has anyone tried chinese cables?
I just replaced all my power cables with "Chinese cables". Initially I replaced only connectors (male/IEC) on DIY power cords that I'd used for years that were cryoed DH Labs Power Plus with cryoed Marinco connectors. Those outperformed a number of $300-$400 commercial offerings when I built them 12-15 years ago and prices have only gone up as in most things audio. I used Viborg VM/VF 512 connectors ($60 a pair) and had those cryoed before sticking them on the DH Labs and they were a big bang for the buck, big enough for me to buy a metre of Viborg 1606 raw cable (which I also had cryoed) to switch out for the DH Labs on my integrated and experiment with. I ended up buying another 4 metres of the 1606 and built 4 power cords (two very short ones for a power distributor and a linear power supply for a DAC) and have enough left over for a 5th for my blu-ray player when I get around to it. The 1606/VM/VF 512 combination builds an unbelievably good 9.5 AWG triple shielded very good power cord for $100-$125 max excluding my cryo costs which were about another $80-$100 (would have been a lot less but I had stuff go into the unit on 4 different occasions). So for about $500 I have 5 power cords that would probably compete with at least $2500 worth of commercial offerings and very possibly quite a bit more than that. |
They've turned out to be my new favorites. I started with the Odin 2 speaker cables. I liked them quite a bit and better than the Hologram 2 I also have. I then tried the Redwoods. Quite awesome speaker cables. I've now also gotten a pair of Odin XLRs. I like them as much as the authentic Quattro Fils they replaced. Maybe I've just lucked out, but the ones I've gotten from Aliexpress have proven to be fantastic cables. I've got a pretty revealing mid-fi rig in an acoustically treated room and the cables allow me to hear differences in DACs and transports I've swapped in and out of my system quite easily. Well worth the price. |
If you go Chinese, go Ghent: https://www.ghentaudio.com/part/index-sp.html Cheap, decent, and great ordering/ shipping/ customer service |
I have been curious and decided to test them out. System components, for reference, are Jeff Rowland 501 Monos, Rowland Capri Pre-amp, Oracle CD 2000 MK III, Blusound Vault 2i, Chord Hugo TT2, Chord Hugo M scaler, Audio Physics Avanti, Nordost Valhalla speaker cable, Nordost Heimdahl II interconnects, Nordost Shiva Power cords. I bought the Valhalla power cord ($1200.00) and the same exact copy from Aliexpress and tested them against each other. I played the exact same section of a song off an SACD switching the power cords only connected to the pre-amp. Back and forth back and forth at least a half dozen times each. I can only tell you what I heard and what my experience has been realizing that not everyone hears the same things and systems difference will impact the results. I am impressed with the fit and finish of the products coming out of China..These people are audiophiles as well. Just talk to some at CES and you know they take it all as seriously as we do. In the end, I'd say there may have been a slight decrease (1-3%) in the openness of the Chinese Valhalla but that may be a factor of expectation bias. So I currently use the Original Valhalla with the pre-amp and the other with the separate power unit to the Oracle. I have since replaced the Heimdahls and Shivas with Odin 2's and am actually blown away with how damn good the sound is to include transparency, staging, decay, transients, taught-ness, and accuracy. I also did the same experiment with a Transparent Reference power cord. You can definitely hear differences between the two, mostly darkness but it was there. I believe the Chinese are very good at reduction, evaluation, and reconstruction utilizing the same materials the difference being the availability of a very large, intelligent, and devoted workforce. I have three sets of interconnects and 6 power cords all for less than the original Valhalla. Hope this helps. |
