SHUNYATA RESEARCH Cobra Zi-Tron
Power cables
The manufacturer claims that the Cobra shows the best price to performance ratio in his portfolio. This is however affected by the depth of a customer’s pocket and cannot be generalized for everyone. From what I heard I can only agree.
Function and form
The Cobra Zi-Tron looks like a real cobra – it is black, it is thick and it is a real visual predator in any room. The Cobra uses light thick core that is surrounded by braided conductor strands so it is surprisingly very flexible. Despite it can be comfortably bended behind a rack I recommend being cautious with some lighter components (like D/A processors) that can be pulled down by its mass. Also, the Cobra is difficult to rotate in its axis so sometimes it requires a lot of wit to manipulate it into the final position. The Cobra is provided in the standard length of 1.8m which is okay for most applications and helps its manoeuvreability. I would discourage you to use force when making turns and twists as it could lead to irreversible ruptures to the conductor strands.
Being so thick it is surprising that with the total corss-section area of ca 5,3mm2 the Cobra Zi-Tron’s conductors are not among the most massive in terms of their gauge (alike the Python Zi-Tron with its effective area of ca 6,5mm2). Still, both cane be used without any hesitation with power hungry amplifiers or power filters.
Bass management
Clarity & delicacy
Tonal accuracy
Spatial resolution
In the recordings I used for the review the Cobra Zi-Tron wonderfully opened up the soundstage to the level of my Nordost Valhalla reference cables. The lateral spread as well as the depth were not limited by anything, the sound just naturally filled up my room. The naturalness was helped by the Cobra’s rich and organic presentation that was supported by well defined and deep digging bass. The latter was the area where the Cobra outperformed my reference cables. The result is that the sound of the Cobra is darker, saturated and dense to certain degree and therefore it requires careful matching. On the other hand, though ‘ darker’, the Cobra is transparent, focused and fast, full of shining colours and easily bringing up the nuancees like ambient details of a concert hall or a studio. On top of that it possesses dynamic swing that energizes the room and makes your feet tap.
I had the best results with the Cobra Zi-Tron feeding my power amplifier; with the SACD player the improvements (though in the same direction) were not so apparent, but I am accustomed to this as my Accuphase DP-78 player is not overly sensitive to power cables.
The complete text of the Shunyata Research Zi-Tron series cablesis available in SPECIAL EDITION REVIEWS section.
Recommended resellers
Platan Audio, Hlohovec / Bratislava, tel. +421 905 409 802
Manufacturer's website: http://www.shunyata.com
Associated components
- Sources: Accuphase DP-78
- Amplifiers: Accuphase C-2410 and Accuphase A-60
- Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamond, KEF LS-50
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Cardas Clear, Audioquest Wild Blue Yonder, CrystalConnect Piccolo Diamond, Homegrown Audio DNA
- Power conditioning: Nordost Thor (modified), Nordost Valhalla, Snakeblock, Analysis Plus Power Oval-2 and Oval Ten, Shunyata Cobra Zi-Tron.
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