Check out the new python thick mains cables

[Dan Osib]

I think I may have just struck the deal of the century here. I've just bought a large number of brand new python thick audiophile mains cables to kit out my entire hifi system. Bought them on Ebay direct from a cable manufacturer based in China. I paid $555.00 US DOLLARS for 10 of these beasts (shipping inclusive). This works out to $55.00 per cable. Check out the photo of one below. They use nice thick 9 AWG (gauge) cable. Material is OP-OCC highest purity copper available, complete with silver plated OYAIDE IEC plugs. If these are made of what they say they are then I reckon I've clinched a deal of a lifetime.

 

[Feltran]

Report back when you've had a chance to try them out. They look intriguing, but honestly I'm not sure I trust suspiciously cheap chinese cables to not burn down my house.

They are selling several different types of power cable, what made you choose this particular one?

This one appears to be their most expensive one, but is still pretty affordable.

 

[patlad]

Well 55$ is not even the price of 1 Oyaide silver on the normal market....

 

[Dan Osib]

Report back when you've had a chance to try them out. They look intriguing, but honestly I'm not sure I trust suspiciously cheap chinese cables to not burn down my house.

They are selling several different types of power cable, what made you choose this particular one?

This one appears to be their most expensive one, but is still pretty affordable.

Well I thought that a lot of the best cables i.e. Neotech are made in China anyway so I thought I'd take a chance here. The reason I chose this one is because I saw the writing on it in one of the photos which said 'SINGLE CRYSTAL COPPER' which is another term for PC-OCC copper which is the purest form of copper known to man. Also I thought it was the prettiest looking. As for the possibility of it burning the house down, I reckon this is unlikely, just look at the thickness of the cable jacket, I've never seen anything thicker, also the huge diameter of the cable (9 GAUGE) should take high voltages pretty well.

 

[Dan Osib]

Well 55$ is not even the price of 1 Oyaide silver on the normal market....

Actually it's a silver plated solid brass pins Oyaide IEC.

 

[amey01]

Definitely let us know how they sound. Hopefully they'll be good, but they look suspiciously like regular cable wrapped in Techflex.

 

[Dan Osib]

Definitely let us know how they sound. Hopefully they'll be good, but they look suspiciously like regular cable wrapped in Techflex.

Oh well his transaction feedback scores are really good -2231 transactions/100% positive feedback. I might get lucky.

 

[Rich]

For about the same price you could get Signal Cable's "Magic Cable" and have a proven performer and know for sure the quality you were getting. These cables you ordered may turn out to be just fine, but I am thinking chances are much higher that someone is getting scammed. Those are certainly not Oyaide plugs.

Oyaide has a warning on their website about imitations of their product being sold on ebay. According to Oyaide, their plug's underlying metal is bronze (not brass) and they are then plated with silver, and then plated with Rhodium on top of that. And a single connector tends to sell for more than you are paying for these entire cables. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

 

[robertawillisjr]

Are they UL approved?

 

[DTB300]

Well 55$ is not even the price of 1 Oyaide silver on the normal market....

Yeah, they are knock-off's that is for sure.

Definitely let us know how they sound. Hopefully they'll be good, but they look suspiciously like regular cable wrapped in Techflex.

Techflex, the great cable disguiser...who knows what lies beneath.

For about the same price you could get Signal Cable's "Magic Cable" and have a proven performer and know for sure the quality you were getting.

I have heard Signal Cables, and they are just a step up from stock cords IMO. Shunyata and DH Labs are two companies that offer GREAT products with a superb performance to cost ratio.

The new Shunyata Venom 3 is a "cheaper" cord to try out.

And you can get them both with a return option if you do not like them.

These cables you ordered may turn out to be just fine, but I am thinking chances are much higher that someone is getting scammed. Those are certainly not Oyaide plugs.

For a similar situation, the Pangea AC-9 which is touted to be a 9G cord and cheap in price is a real clunker in terms of sound. Gauge does not determine how a PC will sound.

Wonder if the OP ever heard these PC's or did they buy "ears-unheard" (like sight unseen)??? A lot of $$$ to drop on an unknown. Are they UL approved too? Personally I would have my power tester handy when they arrive.

 

[Bernard]

The reason I chose this one is because I saw the writing on it in one of the photos which said 'SINGLE CRYSTAL COPPER'

There was an article a few years back in TAS where a manufacturer stated that he walked into a factory in China where they were assembling equipment for him, to find that the people in the factory had sandblasted the part numbers off inferior IC's, and had silkscreened new part numbers corresponding to the more expensive IC's that were supposed to be used. So I would not trust the writing on the cables. It would be interesting to take one apart to see if it is really the gauge they claim it is; it would probably be a good idea just for safety.

I thought you were planning to make your own power cords, per another thread you started.

 

[Dan Osib]

Actually I was going to make my own cables but then I thought it wouldn't be worth the hassle.
I also reckon the Oyaide IEC's on this cable are knockoffs too. However the good news is I know a retired 62 year Electrical Engineer who has tested a lot of these OYAIDE copies over a number of years and he reported back to me that they are nearly as good as the real things. He even uses them in his Naim Audio system and it sounds great. I've just ordered 8 solid copper OYAIDE IEC's plated with Rhodium from China. These are copies of course, I paid $6.50 US DOLLARS for each of them. I made an offer to get the price this low which was accepted. The feedback on them is meant to be good. Anyway stock real OYAIDE's come with solid brass pins plated in silver, rhodium e.t.c. Lots of the copies use solid bronze which isn't a bad thing. Brass is one of the worst conductors of electricity there is. Bronze is a slightly better conductor than brass. Copper and silver are the best, that's why I always try to go with silver plated solid copper if I can, for the best performance.

 

[Dan Osib]

Anyway I wasn't looking for anything fancy. All I wanted was oxygen free copper 9 Gauge (6mm2) which should sound as good as any $1000 mains cable. I just tried a DIY unscreened mains cable using 9 Gauge industrial copper which immediately opened up the sound of my system significantly. My friend who I previously mentioned in the last post has been experimenting with gauges of copper for decades now. He even went down to using 8 gauge copper for his mains cables but eventually went back to 9 gauge, and I definitely firmly believe that number is the magic size for mains cables after listening to his DIY cable.
I've worked it out, you see the thicker the cable the more copper there is, so therefore better electrical conductivity. This is the secret to boosting the sound quality of your hifi. Going too thick with the cable is overkill, that's why 9 AWG/Gauge appears to be the magic number.

 

[robertawillisjr]

What is the difference between copies and counterfeit? Don't mean to seem like a law enforcement officer, but this is a question you should ask.

 

[MPS]

What is the difference between copies and counterfeit? Don't mean to seem like a law enforcement officer, but this is a question you should ask.

a copy could be quite identical but not original product whereas counterfeit would be more of a lookalike but in reality different from the original

 

[Rich]

I have heard Signal Cables, and they are just a step up from stock cords IMO.

I disagree with this assessment. I got a huge improvement over the stock cords from these cables. No doubt there are plenty of better cords out there, but for the money it is hard to beat the quality of Signal Cable. For example, for $99 you can get the Shunyata venom3 that you recommend, with 12 gauge conducters that are 20 amp capable . . . or you can pay $59 for Signal Cables that use 10 gauge conductors that are capable of passing 30 amps. While gauge isn't everything, it is still an important factor in a power cord.

 

[Dan Osib]

The seller of this mains cable I've just bought has emailed me this photo which actually shows the thickness of the bare copper strands being measured with a micrometer. As you can see 2.93mm diameter which definitely coresponds to 9 AWG/Gauge. Check the following WIKIPEDIA link which confirms this in a conversion table http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

 

[Statman]

I disagree with this assessment. I got a huge improvement over the stock cords from these cables. No doubt there are plenty of better cords out there, but for the money it is hard to beat the quality of Signal Cable. For example, for $99 you can get the Shunyata venom3 that you recommend, with 12 gauge conducters that are 20 amp capable . . . or you can pay $59 for Signal Cables that use 10 gauge conductors that are capable of passing 30 amps. While gauge isn't everything, it is still an important factor in a power cord.

I have used Cardas,Synergistic, MIT and numerous others over the years. Anyone here remember Fulton cables? I tried the Signals just to see if there was "hype" surrounding cables.I since then have replaced the majority of my system with Signal.I've stated before most of the cables companies buy the same cable in bulk rolls and make small changes to it and increase the price.

 

[Bernard]

I have used Cardas,Synergistic, MIT and numerous others over the years. Anyone here remember Fulton cables?

Bob Fulton, RIP, was the guy who started this all. I used to have Fulton Brown speaker cables.

 

[Len44]

I have used Cardas,Synergistic, MIT and numerous others over the years. Anyone here remember Fulton cables? I tried the Signals just to see if there was "hype" surrounding cables.I since then have replaced the majority of my system with Signal.I've stated before most of the cables companies buy the same cable in bulk rolls and make small changes to it and increase the price.

Likewise. Frank makes a quality product, provides no-nonsense recommendations and pushes his customers away from buying things that would not make good sense. I have been nothing but supremely satisfied with every purchase from Signal Cable.