RSX BEYOND POWER CORDS - REVIEW
BEYOND POWER CORDS
There be magic in them there cables!
Lately, I have had epiphanies with the entirety of the electrostatic world—headphones, amplifiers—DACs, cutting edge streamers, and CD players. Now, it appears that another epiphany has waited patiently for me in a rather unanticipated guise—that of a power cord.
Yes, I know. It’s a power cord. Current or electrons travel a power cord’s length from one end (receptacle) to the other (plug), said electrons exiting into any number of devices, which allows the devices to, well, function. Perhaps the ‘quality’ of the depositing electrons comes in the quality of that journey—First Class or Coach, screaming children, quiet—metaphorically speaking.
Well my friends, in that metaphor are a great deal of knowns and unknowns that crisscross numerous math and science disciplines. I got some idea of current and electrons and voltage and resistance (V=IR) in college via physics—electricity and magnetism—a whole bushel of engineering courses, and far too many math courses. Then there were the various materials science courses that exposed me to the differing characteristics of materials—conductance, resistance, ductility (the ability of a material to have its shape changed), etc. But interestingly things never got, well, multidisciplinary.
What I mean to say is that the electricity and magnetism courses never got their chocolate into the peanut butter of the materials science courses or the engineering course. If so, I believe that a good number of us would have a much better idea of just how different and complex wires and power cables can be and not think them ‘snake oil.’
Case in point, I had a noted manufacturer of amplifiers tell me that cables don’t make a difference in sound, at all. Though he later confessed to having a personal cable favorite that was better than everything else. Ahhhh… clearly he got the math and engineering courses, he did not, however, appear to have gotten the material science courses.
The Sound in Metaphor
For those of you falling asleep, I’ll stop there with the maths and sciences and engineering and I’ll mix my metaphors, if you don’t mind, in order to speak to my latest high-fidelity epiphany—the RSX BEYOND power cord.
Okay, I’ve begun the metaphor of a power cable as a conduit of travel ranging from First Class to Coach. But there are two other elements of import—electrical conductivity (the degree to which a specified material conducts electricity, Oxford Online Dictionary) and impurity—that will be woven into my metaphorical mixup.
A group of electrons leaving the insanity of the outside world’s electrical mesh enter my apartment and subsequently journey to the plug of the RSX BEYOND power cord. Now there are a number of possible ‘carriers/wheeled-metal-coaches,’ depending on the power cord, that will take the electrons to the other side of the power cord, receptacle. However, depending on the material makeup of these ‘coaches’—silver, copper, gold, lead, etc.—the journey will be smooth and fast or slow and ponderous or stop and go, etc. The chart besides gives some indication, if you consider the number on the right and equate it to, say, the number of quickly rotating, self-powered wheels beneath each coach.
Ever had a really smooth trip to your intended destination? A horrible trip? And the effect on you was? Exactly. Well, electrons, I imagine, can likewise be affected by their trip or so I’ve come to believe.
In the case of the RSX BEYOND power cable it’s a smooth, fast, and unencumbered journey for the electrons traveling on an “ultra-pure Laboratory Grade™ copper” coach (high electrical conductivity—many wheels (see thermal conductivity for number of wheels)), inside a tube with “Teflon-variant fluoropolymers” walls which shields noise and other kinds of interference (“capacitance and inductance”) from our electron passengers.
Teflon (not on the graph) makes for a very poor coach as it has very few wheels, one fifth of the wheels of Palladium, but as a result forms a good barrier.
Well, it’s time to ‘mix the metaphors’ again but all to bring a wee bit of clarity to how I see things.
Impurities. I’d liken impurities, metaphorically, to potholes, or say microwave ovens, couches, or chairs that lay discarded, dab smack on the highway, having escaped their owners’ vehicles. Now, imagine a journey from point A to point B wherein there’s a whole mess of stuff having escaped an 18-wheeler, its doors coming open on the highway, as it traveled from point A to point B—impurities. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to navigate the four rooms of furniture spread across the highway while on route to point B.
While there are many power cords chock full of impurities, the RSX BEYOND is not one of them. It, on the other hand, has its various electrons traveling in a speedy, many-wheeled coach, inside an interference defeating Teflon tube, on a pristine and quiet highway to point B—power cord’s receptacle, component of choice.
So, how does all of this relate to the ‘sound’ or ‘unsound’ of the RSX BEYOND? The realization that this cable is something special comes immediately, despite whether or not it has been burned in, as there is always consistently more music. Or, perhaps, an unfettered flow of happy electrons which, in turn, provides the ‘life’s blood’ for all components, bringing them to their highest state of performance. All that I truly know is that when the BEYOND power cable was inserted into a system there was more…music, always. There’s a lot to be said for well treated and happy electrons.
This translated into copious detail being floated up from the interplay of transparency and resolution that was smile inducing, time and again, when I was not shaking my head in disbelief. Yes, the high-fidelity technicalities—staging, microdynamics, tone/timbre, air, quiet, etc.—were all better and they were married to a musicality that was natural, beguiling, immersive. Yes, a power cord had made it all possible.
Question. Have you ever been around someone wherein you are more ‘yourself,’ more natural, more at ease, happier, perhaps, than with anyone else?
Conclusion
Roger Skoff says of his three cables—PRIME, MAX, and BEYOND—“Good, better, best.” Well, I am currently reviewing the BEYOND and the MAX and, in terms of ‘better’ and ‘best,’ he is spot on.
I’ve had some fairly profound epiphanies with various components but the experience that the RSX BEYOND power cord unfolded was hard to get one’s head around, unbelievable really.
How does a power cord increase detail? Perhaps, as stated above, via metaphor, by not interfering or diminishing any aspect of the electron transmission and providing for their unhindered, undiminished, and happy point A to B delivery—as they are, truly, the life blood of all systems.
The RSX BEYOND is an easy award-winner of our highest award. Suffice to say, that it is our first DIAMOND AWARD winner for a cable. There be magic in that there power cable.
