Shunyata ResearchMamba pwrusedShunyata Research Mamba pwrPerfectly functional with a couple smudges on the cable. This is an extra, I have a Mamba on my Simaudio Amp, love it. Mamba (per SoundStage) PowerSnakes MambaI was seeking power cords at the Mam...150.00

Shunyata Research Mamba pwr

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Condition
8/10
Payment methods
Ships fromMorristown, NJ, 07960
Ships toUnited States
Package dimensions16.0" × 11.5" × 1.75" (2.0 lbs.)
Shipping carrierunspecified
Shipping costFree
AverageResearch Pricing

Perfectly functional with a couple smudges on the cable. This is an extra, I have a Mamba on my Simaudio Amp, love it.   

Mamba (per SoundStage) 

PowerSnakes Mamba

I was seeking power cords at the Mamba’s price point, $395, for comparison as the Mamba arrived. After letting it settle in for a few days, I sat down to listen casually. I quickly dismissed direct price-point comparisons and decided to judge the Mamba on its own merits and compare it to the expensive AC cords I have had in my system.

What caught my attention when listening to the Mamba’s presentation was its ability to get into and through a transient edge cleanly, without the discontinuity I’d become accustomed to with some power-cord designs. Those of us with solid-state or digital-only systems often attribute the little bit of splash or distortion around a transient edge as being artifacts of a recording or our equipment. Peter Gabriel’s "Digging in the Dirt" off of his US CD [Geffen GEFD 2473] is one of many tracks I enjoy musically, but don’t play often because of its fuzzy, threadbare production values. With the Mamba in the system, the poor recording quality was still much in evidence, but the graininess I’d almost always noted around the transients wasn’t brought forward or highlighted, allowing me to enjoy the music first, while peripherally noticing the inadequacy of the production. Musical detail was in abundance with the Mamba, and took center stage.

The Mamba conferred good spatial presentation and depth in the soundstage, with a reasonably quiet background and respectable representation of the original recording venue. While listening to The Cleveland Quartet’s rendition of Beethoven: String Quartets [Telarc CD 80425], I was keenly aware of the hall and its ambient character. This is no small feat for a power cord costing under $400. Center imaging was first-rate, dimensional and lifelike. As you traveled laterally within the soundstage, however, images became less distinct than with the more expensive cords. The NBS Statement and Synergistic Designer’s Reference, for example, were both champs at front-to-back layering, easily distinguishing instrumental characters outside of the center box between the speakers.

Bass lines were rendered with the taught, propulsive energy required of jazz and rock, with no hint of widening or boom at the bottom. Percy Heath’s upright bass strokes on the title track "Walkin’" from Miles Davis’ Walkin’ [JVC JVCXR-0047-2] caught me off guard with how authoritatively they were reproduced, and how integral they were to the rhythmic structure of the music.

I find brass instruments to be a particularly difficult test for any system, especially a solid-state, digital-only one. With all the reissues arriving on the market, I’ve rekindled my affinity for Lee Morgan’s hard-bop style on trumpet. On Art Blakey’s Moanin’ [Blue Note RVG 724349532427], Morgan is out front on the title track, enunciating the theme in his usual ebullient fashion. The Mamba never let the notes Morgan squeezed out sound compressed, hard or unnaturally bright. It just let the music flow. Comparing the Mamba to power cords costing two or three times as much, the overall midrange presentation was on the lean side of neutral, though only noticeable upon comparison with the NBS or ElectraGlide power cords.

The Mamba’s treble presentation was excellent and did compare with that of the ultra-expensive cords. Music heavy with cymbal work almost always has me consciously aware of its reproduced nature. With the Mamba in use, splashy treble excursions always appeared to have just the right amount of color, allowing me to suspend my disbelief and relax, focusing not on frequency behavior, but on the music before me.

Most power cords I’ve owned have a perspective or a personality that shows itself over time as favoring one performance parameter over another. Listening to music with the Mamba, I wasn’t aware of any parameter of its performance that I could call state of the art. On an absolute scale, it couldn’t compete in the frequency-extension or imaging departments with the Synergistic Designer’s Reference. Nor could it affect music with the tonal purity or timbral acuity of the ElectraGlide FatBoy. What the Mamba did do was not call attention to itself by having a definable character or sonic calling card. I found myself just listening to music rather than picking up on a noticeable over or under performance in any one area.

Overall, my estimation of the Mamba’s sound was one of balance. The Mamba had a singular ability at that price point to deliver transients smoothly and without artifice. It was able to keep the integrity and musicality of the original recording intact. I have had well over a dozen power cords under $1000 in my system and can say with confidence that the Mamba's balanced presentation of music will be a hard act for power cords in that price range to follow.


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