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Review: Michael Wolff power cords Carbon Gain Power cord

Category: Cables

For my system, and my listening room, the Michael Wolff CARBON GAIN CORDs have been a true find. I have lived with 2 GAIN CORDs for 4 months. They seem to capture the music’s honest expression. I don't plan on switching anytime soon. Mine are the copper/silver/carbon variety, and they have no trouble on my hefty Blue Circle BC-8 MONOBLOCS (120,000 uF capacitance per channel AND 2,600 watt power transformer, PER BLOCK!!!). For me, the 2 most important criteria are: "tonality", then, "soundstage". Most of the power cords I have tried seem to destroy, what I perceive to be, the authenticity of the artist's expression by either shifting the tonality and/or shifting the soundstage to unrealistic extremes. Not only do these cords nail the "tonality" and REALLY nail the "soundstage", BUT ALSO, they go even further into the expression. The "clarity" is great, and the "purity" shines through, and this enables the expressions to breathe. For example, the bassoons, oboes, and cellos, have a depth, a strength, an air, a crispness, and a delicacy. This embodies the whole expression, not just one dimension. The highs have a great delicacy to them, never bright. And the bass is expressive down to the lowest registers. And, finally, a hanging note breathes of life, from beginning to fading away. These are great testaments for a happy, well-powered system. And against the rest of the competition I have tried, that says a lot! A very happy recommendation.

Associated gear
Audio Note CDT-2 transport, 3.1x BALANCED dac, Emotive SIRA, Blue Circle BC-8 MONOBLOCKS, JM Reynaud OFFRANDES mains, Audio Physic LUNA sub, Equitech 1.5Q power supply.
HMS Grand Finale II speaker cables, bi-wired, Esprit ETERNA digital cable and I/C.

Similar products
Custom Power Cord TOP GUN, Kimber 10 POWERKORD, Kimber P10 PALLADIAN-10 POWERKORD, Virtual Dynamics NITE, Shunyata Research BLACK MAMBA, Audience POWERCORD, JPS DIGITAL AC, JPS ANALOG AC, Blue Circle BC-62, Harmonix X-DC STUDIOMASTER.
mattend
michaelhwolff
112 posts
 
Zaiksman
(Anyway, it's interesting to read about another cable using carbon - I'm currently getting into some VDH IC's employing carbon, the cable use of which I believe they pioneered, although I haven't yet tried their PC's. Enjoy your new cords!)

For clarification, Michael Wolff Carbon Ribbon Power Cords are the only product on the market which use Carbon as both a conductor and for shielding for the AC current.

The VDH IC's transmit an audio signal which is completely different. (Of Course)

Thanks,
Michael Wolff
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Michael: I haven't checked into your product or its construction specifics yet, but I will add in response to your statement that in VDH's all-carbon IC (The First Ultimate), they do not claim that the 6-layer woven carbon outer surrounding the 12,000-strand carbon core can act as a perfect shield, and also offer The First Metal Shield (and the two-conductor The Second) for applications requiring better isolation from radiated fields, and those models employ more conventional woven-metal or metal-foil outer layers. In my own tests with The First Ultimate and The Second, I have gotten results in this area consistent with VDH's position. However, I don't believe that these considerations necessarily translate directly to PC applications, which can generally be viewed as being more akin to SC's, and indeed some makers of PC's advocate using no shielding at all, like on SC (not that I've tried any of them, as I tend to think that shielding is mostly beneficial on a PC). If you would care to address the topic, I believe VDH's main reservation about constructing an all-carbon (or even just carbon-condutor) PC has to do with carbon's higher resistance, a concern that in their all-carbon Revelation SC apparently mandated highly massive and expensive construction in order to overcome. But I am really liking the 'sound' of carbon in my IC's (or maybe the lack of metal 'sound'), and am interested in finding out more about what you offer - could you give us your website URL or a link?
michaelhwolff
112 posts
 
Simply the point that I am making is that I use carbon in a Power Cord. VDH uses it in an interconnect. Two different applications is all.

Sure the web site is:
http://wolffcords.home.comcast.net/

Best Regards, Michael
comchenry's avatar
comchenry
44 posts
 
After wringing my hands over what cord to buy to power my Levinson 331 amp, I decided to audition the Wolff Gain cord. Why? There are so many choices and the ones that folks rave about are just too #@&* much money. The reviews, web site and Michaels audition policy convinced me to give it a try. Break in time was pretty long but about what I expected. Once things settled in I knew it was something special. To make sure of my impressions, I alternated in a couple of other cords and compared to the Gain cord, the sound was grainier and muddled with a noisier background. Oddly, the blacker, quieter background with the Gain cord
provided what at first "seemed" like a muted or less
dynamic presentation, but the notes, from top to bottom had a higly resolved purity that was hard to believe and very impressive. Listening became a more emotional experience and I found myself shaking my head and grinning alot. Another benefit is that it seems I can play and enjoy the music at a much higher level (not that it needs to be louder) without any fatigue factor. Because I like to tweak, I have a Bat tube preamp that is somewhat dark so I may experiment with tubes to see what subjective or real effect it has on overall presentation to see if it might add a bit more "sparkle" in the top registers and then decide what I ulitmately prefer.
Amazing what a cord can do.

Associated equipment:
Naim CDX cd player
BAT VK5i preamp
Levinson 331 Amp
Nordost SPM balanced IC
Alpha Core Serpent Silver/Copper cable
Apogee Stage Speakers with NorthCreek Music crossovers

Other cords I like but plan to sell: Synergistic Master Coupler. Analysis Plus.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I too have often found that ultimately beneficial system changes can sometimes fool you at first into thinking that you're 'losing something', which upon extended listening actually turns out to have been spurious artifacts.

Changing tubes can make as big or bigger a difference than the power cord. And - although this is not a cure for 'dark' tonal balance per se - I would also recommend trying some sort of dampers on the preamp tubes (if you don't already have them), such as Herbie's Audio Labs or the silicone ring types. This can bring a calming stability to the soundstage and reduce glare and definition loss on transients.
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