SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS
As aforesaid, my friend with the extremely revealing Alura speakers is an analogue fanatic, and I would direct such a person toward the Snake River line. Digital listeners would typically do well to consider mixing Snake River and Clarity.
I would strongly recommend that if you follow the advice of this article and mix the two brands using the Cotton Mouth series of hybrid cables from Snake River Audio and the Clarity Cable’s Organic and Vortex offerings you should try the power cords and interconnects of each company in multiple locations in your system. As I found discrete Opamp rolling with two full sets from different manufacturers to be disproportionately beneficial, so also swapping wires among these two would likely prove to be a powerful tuning method to achieve an ideal sound.
IS SMOOTH AND EUPHONIC MORE CRITICAL THAN DEFINITION?
To round out my discussion I need to clarify my habitus as a listener. That is, you need to know my perspective about pleasing sound so as to know whether to consider buying a full set of Snake River Cables or mix them.
I am a critical listener, and I love detail and definition. I will almost never sacrifice definition for any other aspect of sound quality. I avoid an overly euphonic, syrupy and indistinct presentation. I have extremely high resolving speaker systems that render a virtual “high resolution” soundscape. I hasten to add that I abhor thin or hollow sound and insist on richness and beautiful timbre. I share this because if you are saying, “Yuck,” to that description of a very high degree of definition, then you will not want to mix these cables, but rather seek the full set of Snake River Cables. It will get you enough resolution and definition that you will never wont for it without giving you a treble snakebite.
As I draw this article to a close I have a desire to work with Snake River Audio cables longer-term. They are worthy of the systems I build and are recommended as having well above average sound quality. For those with strong WAF considerations Snake River Audio Cables are highly recommended!
Associated Components:
- Source: Simaudio Moon Evolution 750D DAC/Player; Cambridge Audio 840C; Sonos Digital Music System; Oppo DV-970HD
- NAS: Buffalo Linkstation 500G
- DAC: Eastern Electric Minimax DAC Plus with Burson and Dexa NewClassD Discrete Opamp Upgrade
- Preamp: VAC Renaissance Signature Preamplifier MkII; Cambridge Audio 840E
- Amps: VAC Phi 200; Pass Labs X600.5 Monos; Jones Audio PA-M300-1-2 Monoblocks
- Integrated: Pathos Classic One MkIII stereo tube hybrid (two units bridged to mono); Peachtree Audio Nova
- Speakers: Kings Audio Kingsound King III; Legacy Audio Whisper DSW “Clarity Edition”; Kings Audio King Tower omnidirectional; Daedalus Audio Ulysses used in Landscape orientation; Eminent Technology LFT-8B
- Subwoofers: Legacy Audio XTREME HD (2)
- IC’s: Clarity Cable Organic RCA/XLR; Tara Labs RSC Air1 series 2; Wireworld Equinox; Wireworld Silver Eclipse; Wireworld Platinum Eclipse; Snake River Audio Signature Series Interconnects; Silent Source Music Reference Interconnect
- Speaker Cables: Clarity Cable Organic Speaker; Tara Labs RSC Air1; Wireworld Equinox 5; Wireworld Silver Eclipse; Snake River Audio Signature Series Speaker Cables; Silent Source Music Reference Speaker Cables
- Digital Cables: Clarity Cable Organic Digital; Tara Labs RSC Air 75; Wire World Startlight 6; Wireworld Gold Starlight 5, Wireworld Gold Starlight 6; Snake River Audio Boomslang; Silent Source Music Reference Digital Cable
- Power Cables: Clarity Cable Vortex; MIT Oracle ZIII; Tara Labs RSC Air; Xindak PF-Gold; Wireworld Stratus 5, Electra 5 and Silver Electra; Snake River Audio Signature Series; Silent Source Music Reference Power Cables
- Power Conditioning: Wireworld Matrix Power Cord Extender; Tara Labs ISM Power Screen; Tice Audio Solo
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Thanks for the review. I have been considering a used Clarity Clear Focus power cord, described as “very neutral,” so finding this review was very useful in confirming my understanding of your earlier reviews of the Vortex and other Clarity wires. Those latter definitely give the sense that you’re more a “sound” (clarity) and “event” guy vs. “music” or tonality/timbre first, myself being of the latter kind (that clarity you describe used to be referred to as “clinical”). It’s tricky putting together an enjoyable system with the former characteristic, so I’m not surprised that with time and experimentation you’ve opted to mix in some warmth. A major part of my approach derives from the perception that acoustic instruments and human voices by and large have a natural warmth.
You did not say how you mixed them. Clarity on your Pass amps, or VAC ? Snake river power cord on your DAC ? Which combo worked best on the VAC preamp ?
Coincidentally, I use a Clarity Focus power cord on my computer power supply, and a Boomslang AES digital cable from Weiss converter to DAC. It does sound very good. A Clarity cable Red was not so good on the DAC after hearing a Bybee-Furutech power cord on same DAC. Excellent sound. But the Bybee-Furutech was not very good on the computer power supply. It is quite a job getting these cables right. I feel sorry for guys that buy “looms”.
Bill,
God’s Joy to you,
Mixing the cables to suite one’s preference would be a more personalized thing. I did so many mixes with them on different systems I do not recall that particular configuration. But, mixing them did consistently yield the best result.
Looms of cables can be superb and preferable in many instances. Not all mixing of cables is efficacious, but one will never know until actually comparing looms, then mixtures of cables. This is often more time consuming and costly, so most audiophiles will not do so, even though it is the best way to assure the system reaches its potential.
Blessings,
Doug Schroeder
The EXOGAL Comet and Ion with HyperDrive are FANTASTIC with the Cottonmouth Power Cords!!!!