PF_2008 Absolute_pc

The 5th Annual Positive Feedback Online's Writers' Choice Awards - for 2008

Absolute Power Cord
Robert Lee's background as a violinist seems germane to any discussion of his exemplary work as an audio designer. The musicality of his creations over the years, from amplifiers and interconnects, to loudspeakers and power cords, are marked by a string-like silkiness, a smooth, laid back, natural quality; linearity, ultra-high resolution and a wealth of detail are never mitigated by an aggressive, analytical quality, nor by the surreal, larger than life perspective of some tweaked out, over-wrought high end products—his designs offer listeners a window into the music, not a lap dance, for an exceptionally realistic, non-fatiguing experience.
You'd have to go a long ways to arrive at a more musical current source than the $1488 Acoustic Zen Gargantua AC cord, with its richly layered midrange, full-bodied bass reproduction, smoothly detailed top end and warmly resolved character, but the Acoustic Zen Absolute AC cord truly trumps its kid brother—as one bloody well might hope for a suggested retail list price of $2488. Not that the Acoustic Zen Gargantua is some sort of poor relation, and I find its rich, woody sonic signature an exceptionally good match for my Rogue Stealth Phono preamp. But there's something truly extraordinary about the musical signature of the flagship Absolute AC cord, nor does its impact lack for immediacy straight out of the box. The Absolute's hybrid copper-silver geometry features solid silver, single-crystal conductors but if you're expecting a bright, in your face AC cord, guess again.
The Acoustic Zen Absolute AC cord not only evinces extraordinary frequency extension from top to bottom—translating dynamic swings with the kind of speed, immediacy and bass impact that makes organ pedals swell up from the floorboards like a sperm whale sweeping giddily through a school of krill—but with spellbinding depth of field and image specificity. There is so much more information—on the order of stepping up from single ended to fully balanced operation—that the listener experiences a bump up in signal level. It just sounds as though there is a lot more there, there, more information, and in truth, the Absolute AC Cord seems to deliver more instantaneous current, which translates into a more expansive, immense soundstage, depth of field, image specificity and illumination.
The Absolute excels at information retrieval, delivering a wealth of harmonic details, and low level ambient cues, with such a spine-tingling sense of venue that I just about leaped out of my chair the first time I plugged it in to my VTL 5.5 preamp, and subsequently when I coupled it to my Manley Massive Passive EQ and the extraordinary Luxman DU-80 Universal Player I recently got in for review. And while one gets blacker blacks, quieter overall performance, and a breathtakingly realistic sense of venue, the top end routinely vaults up to heretofore unimagined high frequency heights, without any untoward brightness.
The Acoustic Zen Absolute AC cord is an indispensable high end component for no-compromise gear—if you think you are eliciting all of the musical resolution your top end gear is truly capable of, guess again Pilgrims. And if the Acoustic Zen Absolute AC cord demonstrates authentic product-of-the-year pedigree, wait until you hear the Absolute Interconnects and Absolute Speaker Cables—zounds.

The Acoustic Zen Absolute AC cord embodies all of the musical qualities I most cherish in high end gear, and the degree to which it places you on stage in a capacious, ambient performance space is utterly inspiring.