By LS Loo
At last, the long-awaited first assignment has knocked at my door. It was the MS HD-MS 40PUK high current shielded power cord with Rhodium-plated UK plug/IEC plug and MS HD –MSUS6F power line filter strip. They are products of MS-Winbo Industries, a Hong Kong-based well-established company that designs and manufactures electrical plugs and sockets, PVC cord sets and electrical wiring accessories .
So let the fun and games start – up first is the MS power line strip.
A good current distribution product should not change a system’s basic tonality and characteristics. It should not double up as the tone controller as well.
What would be its duty then? How well it can prevent signal loss and how efficiently it can cut down RFI and EMI. These are all from users’ perception.
Any power distribution product is created for distributing current to the equipment. Just like blood circulation in a human body. Greed is definitely prohibited! If the blood stream is too thick we might suffer a stroke and if it is too thin we will suffer from anaemia. It has to be maintained at the right level at the right time. How great a power product is depends on how purely it can translate the information that is required to improve sounding definition.
Firstly I would like to start with the MS HD power filter strip that came with quite heavily built polished aluminium casing. It features 6 US type socket outlets and also an LED signal indicator in orange colour at the side of the strip. The very outstanding “MS” logo was in front of the power strip and at first glance it suggested “strong with strength”. It looked like a mini tank to me. I remember that an audiophile “Sifu” who is a good friend told me that audio equipment must have superior looks before its performance can be considered.
The MS HD power filter strip was used instead of my wall outlets for power cord connectivity. I expected the strip to change the sound from the first plug fitted into it. All my resident power cords were plugged into the MS HD power line strip one by one. They were the power cord that fed my CD player followed by those for pre and power amps. The main supply cord used to feed the power strip was my spare HMS power cord instead of the MS HD power cord. This is to ensure if there is any strange potential “taste” it would be from the MS HD power strip.
I let the system fire up for almost an hour before I sat down to listen. Any change in our system chain is ideally to get a quality for reference purposes. I found this lesson was very useful or else we are just like a sailor that forever can’t see the shore.
Hougy Sings Carmichael is my usual pick. From the first note there seemed to be nothing much missing from the dynamic swings and robust control of the music. It gives immediacy to the purity of the tone and timbre of Carmichael and the organic naturalness of instruments and the presentation did not have too aggressive overtones or insufficient trailing of harmonics. Overall the MS HD power filter strip created a sound that was not far off from the essence of my system’s usual presentation.
I personally think that for those who have limited wall sockets, this MS MD power line strip could be the right choice and something to be considered.
Then, I replaced the power cord wall plug to the MS MD power strip with the MS HD power cord. The MS 40PUK power cord came in 2-meter length and luckily is not that stiff. Any cable that is too stiff is a definite no-no as all my equipment is in the living room with the Home Minister’s permission and there is limited space between the wall and rack.
Just before plugging in, I actually tried to break-in the MS cable by connecting it to my hot water dispenser for a couple of days. One will ask whether it was quicker for the water to boil. The answer is “crazy”! The purpose to get any new cable to be run-in beforehand is to ensure its distribution stability. Before the serious listening session, I allowed the system to do some warming up “exercise” for approximately an hour and then set it to my normal listening volume level for a fair bit comparison. What I could tell from the presentation was the system’s sonic texture was just like a mini tsunami screaming out. Its behaviour was no longer on the tame side. Right matching would be the priority in this case. Every product would have own characteristics and dynamics.
MS HD Power is sold by CMY Audio & Visual, contact John at 03-21439206.
