ANSUZ MAINZ C2

Many audio enthusiasts find beneficial to combine different brands of power cables in the system. Perhaps because none of them is perfect and the combinations help compensate each other's flaws. Not with the Mainz C2. When I replaced just one cable in otherwise fully Nordost wired system I experienced improved transparency, better focus and deeper bass. In fact the bass became deep exactly the way I liked it and was it even deeper I would maybe call it ‘too much’. So I was sceptical about adding another Mainz C2 to the system not to spoil the already achieved balance. A pure misconception. The effect was not cumulative in terms of getting more of everything, however it was cumulative in terms of removing the layers of hash and ambiguity. The clarity of sound transformed from great to outstanding and the tonal balance did not suffer at all.

The tonality of the Ansuz was saturated and colourful, overtones were heard as clear as fundamentals. The sound was neither cold nor warm, it just was, and everything was framed in unrestricted dynamics, both macro and micro. It was no surprising to hear Kodo drum thunder with a greater impact, it was surprising to hear the same explosiveness in softly played instruments like John Williams’ acoustic guitar in Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Spanish Guitar Favorites, Sony SACD), though. The acoustic guitar is a very quiet instrument and as such it should not be played back overamplified. However, when you play it back at realistically low volumes at home it can sound flat for the microdynamics suffer. Through the Ansuz Mainz C2 I could not detect any compression and the sound had subtle dynamic shading even during quiet late night listening session. Competitors felt a bit more ‘faint’ in this and lost the presence.