STAGE III CONCEPTS A.S.P. Reference Kraken

MJ25.04.2025

Power cables

Stage III Concepts sort their power cables into the following levels: Precision – Ultimate – Reference – Statement – Ultimate Statement, where the first is their ‘entry’ level, the last is the best they currently make. The Kraken is a sort of sweet spot in their portfolio, belonging to the Reference level.

100% reference

Function and form

20%

Ease of use

100%

Sound

75%

Appearance

As with the Stage III Concepts A.S.P. Ckahron interconnects that I reviewed last year, the A.S.P. stands for Absolute Signal Purity. The family resemblance is also reflected in the technologies all Stage III cables share, yet each level employs a different level of refinement.

The Kraken employs 6 cryo-treated slow-extruded silver/palladium solid core ribbon conductors (AeroStrand Ultra™) that are suspended by twos in Teflon tubes. Each conductor as well as 3 silver-plated ground wires are individually shielded with silver plated mesh screen. Mechanically the cable is damped with silica, ceramic, and ferrite mix. mechanical damping/shielding layer.

I like the Stage III’s white homegrown housings (Schuko/IEC) as it seems to have superior antivibration behaviour to any power connector I’ve ever had in my system. The contact points are said to be palladium-plated silver and copper alloy, then cryo-treated. As usual, it is difficult to prove the technology claims unless the cable is deconstructed and submitted to metallurgy analysis; however, I assume that a cable like this is not acquired for mining precious metals – nothing but the sound is what matters.

Bass management

Weight

Slam

Articulation

In my system, the Stage III Concept Kraken was replacing the Synergistic Research SRX that had replaced (for review purposes) my AAI Maestoso. The SRX was the only power cable that (when grounded and with the new slickoil tuning module attached) outperformed the Maestoso. It should have - the SRX is 12k€ and the Maestoso is 2k€. Although the SRX was better, it was not 6x better as the price difference would indicate. The Stage III Kraken was a better duelist for the SRX as it is only marginally more expensive at 13k€. I had it for two weeks, but it did not take more than hour to hear that the Kraken provided the most complete sound of all. What does that mean?

Clarity & delicacy

Detail

Air

Transparency

100

There is a typical home sound that I experience every time a Stage III cable is connected in a system. This signature (or unsignature?) makes electronics and speakers in the room disappear. I was taken aback by this phenomenon during my life with the Ckahron interconnects and the Kraken provides the same act of disappearance. The gear is erased, the musicians enter the room.

As usual, let me start with the Kraken’s bass, which is a typical example of how this cable build its ‘sound’. The main feature of the Kraken’s bass is that it is featureless. Nothing really grabs your ears, nothing stands out. It is slightly on the warmer and rounder side of spectrum, yet it has both agility and speed and weight. It is not dry, nor wet. It is the bass you can hear when passing by the street performers – it is not spectacular until you get back home and find out that your uber-expensive audio system cannot even come close to it.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre

Dynamics

Temporal resolution

The normality or realness of the Stage III’s sound is what makes it unique. It is quite difficult to break such a performance into individual attributes as there nothing outstanding. The wholesomeness with natural timbres and dynamics is addictive, however. With competition, I can perhaps admire punchier bass or more detailed midrange, yet those are singled-out details that most high-end products use to attract and show off. It may work short-term, but after several hours it is the Kraken’s way of presentation that makes music more enjoyable for longer.

In the other reference system (Ayon Audio/Audia Flight/Silent Laboratories/Synergistic Research) the Stage III Kraken made the music flow better, with the very same effect: the electronics stepped back and musicians took the centre stage in the three-dimensional sonic picture with floating saturated colours and fine dynamic gradations. Going back is a return to a faded and withered world.

Spatial resolution

Holography

Soundstage width

Soundstage depth

You cannot win a fight with the Kraken. For my application, 1.5m is an ideal length and I have never experienced a problem with any cable – all could be coiled easily to reach IEC inlets of my player and my amplifier. That was not the case with the Kraken. Despite the manufacturer makes the Kraken thinner towards the ends of the cable to facilitate bending capabilities, no way was I able to make the connection as the orientation of the Schuko and/or the IEC was always in the wrong direction on one or the other end of the cable. In the end, I had to go in an arch above the gear and support the cable by an improvised holder. The problem can be easily solved by buying a longer cable, yet at this price point, that can make easily the investment a little over the top. I guess the torsion resistance is the only disadvantage I identified. Other than that, the Kraken is flawless. It is mind-boggling that there are other 3 cables above the Kraken in the Stage III’s hierarchy – Proteus, Leviathan, and Poseidon. Well, it seems that the Kraken is a cub of more powerful creatures…

Price as reviewed:329 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Dreamaudio, Bratislava, +421 907 838 806

Manufacturer's website: http://www.stage3concepts.com

Associated components

Sources: Accuphase DP-720 and DP-770, Ayon CD-35 HF Edition
Amplifiers: TAD M-2500, Audia Flight Strumento No.8
Interconnects and speaker cables: AudioQuest Dragon Bass | Zero, Krautwire Numeric Digital, Ansuz Signalz C2, Synergistic Research SRX
Loudspeakers: TAD Revolution One, Sonus Faber Gravis I, Silent Laboratories Equilibrium
Power conditioning: Stage III Concepts Kraken, Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 2, Synergistic Research SRX, AAI Maestoso, AAI Assoluto, Silent Laboratories S.W. I, II & III, Shunyata Research Denali 6000T, Synergistic Research Galileo SX Ground Block, RD Acoustics EMI Neutralizer, GMG Power X-Blocker, GMG Power microUNIT, Stromtank S-1000, Nordost QPoint, Qv2, QWave and QSine

Gallery

Sound

92%

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

Sound

28%

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

Sound

52%

Back to category