mr_gray Posted September 6 Share Posted September 6 Hi thought I would give my impression of the Omega XC cable. The system is an Audio Note system (tubes) and I mainly listen to vinyl. The cable in question connects the wall to a powerblock (Shunyata AU-8) and powers everything except amplifier which is plugged direct to wall. The Omega XC replaced a Sigma XC which did the job previously. Shout out to Mike at AVGallery for supplying the cable. Noting that Omega is the next one in the line above Sigma. Omega do some sort of burn in at the factory. Unsurprisingly though the cable still needed to "settle". In the week prior to it settling down it was brash, loud and a tad painful. It was great that it was so energetic but I hated the idea that i would end up with this shouty loud system that might lose some of the pretty. It is now settling in quite nicely. I have previously heard the Sigma XC in that position but also a Sootto Power Cord (albeit with C14:C19 adaptor) and a Stage 3 Concepts Poseidon (albeit via different power block). The Omega XC does exactly what it is supposed to. It ups the amount of energy your system seems able to access. As i write this it sounds like a nonsense. However that is what you hear. You hear better sustain, you hear more songlines being played in parallel (simultaneously), things are louder and more dynamic. It is literally like there is a switch that says "more" and you have flicked it. I have no idea how that is achieved. But I can hear it. What was important to me was that I did not want too much an effect on the sound characteristic. I simply wanted to optimise the power situation so that I had not left a stone unturned in that area. As it settles in I feel satisfied with that. I have noisy power at my house but I am not a fan of filtration broadly and I want to minimise that. More and more it is coming back to what I had but better. I wouldn't say I notice much of a difference in the dynamics (although it is there I think), I mainly notice it in how the system plays different music elements that occur simultaneously. Bass in particular has done well with better continuity of bass lines through songs and less distortion on bass. I love bass and so no complaints but certainly I don't think that is its strongest feature. The strongest feature seems to be in the singing, both female and male vocals. It is easier for me to hear different harmony parts. Last night on Soundgarden's 4th of July for the first time ever i heard Cornell doing high parts over him also doing low parts. I had never had that articulated in such a way before. Initially the cord did sound overblown but a week later as I indicated it is settling in and becoming less obtrusive. The sound stage is wide, I have more depth than i did previously, but the voices are not Wizard of Oz giant (i don't find that appealing). Overall I am very happy with the cable and I feel like it has created a great base for the rest of the system to produce its best. A week and 2 days in I think it will continue to marginally improve and even better disappear. I'd highly recommend it. Here is a review by a professional. http://www.audiodrom.net/en/power-cables/detail/39-power-cables/718-shunyata-research-omega-xc-v2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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