Anticables Reference Level Cables Review

With the Vapor Audio Joule White speaker

Some listening examples are called for. I worked through a consistent set of tracks and played them repeatedly with each increase in the number of Level 3 power cords.

I use the Vapor Audio Joule White as the passive speaker equivalent of an extreme performance supercar. It was designed from the inside out for extreme performance. More than any other power cord I have used, the Reference Level 3 opened up components to allow the Joule White to sound fantastically accurate. Some people want accuracy, extreme precision or ‘honesty’, while others do not, preferring varying degrees of smoothing, or blending, of performers’ acoustic envelopes versus distinguishing their acoustic envelopes.

The Joule White is a speaker I turn to when I want to hear accuracy and impact maximized. Perhaps the addition of the Anticables power cords would be akin to ride settings on a sports car. The most comfortable, and least performance- oriented (dare we say stiffer, as describing an automobile’s suspension system) would be without any of the power cords in the system. With each pair of power cords added, the speaker was nudged toward higher focus, perceived faster transients, and greater macrodynamic impact – and the slight elevation in upper end energy. Listening to the kettledrum in Jazz Variants by the O-Zone Percussion Group, each addition of pairs of Reference Level 3 revealed more information about the impact of the mallet strikes, the vibration of the drum’s skin, and the character of the drum walls and the wave launch of the drum. The mind instantly hears it all, and the reaction is, ‘Wow, how visceral and beautiful!’

Sharpening of vocals is also very pleasing in conjunction with the power cords. By ‘sharpening,’ I mean similar to sharpening a dull pencil. (When was the last time you used a pencil?) Those of us old enough to have used No.2 pencils in grade school know how quickly they dulled. It was of necessity that I carried a portable sharpener with me, a razor blade encased in a puny plastic box. Insert the pencil into the hole and turn… It helped me avoid the unpleasant task of emptying the classroom’s too-full community pencil sharpener! My pencils were sharp! I was not going to endure fuzzy lines on my schoolwork!

The ‘lines’ of a singer’s voice, or that of an instrument, can be distinctly improved in terms of definition by judicious use of power cords. The Anticables Reference Level 3 surprised me with their ability to sharpen the lines defining the singer’s voice, when in the past other power cables from the names mentioned at the onset were unable to achieve that degree of precision. I really like these power cords! When I play ‘Come On, Come On’ by Mary Chapin Carpenter, or ‘New Favorite’ off of the Alison Krauss + Union Station Live recording, I want to hear the in-between moments, the microseconds of change in air, voice, and tone as each word emerges from her lips. This is listening-in deeply to the moment. The Vapor Audio Joule White can do this, and the Reference Level 3 power cords help it do so better.

I have one last comment about the power cords relating to the digital front end and subwoofers. It was particularly gratifying placing the pairs of power cords on the external power supply to the Small Green Computer sonicOrbiter AP i7 4T and the Sonore Signature Rendu SE. This pairing is the most capable digital playback source I have used in my room to date. Don’t think for a moment that power cords do not influence a digital source. To overlook it would be a glaring mistake. On the other end of the system, the Legacy Audio XTREME XD Subwoofers were very happy when I placed the Reference Level 3 Power Cords on them. Hearing a subwoofer “snug up” tight to a pair of main speakers through improved cleanness and punch by simply switching a power cord is a particularly enjoyable experience if you value precision in LF. If you have subwoofers that you sense are not keeping up with the mains, it behooves you to consider replacing the power cords with the Reference Level 3.

I could go on at length about the power cords as they are the stars of this review, but I have two other categories of products to discuss, namely interconnects and speaker cables. Suffice to say that the magic of the Reference Level 3 held for the Kingsound King III electrostatic and the PureAudioProject Trio15 Horn 1 speakers. During the review of the Horn 1 I did several tuning adjustments to improve its performance, as the speaker is designed to accommodate such things. The introduction of the Reference Level 3 Power Cords in the system brought as much change to that speaker’s sound as adding oil filled caps and changing out the speaker’s internal wiring.

Anticables Level 3 Speaker Wire

Anticables speaker cables

In keeping with the minimalist, uncluttered nature of Anticables the Level 2.1 and 3.1 Speaker Wires sent were blessedly light and easy to work with. What a refreshing change from the fire hoses that abound today! Pertaining to the recommended limit of length of speaker cables, Paul said, ‘We allow customers to order our speaker wires in any foot increment up to 50 feet directly from our website. Lengths longer than that can be made as a “special order” by contacting us directly. We have a number customers with lengths of 40 to 90 foot runs that report getting very good sound, which is quite encouraging and a testimony to their sonic quality.’ I cannot imagine the degradation inherent in using a 90-foot run of speaker cable! I would do nearly anything to rearrange a system to avoid it. I can see situations where in-house construction or having to hide every wire to achieve an aesthetic requirement might cause one to go long on speaker cables. However, it is to be avoided whenever possible.

Uncluttered is an apt description of the sonic character of the Level 2.1 and 3.1 cables as well. There exists such a wide range of performance between speaker cables in terms of information retrieval and tonal coloration that finding a wire that strikes the ear as neutral can be challenging. Yet, the Anticables speaker cables remind me of the open, if a bit clinical, nature of the Benchmark Media components. There seems to be little editorializing with these cables.

Compared to the Clarity Cable Natural Speaker Cable and the Silnote Anniversary Speaker Cable, the upper level Anticables 3.1 is lighter on the bass and has less variance through the frequency spectrum. I hesitate to use the word ‘flat’ as it can elicit a strong negative connotation, but as with a frequency curve some strongly prefer a flatter response, and these speaker cables offer it. The 3.1 is an acceptable choice for taming overly aggressive systems.

Recently I have had the pleasure of reviewing the VanL Speakerworks Silhouette, a small floorstanding speaker with 6.5” proprietary twin motor wood cone drivers. These are paired with 1 1/8” soft dome twin chamber tweeters. The innate nature of this speaker leans toward a Vandersteen warmth, and I wonder how much the wooden cones play a part in it. Especially in the low end, where a time aligned transmission port enhances the bass output, the Anticables brought appreciated tightening of the bass. Whereas the Clarity Natural Speaker Cables added weight and fullness, the 3.1 brought lighter and tighter bass. Marcus Miller’s work is a gold standard for me in assessment of the quality of a speaker’s bass. Corinne Bailey Rae’s light as a summer breeze voice contrasts with Miller’s edgy, bristling bass on ‘Free.’ Both Bailey Rae’s voice and Miller’s bass were rendered free of a sense of unnatural thickening. ‘Higher Ground,’ the Stevie Wonder song, hangs tight and moves along quickly, Miller’s bass plucking having an intensity that shines through with the 3.1.