As any likely best cord will in any system, gut instinct wants it between wall and AC distributor. Benefit all components at once. The PowerFlux had simply been a surprise inclusion in another Furutech shipment. I hadn't been able to specify the UK wall plug or 3m length to bridge that connection. At 1.8m and with a US plug, I had to pick one component. With its FPGA-controlled discrete matrix of R2R ladders, most promising/critical was the Denafrips Terminator DAC. A subsequent hookup with the Bakoon AMP-13R confirmed the original choice where the Furutech made a bigger difference. Our usual cords here are year 2007 gold-infused silver Crystal Cable CrystalPower Ultra. Already back then they sold for $4'065/2m. With the exchange rate of early 2021, that was roughly equivalent to the thicker Furutech with its far more evolved plugs but less pricey copper conductors. It's fair to say that I'm very familiar with the Crystal cords.

I believe that soundstage width is predominantly due to speaker placement and dispersion. It has precious little to do with the electronics. They wouldn't know staging from sex. General stage depth does want proper breathing room from the front wall to avoid the in-wall speaker presentation. It's in how specific depth cues get that things like phase consistency, minimal energy storage and a very low system noise floor make a difference. It's precisely in the suchness of the depth domain, its layer sorting, its through-the-wall continuity and clarity where the PowerFlux made its biggest contributions. It did this more significantly on the DAC than amp.

In my follow-on review for the GTO-D2 with Booster Braces, I'd isolated the NCF effect as higher contrast ratio in general, as more lights on deck for the soundstage back in particular. Replacing the very slinky Dutch power cord on the DAC with the fatter Japanese borrowed from that review's particular half. In photographic terms, depth of field improved. The faraway had more focus equality with the front. That greater focus evenness didn't move background sounds like faint percussion behind soloists forward. Nothing received relocation papers. My attention simply saw them more distinctly and discretely. In that sense, they became more important. The whole of the presentation filled out more. This was like prescription glasses on aged eyes, simple yet effective. In hifi terms, separation imposed itself stronger on the farther layers. When you know your system well, then change one thing and notice how the red carpet rolls out deeper, it's an uncanny thing. From experience, I lay such depth effects at the feet of lower system noise even though this isn't about primitive ear-on-tweeter hiss. There shouldn't be any to begin with. This is about far out-of-band noise whose presence has 'step-down' effects that become audible as resolution losses. Digital in particular seems very sensitive to this. A key factor of extremist audiophile streamers/servers is how they avoid such UHF noise in the first place; and how successfully they attenuate any remnants. The PowerFlux cord effect had many similarities to how a premium reclocker can improve an already very good D/A converter.

Superior power supplies don't just deliver more current. They're quieter. Superior broadband resonance attenuation from purpose-engineered equipment racks lowers the mechanical noise floor. Either way, resolution benefits. We hear and see more and more easily. We never know how much more is possible until it actually happens to us. How much more could an extra two or three PowerFlux cords reveal in this system? No idea. What I do know is that over our usual Crystal Cable cord, one was rather noticeable and in very specific ways. It returns us to the opening paragraph. The audio signal is nothing but modulated AC power. Amplifiers transfer energy to loudspeakers by drawing down storage capacitors by exactly the same amount. These capacitors try to stay fully charged by replenishing their energy from rectifiers that convert AC to DC through a transformer which draws power from the wall. Whatever we put between AC source and receiving IEC becomes part of the component's power supply. It's directly involved in the final signal quality. By injecting their trademark NanoCrystal Formula² noise-absorbing compound into these plugs and central barrel whilst improving current flow with slow-drawn 'single crystal' copper conductors, Furutech have made their PowerFlux cord an aftermarket power supply upgrade option for elite components. That the PowerFlux also very much looks the part—perhaps more so than strictly necessary—is just how the High End rolls. Shoppers parting with €3'099 for a power cord want it to look more impressively finished than our dainty Dutchies thought they had to 14 years ago.

We could dispute the progress thereof until hell freezes over. Yes the PowerFlux is an unashamed dandy. That's an easy admission to make. It simply won't negate the fact that when the lights dim, the eyes close and our music commences, this shiny Furutech impresses where it really matters. It lowers the barrier of entry when our tunes want to pull us into the zone. It improves contrast so verisimilitude of sounds against silence; and in particular visibility at the stage's rear for more complete illumination. Our listening makes less of an effort and partakes of a whole that's deeper and better lit. Who doesn't want that? This is a cord with clearly effective passive power conditioning built in. As we learnt, the story of NanoCrystal Formula² will continue later this year by adding its benefits to the low-level domain of analog and digital signal cables. Quite the influx of NCF but by my ears, very much appreciated and welcome!