Cable Asylum: REVIEW: Essential Sound Products The Essence Cable by Jason Lyman

I promised myself, only one upgrade to my system per month. At least, that's what I promised myself. The thing is, I have these NHT 2.5 speakers that are relentlessly analytical. Using a Bryston 3B amp doesn't help matters much in that department, but with the right kind of music, their delivery is stunning. The problem is that, with the wrong music, they can be ruthlessly sharp, like that clever witted aunt at a holiday gathering that everyone wants to horsewhip at the end of the evening.
Luckily, I've made alot of moves in the right direction to tame the sound. God bless George Cardas! The Golden Cross interconnects really mellow out the tempo and ease that treble, and they add alot of spacial atmosphere, too. I did lose some detail, but with my NHT's, that's really no big loss at all. Still, things weren't as honky-dory as I knew they could be (are they ever?)
Hmmm...interconnects and speaker cables (Cardas Neutral Reference...If you haven't auditioned them, DO IT!!!) could get the system a couple of steps in the right direction, but what of all this talk about mains? Everybody seems to be going nuts lately talking about these little things. "They transformed my system!" They cry. Let them cry. I'm a skeptic. I'll believe it when I hear it. Then one night, I was listening to some non-audiophile music, and that treble stung me for the last time. "That's it!" I thought. "I'm going to see what this mains talk is all about!"
I went to my local dealers, and borrowed mains lead after mains lead. Kimber, Audioprism, Tara Labs, Transparant, MIT, even borrowed my friends Cardas power cord. "This transformed my system!" I'd cry. "I never heard detail like that!" "I can hear Coltrane releasing his spit valve." Then, after a day, when the newness would wear off, I'd hear that nasty treble, and I'd think "Do I really WANT to hear John Coltrane release spit in my living room?" They all went back. The Cardas came really close to what I wanted to hear, but I lost some bass with it, but at least everything else seemed good. Resigned, I gave my buddy his Cardas power cord back, and went back to my stock, fifty cent cord (which seemed to work better than some of the other cords in my system, I might add.)
The day after giving back my friend's power cord, he asked me if I'd made any decisions about power cords. "No," I answered. "I liked yours alot, but not enough to justify coughing up the dough."
"What about Harmonic Tech?" He asked. "Everybody's raving about them? Why don't you check out their stuff?"
"Do they even have a dealer nearby?" I asked, suprised. My friend knew of one, so we gave them a call, and went out to see their stuff.
I told the dealer my problem with my NHT's, told him what I was looking for out of their sound, and he recommended an ESP Essence power cord. The problem was, it was five hundred dollars! I told him the Harmonic Tech was more in my target price range, but he persisted.
"I'm not sure the Harmonic Tech will do for your system what you want to get out of it." He said, honestly. Wow, the honesty was a suprise for me. "Look, take both of them home, and bring em back if they don't do anything for you." Still not sure I wanted to cough up five hundred bucks, I decided to take him up on his offer.
Man, oh man, I'm glad I did!
Right when I hooked the ESP up to my amp, things changed. Alot! With all the other cords I tried, I'd notice something like "The treble is smoother," or "The bass seems deeper." Usually, each cord would change one aspect of the sound significantly, maybe two, but it sounded like a variation on a common theme. With the ESP, it was a whole new composition.
The Bryston amp has been in my system for well over a year, so I'm very familiar with what it sounds like. I'll spare you a description of it's sound, but with the ESP in place, I was suddenly amazed with how more this amp was capable of. Immediately, I went rifling through my CD collection, listening to old familiar tunes, just to see how they sounded.
First, and it has been my first disk of choice these days, was Dave Brubeck's 'Time Out.' I'm a passionate sax fan, and growing up with a saxaphone playing grandfather, I am very familiar with what a sax (alto or tenor, and barratone, though I don't favor saprano.) This chord brought Paul Desmond's alto to a new level of sweetness I never associated recorded music to capture. Brubeck's piano seemed more human, more playful, more real, like a real piano that real fingers strike. Every once in a while, the treble would distract my attention from the performance. This time, I heard a performance. A good one, too. Where the recording lacks, the performers pick it up, and the ESP helped me connect with it more emotionally than I ever had before.
Then, came "Moon Over Bourbon Street" from Sting's 'Dream of Blue Turtles' CD. Again, not an exemplarary recording, but between Sting's stand up bass, and Branford Marsalis' sax, they create a moody atmosphere. With the ESP, I felt like I was within that atmosphere, as opposed to just hearing it. Sting's breathy, reflective voice wove images in my head, like he was TELLING ME a tale, not just singing one on a CD I happened to be listening to. The heightened effect of emotional connection was becoming wonderfully common.

In audiophile speak terms, I can tell you what this cable does, and that may be all to it for some of you. Without break in, the first thing that changes is the lower thrid of the audio spectrum. The bass becomes deeper, fuller, but not lose by any means, it actually takes on wonderful definition. The midrange seems more open, if only by contrast of the deeper bass, but also more distant. For my speakers, in my system, that's a welcome thing, but it may not be for everyone. The highs, and this is where I love this cable, the highs are clear as can be, but not in a pronounced way. They're just there, more subtle, more textured and woven within everything else in the music that I never catch myself hearing them. This cable just makes the music listening experience more EXPERIENCE, less listening.
I took the cable to my buddy's house, and we hooked it up to his amp (A Proceed Amp 2 running Dynaudio 1.8's), and he was agape. "I want this!" He cried. "Buy your own." I said. To my buddy's credit, his system sounds great. With the ESP, it was the same thing. It just made everything seem more like a performance, less like music off a CD.
The Harmonic Tech power cable, in fairness, is good, but it had the misfortune of going in behind the ESP. Everything became sounds again. Deep bass, sweet highs, open midrange. The cord has all that, and it does seem more obviously detailed than the ESP, but it was only obvious because of what it lacked beside the ESP. The ESP seemed to get things right, where no other cable I auditioned did (and I auditioned alot of cords. Ask all the dealers who had the unfortunate job of helping me. Mention my name, and they'll break out shotguns.) It seemed to get passed sound, and reach the performers creating it. If that's not enough, the bass is the best I've ever heard. By far!
The Essence is worth it's weight in gold, and costs it. At five hundred dollars, it's alot of cash. Do what I did, take it home, try it out, and see if you can allow yourself to take it back. A safe bet: Have five hundred dollars ready before you audition it. You may have to part with it.

REVIEW: Essential Sound Products The Essence Cable Review by Jason Lyman at Audio Asylum