EnKlein David Interconnect and T-Rex Power Cord Review

Answers (or not)?

I have stated on many previous occasions that the Pass Labs components, more than any other I have used, seem to be nearly immune to changes in power cord. This is not the case for many other components in my system; and as I quickly discovered, the Melody Audio components that were in for review.

The combined attributes of the EnKlein David interconnect and T-Rex power cord in my opinion have enabled me for the first time to hear the Conrad Johnson UDP1 Deluxe universal player, Pass XP-20 line stage and the Pass X350.5 power amplifier at their very best or at least very close to it (the superb enKlein Titan speaker cables have yet to be constructed with EMISS). The David and T-Rex get completely out of the way of the music and enable the native qualities of those audio components to emerge. So then, why end the review here? The answer is a simple one. These cables contribute no sound of their own. Their contribution is much more significant as I have come to find out.

The enKlein David interconnect and to some extent, the T-Rex power cords are something of ground-breakers. The things that I have heard in my listening environment over the past 8 months have led me to, in my opinion, the irrefutable conclusion that perhaps the terms “synergy” and “compatibility” do not necessarily belong in the vernacular of cable selection after all. This goes against years and years of what I held as fundamental truths in the “art” of cable evaluation and selection. EnKlein’s ground-breaking work in the development and implementation of EMISS, aka Dragon Skin, in conjunction with the work in shielding even the terminations from the ill-effects of their surroundings have yielded a result that perhaps for the first time, truly enables the entirety of the performance of the audio components being joined to be heard in all their glory. I have stated in many previous reviews, that audio components react differently to certain cables. I have also stated that certain components seem to be immune to the effects of changes to power cords.

Now due to my short time with the EnKlein David interconnects and extended period with the EnKlein T-Rex power cords, I see that these two assertions were perhaps misguided. The emergence of EMISS and the principles applied by the folks at enKlein for the development of cable constructs that do the least damage to the integrity of the signal as it travels from point A to point B, has led me to conclude that differences in the way audio components perform with cable A vs. cable B may have much more to do with each cable’s ability to protect the signal transmission from EMI, mechanical energies, etc., than with the wire’s actual electrical properties interfering with an audio component’s sonic performance.

Summary

It is my firm belief that in the case of the “David” and “T-Rex”, the brothers Kleinbeck have developed a solution in EMISS that is essential to proper cable design. Yes, the “Dragon Skin” is extremely difficult to manufacture and it is a highly labor intensive process that requires multiple individuals working on them simultaneously to build the cable. This makes these impressive cables, also impressively expensive. With an MSRP of $14,000 for the first meter of David ($16,000 for balanced XLR) and $5,000 for a three foot T-Rex power cord, they are not for most household budgets. However, this is only the beginning, I already see that EMISS has made its way downstream to the lesser expensive silver wire based Aeros. Hopefully the manufacturing technique will continue to be developed and simplified so that EMISS-based cables can be available for mere mortals as well!

I heartily congratulate the folks at EnKlein on these superb ground-breaking cables. I look forward to what is still yet to come.