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Results with Audioquest Niagara 5000 / Dragon HC

So my second Dragon HC cable finally arrived and I’m retesting the Niagara 5000 demo that my local dealer loaned me. They had loaned it to me before and I found it made the sound veiled. At the time I attributed it to the low end NRG-1000 cord they loaned with it, when I was plugging my Diablo 300 amp into it using a Dragon HC.

Turns out I was right. Sounds fantastic now, with a Dragon powering the Niagara 5000 and a Dragon powering my amp. I have Hurricanes connected to the conditioner powering my sources.

Nordost’s support (I have Valhalla 2 speaker cables) warned me that every conditioner, filter, and regenerator alters tonal balance in some way that is unpredictable because the effect is unique to each system. This seems accurate. The Niagara 5000 definitely adds more bass groove, slam, and overall solidity to the rhythm. The midrange may be very slightly brighter. But overall I like the effect vs my amp plugged into the wall. It is possible that it is NOT actually impacting tonal balance and rather the “power correction” is correcting my power and thereby correcting my tone. I guess there is no way to figure out what is actually the baseline tone and whether the Niagara is affecting it, or simply achieving the actual baseline tone through power correction.

Nordost recommended I look into Torus for neutrality. Others report that going Torus leads to a “open, unrestrained mids and upper frequencies”. Torus is different than the Niagara in that it’s just a big isolation transformer (RM20).

While I know I like what the Niagara 5000 does now, my considerations are:

-Buy a Niagara 7000 (is it worth it over the 5000 for significant added cost?)

-Buy a Torus RM20 (I don’t think I can get a demo), which is less cost than a Niagara 5000 and WAY less than a Niagara 7000. And supposedly achieves an open, detailed, free-flowing sound.

I’ve found it’s system dependent but I’ll ask anyways: have people found the Niagara 7000 to perform better than the 5000? If so in what ways? And, does anyone have experience comparing Niagara against Torus, for amps, and/or sources?

 

 

nyev
nyev OP
1,031 posts
 

@ozzy , I totally believe Dragon Sources would help but I’d need THREE for my digital chain (streamer, reclocker, network isolation switch)…..

Plus, my system is everything I want it to be after 11:30pm each night, with NO conditioner. All I really want is to hopefully enable this performance in the day - nothing more. The reason I’m interested in Torus (RM 20) is that everyone who has tried it seems to say it improves the sound EXACTLY in the ways my sound improves late at night - more open, more unrestrained, more detailed, with a soundstage that opens up to be “holographic”. It is super frustrating that I get this sound at night but not during the day.

While I really do like what my Niagara 5000 demo is doing, no doubt, it is NOT making my system sound like it does at night.

So yeah, upgrading my Hurricane Source cables to Dragons would be awesome, but I know it shouldn’t be necessary to get that sound I’m looking for because I already do get that sound late at night! As I’d actually need four including a turntable I’d eventually get, I think an upgrade to Firebird Sources might be slightly less crazy money at almost half the cost of Dragons. But still crazy money….

After listening to the Niagara 5000 late last night and not getting those qualities I get at that time with NO conditioner, I am starting to lean towards a Torus RM20.  
 

The Torus is a different approach to the rest, as it’s not a “conditioner”.  It’s simply a  massive isolation transformer, and nothing more.

 

ghdprentice
7,191 posts
 

@nyev 

 

Great discussion, thank you. Very valuable.

nyev OP
1,031 posts
 

I just realized I’m making the same mistake I always do - judging things before burn-in. The Niagara 5000 demo is well burned-in by my local shop, but my Dragon HC cord powering it is brand new. The shop claims that Garth Powell of Audioquest says burnin is no longer needed, but that was not my experience with my Dragon HC I recently bought to power my Diablo 300. After around 5 days the sound had more depth and detail to it; it became more open. The tonal balance didn’t change other than the added clarity in the high frequencies.

Not sure how much difference burn-in will make in my Dragon that powers the Niagara 5000 demo however. I will find out. Been playing music constantly.

That said, I may just spring for the Torus RM20 anyways, as it’s cheaper and purported to do what I want it to do.  If I feel that it is inferior to the Niagara 5000 (I will have to imagine how the 7000 sounds..) then I should be able to sell it easily.  Since it’s worth less than half the cost of an AQ 7000, I shouldn’t lose too much if I were to lose the Torus.  But we’ll see.  The Niagara could win me over by next week if my Dragon breakin makes a big difference.

ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,512 posts
 

You should read my post about AudioQuest cable break in.

In the cable section under the title "Power Cable Break In - Such a Change!"

Audiogon Discussion Forum

ozzy

nyev OP
1,031 posts
 

@ozzy , thanks, and actually I’d already read your post on this!

It’s too bad (for me) that your post/experience wasn’t with the Dragon from the wall to that conditioner, or else I could have used it as a predictor of how the sound will change!

But yeah I totally agree, my experience was the same with my Dragon HC for my amp.  I was demoing it against the top-tier Shunyata Omega QR which was broken in at the time I received the Dragon HC demo.  At first the Shunyata crushed the Dragon, in detail and soundstage immersion.  After a week, there was no clear winner!  They did have much different sonic characteristics but I’d rate them both equally.

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