Which cable will reduce harshness of CD player?

Hi Buckingham - the Cardas Golden PC will most certainly warm things up for you. I never found it to be the ultimate PC for source components since it actually seems to perform better on amps, but at least this will make you a believer about the benefits of aftermarket power cords.

Digital front ends have a way of tossing a large amount of "hash" back into the sound pool. The hash is often perceived as brightness.

You can drive yourself insane by changing interconnects to remove this but the only real way to solve the problem is with a good power cord. Lower resolution ICs will remove or choke the brightness but can also place constraints on the precious signal which audiophiles work so hard to preserve - therefore I must recommend a decent power cord for your source. This will remove the nasties and help you make better IC decisions in the future. Once you feel you've found the right power cord, then you will want to look at your ICs.

Another source of brightness could be your room.

ase z-man will do the same thing as a musical fidelity x-10. this was the only way i could tolerate cd... until i got a tubed preamp! ;~)

killer cd upgrade, for less than the cost of the i/c's you're considering, is the art di/o adc/dac. check the threads here & on the aydio asylum.

doug s.

Hi Guys! I'm currently listening to my test CD (Rush Soundtrack) and I am TOTALLY blown away by the intoxifying nature of the sound. Yes, you guessed right, I changed the AC cord to Cardas Golden Cross. It's like I'm listening to a totally different system. Barry, you are the man! And by the way, I like your website :) I also added another Golden Cross AC cord to the A3 integrated and WOW.. More Golden freshness.... Gotta go, I'm going to try them on the Magnum Etude Tuner and see how it works out.

Check www.greatnorthernsound.com, and look into the PASI.

Buckingham, I am glad the Golden Cross power cord worked out for you. I don't understand why 5 or 6 feet of power cord makes such an important difference but once you hear it, there is no going back.

If you ever get a few bucks to "invest" you might try a Shunyata (not the sidewinder) power cord on your source and move the Cardas Golden to your amp. For your preamp, almost anything will work okay - so.. try an Absolute Power cord or something decent but not too expensive.

Also, it is a good idea to mix and match power cords - be careful about using too many PC's from one manufacturer.