AudioQuest Dragon Power Cord Review

nc42acc said:
So where is the sweet spot with Audioquest cabling? The break point where it is still affordable to the masses and sounds better than the equivalent priced competitor?
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For AQ? Hurricane. Much better than Tornado, almost as good as FireBird and way behind Dragon. But Hurricane gives you the transparency that you get with Firebird and dragon. Dragon just gives you a lot more.


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Mike said:
For AQ? Hurricane. Much better than Tornado, almost as good as FireBird and way behind Dragon. But Hurricane gives you the transparency that you get with Firebird and dragon. Dragon just gives you a lot more.


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I use a combination Hurricane and Dragon power cords. For instance, the 10 foot run from the wall outlet to my Niagara 5000 power conditioner is Hurricane high current. But for critical runs like to my Select DAC, I use Dragon Source. I could have used my entire power cord budget on the 10 foot cord, if I had gone with a Dragon high current cord.

Ken
 
I just bought another Dragon. This one is the Source, and it will go to my Lumin X1 from the Niagara 7000.

ozzy
 
Alpinist said:
I use a combination Hurricane and Dragon power cords. For instance, the 10 foot run from the wall outlet to my Niagara 5000 power conditioner is Hurricane high current. But for critical runs like to my Select DAC, I use Dragon Source. I could have used my entire power cord budget on the 10 foot cord, if I had gone with a Dragon high current cord.

Ken
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Ken, which cords are you using with the Vandy amps? Did you go directly from the stock cords to these or was there something in between?
 
I’ve had numerous high-end power cords on the Vandersteen M7-HPA monoblocks including the AudioQuest Hurricane High Current. After exhaustive listening comparisons I determined the stock power cords provided by Vandersteen by far sounded the best. There was a naturalness and musicality to these power cords, which was not present with the other power cords. The Hurricane HC power cords sounded very analytical to my ears and really detracted from the musicality of the entire system. I feel this is due the input stage and first gain stage of the Vandersteen monoblocks being tube driven, which requires very careful power cord matching.

Mike Bovaird recommends some of the Shunyata power cords to his customers that he has sold tube amps due to their smoothness. I’ve not had the opportunity to try these Shunyata cords as I am very pleased with the musicality of the stock cords on the Vandy monoblocks. More expensive is not always better in my opinion. I go by what my ears tell me. But if I were to try high-end cords again on the Vandy monoblocks, I suppose I would try the Shunyata cords Mike recommends for tube amps.

Ken
 
I love my Shunyata power cords. Without a doubt, they are the best upgrade I have done to my gear. Granted, I am now using an older generation of their product, but at the time it was TOTL. Good clean power makes all gear work at its best. If it doesn’t sound good then the gear has a problem.
 
I had the Shunyata Sigma V2 and another of their top cables, the name escapes me. I compared those and I remember all the other power cords that I have tried though all these years, and to this day, I honestly believe, the Dragons are the very best power cords I have ever tried.
If you try one you will want to own it, it is that good!

ozzy
 
The Dragons are excellent. In my own system, I tried all Dragons and it wasn’t good. The Sigma V2’s were perfect.


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I think part of my pleasure with the Dragons stem from the fact that I also use the Niagara 7000. There is a synergy so to speak.
So different equipment reacts differently?

ozzy
 
ozzy said:
I think part of my pleasure with the Dragons stem from the fact that I also use the Niagara 7000. There is a synergy so to speak.
So different equipment reacts differently?

ozzy
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I agree it’s best to use AudioQuest power cords with the AudioQuest Niagara power conditioners. The Dragon Source power cords on my Select II DAC plugged into my Niagara 5000 are simply stunning. While the Hurricane HC power cords weren’t a good match on my hybrid tube/SS Vandersteen monoblocks that doesn’t mean I don’t like the Hurricane power cords. On the contrary, a Hurricane HC power cord resides between my wall outlet and Niagara 5000, and Hurricane Source power cords are used on my MSB UMT-V Signature Transport. All these Hurricane power cords sound terrific.

Ken
 
Thanks. Well now I have the benefit of having the Niagara 7000 plugged into the wall with a Dragon High current and a Dragon source from the Niagara 7000 for my Lumin X1.

ozzy
 
Interesting. My Everest with AQ Hurricane PC loom sound pretty good to me. But I have never tried a Niagara in my system.
 
ozzy said:
Thanks. Well now I have the benefit of having the Niagara 7000 plugged into the wall with a Dragon High current and a Dragon source from the Niagara 7000 for my Lumin X1.

ozzy
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I would love to have the AudioQuest Dragon HC power cord between the wall outlet and my Niagara 5000 but the 3.0 meter long power cord would be super expensive. I’ll stick with the Hurricane HC for the foreseeable future.

Ken
 
kzhtoo,
I have never tried an Everest. Probably sticking with the same cable from the same brand at least from the wall to the conditioner would be a good thing since they were probably made to work together.

ozzy
 
Here is what I posted on Audiogon,

I installed a new AudioQuest Dragon Source power cord from my Lumin X1 to my Niagara 7000. The power cord from the wall to the Niagara 7000 is also a Dragon but the High Current version. I bought that cord used.

So, when I first started using the new power cord everything sounded great. However, after a couple of days I started hearing a strident sound. Especially in the upper mid/ treble region. The bass was also constricted. I started blaming the sound change on another piece of equipment that was installed concurrently.

Now, I was under the impression that the Dragon power cord with its DBS system required no break in. But I did inquire about it to AudioQuest who responded that it would still need about 150 hours to break in. It's been close to that now and sure enough yesterday I started hearing the glorious sound that I heard from day one with the power cord only perhaps better.

I must say the difference during break in and now is quite remarkable, I don't remember any other power cord going through this amount of dramatic change.

ozzy
 
So, I just ordered another Source Dragon, that now will make 3 of them. At least this time I will know what to expect in break in.

ozzy
 
TommyC said:
Does Source or HC sound better on digital sources? The HC has bigger gauge wire.
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Go with Dragon Source power cords on digital sources. They are specifically designed for digital sources. The improvement in sound quality they provided on my Select II DAC over other high-end power cords was stunning.

Ken
 
Yes, I have a Dragon HC to my Niagara 7000 power conditioner. From that conditioner I am using the Source Dragons.

ozzy
 
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