Hi All, I got bit by the Snake River Audio bug and took advantage of their Labor Day sale. After talking with Jonny (nicest guy) I bought 2 of the signature hybrids and 1 of the cottonmouth power cables. The unboxing was an experience and these cables are beautiful. The cables were shipped all kids of certificates and goodies from Idaho. I can't wait to get these into the system and give you all my feedback. If you're on the fence, just call Jonny and let him tell you about the cables first hand.
At last! A company, Snake River Audio, that can legitimately produce hifi cables whose performance can be likened to the miracles of snake oil. Hopefully they included some herpetological lubricant with the other nice things in the box, or at least some holy water from the river from which the company takes its name.
In all seriousness, however, I had not heard of this company but will now take a look. Custom cables manufacture in rural Idaho that win awards like Snake River Audio has is pretty impressive.
Sorry in advance @kdoernerbut due to the natural progression of conversations as it were...
If we don't have protection, many Hi-Fi's are going to be fried while we sleep.
All the more reason to consider adding a quality power device to your system.
I would be worried about the other expensive appliances in the house also. The best thing someone can do is surge protect the whole house first, then look at individual electrical components in the home. This is the level 2 house surge protector I have- I also use a Puritan conditioner at the stereo and (of course) don't have any level 3 Leviton protection outlets in my hifi room.
Hey all. Unfortunately for me, I didn't discover Snake River Audio until early last year and I am so glad I did. Since then, I have outfitted most of my extensive rig with SRA cables (all of the main components are done). I can tell you that this man knows what he is doing! Jonny is top notch and he really cares about what he delivers. Everything is top notch, on every aspect.
One of the greatest attributes that I cannot stress enough about, is the wonderful tone of the instruments/voices that these cables deliver. My system has never sounded so good and since the introduction of Snake River Audio cables, my enjoyment level has risen in spades. I went from listening to the music to experiencing it. Listening sessions have greatly increased in aural pleasure and length of time spent sitting in the sweet spot.
Snake River Audio has a new lineup that will be coming out soon that I have been lucky enough to have had in my system for about a month. Wallets will definitely be opening up worldwide, once you hear those bad boys. I know mine happily will, once they are available to the public.
No affiliation. Just a VERY satisfied customer who really appreciates a fine, quality product. They are definitely musical art to these ears and they really draw you into the performance before you. Never had any cables do that before.
I have SRA SC's, IC's and PC's throughout my system. Even some custom cables he made specifically for my rig. This includes the Cottonmouth, Signature, Mamushi and Boomslang Series cables. No regrets on any of them. Only wonderful and extremely musical bliss.
Lots. Shunyata, Signal, AQ, Nerve Audio, Transparent References used to be in the main/core spots, PS Audio, custom made cables, 6 sons Audio, Dueland, DH Labs, Analysis Plus, MIT and many others that I can't remember off the top of my head.
I've been doing this for a while now, so please forgive my not remembering everything that has come and gone over the years.
I'm in love with the sound. I've been moving the cables between component and finally settled into what sounds good to me. I too have had many brands of power cables. Pangea, Zu Audio, Nordost, Audioquest. These are by far the most dynamic and holographic. The Audioquest tornado come close, but can't match the low end extension I get with the SRA cables.
@westcoastaudiophileI listed the last run of cables just on my Pass Labs Int-60 near the start of the post. I started with the Pangea cables on my original McIntosh amp some years ago now. I upgraded that to all Zu Audio cables (power, RCA's, speaker) when I bought the original Omen speakers about 10+ years ago. From there I upgraded everything about 3 years ago to Pass Lab int amp, Hifi Rose streamer, McIntosh MP100 phono, and Mofi source point 10 speakers. I upgraded all the cables to Nordost (combo of Blue Heaven speaker cables and power, Red Dawn PC, and Heimdall v1 RCA, XLR, PC). I then upgraded the power cables to Audioquest Tornado, speaker cables to Rocket 88's. Did a speaker and phono upgrade, and bought a used Snake River Audio XLR cables and fell in love with the design and sound. Now we're at SRA PC on most my system.
@kdoernerthanks for listing all of cables in your system! I just tried to understand if you have found improvement of replacing original power cable by “better $$$” one.. Do I understand it correctly from your posts, as You “dunno”?
@westcoastaudiophilesorry if I misunderstood your question. Yes, I can absolutely tell the difference within each of the upgrades with my current system. I would say not so much with my original McIntosh system with the Zu Audio speakers. That system didn’t have the dynamics to hear the benefit of upgraded cabling.
My current system is very revealing and has a ton of dynamics. Adding different power cables can add "color" for good or bad. Its not unlike upgrading speakers, a 6" woofer is not just a 6" woofer, there are nuances in the way its constructed and the material that is used. Same for the power cables in my experience.
@kdoerner PC “upgrades” sometimes are higher resistance cables vs. original ones, benefiting in RC lower freq. filtering.. I still have no clarity on what (amp, power level, etc) exactly did you “upgrade” from original to “better” and how identify “improvement”? blind test, the same time of the year, sofa with different cushions, or? In HiFi every detail is matters.
@westcoastaudiophileI identified "upgrade" based on sound. I have a set of songs I A/B test between the cables after they are broken in. Over the original Pass Labs PC, The Nordost added greater detail in the sound. Bass was a tighter and highs were more detailed. When moving from the Nordost to the Audioquest, the sound appeared to have greater imaging and more expansive. When going back to the orginal Pass PC, it was night and day. When moving up to the SRA, the lower end is way more pronounced and controlled. The sound is even more three dimensional and the sound stage is huge. These changes have not been subtle over the original PC and have given my the exact sound profile I enjoy.
@kdoerner congrats with finding your audiophile happiness formulae!
I see your new cables have RF clamps, closer to IEC conn side (correct use). Unless your original PC is defective (out of spec), you most likely deal with high freq. noise issue, penetrating from AC into amp. (I debugged hundred issues like that). I have bunch of different permeability / freq. response clamps in my Lab, used for debugging / filtering RFI noise. Those clamps typically cost between 50c - $5. I can provide you link, if you are interested, to compare to your upgrade PC.
Update on the world's introduction to the Snake River Audio Takshaka lineup.
They will be featured at the Capitol Area Audiofest, Nov 8th through the 10th. The system will also include the new Popori speakers, powered by the V.A.C. amplifiers. Room 840, for those who are or may be interested in hearing the latest lineup from Snake River Audio.
Jonny himself, will be down in the Marketplace, main booth. Ya' can't miss him.
@denon1- Hello and good evening to you. I would be happy to let you know my observations on the RCA Takshaka cable. My apologies for not getting back to you sooner, as I don’t really come to the 'GoN very often.
I will submit my observations by the end of the weekend.
First off, I should offer a hint of what level gear I am playing with, when it comes to offering my observations. Most all of my extensive system utilizes Snake River Audio cables, with a sprinkling here and there of RAL and Audio Sensibility umbilical cords, along with Audiolund xTreme and Shunyata Venom, Omega and Delta filling in some of the network connections. The switch used is UpTone Audio's EtherRegen that is powered by an LPS via a custom Snake River Audio DC cable.
Main system components used for evaluation -
CD/SACD - Esoteric P-02 with ANK 4.1 DAC
NAP - Lumin UX1 with ANK 5.1 Signature Pro DAC
Both of the above clocked by Mutec REF 10 SE 120 Master clock
PRE - Canary Audio C800 MK-II
AMP - Musical Fidelity KW750
SPEAKERS - Tyler Acoustics Woodmere's
SUBS - Rythmik F-25's
On to my observations. This is with the understanding that not one thing had changed, other than the addition of a single Takshaka RCA IC installed in between the Pre and the Amp. No other additions or adjustments were made, other than volume or switching from the CDP setup or the streaming setup.
Within the first 20 minutes of installing the prototype RCA cable, I wrote down some notes. Please be forewarned, I am not a professional reviewer, nor would I ever want to be one - or even play one on TV, so I'll just offer you the notes (as written down or sent to folks in our hobby).
Different presentation for sure. Better differentiation of images. The focus within the images along with the location of said images are way more precise....palpable. (that's hard to do). The space between the phantom images is greatly increased, providing a more palpable soundscape.
Mid-bass (upper end of lower registers) definitely more present. Sound stage further and more enveloping. The subtleties are definitely more pronounced….more equal to the rest of the music.
Everything is more in focus/palpable.....and the subtleties I mentioned? Wow! They are as clear as day now....without being obnoxious, overwhelming or overpronounced.
^^^ The above was observed just within the first 20 minutes of putting the Snake River Audio Takshaka RCA into my system.
As time marched on, I wrote down some more observations (for my own records). Again, this is all with just the addition of that one RCA IC installed in between the pre and amp.
So, I just walked into the room with the system on a volume level of 1. I could hear (without a doubt) that the lower registers were way more prominent. Lower level listening folks should enjoy that a lot. Even "Lost cause" (highly compressed) by Jelly Roll sounds good.....and there are many sounds that weren't there before.
Listening to Felix Laband's "Red Handed" - The height information…..wow! …..and the channel separation! Holy Crap dude….There has to be 16' of height from below the floor to the height of what I hear....
Listening to Janelle Monáe's "Make Me Feel" - An experience..... I don't even know who this lady is....The texture of voices and the finite sounds are not cool, but exceptional. There is so much more to the reproductive effort that displays real music and musical instruments, voices and not just a reproduction. Musical....., in a word.
Listening to Yellow's "X-Race" - I feel as if I am not just listening to reproduced music, it is now about being completely sucked into the music. Speakers? What speakers? They are now just big boxes, sitting there doing nothing, as the sounds are coming from everywhere. Anywhere. From out of nowhere.
Listening to Bonnie Raite's Luck of the Draw album on CD - You can clearly tell that there is more texture and information coming through that renders the background singers (individually) placed and eerily placed on the sound stage, as if they were the lead singer(s). You know exactly where they are and now you can pick out different background singers and "see" them. That has never been the case before. You used to hear them quite fine but they were never individualized and presented in a way that they were individually pinpoint.
That tone....well, that and the tonal balance is beautifully well balanced.
She has opened up a bit from last night and to my disbelief, the speakers have disappeared even more than they had. I didn't even know that this could have been improved upon. The variations of notes on singers and vocal fluctuations are strikingly real and come across with an ease/fluidity that you don't need to strain to hear.
If something doesn't sound quite right, it always ends up being the recording. But even so-so recordings with high compression sound enjoyable. Think Chris Stapleton...
The micro and macro details are definitely vastly improved. It's like the system isn't even straining to offer them to you as well. Just an effortless reproductive effort and the tonal balance is to die for.
Now, with all of that said - it wasn't until I took that prototype Takshaka RCA out of my system that I truly knew what it did. I was overwhelmed with new sounds and unexpected educational auditory revelations - it was when the trial period was over for the Takshaka, that I truly realized what it brought to the table. The more you hear the Takshaka, the more you want to hear the Takshaka.
With that said, and as time has marched on since first listening to the prototype Takshaka's, I now have the Takshaka PC's and IC's in the most critical paths within my rig now, with other Snake River PC's completing the rest of the rig. Simply put, the Takshaka's have completely transformed my rig and…..well, I'll just put it to you this way. Last night, I texted my local Audio buddies and this was the text I sent to the both of them.
"So, I now have all Snake River Audio Takshaka power cords in the main components (pre, streamer, amplifier and DAC), with all other power cords being his Signature throughout the rest of the system (on everything else, including the subs, clock, LPS's.....literally everything else).
What I am experiencing is truly astonishing. New sounds are pretty common now and the quietness is awesome (even when the song is playing). It's hard to describe but I am flat out flabbergasted at what the Takshaka's did to the rig. I can't wait for you guys to eventually hear it. It sounds nothing like it used too. The clarity is so enjoyable and I don't recall ever hearing any system do what my system is presenting now. You will understand what I mean when you hear it.
Don't laugh, but I am actually listening to Madonna right now and for the first time in my life, I am listening as if it were audiophile music......because it sure does sound like it. The system is just so damned musical right now, I am jealous of myself for what I have been able to cobble together. I can't imagine that there would be any more major upgrades, other than for the vinyl setup. Why? Because I am no longer yearning for an improvement with anything. It simply sounds wonderful and these ears could not be any happier than they are right now."
I hope that this helps. BTW, I am in no way affiliated with Jonny or Snake River Audio. I am just a completely satisfied Snake River Audio customer who is currently experiencing a little slice of audio heaven here on Earth.
@treitz3Thank you for your observations, that was an excellent review, I know they are not easy to write and very time consuming to do it correctly as you did.
Out of curiosity what was the interconnect that you took out and replaced with the Takshaka RCA IC installed in between the Pre and the Amp?
@treitz3thank you for a great review.. You did not mention about high frequencies. How are they compared with signature. In my system this is the only area that signatures can do better - some more extension and air.
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.
@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?
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?
@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?
@fthompson251I 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).
@fthompson251Its kind of hard to say. When I upgraded, I first put on the Amp PC and heard an immediate impact, then added the signature to the Streamer. Listened to that a while, then switched to the Cottonmouth and preferred that sound. I didn't try just adding the PC to the streamer and kept the Amp PC the previous PC. You might call Jonny to confirm (supper nice guy to talk to), but I think if you got the Amp PC you can use it on either an amp or a standard component. That at least gives you an option with which way you prefer the sound.
I've auditioned the SRA Cottonmouth Gold 'Amp Series' pc. About 2x or so the warmth of the regular Cottonmouth Gold. It could be too much of a good thing on certain components. YMMV. That's why Jonny's 30 day trial period is so great. He's there to help.
Excited for the Sale to start, 24% off if anyone is interested. I just pick up some of his demo cables from the site (Phono and a pair of XLR's). Super excited to branch off into more of snake river audios cables. Happy Holidays Everyone!
In general should one use these ferrite clamps on power cords? I read that they act like chokes. Hence most people plug amps directly into the wall rather than a power conditioner.
btw, all the images of the sra cords posted on the sra site show them without the clamps. Can one use the cord without the clamps?
@tee_deeI am not a cable designer nor do I have a background in electromagnetics (is that a word, lol). However, I had always though the cores were in place to prevent extreme lows and highs that are well above and below your audio systems capabilities, from leaking noise into a cable. Perhaps someone with much more experience than I can help answer that question.
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