Snake River Audio Power Cables - Best Unboxing

Good afternoon to you. Thanks for your kind words.

@lak - The IC in that spot that was replaced was a Transparent Reference IC. It has been in that coveted spot within the rig for about a decade. In fact, all of my References are out of the system now, with one exception. That being the phono IC. It too, will be replaced as funds allow.

@denon1 - Since I did not do a direct comparison with the Signature IC and the new Snake River Audio Takshaka, I cannot comment.

I can say, with complete certainty that both the Takshaka IC's and PC's have "opened" up my system in ways that I didn't think was honestly possible. I thought it was damned good before but now, the depth, weight, height have all been vastly improved. Not just another flavor, a drastic improvement across the board.

I would say that the width has improved but honestly, the width simply disappeared. There seem to be no boundaries anymore when it comes to width, unless it is simply a bad or not so well mastered recording. The sound now just envelops the room, moving well beyond your ears and just filling the room with sound. This makes the speakers just disappear....even with your eyes wide open, you can clearly "see" and hear this.

There isn't much about the Takshaka's that are near any other IC or PC that I have ever had. With pretty much every aspect there is that one pays attention too while critically listening. The change was profound in my system and there is absolutely no strain needed to clearly and undeniably hear the differences. The sound is fluidly effortless and the tone of instruments (as well as singers) is flat out incredible and oh, so natural sounding.

As for your comment about extension? That could mean many things to many people. Are you referring to extension, as in a higher frequency offered or extension, as in sound stage extension? If you clarify for me, I can offer you a better answer, unless I already have.

Tom

@treitz3 , thank you for detailed and well written response. 
I just got Takshaka XLRs. They supposed to be burned by snake river,  but still,  I will give them couple days to fully settle. In compare with signatures, I for sure hear more pronounced bass, bigger soundstage and more focused and dynamic presentation. But so far to me and in my system, they sound more  neutral than signatures with less pronounced midrange.The Signatures have warmer sound. Between ICs and power cord from the new line what do you think contributes more  to the overall sound?

Thank  you for your input.

While the IC was the first component I tried out, originally, I would have answered that it was the IC. Then I took that out and listened to the PC. I was blown away that it had so much of a change to the system, not just another flavor of music or a lateral swap. It was quite the change, especially in the sheer weight of voices and instruments.

When I had to return the prototypes back to Jonny, my listening sessions diminished to almost non-existent. You can't unhear something that you just experienced in your own system, then revert back to what you once thought was outstanding.

My first order of Takshaka's was what I had with the prototypes. One IC and one PC. As I wanted to order more, along with more experience under my belt with them, I decided to go with more PC's than IC's but made sure that the IC's were in all of the critical paths. I believe at this point, I am up to 6 Takshaka cables now, with the rest of the rigs PC's being all Snake River Audio products. Mostly Signature.

My listening sessions have gone into the extreme, as I simply get sucked into the music. Every time I go to get up, it is almost as if there is this unknown force that sits me back down to listen to more. It's hard to leave the listening chair now....like, really hard. There have been times to where I will tell my wife that I am headed back to listen for an hour or two, and the next thing you know, I discover that I was back there for 8 hours, only stopping to get an adult drink or use the gentleman's room.

Even when I am away from the system, All I really yearn for is to sit back down and listen. It's like a drug addiction. Anyhoo, I kind of went off on a rant there...

To answer your question, you can't go wrong with either because they both make such a wonderful change to what your ears are offered, both offer that 3-D wraparound, "suck you into the music" reality and both have that killer tone and low noise floor that Snake River Audio is so well known for. For my system, I decided to go with more PC's to start out with. That weight difference *in my system* was too good to pass up.

Honestly, it changed the rig so much, that I have had to readjust the settings on the sub (volume is also considerably down) and today, I will actually be moving the speakers to reset the location for optimal position of the speaker(s) because the output from them have changed so much in the lowest registers. This is not a bad thing at all. In fact, my hat is off to Jonny that he made cables that are so good, I actually had to readjust my entire rig to optimize the rig to the room again.

Huh, now that I think about it......readjusting my rig and starting the speaker location again from scratch. How's that for a quantifiable change?

Tom

@kdoerner I am curious about the SRA Power cords. I was think of either one on my new DAC or one on my AMP. It appears that they would be two different PCs by design. Amp is higher current. I wouldn’t mind adding just a bit of warmth to the system so probably the Cottonmouth Gold Signature? Any suggestions?

@fthompson251 I have the Signature amp PC on my Pass labs and wound up switching the Signature PC on my DAC/Streamer to the Cottonmouth. My system tends to lean neutral, added the Cottonmouth gave me a great balance and added a bit more warmth. I think If I had to do it again, I might get the Cottonmouth AMP PC instead of the signature.  Not sure if that would have been to much, I moved the second Signature PC to my phono amp and it sounds great there. So I'm more than happy with the current setup. Hopfully, SRA will run a Christmas sale (hint hint, Jonny if you're out there).