?
On Audio? Definitely not.

A rare bug on my PC related to post-boot issue got much rarer. Apparently the original bundled cable (a reputable brand) was damaged, nothing i was able to measure...

To me, the biggest flaw in the AudioQuest claims is that they appear to ignore the upstream & downstream part of the wiring: if the NRG-X3 cable is that good, wouldn't you want to re-wire your entire house/building with this type of cable? How come AudioQuest doesn't offer bulk cable supply? Wouldn't you want to petition your local utility company to do the same and use this cable as well?
How come AudioQuest forgot to advertise the use of that super-cable inside their own Niagara power conditioners? These are wired with that cable, no?
Oh yeah... I forgot: the distortion gremlins are way smarter than we think and only attack that section of the power cable, only in your room, and only when you are playing real music on your high-end system... The gremlins loose interest when they see it is a test setup...

The only reason i was looking for a 230V 10A rated cable is fact that I KNOW wiring in my house and cheap and probably broken cable was indeed a downgrade.