The Official Club Polk - Snake River Power Cord Demo

newbie308 · December 2023

Great! I'm excited to hear this cable in my system! @Joey_V I will PM you my contact information.

treitz3 · January 1

Okay, so @HzTweaker and @newbie308 are up next. Their shipping information has been sent out to those who currently have the Snake River PC's (please provide them a tracking number).

In order to give folks an outlook of when they may expect said cables to come - I have made a list, so that shipping costs are kept to a minimum.

For the component Snake River PC -
@HzTweaker
@heiney9
@JCL
@pearsall001

For the "Amp Series" Snake River PC -
@newbie308
@bcwsrt
@erniejade
@dromunds

Tom

Joey_V · January 1

Sent to @newbie308

Enjoy!

erniejade · January 2

Thanks for rearranging.

displayname · January 2

bcwsrt wrote: »

So, just checking ... @marvda1 / @displayname have the component PC (since they reference using it on a DAC), correct? I may have overlooked it, but I didn't see that distinction being made in their comments.

I don't know if we every answered this, but yes the cable Marvin and I were using was the component PC and we mostly focused on using it with the DAC.

newbie308 · January 4

The Snake River Amplifier PC arrived today.
I'm listening to Greg Lake on CD. I listened to "From the beginning " Damn it! I didn't want to hear a difference! I thought I was happy with my Pangea AC9... I hate you Tom! It's all your fault! I played the song all the way through with the AC9 as a reference, then I played the same song again with the SR cable. The difference is immediate and astonishing. The image is more in focus and the guitar strings sound more realistic with the the SR cable. I don't understand why it's better, but to my ears, it's WAY better.

I played one dynamic segment of the same track and swapped the PC 3 times with each cable. Each time the change was immediate. Narrow out of focus sound stage with the AC9 and wider more focused with the SR.

I should say that in anticipation of receiving the PC today, I left my system on and playing since Tuesday morning, so it didn't have to warm up for the comparison.

Looks like upgrading my PC is going on my wishlist this year. This really makes me wonder what would happen to the sound if I used both the Amp cable and the source cables.

bcwsrt · January 4

Don’t you be causing me a two-week delay now, @newbie308! 😂

Glad you’re enjoying it!!

newbie308 · January 4

@bcwsrt no worries! I will keep this PC moving. @treitz3 any chance that I can get added to the source cable list? I feel like, after this revelation, I have to experience that one, too.

marvda1 · January 4

With the component cable you will hear a difference. My reference power cable costs $500 more than the Snake River and there's a difference. It comes down to your preference in your system.

treitz3 · January 4

newbie308 wrote: »

@treitz3 any chance that I can get added to the source cable list? I feel like, after this revelation, I have to experience that one, too.

Not a problem. I was pleased with my first SR cable (IC). As I added more and moved on to the PC's? Whoa!

I have been really, really happy with the end result as to what hits my ears. Thanks for the initial impressions. Much appreciated.

Tom

treitz3 · January 4

displayname wrote: »

I don't know if we every answered this, but yes the cable Marvin and I were using was the component PC and we mostly focused on using it with the DAC.

FWIW, that is the one location that it made the least amount of impact in my system. It was still an improvement but nowhere near the impact it had when I took that same cable and placed it into the Lumin UX1. FWIW.

Tom

Joey_V · January 5

Glad you like it

It’s a good cable

marvda1 · January 6

@treitz3 Looking at the Snake River site, none of his power cables show having ferrite chokes, did we have the option of hearing the cable with/without the chokes? I ask because there has been some controversy about using them.

treitz3 · January 6

Hi, Marvin. AfAIK, all of his PC's use them. Only the latest batch has the "Snake" wrap. That's a brand new cosmetic feature that he just started doing. All of mine have the basic black.

With that said, each cable Jonny makes is custom made, so ordering them without them should be no issue.

I don't know why there would be a controversy about them though. They serve a purpose. That said, let's not get into that discussion here. If anyone wants to discuss this further, let's make another thread please. That way, this one stays on topic.

Tom

marvda1 · January 8

Out the box the cables have a striking appearance and to the feel appear to be well built. The ones I requested were the component power cables, and at the time I had high hopes of trying them on both digital, cd transports, and DAC, but soon came to my senses and decided to K-I-S-S and only use it on my DAC.

My evaluation system was to include: Norma IPA 140 integrated amp, Sonnet Digital Morpheus 2 DAC, Lumin U1 Mini digital transport, Rosso Fiorentino Volterra 2 speakers.
Cables used: Organic Reference 2 speaker and interconnects, Synergistic Foundation 10ga power cable on the Norma, Synergistic Foundation 12ga power cable on the Lumin U1 Mini, Organic Reference power cable on the Morpheus.
The Norma was plugged directly into a dedicated 20a line, while all digital components were plugged into a Puritan PSM156 power conditioner with stock Puritan power cable into a second dedicated 20a line.
As I mentioned earlier listening of the featured SR cable will only be done on the Morpheus DAC, a comparison of retail pricing shows the Organic @ $1950 and the Snake River @ $1545.

I picked four songs for the listening session:
The War by SYML
Thanks To You by Boz Scaggs
Beautiful Life by Chantal Chamberland
Liberty by Anette Askvik

I would suggest you let the Snake River, (SR) settle in or warm up as you may, for at least 1 hour before listening. When I received them, I assumed they needed break in as there were a couple of chinks in their sound armor. On first listen I was greeted with a big bloomy soundstage with slightly overpowering bass and bleached, recessed highs.
Don't ask how long it took for this to clear up as I don't keep track of burn in time, but it was the better part of a week, and I was to the point of asking Tom for an extra week since I was the first to receive them.

Part 2 to come.

marvda1 · January 9

Part 2

After allowing time for the gremlins to clear, I am left with a large enveloping soundstage with prestigious bass and an airy wide high end, review over, well not yet.
Loading my music up I am set to embark on a musical journey to maybe tempt me to purchase some new cables.
Before listening to music, I will try to describe the present sound of my system and the sound that I prefer.

In order not to be trapped by speakers or systems that are set to impress with flashy detailed highs or thumping bass, I listen for correct tonality and pace, which gets them in the door and from there I move on to the other "audiophile" nuggets. If tonality and pace are not there, then I move on.
Need I say that the Snake River power cable piqued my interest.

With the SR in place and burned in, I proceed to go through my gigantic list of four songs.

1 "The War" is an interesting song as the original version I heard was a live recording at St. Mark's Cathedral on the Sacred Spaces cd and lasted 3:11. The version I am using is on the "In My Body" cd and lasts 5:54 after comparing the two the shorter version sounds more spacious to me.
Upon first cue, I was greeted with a huge expansive soundstage with an upfront midrange, big bass, and highs that quite airy were somewhat diffuse in nature.
While there was big bass, I was missing some texture and as a result of this big bass there was a bit smearing of fine midrange detail.
None of this took away from the enjoyment of the song.

2 "Thanks To You", Scaggs voice presents you a full-scale account of the male voice and clean bass lines with attending tones, shades, and overtones that can be easily heard because of the minimalist instrumentation.
Scaggs" vocals were spot on with an uncanny smoothness to his voice. The powerful bass with the forward midrange presentation can be a little overbearing in spots, but all in all I could find no unpleasantries.
The listening session continues with me being in a relaxed and entertained mood.

3 "Beautiful Life", Getting more into the upper midrange and lower highs with some female vocals, Chantal's voice was clear, clean, and airy, you could hear her breath as the notes rode atop.
The piano at the beginning was diffuse as I am used to hearing piano notes being distinct with air around each note unless the notes are held together by musician.
There is a smoothness and flow to this song that brings a nice drink together.

Part 3 with conclusions upcoming

newbie308 · January 12

@bcwsrt Looks like my demo period is coming to an end. I have to travel next week for work, so I will get the cable boxed up and drop it off Monday morning. Shoot me your deets, so I can make the shipping arrangements! I'm sad to see it go, but at least now I know that I can do better than what I have. Thanks again @treitz3 for doing the leg work to make this possible!

bcwsrt · January 12

Yessir! Thanks and looking forward to it!

gyosa · January 12

Someone please educate me …
How is it possible that a power cable can have an impact on a component’s sound vs any other competently designed cable - meaning the one that was supplied with said component ?

Bk

treitz3 · January 12

Hello and good afternoon to you, @gyosa. As to not dilute this thread (this thread is for Snake River PC reviews only), please create another thread for this inquiry. Thanks man.

There will be plenty of responses, trust me on that.

Tom

gyosa · January 12

treitz3 wrote: »

Hello and good afternoon to you, @gyosa. As to not dilute this thread (this thread is for Snake River PC reviews only), please create another thread for this inquiry. Thanks man.

There will be plenty of responses, trust me on that.

Tom

Ok

marvda1 · January 13

Part 3/ Finale

4 "Liberty" Ah, Anette Askvik, the voice of an angel with "audiophile" recording sound quality.
I use this recording to test depth, imaging, and clarity in soundstage especially at the very beginning of the song.
It seems some of the spatial cues were missing, resulting in the venue being a little shallow.
The midrange is so natural with a slight warmth that makes it oh so pleasing to the ear. Bass is full but does lack some texture and introduces a little smearing into the midrange.
I have no problems with the overall pacing and imaging of the SR cable.

Finale

Upon first listen I made the mistake of concluding that the SR cable had a larger soundstage than my reference Organic, but after longer listening sessions, I have now concluded that the soundstage is about the same for both cables. What I was hearing is the SR's have a much more forward presentation than the Organic. Whereas the Organic soundstage is anywhere from in between, to just in front of the speaker baffle, the SR's project much further out into the room.

The reason it stood out so much to me is because I have selected my cables to complement my system and the type of sound I like. I felt with the forwardness of the midrange and to some extent the bass, the high treble details were left a tad behind and stretched across the soundstage as to take away from the pinpoint imaging I am used to.
I think that if I had some more time to reposition my speakers that this problem might have been fixed.

This is not a bad cable, in fact it sounds pretty good, and I almost purchased one as a "mood cable" to change out when listening to jazz trios and male/female vocals, or small groups. In the end it is a preference of the individual's type of sound they prefer and how it fits into their system.
Not saying use the Snake River power cable as a tone control, but maybe, just maybe if your system is a little too laid-back

As a side note, I did try the SR on the Lumin with the Organic on the DAC, it was still forward, just not as forward as using it on the DAC.

Maybe I just need more time with a loom of Snake River speaker cable, interconnect, and power cables together for a full fledge review for "The Sound Advocate", hint, hint

Jonny

bcwsrt · January 18

The Amp Series PC arrived safe and sound in Illinois. More later!

bcwsrt · January 20

Well … the first 50+ hours with the AMP Series PC has been:

very interesting,
incredibly frustrating, and
immensely enjoyable

Several times, all within about a 15 minute period!

It was so horribly harsh and thin-sounding during the day yesterday, I had to walk away for a couple hours! Last night and (for the most part) today have, thankfully, been a different story, with glimpses of greatness, particularly this evening. We will see what tomorrow and the next 10 days, or so, bring. I know Tom has said it needs to settle in, so I'm trying to be patient!

I will be doing a larger review toward the end of my time with the cable, but damn, I wasn’t ready for a PC to do what this one is doing. I didn’t get this with my crossover rebuild, don’t have significant changes in SQ as my tube gear warms up and definitely haven’t had other cables change from day-to-day as they settled in.

I went back to listening without the cable in the mix for about 30 minutes a little while ago, replaying what had just previously been on with the cable in place. There are some obvious differences with this cable. Are they all good? I don't know yet, since apparently it is too early to tell. So, you'll have to stay tuned, like me!

treitz3 · January 20

bcwsrt wrote: »

But damn, I wasn’t ready for a PC to do what this one is doing.

Either did I. Patience grasshopper...

Tom

marvda1 · January 20

I found that with the component power cable, once it locked in, it pretty much stayed there.

bcwsrt · January 20

Yes, to get my head back on straight, I went back and re-read Tom's original Snake River thread and the reviews in here. I can say, all comments are spot-on, good or otherwise, because in these three days I've endured a microcosm of everything I've read, so far. Lol

gudnoyez · January 21

I'm pretty sure my lowly Wireworld Stratus that's currently hooked up to the Parasound Halo A3 in the HT fails in comparison to the amp series being currently demoed. I listen to a lot of Blu Ray Audio and surround mixes along with concerts and 4k movies with current set up. How long is this demo going on?

marvda1 · January 21

I never was a fan of the Wireworld house sound.

displayname · January 21

gudnoyez wrote: »

I'm pretty sure my lowly Wireworld Stratus that's currently hooked up to the Parasound Halo A3 in the HT fails in comparison to the amp series being currently demoed. I listen to a lot of Blu Ray Audio and surround mixes along with concerts and 4k movies with current set up. How long is this demo going on?

You’ll need to talk to @treitz3

The Official Club Polk - Snake River Power Cord Demo

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