VINCENT POWER - kopie
Power cables
Once we start to compare the Vincent with its pricing category peers, and when it feeds a front-end component, there is no one to keep pace with it. With such a performance in your hand, the sum of 120 euros, that you would pay for 1.5m, can be considered a steal.
Function and form
First, take a thick 3m-long-steel-wire rope and the same length of a standard rope. Straighten them on the floor paralelly and approximately a half meter apart. Now, with your left and right hand try to lift them simultaneously, holding them in the middle. Can you see the difference? Whereas the steel-wire rope keeps more or less its shape creating a long arch, the ordinary rope just hangs down. This simple exercise should give you an idea of how flexible, comparing to the most high-end power cords, the Vincent cable is. Moreover, one has to like its polymer fabric sheath with its grey and black pattern in a real snake fashion...
The flexibility hints that inner conductors are stranded, and they actually are – there are 3 strands inside, each consisting of 90 OFC wires encapsulated in a PVC isolation, surrounded by a cotton inlays to dampen mechanical resonances. The Vincent boasts of two shields, one being an alumium foil, the other tin-plated copper braid.
The Vincent Power cable is available in three lengths – 1.5, 3.0 and 5.0m - that should be OK for any application .
Bass management
Here I will copy an excerpt from what we wrote about the Vincent’s power cable on the opportunity of our comprehensive power cords test:
“The Vincent Power was quite convincing on amplifiers, being able to organize the soundstage; it locked musicians in correct positions laterally and did not spoil the natural frequency balance of a recording. On Carmina Burana I noticed that the soundstage was moved a bit backwards – not necessarily deeper, just moved a bit. It created a greater distance between the listener and the performers as if you were sitting couple of rows further in the audience. Also it tended to make the bass a tad softer and the dynamics a tad flatter than necessary. What we appreciated was the background that was silent without deleting the important spatial information, not robbing the recordings of their natural ambience.“
Clarity & delicacy
It is not surprising at all that most audio equipment, except the very best, fails to reproduce the sound of piano. Together with drums, the frequency range of piano is covering a broad spectrum of frequencies and is extremely demanding when it comes to the accuracy of transients and both micro & macro dynamic shading. That is why we like subjecting every piece of the audio equipment under evaluation to a piano test, cables not being an exception.
Tonal accuracy
For this listening, Rachmaninov’s Études-tableaux (Serge Rachmaninov, Études-tableaux Op. 33 & 39, Hyperion Classic) were selected. The interpret, Howard Shelley, excels throughout this collection of short musical sketches, and with the help of the Vincent he transforms little sonic masterpieces into an opus magna.
If you ask why the Vincent Power scored that high among other entry-level power cords then give a listen to Études-tableaux. Shelley’s both elegant phrasing in pianissimos and eruptive outbursts of rhythmic passages leaves no doubt that the Vincent is a very competent cable. It is not obscuring musical notes by a haze but draws a quick and sharp picture. From its mids to its highs the cable shines with an open and expressive temperament that suits the Rachmaninov’s work perfectly. You would not miss the tinniest detail, yet what you hear is seamlessly integrated. One never has a sense of that overly audiophile sound that identifies some highly-resolving cables.
Spatial resolution
If you do not compare the Vincent to something superior, it will make you think that it is a perfect cable. With the help of a reference-grade power cord (Furutech Powerflux resided in my system at the time of writing this review) it becomes apparent, that the Vincent Power has less expansive soundstaging, conveys less convincing textures and colours and is dynamically flatter. But it is also twenty-times (!) less expensive. On the other hand, the Vincent´s bottom end extension is similar to that of the Powerflux, though it is slightly wooly and smeared.
[This review is a part of our extensive POWER UP! power cord megatest. For other valuable information, competitors,and lists of recordings and equipment that was used we recommend to check the full article here.]
Recommended resellers
Hifi studio MeLissa, Brno, tel. +420 777 041 313
Manufacturer's website: http://www.vincent-tac.de
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-78, Linn Unidisk 1.1
- Amplifiers: Accuphase A-60, Spectral DMA-150
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Homegrown Audio DNA, MIT MA-X and MIT MA
- Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio WATT/Puppy 8, Audio Physic Virgo V
- Power conditoning: Nordost Thor (modified), Nordost Valhalla, GigaWatt PF-2 with GigaWatt LC-2 power cord
Gallery
AAI Maestoso
I got to meet the Maestoso power cable last April and spent three weeks with it. Back then the cable had a black protective mesh through which a deep blue shielding sheath was seen; a combination that gave the cable deep blue look ...
Recommended resellers
Authentic Audio Image, Povážská Bystrica, +421 905 694 943
ANALYSIS PLUS Power Oval 2
Zvuk byl doslova třpytivý. Nejvíc ze všeho mi svou barevností připomínal mýdlovou bublinu za plného slunečního světla, na jedné straně plnou spektrálních odlesků, a na druhé nezastírající svou průhledností pohled posluchače. V rámci ...
Recommended resellers
Audiostudio s.r.o., Olomouc, tel. +420 608 752 475
ANSUZ MAINZ C2
Long 10 years passed since I've declared in my review of Nordost Odin power cables "There is no other piece of wire like it". In the context of high-end audio market of 2009 I still stick to my declaration. In the context of ...
Recommended resellers
RP Audio, Ostrava, +420 737 366 831
AUDIOQUEST Hurricane
I had reviewed the AudioQuest Hurricane few months ago at a local distributor's place. It was that good that I have decided to audition it again in my own system to verify what I heard and to challenge it with competitors from ...
BLOCK AUDIO Snakeblock
All power cords have certain filtering effect. The best case scenario is that a power cord filters itself out from the sound, and this was the case of the Snakeblock. It stepped aside and let the music communicate with me with more ...
Recommended resellers
Audiostudio s.r.o., Olomouc, tel. +420 608 752 475
CARDAS Golden Reference
Please be warned in advance: the Golden Reference is, and similarly most George Cardas’s cables, not neutral. If your definition of neutrality is a strident professional sound, that is stripped of emotions in favor of precision (and ...
Recommended resellers
Absolute Audio, Praha, tel. +420 777 739 377
FURUTECH Powerflux
After sharing our homes with more than 20 different power cords that had resided for over three months in our reference systems we learnt that, yes, a power cord could make a sonic contribution which is far from being insignificant. ...
Recommended resellers
Audiostudio s.r.o., Olomouc, tel. +420 608 752 475
