Black Sand Cable Violet Z1 power cord--Impressions
The maker of the famed Black Max Silver Ref IV happens to make this little gem of a cord, one I personally prefer over the Silver Ref. The only link to Violet can be found here:
http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?cablpowr&1156861887Since a lot of people are familiar with Volex 17604 cord, I will go ahead and enumerate what the Violet Z1 brings to the party compared to Volex.
BTW, I hold the Volex in pretty high regard, as I prefer it to MANY audiophile cords I've tried over the years. Volex excels by not having gross errors of commision, i.e. midbass bloat, "chromed" upper midrange, skewed tonal balance, etc that many audiophile cords exhibit. It DOES have some errors of ommision that become obvious in comparison to truly great cords like the Violet.
Violet's calling card in my mind is CONTROL. Not the usual bass-control, etc people think about, but even-handed control from top to bottom. It fires the notes as if from a 45 Magnum, perfectly in trajectory without wobble or overshoot. Notes don't have that dreaded "ringing," which can be very tiring in upper-mids/low-treble, exactly where digital sources tend to "ring." Music appears with natural speed, hangs there just the right amount, and decays without foreshortening, and everything is in balance as should be.
Volex tends to do the initial leading edge pretty well, but it can lose control during the sustain and decay, leaving the impression that some notes have not completed fully with requisite harmonic envelope and decay. It's not so bad compared to other cords, but this is why some of these lesser cords sound choppy and non-continuous during a note's mid-flight/decay.
With Violet, same control applies to treble, which effortlessly extends to stratosphere without any peaks or valleys, yet with requisite natural sparkle. It is, in fact, one of the best trebles I've heard out of any cable. Lesser cords, including Volex, don't have the same refined, filigree'd, yet densely detailed treble, and certain notes within the similar treble area tend to "stick out" or recess due to unevenness in the range. Violet's treble is not overly airy/light or spotlit; it is just right in terms of quantity, density, speed, and impact.
Bass follows in the same vein. You won't find the at-first-impressive upper to midbass "boom" many audiophile cords exhibit. Violet's upper-bass and mid-bass are extremely linear without being threadbare, but more importantly, the bass, especially upper-bass, has LIFE. It's the most lively upper-bass I've heard out of a cord, completely opposite of "dead" bass that pervades many cables and recordings.
Compared to Violet, Volex's upper-bass to mid-bass is not as bouncy or impactful. All the bass notes are there, and the drum beats hit, but they don't hit with the conviction and tunefulness of the Violet.
Midrange. This is where I felt the Black Max Silver Ref didn't fit my tastes in that it was a little too relaxed and smooth for me. I know tons of audiophiles love this kind of sound, especially in all-solid-state systems, but in my tube-based system, I wished for a little more vibrant, a bit less laid-back, and more microdynamically textured midrange. The Violet did just that, though it never crossed into midrange brightness or hardness at all. Everything is still very even and controlled, yet that extra midrange expressiveness and liveliness was there. Black Max probably does have slightly more treble purity and refinement and a tiny bit more low-bass extension, though.
I'm not a big soundstage guy, but Violet pretty much hits it right on the nose. Images start right at the plane of the speakers then extend deep into the stage. Left to right and front to back feel naturally expansive with firm, 3-D images occupying spots. This is not a cable that has overly forward imaging/soundstaging that crowds you. Volex's soundstage feels much flatter and 2-D, and it does crowd you a bit more.
Now, people talk about "black" background, etc, and Violet does have a very quiet background. I personally don't like those "ink black" backgrounds where the space between instruments feel like vacuum/black hole. Thankfully, Violet's spaces, while quiet, were not air-tight vacuum but had substance and smell of venue imbued within the space. I'm not sure what kind of shielding Violet has, but I sure am glad it doesn't sound over-shielded. This is actually a strong point of Volex, too, which has shielding, but not too much unlike many audiophile cords. Volex's background, however, has noticeably more grainy air compared to Violet.
I did directly compare Violet with some other cords. Audience PowerChord is a nice cord with lots of good reviews behind it. Compared to Violet, it is less neutral-sounding tonally b/c low-midrange to upper-bass is noticeably more ripe and fluffy. Extreme treble is rolled off, yet somewhere in low-treble to upper-midrange there is a couple of narrow peaks that add extra "air" to voices in good recordings but adds a kind of a grainy sparkle to many mass-market recordings.
I also compared it to my proud DIY cord, which is Belden 83802 in "shotgun" configuration. Each leg has 12 AWG x2, and the braid shield acts as floating shield. This is an awesome DIY cord that has beat off some seriously $$$ cords. Violet is more refined across the ranges with smoother upper-mids yet more extended extreme treble. My DIY cord is slightly too powerful in mid-bass and has more bass power and impact as a result, but that's HUGE conductor AWG speaking, and Violet has a more linear bass response.
So is Violet the Perfect Cord? Well, it may as well be, especially if you're running solid-state components. There really isn't much to fault here, and that's saying A LOT when it comes to power cords.
For low-power components, my Omega Mikro power cord with tiny copper ribbons does sound a wee bit more pure and transparent, but it can't be used with big components, and some have accused it of being "too lean," or rather not having ANY extra warmth. I don't really agree with that, but it will sound kind of threadbare with components that require lots of power due to the small ribbon.
As far as Violets, go get'em b/c I can't think of any cords at that price, new or used, that comes close, period.
