Smooth Power Signature – Audience Forte F5 HIFI Power Cable Review
The Audience Forte F5 is a $649 USD power cable, and in my pondering for what does actually influence the sound of a system, I saw many times how audiophiles with high-end stereo systems swear by power chords, so I decided to give it a go. While cables in general are a controversial subject, today we take a deep dive in the most controversial subject we could explore, power cables.
Introduction
Audience has a positive reputation in the world of audio, having created some of the most popular monitoring speakers, the 1+1 V5, but also being known for producing the cables used in many recording studios across the world. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to Audience for providing the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion.
PROs – High Quality Construction, Customisable length, Quality Connectors, When paired with the right equipment the improvements can be helpful.
Cons – Quite Pricey, Sonic results are situational.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3Ezk60U
Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort
Once you start using products from Audience, you rarely go back, but while I have kept using the Audience Studio One Speaker Cables to this date, this power chord is on the thicker side, and has a high mass, not quite as flexible, so it will be a different situation than with the cable. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves and first see what the cable is made of.
Even Audience starts the description of the Forte F5 by stating that no other component is more controversial than aftermarket power chords. The idea behind using an aftermarket power chord stems from the idea that a traditional entry-level basic power chord will theoretically introduce electromagnetic interference, be reactive, introduce capacitance, resistance, and inductance, all of which can compromise the interface between the audio components and the power source.
Audience designed the Forte f5 power chord to be extremely conductive, to provide a smooth flow of electricity, and Audience recommends seeing the power chord as the first few feet of your components primary transformer winding, rather than the last few feet of a long line of power delivery. Generally, people who swear by power chords will observe the difference with extremely resolving systems that use high power, or tube based AMPs, and DACs, and with large toroidal transformers inside.
Physically, Forte F5 is extremely well built, but heavy, not very bendy, and not very flexible. It uses a special 6 conductor interface that rejects noise, with a 10 AWH aggregate high purity stranded copper providing ease of handling. The dielectric is a high quality XLPE and it is cryogenically treated resulting in high conductivity.
Sound Quality
Pairings – To test the Forte F5 Power Chord, I have used it to feed power into the Feliks Audio Euforia Evo, Keces S300+ Stereo Power Amplifier, Sparkos Gemini Tube Amplifier, Singxer SA-1 V2 Solid State Headphone Amplifier, HIFIMAN Prelude Headphone AMP / Preamp, Aune S17 PRO Evo Headphone AMP, and Feliks Audio Echo 2 Tube Headphone AMP. The DAC List I have tested with the Forte F5 Power Chord include Musician Pegasus II R2R DAC, HIFIMAN EF600 DAC / AMP, Aune S9C PRO DAC, and SMSL DO200 PRO DAC.
Overall Signature – It is generally very hard to describe a sonic signature of a Power Chord, especially as I did not hear the same changes with all of the devices powered by it. To be more precise, most DACs do not seem to be affected by what power chord is feeding them, and this could likely be caused by better shielding from EMI and RFI, but I did notice the sound becoming smoother and less grainy with Keces S300+ when using the Audience Forte F5 Power Chord.
There seems to be a slightly bigger difference with Tube AMPs, which is likely caused by the entry-level power chords having more electrical reactiveness, for example, I could hear a quieter background with both Feliks Echo 2 and Feliks Audio Euforia Evo, where using Forte F5 reduces the background noise quite a lot. This may be happening because I only have other 3$ to 5$ power cords that have zero insulation against EMI and RFI, and they may be producing interference that the Tubes on top picks up. The downside is that those tubes tend to be sensitive to RFI and EMI in general, so a tube AMP might still present some background noise if placed on top of a DAC that has a large toroidal transformer, or on top of a PSU or even a wifi router.
When the device is responding to upgrading the empower chord, I can hear a smoother sound, with a fuller perceived bass and a lower amount of grain in the midrange and a smoother voicing in the midrange. The treble seems to not be changed in general, but the perceived detail is slightly improved.
I would consider upgrading the power chord to be the last step you should go for in a sound system, similar to using cable lifters, or stuff that you would generally need to accept cannot be scientifically proven with our current testing methods, and likely has a mental component for the perceived differences.
I tend to like using this kind of upgrades, but with F5, it will depend a lot on how the AMP / DAC is designed for how sensitive it is to the change and on whether it will show a difference. Tube AMPs in general are more sensitive to power changes, EMI, RFI, as tubes in general look and act like huge exposed antennas from a technical point of view.
Value and Conclusion
Audience F5 Forte is a pretty pricey power chord, and it is part of what is considered to be high-end, having a tag that is justifiable only if you’re running a system that’s already ultra high-end, like using the Audience 1+1 V5 Speakers, a Keces S300+ Stereo Power Amplifier and a Keces S3 DAC, so a fairly high-end system, where using high quality interconnect cables, Speaker cables, and a power cable could give you peace of mind, and the best out of that system.
The Audience Studio One Speaker Cables are quite a bit better at improving a system (like most speaker cables), if you’re looking for a more immediate and a bigger and a more consistent upgrade for the money spent.
At the end of the day, I feel like Power chords are an interesting upgrade path if you already have a dream system, but as one of the components to upgrade when your system is already great, the difference it makes will be component dependent, but still a worthy investment if you’re in the high-end sector already and want every little detail of your system to be the best possible.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3Ezk60U
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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