Another cable question

@bikeboy52 , I ran a .5 meter silver RCA cable from my Bluesound Node to the Sony TA-ZH1ES Line In. I ran a 1 meter silver RCA cable from the Sony TA Pre Out to my Marantz 7702 processor. I then used a 1 meter silver power cord to plug in the Sony TA. All silver cables were from the same brand. I will be adding a silver USB digital IC very soon. I also have a Paradigm streamer plugged into the Sony TA with an optical digital cable. This is also a headphone amp and I'll be using silver cables for my headphones too.

Intuitively, everybody’s experiences are going to be entirely bespoke, ergo, one-size does NOT fit all.

Influencing factors listed from the CARDAS website:

It is said, wire is just wire. In reality, a high-end audio cable must balance resistance, capacitance, inductance, conductance, velocity of propagation, RF radiation and absorption, mechanical resonance, strand interaction, high filtering, reflections, electrical resonance, dissipation factors, envelope delay, phase distortion, harmonic distortion, structural return loss, corrosion, cross-talk, bridge-tap and the interaction of these and a hundred other things. As a high-end cable manufacturer, Cardas Audio strives to address every detail of cable and conductor construction, no matter how small...”

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

I upgraded from an all NORDOST FREY loom (flat, many/multiple very thin and narrow gauge silver coated ferrules design ) to comparatively thick, round, and heavy all CARDAS CLEAR all Cu loom.(Cardas’ cable design incorporates, Golden Ratio, Constant Q, Cross-Field, pure copper Litz, conductor technology.)

- That annoying digital “edge” and “brightness” was finally gone, with no loss in detail, along with a noticeable step-up in dynamics, presence, and slam.

The changes were in steps ( not en mass) …ICs first, then power , and finally speaker cables. The audio improvements were incremental in lockstep.

- your experience(s) will be ENTIRELY system dependent… full stop. The NORDOST array for me was fine,,,, the CARDAS array for me was better I’m no techno nerd to pontificate the techno detail why.

TAKEAWAY SUGGESTIONS

I would not parse out the potential effects of changing ICs ( pros and cons) independently from the effects of your speaker cables and your power cables. Audio performance changes ( pro and con) is determined by the SUM of the parts in the system linkage from cradle-to-grave…

its ENTIRELY system dependent that can only be assessed by hands-on experimentation. Roll up your sleeves . It’s a journey and not a destination approach.

3rd party Anecdotal posts herein are all independent comments only to be cautioned as such, and especially without any assurance that your experience will be comparable .

Happy New Year and happy hunting.

@bikeboy52 I use AZ Absolute Copper between DAC / preamp and preamp /amp. Fantastic cables!
I have tried AZ Absolute Silver as well as AZ Silver Ref II in place of one of the Absolute Coppers and preferred Absolute Copper every time. I have also tried other similarly priced copper cables and the AZ couldn’t be beat.
In my opinion, to my ears and in my system the AZ power cords and speaker cables are the weakest in their cable line but their interconnects are outstanding.

I looked at your system and I see you’re using AZ Tsunami power cord. I find their power cables to sound dark (I owned latest Krakatoa and Gargantua recently and had the Tsunami a while ago). I would explore upgrading the power cables before swapping the AZ Absolute Coppers.

@audphile1 Thanks for taking the time. A number of members and I believe you may be one of them highly recommend the upper end AQ power cables. I decided this morning Id contact the Cable Company this week and inquire about a few loaners. I’ve bought from them a couple times.Maybe I,ll try one ? If I were do that what component would yield the most change? Right now that Az cable is on the power amp into the wall and theres a Cullen on the power conditioner. Theres a mish mash of aftermarket cords everywhere else. This situation reminds me of that old adage “ So many cables, so little money “ or it was something along those lines Thanks again to everyone that has responded.

@bikeboy52 yup. Ever since I put an AQ Hurricane on my Puritan PSM156 power conditioner I’ve become a huge fan. Next I bought an AQ Tornado for the amp (plugged into wall) that I just recently moved to my Bricasti DAC when I bought a Hurricane for the amp.
 

A word of caution with The Cable Company…if borrowing cables ask for the latest version. When I borrowed they sent me an older Hurricane (red jacket, braided). It does not sound as good as the latest Hurricane.
Your other option would be to buy from TMR with a return policy. They have used and open box deals. Once you try the Hurricane on your power conditioner I doubt it will be going back. 
 

Does your power conditioner use 15a or 20a cable? If 15, you can experiment between it and the amp. It’s really tough to say where it will make the most difference but what’s certain is it will be a significant improvement over the AZ Tsunami. You have a very nice system by the way. You should easily hear the benefits of a power cord upgrade.