Stealth Dream AC powerchord

I have been auditioning the Stealth Dream AC cord against an Elrod EPS 3S, and the Jena Labs One for use on my BAT VK50SE pre-amp. One thing that I noticed right away was that I had to increase the volume on the preamp when the Dream cord was put on as compared to the other AC cords. Weird, but happens every time. I was trying to compare using the same volume setting with the same cd playing the same cut, but couldn't hear the details when listening at a lower volume setting with the Dream cord and had to increase the volume about -30 to -23 to experience a comparable volume.

In comparison thus far, the Dream cord is a very nice AC cord that creates a very smooth, relaxing presentation compared to the other cables. The Jena One is, so far, my favorite as it seems to create the best soundstage, dynamics and inner detail without sounding hard or bright in any way. The Elrod is no slouch and at the end of the day may very well be the cable I decide to keep. I have found the Elrod AC cords to work very well on tubed CDPs and Preamps and for a decent price comparatively.

The two nice advantages of the Jena over both of the others is flexibility and you can plug directly into the wall outlet since the cable has the built in power conditioner. Overall the Jena One is the best I have heard thus far.

I have heard the Elrod Statement, a number of Shunyatas and a host of others as well. I do believe that matching the cord with the equipment is critical and the Dream AC cord is one I would recommend giving a try if you can afford to.

some friends & i did a powercord shootout a while back. the shootout included:

harmonix studio master
jena labs model one
jorma super power
pranawire samadhi
pranawire satori
purist audio dominus rev.c
shunyata anaconda helix alpha
stealth dream (preamp & amp)

while there were certainly some combinations we preferred, there were ultimately no winners or losers. component-cable matching is indeed key.

Alexsee, sounds like a fun but exhausting experiment. I have tried most of these and some others typically compared on one component, an easy one, the cd players or amp. I can make decisions for me but that is about it.

Guys, last evening I painted the carbon fiber plugs at both ends of one Stealth Dream Preamp power cord with the AVM paint. You can learn about the AVM at http://www.universalkaraoke.com/ Again all that I painted was the outsides of one Stealth. What I got as a result was much crisper sound with a great sense of the hall, recording studio, or live venue of the recording. Had a friend not reported the benefits of painting the entire length of a power cord, I would have not done this as I assumed that the carbon fiber plugs would have been largely immune to vibrations. I, of course, now need to paint the remainder of my power cords.

I am continually amazed at how pervasive the disruptions of vibrations are to our systems. I joked with a friend last night that my wife would probably say "absolute not" were I to paint my windows.

I wanted to revive this thread to ask if the Stealth Dream power cable changes with break-in, especially in the upper high frequencies. Thanks in advance.