The black cord supplied with a device carries current and nothing more: interference circulating on the household mains travels along it to the power supply. Cardas tackles this noise in the cable itself, with passive filtering applied to the live, neutral and earth conductors, and conductors borrowed from a higher-ranking model in its catalogue. The jacket remains flexible enough to power either a source component or an amplifier.
Introduced at CES 2015, the Parsec Power replaced the Quadlink in the Cardas catalogue. It occupies the second tier of the brand’s mains cable range, above the Iridium, and borrows its conductors from the higher-positioned Clear Cygnus Power. These conductors are made of Grade 1 oxygen-free copper, 99.9999% pure, tinned to protect it from oxidation over the years.
Each conductor is stranded, with its strands individually insulated, like a Litz wire. Their cross-sections follow the proportions of the golden ratio: by mixing different diameters in this precise ratio, Cardas prevents the resonances specific to each strand size from building up at the same frequency. The strands are arranged in successive layers using the Cross-Field geometry patented by George Cardas, in which the winding direction reverses from one layer to the next so that the magnetic fields partially cancel each other out. Each conductor is insulated with PTFE, a stable, low-loss material. The cable contains three 14 AWG conductors, each approximately 2.1 mm².
A home’s electrical mains carries far more than 50 Hz: switching power supplies, internet routers, chargers and dimmers inject high-frequency interference that ends up in the power supply stages of audio equipment. The Parsec Power incorporates passive filtering on each of its three lines, including the earth, whereas many mains cables rely solely on shielding. This filter attenuates noise without altering the voltage: it does not regulate anything, regenerate the sine wave or act as a power conditioner. Its effect depends on the state of the mains. In an already clean installation supplied by a dedicated line, the difference compared with a good ordinary cord is smaller.
The three conductors are twisted together in a triad, interwoven with air-filled PVC tubes that maintain their spacing and the cable’s round shape, all tightly wrapped in FEP tape. Around this, two shields overlap: one made of tinned copper, the other of enamelled copper wire. The cable protects itself from external radiation and limits its own emissions, which matters behind a hi-fi cabinet, where mains cords sit alongside interconnect cables carrying signals of a few hundred millivolts. Even when shielded, a mains cable benefits from crossing these connections at right angles rather than running parallel along their entire length.
At the wall end, a Cardas 3455R Schuko plug; at the equipment end, a 15 A 3455R IEC plug. Both feature solid copper contacts plated first with silver, then with rhodium: silver provides conductivity, while rhodium, a hard metal, resists wear from repeated plugging and unplugging, as well as corrosion. The terminations are both soldered and crimped. The compact body of the wall plug sits firmly in the socket, without the play that sometimes allows a heavy cable to slip out.
Many high-end mains cables handle like garden hoses and pull on the device’s inlet. The Parsec Power’s thermoplastic rubber (TPR) jacket, 12.7 mm in diameter, bends without resistance and accommodates tight curves behind a cabinet or in a rack. Like all the brand’s cables, it is handmade in the workshops in Bandon, Oregon, where Cardas has been based since its founding in 1987.
The 15 A IEC connector plugs into the C14 inlet, the most common type on source components, preamplifiers and integrated amplifiers, as well as into the C16 inlet. Some power amplifiers use a larger C20 inlet, rated for 20 A: Cardas offers the Parsec Power with a 20 A IEC connector for these devices, but the version described here does not fit.
Yes, the Parsec Power is suitable for both amplifiers and source components. For very power-hungry power amplifiers, operating in Class A or at high power and drawing large current peaks, cables from the Clear line, higher up in the Cardas range, offer a larger cross-sectional area.
Both work. Plugged into a wall outlet, it powers a single device. Used between a power distributor or conditioner and a device, it takes over filtering at the end of the chain. There is nothing to stop you from combining the two, provided that the cable powering the distributor is also of an adequate gauge.
The filter acts on high-frequency components, far removed from the 50 Hz that carries the power. It does not impede the current an amplifier’s power supply demands during loud passages, unlike some transformer-based power conditioners whose impedance can limit peaks.
Bare copper slowly oxidizes when exposed to air, especially at the ends and where it meets the plugs. The thin layer of tin protects it over time and makes it easier to achieve a clean solder joint when assembling the terminations.
Cardas also offers interconnect and speaker cables under the Parsec name, using the same conductor design principles. There is no need to use these models together: the Parsec Power integrates into a system wired with any other brand.
No. The Parsec Power carries the mains voltage as it comes, without stabilizing or correcting it, and has no effect on the power consumption of the device it supplies.
Alain
This cable offers a superb soundstage with no harshness in the upper frequencies.
Comment from July 20, 2023 — Experience from November 17, 2022
