[highfilter]

Well, Dave told me I could be a guinea pig for his new entry level power cord, so that's what I am! My thoughts below on the power cord and the ÜberBUSS. (I apologize for the giant post, let's just call it an Über Post)

First of all, Dave is one hell of a guy. Not only is he full of extensive, helpful information, he has some of the best customer service I have ever experienced. He answered all my questions regarding power and audio and helped me customize a BUSS that would work for me and my requirements. Just before it was time to ship my unit, I had sent Dave a message asking about grounding and hum issues, because I had been experiencing some when I got my new pre-amp and amp (Wyred4Sound STP-SE and DAC Cherry Jr). He messaged me back with some helpful information, AND, he said before he shipped my unit, he would customize the BUSS with a grounding switch, that would lift the ground on the top receptacle, so I could lift the ground and see if I could solve my hum issue... All of this for free! I was blown away! And on top of that, it did solve my hum issue!

So when my ÜberBUSS box arrived, I opened it up and noticed there was no power cable included. I had asked Dave originally for a power cable because I didn't have any extras at the time. I bought a cheap $15 generic power cable off of him because I didn't want to spend the money on an expensive cable at the time. So when it arrived and there was no power cable, I e-mailed Dave and let him know that he forgot to include the power cable and that it was not a huge issue, but asked if he could ship me the cable or just refund the $15 because it's not a big deal. He e-mailed me back and apologized and gave me an offer... He said he could refund the $15, or ship me a special entry level power cable he has been working on, a projected $99 retail value, for FREE! He just asked me to be a guinea pig and test out the cable for him, and provide feedback. What a guy! I accepted the special power cable, of course. 

So back to the ÜberBUSS. I found a generic 14awg power cable in my house somewhere and hooked up the BUSS. I plugged all my gear into (TV, PS3, Sub, Receiver, Amp, Pre-Amp) and proceeded to rock out to some music. My initial impressions were great. Really clean sound, stereo imaging was really good, sound felt like it was coming from beyond the speakers, and I was loving it. It also fixed the hum issue I was having (did some tests and it turned out my sub was causing the issue). Later on that week, I saw some great deals on Pangea power cords and read about how great of a value they are. I have never bought any special kind of power cables before, I have up until now just been using stock cables. I ordered 3 Pangea AC-9 cables, and 2 AC-14SE cables. I put the AC-9 in my receiver, power amp, and ÜberBUSS. And the AC-14SE cables in my subwoofer and pre-amp. I initially just swapped out the generic power cable that was connected to the ÜberBUSS for the AC-9, and I almost shit my pants. I never thought a power cable could make such a huge difference in the sound. The soundstage became huge, sounds were wrapping around my head more than ever, imaging was fantastic and everything sounded more natural than I was ever used to. The second biggest improvement came from changing out the power cable to the pre-amp with the AC-14SE, which cleared up the high freq. a lot and made the music come through more. But enough of Pangea, I just wanted to share my experience with changing out the power cable connected to the ÜberBUSS, because it makes a huge difference in terms of the performance of the BUSS.

So I got the ÜberBUSS on June 4th and Dave's special power cable arrived on June 25th. When I swapped out the AC-9 connected to the BUSS with Dave's special power cable, I immediately noticed a change in the sound. At first it was just different, and perhaps the music seemed to have more "air" to it. But I let the cable break in for a bit before making any comparisons. Around June 28th I e-mailed Dave and told him how freakin' good my system is sounding and it's never sounded this good before. I was listening to Pretty Hate Machine, by Nine Inch Nails at the time (older record, wicked synths), and it has never sounded that good in my life. I didn't know if the ÜberBUSS was fully broken-in, or if Dave's power cord started to break-in, but I was really happy and thought my system sounded better than it ever did.

So today I thought I'd switch back the AC-9 into the BUSS and see how it sounded compared to Dave's special cable. To my surprise, I actually was really impressed as I thought the mid-bass was more prominent and the high freq. a tad smoother and the sound was coming from my entire freakin' wall and imaging was fantastic. I then played a single track a few times to get used to the sound and then switched back to Dave's cable. Dave's cable I believe did seem to add more "air" to the music, but not necessarily separation between the instruments. The high freq. seemed a little more tinny or bright and I wasn't feeling the extended soundstage from the AC-9, but the soundstage was really good but not quite as wide. On some tracks it seemed to help open them up, they sounded less "mudding" from the more prominent high freq. The music had a nice black background, but not quite has black as the AC-9 (if that makes sense, it could all be in my head).

Now, I am currently using Klipsch RB-61 bookshelves for speakers (I have Salk 10" SoundScapes being built as I speak), and some people say Klipsch speakers tend to be bright, so I am not sure if the AC-9 is adding more bloom to the mid-bass and masking the brightness of my speakers (so it is sounding better to me) and Dave's power cable is actually more neutral and is not coloring the signal - but right now I think the AC-9 is a better fit for connecting the BUSS in my system. I haven't tried Dave's cable anywhere else in my system, so it may work great for the pre-amp or amp, we'll see in the next few days. Also to keep things in perspective, the AC-9 is retail $225 for 1.5m, compared against Dave's $99 projected retail value cable.

I did however change out and compare the 14awg stock generic power cable to Dave's special cable, and Dave's cable was hand's down more natural and better in all areas. Soundstage, separation, air, black background, all there and 10 steps above the regular cable. Using the stock cable, I can feel the music coming directly out of the speakers, but with Dave's cable (and the AC-9), the music seemed to come beyond the speakers and if you closed your eyes, you didn't picture two speakers pumping out these sounds. I also tried removing the Squeezebox Touch from the BUSS and putting it on just the surge protector, and there was a huge difference. Overall sound flattened out, lost the soundstage and separation and everything I love about the BUSS. Plugging it back into the BUSS, it was like I got my sweet sweet sound back. I believe a big reason for this is from the poor power supply that comes with the Squeezebox, and I'm sure a linear custom supply would further enhance the output.

I'll experiment more with Dave's cable in different areas in my system in the next few days and see how it goes (could be killer for the pre-amp). It's a great cable and has a great build to it, Dave did a great job. Has a nice tight fit and is really flexible (something the AC-9s have more difficulty with, and is harder to setup since you can't bend it greatly).

Overall, really impressed with the ÜberBUSS, power cable and Dave's amazing custom service. Couldn't be happier and I'm sure I'll be getting some more goodies from Dave as time goes on. Great products Dave, and thank you again for being the honest guy in audio that makes truly quality stuff. 

Here's the details of my system, and some pictures I took of Dave's power cable:

Pre-Amp: Wyred4Sound STP-SE
Amp: DAC Cherry Jr.
DAC: Wyred4Sound DAC-2
Receiver: Marantz SR7002
Speakers: L/R: Klipsch RB-61 - C: Klipsch RC-2 - SL/R: Old Advents
Subwoofer: Rythmik Audio D15-SE
Speaker Cables: Monoprice 12awg
Power: ÜberBUSS - Cables: Pangea AC-9 + AC-14SE, Dave's special cord
Surge: Zero Surge 8R15T-I
Source: Logitech Squeezebox Touch, PS3 Slim







P.S. Don't unplug the ÜberBUSS to see how your system sounded before, it's really painful. 

[jtwrace]

customize the BUSS with a grounding switch, that would lift the ground on the top receptacle, so I could lift the ground and see if I could solve my hum issue...

I thought this was OK for a temporary diagnosis but not long term...am I wrong?  I just don't see lifting the ground permanently a good thing. 

[dBe]

Overall, really impressed with the ÜberBUSS, power cable and Dave's amazing custom service. Couldn't be happier and I'm sure I'll be getting some more goodies from Dave as time goes on. Great products Dave, and thank you again for being the honest guy in audio that makes truly quality stuff. 







P.S. Don't unplug the ÜberBUSS to see how your system sounded before, it's really painful. 

Clayton, thank you for the reviews of the Uber and the power cable.  I appreciate people that tell it like it is.  I'm glad that you thought the prototype cable was worth the price (free     ).  Let me know how it all progresses.

I sent you an email regarding the other questions, BTW.

Take care,

Dave

[dBe]

I thought this was OK for a temporary diagnosis but not long term...am I wrong?  I just don't see lifting the ground permanently a good thing.

Sometimes, for no good reason the only permanent fix is to lift the ground on a low level piece of gear.  I NEVER recommend that this be done with anything with a high current draw.

Some designers never consider the actions of internal grounding schemes and let the grounds interact between digital and analog circuits in their gear.  This is especially true of pieces of gear that are designed to run on wall warts like a SqueezeBox.  These kinds of devices are often little noise generators.

My new little media computer is built with a Zotac Ion board that came with a 90 watt outboard power supply that is two conductor.  The ground pin only establishes the neutral/hot orientation properly.  The new power supply that I'm building is 3 conductor all of the way to the computer.

Grounds seem to be optional 

Dave

[jtwrace]

Sometimes, for no good reason the only permanent fix is to lift the ground on a low level piece of gear.  I NEVER recommend that this be done with anything with a high current draw.

I still think it's imperative to let someone know the danger and why IMO.  Low level or not there still is risk...

[dBe]

I still think it's imperative to let someone know the danger and why IMO.  Low level or not there still is risk...

No doubt. 

My question is what do you do when there is no ground?  Look at all of the consumer gear out there with 2 conductor power cords that rely only on the wider blade for hot/neutral orientation.  It's all bad ju-ju.  The most important thing to observe is the hot/neutral orientation.  Remember, ground is bonded to neutral at the panel.  Same circuit, but different potentials at the receptacle.  Another bad thing... leads to hums.   

His issue is one related to a bad ground on a poorly designed piece of gear interacting with the SqueezeBox, IIRC.  Like I said: bad ju-ju.

Dave

[dBe]

Well, Dave told me I could be a guinea pig for his new entry level power cord, so that's what I am! My thoughts below on the power cord and the ÜberBUSS. (I apologize for the giant post, let's just call it an Über Post)

First of all, Dave is one hell of a guy. Not only is he full of extensive, helpful information, he has some of the best customer service I have ever experienced. He answered all my questions regarding power and audio and helped me customize a BUSS that would work for me and my requirements. Just before it was time to ship my unit, I had sent Dave a message asking about grounding and hum issues, because I had been experiencing some when I got my new pre-amp and amp (Wyred4Sound STP-SE and DAC Cherry Jr). He messaged me back with some helpful information, AND, he said before he shipped my unit, he would customize the BUSS with a grounding switch, that would lift the ground on the top receptacle, so I could lift the ground and see if I could solve my hum issue... All of this for free! I was blown away! And on top of that, it did solve my hum issue!

So when my ÜberBUSS box arrived, I opened it up and noticed there was no power cable included. I had asked Dave originally for a power cable because I didn't have any extras at the time. I bought a cheap $15 generic power cable off of him because I didn't want to spend the money on an expensive cable at the time. So when it arrived and there was no power cable, I e-mailed Dave and let him know that he forgot to include the power cable and that it was not a huge issue, but asked if he could ship me the cable or just refund the $15 because it's not a big deal. He e-mailed me back and apologized and gave me an offer... He said he could refund the $15, or ship me a special entry level power cable he has been working on, a projected $99 retail value, for FREE! He just asked me to be a guinea pig and test out the cable for him, and provide feedback. What a guy! I accepted the special power cable, of course. 

So back to the ÜberBUSS. I found a generic 14awg power cable in my house somewhere and hooked up the BUSS. I plugged all my gear into (TV, PS3, Sub, Receiver, Amp, Pre-Amp) and proceeded to rock out to some music. My initial impressions were great. Really clean sound, stereo imaging was really good, sound felt like it was coming from beyond the speakers, and I was loving it. It also fixed the hum issue I was having (did some tests and it turned out my sub was causing the issue). Later on that week, I saw some great deals on Pangea power cords and read about how great of a value they are. I have never bought any special kind of power cables before, I have up until now just been using stock cables. I ordered 3 Pangea AC-9 cables, and 2 AC-14SE cables. I put the AC-9 in my receiver, power amp, and ÜberBUSS. And the AC-14SE cables in my subwoofer and pre-amp. I initially just swapped out the generic power cable that was connected to the ÜberBUSS for the AC-9, and I almost shit my pants. I never thought a power cable could make such a huge difference in the sound. The soundstage became huge, sounds were wrapping around my head more than ever, imaging was fantastic and everything sounded more natural than I was ever used to. The second biggest improvement came from changing out the power cable to the pre-amp with the AC-14SE, which cleared up the high freq. a lot and made the music come through more. But enough of Pangea, I just wanted to share my experience with changing out the power cable connected to the ÜberBUSS, because it makes a huge difference in terms of the performance of the BUSS.

So I got the ÜberBUSS on June 4th and Dave's special power cable arrived on June 25th. When I swapped out the AC-9 connected to the BUSS with Dave's special power cable, I immediately noticed a change in the sound. At first it was just different, and perhaps the music seemed to have more "air" to it. But I let the cable break in for a bit before making any comparisons. Around June 28th I e-mailed Dave and told him how freakin' good my system is sounding and it's never sounded this good before. I was listening to Pretty Hate Machine, by Nine Inch Nails at the time (older record, wicked synths), and it has never sounded that good in my life. I didn't know if the ÜberBUSS was fully broken-in, or if Dave's power cord started to break-in, but I was really happy and thought my system sounded better than it ever did.

So today I thought I'd switch back the AC-9 into the BUSS and see how it sounded compared to Dave's special cable. To my surprise, I actually was really impressed as I thought the mid-bass was more prominent and the high freq. a tad smoother and the sound was coming from my entire freakin' wall and imaging was fantastic. I then played a single track a few times to get used to the sound and then switched back to Dave's cable. Dave's cable I believe did seem to add more "air" to the music, but not necessarily separation between the instruments. The high freq. seemed a little more tinny or bright and I wasn't feeling the extended soundstage from the AC-9, but the soundstage was really good but not quite as wide. On some tracks it seemed to help open them up, they sounded less "mudding" from the more prominent high freq. The music had a nice black background, but not quite has black as the AC-9 (if that makes sense, it could all be in my head).

Now, I am currently using Klipsch RB-61 bookshelves for speakers (I have Salk 10" SoundScapes being built as I speak), and some people say Klipsch speakers tend to be bright, so I am not sure if the AC-9 is adding more bloom to the mid-bass and masking the brightness of my speakers (so it is sounding better to me) and Dave's power cable is actually more neutral and is not coloring the signal - but right now I think the AC-9 is a better fit for connecting the BUSS in my system. I haven't tried Dave's cable anywhere else in my system, so it may work great for the pre-amp or amp, we'll see in the next few days. Also to keep things in perspective, the AC-9 is retail $225 for 1.5m, compared against Dave's $99 projected retail value cable.

I did however change out and compare the 14awg stock generic power cable to Dave's special cable, and Dave's cable was hand's down more natural and better in all areas. Soundstage, separation, air, black background, all there and 10 steps above the regular cable. Using the stock cable, I can feel the music coming directly out of the speakers, but with Dave's cable (and the AC-9), the music seemed to come beyond the speakers and if you closed your eyes, you didn't picture two speakers pumping out these sounds. I also tried removing the Squeezebox Touch from the BUSS and putting it on just the surge protector, and there was a huge difference. Overall sound flattened out, lost the soundstage and separation and everything I love about the BUSS. Plugging it back into the BUSS, it was like I got my sweet sweet sound back. I believe a big reason for this is from the poor power supply that comes with the Squeezebox, and I'm sure a linear custom supply would further enhance the output.

I'll experiment more with Dave's cable in different areas in my system in the next few days and see how it goes (could be killer for the pre-amp). It's a great cable and has a great build to it, Dave did a great job. Has a nice tight fit and is really flexible (something the AC-9s have more difficulty with, and is harder to setup since you can't bend it greatly).

Overall, really impressed with the ÜberBUSS, power cable and Dave's amazing custom service. Couldn't be happier and I'm sure I'll be getting some more goodies from Dave as time goes on. Great products Dave, and thank you again for being the honest guy in audio that makes truly quality stuff. 

Here's the details of my system, and some pictures I took of Dave's power cable:

Pre-Amp: Wyred4Sound STP-SE
Amp: DAC Cherry Jr.
DAC: Wyred4Sound DAC-2
Receiver: Marantz SR7002
Speakers: L/R: Klipsch RB-61 - C: Klipsch RC-2 - SL/R: Old Advents
Subwoofer: Rythmik Audio D15-SE
Speaker Cables: Monoprice 12awg
Power: ÜberBUSS - Cables: Pangea AC-9 + AC-14SE, Dave's special cord
Surge: Zero Surge 8R15T-I
Source: Logitech Squeezebox Touch, PS3 Slim







P.S. Don't unplug the ÜberBUSS to see how your system sounded before, it's really painful. 

Now that you've had the power cable for a while and it has had time to settle in have you noticed any changes in the sound?  How does it compare to the Pangea now?

Just curious over here.

Dave

[highfilter]

Now that you've had the power cable for a while and it has had time to settle in have you noticed any changes in the sound?  How does it compare to the Pangea now?

Just curious over here.

Dave

Whoo, what a weekend. Took longer to recover than I suspected. 

Anyway, back to the music. I have had your cord on my receiver and subwoofer over the last few weeks, just letting it break in and seeing how it handles my other equipment. Didn't notice any changes in the subwoofer... but I wasn't really expecting it to, was just getting some break-in time with it (The Pangea cords didn't really do anything for my subwoofer over the stock either, the sub always sounds fantastic). I can't comment much about the sound differences when I had your cord hooked up to the receiver, because I lately have been just using my pre-amp and DAC for 2-channel alone, and haven't watched movies lately. But I will probably throw one in tomorrow and let you know my thoughts on that.

And now for the changes when swapping the Pangea AC-9 from the ÜberBUSS with your cord. I have to honestly say, they are pretty damn close now. The week or two break-in must have done your cord some good because I had to swap it a few times to take in all the minor changes, save for one. First, the most noticeable change between the Pangea and your cord is the soundstage. Both are fantastic and I would be absolutely pleased with either, but since I have both, I can directly compare them. The soundstage on the Pangea is wider and seems to have more height to it, like the music is coming from beyond the walls and just is totally surrounding. The soundstage width on your cord is very similar, maybe just a tad shorter, but mostly their seems to be more noticeable changes in the height of the soundstage. In some songs, their is more "upper-air" I guess I would call it, with the Pangea.

Now for the more subtle, minor changes. After swapping a few times, I found your cord to have a little more definition in the high freq sounds, like background tingles and chims, and upper-synth noises. Really good stuff. Pangea has it in spades as well, but I think your cord has slightly more air around some of those sounds, and isolates them a little better. The last thing I noticed was that the mid-bass seemed more powerful and "there" when using the Pangea. Maybe just a tad, but overall the Pangea seems to have more weight to the sound, which gives it the slight edge in dynamics on my system. Other than that, I was really impressed by the cord and how much it came up to par with the Pangea. Very close now. The most noticable upgrade since I last tried your cord between the surge protector and the BUSS is the soundstage. Really stepped up its game and is more developed.

If I have bought this cable off you for $99, I would be absolutely thrilled. Fantastic deal, especially at that price. When it comes that close to a $225 (retail) cable, I think you got a really valuable and quality product. 

I didn't have a chance to swap out the other Pangea cords in my pre-amp, DAC, or amp, but I might get some time tomorrow. I was enjoying the music too much to keep swapping cables around.

One last thing, not in regards to the power cord, but to the ÜberBUSS in general. I thought I would try removing the amp from the BUSS and just plug it directly into the wall to see if the sound would possibly improve (Heard that sometimes amps benefit better if they are plugged directly in the wall instead of through a filter or power bar)... I almost shit the bed! Half of the soundstage was gone, all the air surrounding me from the sides was gone, and the mid-bass detail was very lacking compared to having it plugged into the BUSS. So I quickly swapped it back and my head was bobbing again. Can't say enough good things about the ÜberBUSS, it's just an insanely essential product for anything audio. 

[satfrat]

One last thing, not in regards to the power cord, but to the ÜberBUSS in general. I thought I would try removing the amp from the BUSS and just plug it directly into the wall to see if the sound would possibly improve (Heard that sometimes amps benefit better if they are plugged directly in the wall instead of through a filter or power bar)... I almost shit the bed! Half of the soundstage was gone, all the air surrounding me from the sides was gone, and the mid-bass detail was very lacking compared to having it plugged into the BUSS. So I quickly swapped it back and my head was bobbing again. Can't say enough good things about the ÜberBUSS, it's just an insanely essential product for anything audio. 

Word!   

[dBe]

Whoo, what a weekend. Took longer to recover than I suspected. 

Anyway, back to the music. I have had your cord on my receiver and subwoofer over the last few weeks, just letting it break in and seeing how it handles my other equipment. Didn't notice any changes in the subwoofer... but I wasn't really expecting it to, was just getting some break-in time with it (The Pangea cords didn't really do anything for my subwoofer over the stock either, the sub always sounds fantastic). I can't comment much about the sound differences when I had your cord hooked up to the receiver, because I lately have been just using my pre-amp and DAC for 2-channel alone, and haven't watched movies lately. But I will probably throw one in tomorrow and let you know my thoughts on that.

And now for the changes when swapping the Pangea AC-9 from the ÜberBUSS with your cord. I have to honestly say, they are pretty damn close now. The week or two break-in must have done your cord some good because I had to swap it a few times to take in all the minor changes, save for one. First, the most noticeable change between the Pangea and your cord is the soundstage. Both are fantastic and I would be absolutely pleased with either, but since I have both, I can directly compare them. The soundstage on the Pangea is wider and seems to have more height to it, like the music is coming from beyond the walls and just is totally surrounding. The soundstage width on your cord is very similar, maybe just a tad shorter, but mostly their seems to be more noticeable changes in the height of the soundstage. In some songs, their is more "upper-air" I guess I would call it, with the Pangea.

Now for the more subtle, minor changes. After swapping a few times, I found your cord to have a little more definition in the high freq sounds, like background tingles and chims, and upper-synth noises. Really good stuff. Pangea has it in spades as well, but I think your cord has slightly more air around some of those sounds, and isolates them a little better. The last thing I noticed was that the mid-bass seemed more powerful and "there" when using the Pangea. Maybe just a tad, but overall the Pangea seems to have more weight to the sound, which gives it the slight edge in dynamics on my system. Other than that, I was really impressed by the cord and how much it came up to par with the Pangea. Very close now. The most noticable upgrade since I last tried your cord between the surge protector and the BUSS is the soundstage. Really stepped up its game and is more developed.

If I have bought this cable off you for $99, I would be absolutely thrilled. Fantastic deal, especially at that price. When it comes that close to a $225 (retail) cable, I think you got a really valuable and quality product. 

I didn't have a chance to swap out the other Pangea cords in my pre-amp, DAC, or amp, but I might get some time tomorrow. I was enjoying the music too much to keep swapping cables around.

One last thing, not in regards to the power cord, but to the ÜberBUSS in general. I thought I would try removing the amp from the BUSS and just plug it directly into the wall to see if the sound would possibly improve (Heard that sometimes amps benefit better if they are plugged directly in the wall instead of through a filter or power bar)... I almost shit the bed! Half of the soundstage was gone, all the air surrounding me from the sides was gone, and the mid-bass detail was very lacking compared to having it plugged into the BUSS. So I quickly swapped it back and my head was bobbing again. Can't say enough good things about the ÜberBUSS, it's just an insanely essential product for anything audio. 

Thanks for the update.  It looks like it is developing well.  It takes a while to come in... the dielectric has to do its' thing.

I'm pleased that you like it.

About the Uber.  I don't want to be responsible for you having to change the sheets!    Other than that - 

Thanks, man.

Dave