All,
Just received some really nice feedback from a customer in the UK using
his Black Lightning with his Nagra CDC:
Black Lightning is a solidly built high-current battery power supply. The unit has an industrial appearance, entirely suited to the task. For me, it inspired confidence… I knew my purchase funds had been allocated the right way. Purposeful, professional, with a look that says this component means business.
So how does Black Lightning sound? More to the point, how much does it improve sound quality for the equipment it supplies?
Driving my Nagra CDC Concept (CD Player), from the opening measures of the first song I knew there would be no need for A / B comparison. The improvement was so blatantly obvious – that if you heard it and funds allowed – you’d want a Black Lightning in your system.
Everything expanded a lot, scaling in size of the original recording, if indeed that was how it was recorded. There was also a general feeling of freedom and liberation in the music. I heard more of everything in recordings, and the music simply flowed more easily. Recordings that had sounded grey, congested or tiring now sounded open, expansive and more listenable.
It's not just one aspect of the sound that improved, it was every facet of the presentation. Noise that I didn’t even know was there was now conspicuous by its absence. And by removing colouration from the equipment’s working environment, it consequently allowed the music's true colours to be heard.
Along with a sense of space and openness and clarity, I also got the sense of freedom in that I could listen anytime during the day or night. I was no longer restricted to certain hours of the day when the grids supplying mains power are less burdened with users, and I could stop worrying or even caring about mains cables, filters and fuses. It now doesn't matter how good the very best mains accessories are, they are made totally redundant by a Black Lightning.
Ok, so you have to remember to switch it off after listening – and, theoretically you are listening from cold each time, but I've noticed no change – it sounds excellent from the moment its supplying power to the moment I turn it off. I have listened continuously for around five or six hours without invoking the slowly blinking low battery voltage LED. I've also left it on by accident a few times overnight - and again the red LED never hit the low-power state (in which case, Black Lightning would automatically shut down and switch to a state of charge).
Could it be improved? Maybe a Silver Lightning – with a gun metal grey fascia and silver solid-core wiring might be a way of expanding the range onwards and upwards.
On the topic of improvements, Black Lightning has improved my Nagra CDC Concept immeasurably and it was pretty damn good to start with. Factor in the cost from $675 ($815 for my configuration) - this is around seventeen times less the original cost of the Nagra, and around seventeen hundred times more effective than any other type of mains product.
Thank you Vinnie for taking my Nagra and listening system to a new level of performance!
Cheers,
Simon G., UK
April, 2010
Thanks for your feedback, Simon, and I'm really glad you are enjoying it!
All the best,
Vinnie
