I returned recently from my first-ever cruise. It was extraordinary. It was to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. We booked a special yacht vacation almost four years ago, the first from the Ritz Carlton Yacht Collection (only available now after Covid delays).

The idea of 6000 passengers, casinos, photographers, massive buffets, formal nights, etc on the large cruise lines horrified me. My travel pro twin suggested this very refined 190-passenger vessel would be right up my street. He was bang on. But, knowing the nature of “cruisers”, he suggested I stay off Facebook, etc. There are no bigger whiners and whingers as cruisers. They criticize everything, no matter how trivial. And in social media triplicate! Much like cable review trolls.

So, much like the magnificent Evrima yacht, with three-star Michelin food and lazy days around the sunny Bahamas, the Ansuz Mainz D2 Power Cable (€8800/metre) is much the same. A superb product, giving (me) a similar sense of worth and value.

It’s been interesting reading the comments on every cable and accessory review we do. Some cables are value-added, and some, like the D2, are very expensive. No matter, trolls are ready to try to humiliate, insult and denigrate in the (moderated) comments almost immediately after the review goes live.

I believe publishing negative comments important (the nice ones, too), especially if they're well-written or funny (“You need to be hogtied with those Nordost cables”, now, that’s funny), but I’m learning to ignore the true haters. Their minds will never be changed. What a sad fact they can’t hear what a fine cable can do, reducing everything to ridiculous rhetoric disguised as science.

Okay, enough of that. Trolls, bugger off. Music lovers, read on.

My Use

I’d like to thank our friend Morten Thyrrestrup of Ansuz Acoustics for shipping the Mainz D2 Power Cable to the island.

Even at the price of €8800/metre, we are not at the Ansuz top end. For that, you’ll have to shell out an extraordinary €60,000 for their new Gold Signature. A step down gets you a D-TC Supreme for €36,000. Crazy prices for cable—I’ve never heard one. Would like to. Hoping to at the Seattle show in June. But, I do have a lot of time with the Mainz D2.

I previously reviewed a full loom of the Ansuz Mainz C2 cables. They play a big part in my daily listening and add nothing but silence, detail and a very beautiful musical landscape to already musical components. I had a couple of D2s sent for my system, but I reviewed with only one, powering my reference integrated amplifier, the MBL N51. It was an easy switch between C2 and D2 to hear the differences.

Is the D2 too rich for your blood? Here’s an idea I wrote in my C2 review: Like all Ansuz products, before you reach your musical end game, you can begin with designer Michael Børresen‘s “entry” level starters, in this case, it would be the P2 for €1100/metre or jump to the very fine A2 for €1800/metre. Both are very reasonably priced for the performance gained.

Features and Specifications

The D2 power cable has double inverted helix coils and features a more sophisticated version of the anti-aerial resonance coils found in Ansuz’s less expensive cables. These two technologies are specific to Michael Børresen‘s cable designs and drop the noise floor to nil keeping great detail, subtlety and no loss of rich, musical timbres. Ansuz says: “All cables and cable shields act as antennas for unwanted airborne sound waves (RF noise), which impairs the clarity of the authentic audio signal. The Anti Aerial Resonance coil protects the signal from absorbing the airborne RF Noise.”

The conductors are made of shielded silver-plated copper and the connectors are made of gold-plated pure copper.

Like the C2, the D2 is not a python in disguise. It’s substantial but can be easily manipulated behind your rack.

Sound

Much like the C2 power cable, the D2 power cable kept a clean sheet as far as black backgrounds and the elimination of RF. So you’ll hear a pure, not antiseptic, background for all your components and CDs and LPs to shine. Streaming music, too.

What the D2 offers over the C2 (at a €5400 premium) is more detail and an even broader and deeper soundstage with superb instrumental and vocal timbres. Switching back and forth quickly on a warmed-up system demonstrated the D2’s prowess on the above qualities. My heart didn’t sink when comparing as it does many times listening to an upgraded component—those of you with €3400 Mainz C2 Power Cable can rest assured of its considerable performance—however, the differences were there. And heard clearly. Images were larger and more defined, vocals hovered and shimmered in the even more spacious soundstage, and instruments sounded more lifelike. At these prices, you’ll have to audition and trust your ears. Is a €5400 premium over the C2 worth it to you? As an audiophile and musician, I say unreservedly, yes.

There’s a cool fluidity when listening through superior cables. And with Ansuz’s double helix technology and noise suppression tech, all music, no matter the genre sounds more immersive. Place a D2 power cable in your system, and your ears will recognize the differences and then attune very quickly. Dangerous for your wallet. Replacing the D2 with the C2 was not heartbreaking, but the C2 did not quite have the power to invite like the D2. All musical information through the D2 sounded perfectly fleshed out and natural. And this with only one cable. Not sure I’m ready to hear the whole system kitted out with a full D2 loom. And God knows what the Ansuz Gold cable sounds like.

The quiet low C basses and bass drum ppp roll at the opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra is usually difficult to decipher, especially on the DG ’60s recording (Berliner Philharmoniker/Karl Bohm). No problem with the D2 in place. It’s very impressive how it filters out extraneous noise, much of which your ears have become accustomed to. Strauss never intended the listener to hear the bass drum's individual notes, but cables as resolving as the D2 can do that.

I recently was lucky enough to be given a 2000 mint classical LP haul from a local estate. One of the first cleaned was a DG Amadeus Quartet Schubert Quartettsatz. Schubert named it his String Quartet No. 12, but it is a one-movement work swinging along in a very fast 6/8. A few times, the first violin gets to double the 8ths to 16ths at the fast tempo, sounding more like a tremolando. It happens a few times. The second time, I caught the leader, Norbert Brainin slightly missing one of the bow strokes happening at a million miles an hour. Busted. The D2 caught this infinitesimal error. I did not catch it with my C2 in place. Once more, Michael Børresen’s down-in-the-weeds, supremely musical sound design for an audiophile win. Yet, much more important was the tone and sweetness of the Amadeus players. No subtlety is left unheard, no musical inflection, no beautiful Schubertian thought.

Summary

The Mainz D2 Power Cable at €8800/metre is a superior design with associated outstanding sound performance. Yes, we can have a conversation about the cost of cables and their effectiveness in your system. You must, as an experienced audiophile, practice due diligence and hear the cable in your system for a day or three before plonking down the cash. I’m betting one D2 power cable will up your system severalfold. Very highly recommended.

Further information: Ansuz Acoustics