Audio Art Cable Statement e2 AC Cable

After two reviews of Audio Art Cable products already under my belt, I am now presenting the 3rd: Audio Art Cable Statement e2 Cryo AC Cable. It is a power cable at 15A, IEC, with solid, classy-looking, silver colored Furutech Nano Crystal Formula FI-50(R) NCF and FI-48(R) NCF plug sets.

They retail for $1, 380/metre; I was sent two for my review to use with my monoblock amps. As with the other two cables I reviewed, this AC cable is from the Statement series, their flagship level of cabling, and has a similar, attractive Techflex sleeving. It is the thickest of the three cables, about 1” in diameter, but relatively easy to manipulate and connect. The wiring is a 10 gauge, 6N pure single crystal UP-OCC copper/silver plated UP-OCC hybrid array. The Furutech plug sets used are considered some of the very finest available for power cable termination.

One lesson I learned over the years when considering power cables is that if you do not hear an immediate change in sound for the better, then move on. For me what a fine power cable does over a stock cable for amplifiers (by listening): a lowering of the noise floor combined with an enlarged (in all 3 dimensions) soundstage. Details and nuances emerge with a clean presentation and well balanced, rich sounding bass, midrange and highs. The first time one experiences this it is a revelation and makes one ponder, ‘how can this be?’. Even engineers/scientists involved in high-end audio who have experienced this are at first perplexed and there still is not a complete understanding of why such a significant improvement occurs. Paul McGowan, CEO of PS Audio, for example, offers fascinating personal stories on this topic with insight. I reached out to him for comment and this is what he said:

It all started back when I began work on the Lab Cable many years ago. I started with a run of 10 gauge Romex, which had great bass but crappy highs. I hand wound some 18 gauge around the Romex and boom! The highs came. I did the same with a thicker gauge and couldn’t get the midrange, and it was then I went out and had a beer and decided to finish with shielding then go back to the midrange dilemma, which I solved by braiding wire under the shield. It was a harrowing process but worth it. One of the very first high end power cables ever made. Finding someone to manufacture it was a nightmare and you should have seen the looks on the cable manufacturer’s engineer’s faces when I explained what I was doing. I think they needed a beer.

If a power cable passes the initial listening test by offering an improvement in sound, then other things to consider include the thickness and ease of manipulation of the cords as well as their ability to connect; for some can be like elephant trunks, stiff and hopelessly unwieldy, or they can be bendable and thin, or in between. In any case, power is one of the fundamentals you must deal with when you have high-end equipment making up your audio system—don’t let your system down.

The Audio Art Statement e2 Cryo AC Cables did pass the immediate sound test for me, and they were easy to manipulate and attach. Yet again, I was impressed. I offer a short overview of my findings.

Note: Yes, $1, 380/metre is expensive for a power cable and with 2 mono block amps in use that would be $2, 760, but I point out that Audio Art Cables makes considerably less expensive AC cables as part of an entry level series, some as low as $180/metre. One need not jump right to their flagship model as I did for this review. And if you are happy with your stock cord, and do not notice an improvement with more expensive cords, then so be it.

Sound improvement

My own personal experience with power cords is that in general, unlike other kinds of cabling, they do not need any burn in beyond (say) 20 minutes. Rob Fritz (Founder of Audio Art Cable) had already kindly burned them in anyhow so I did not have to be concerned with burn in.

I connected the pair to my monoblock amps and into the High-Current zone of my PS Audio DirectStream Power Plant 12 [Audiophilia review up next week-Ed]. The first piece of music I played truly caught me off guard in the apparent positive change I heard: Vivaldi, I Colori Dell’ Ombra, Ophélie Gaillard (cello), Pulcinella Orchestra (February 2020) (24/96 FLAC file on Qobuz). An incredible recording and performance full of energy and finesse that I had only recently discovered—I now could vividly hear much more minutia such as breathing of the soloists and spatial cues of the venue—and the soundstage (already large) was even larger. Ninety minutes long, it involves cello (even piccolo cello), bassoon, violin; voice. To begin, check out Concerto for Cello, Bassoon, Strings & Continuo RV409, and ‘Di verde ulivo’ (Tito manlio, RV. 738).

I moved onto a favorite of mine which had a similar effect on me due to the improvement in sound: ‘War, Four Cornered Room’, from the album The World is a Ghetto (recorded in 1972), (24/96 FLAC file (released 2012) from my music server’s internal hard drive, but also available on Qobuz). This earthy psychedelic studio masterpiece from 1972 has a complex and fun/innovative soundstage presentation involving various percussion, voice, chorus, harmonica, and guitar. The lyrics, ‘Zoom Zoom Zooooom’ and ‘As I sit... In my four cornered room’ have such a new meaning now that so many of us are at home sitting in rooms communicating via Zoom Video Communications software due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Summary

I really enjoyed the Audio Art Statement e2 Cryo AC Cables; they reminded me how important power cabling is and what it can do to improve sound quality. And they also display the Statement series signature fine construction, good looks and superb terminations.

 Further information: Audio Art Cable