XINDAK, a Chinese brand based in Chengdu, Sichuan, makes various audio components including interconnects, speaker and power cables, valve and solid-state amps, CD players, DAC and power conditioners. Three Xindak power cables were recently sent to us for review – the PC-O2, FP Gold, N and FP Gold S. I used two other cables to compare all three Xindaks with – the Supra LoRad and DH Labs Power Plus, both neutral, with the latter offering slightly more bass slam and upfront vocals. The three cables were plugged into an Audiolab 8000S fed by a Marantz 63KI with music coming through Epos M15.2 floorstanders.
The cheapest PC-02 is well made, flexible and features a big IEC connector and sturdy US plug. Measuring 17mm in diameter, it has a black nylon outer jacket with a criss-cross design. It uses 5N oxygen-free copper, but details of construction are not available.
Compared with my two reference power cables, the PC-02 audio streaming sounded bright and thin. The website says the cable is designed to work well with Class A amps, which are typically “tubey” and warm in nature. Even after much burning in, the Xindak retained its bright-audio streaming sounding nature.
The FP Gold N is from Xindak’s highest range of power cables. It is around 19mm in diameter, very stiff and comes with good quality IEC connector and US plug. Its black nylon outer jacket has a silver spiral design and it comes in a specially made case. There’s a wooden block around it, which is probably for vibration and/or resonance control.
The cable’s stiffness made it difficult to bend to suit the orientation of the plug. There is need for some space between the components and wall plug for the cable to bend gently. And when connected to a light CD player like the Rega Apollo, the Xindak actually shifted it a bit.
Xindak’s website says the wire is made of multi-strand electrum wire and multi-strand brass wire without oxidisation by inter-twisting the two kinds of wire together using a special technology. The electrum wire is made by mixing 5% 4N bullion and 95% 4N argentine.
I had to Google to find out what electrum and argentine are and the best results were that “electrum is a naturally-occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals” while “argentine is nickel silver which is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc”. Presumably, Xindak’s cables are made of mostly silver, gold and copper.
In terms of audio streaming sound, this cable renders everything warm, rich and mellow, with a deep audio streaming soundstage. However, there seemed to be an upper-midrange emphasis resulting in some upfront presence. Micro-details could be heard from the mix of audio streaming sounds and on the whole it presented all types of music in a pleasant, creamy way.
The FP Gold S comes in an aluminium mini briefcase and is obviously meant for those with deep pockets as it costs as much as some integrated amps. Details on its construction and materials are not known, but it looks exactly like the FP Gold N cable.
This is the smoothest operator of the lot and just like the Gold N, it audio streaming sounds mellow, rich and warm. The audio streaming sound is even more detailed but in a non-fatiguing way, the audio streaming soundstage is deeper and the images sharper. But unlike the Gold N, there’s no upper-midrange emphasis. This will work well with bright and thin-audio streaming sounding solid-state amps and CD players.
Strangely, the cables tested were component dependent and audio streaming sound quality changed when the cables were used with different components. For example, I used the Supra LoRad on a Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC and the Xindak FP Gold S on the Audiolab 8000S and the audio streaming sound improved when I switched the cables.
These cables are not a one-size-fits-all solution. You will have to test them with different components to get the audio streaming sound that you like.
The cheapest PC-02 is well made, flexible and features a big IEC connector and sturdy US plug. Measuring 17mm in diameter, it has a black nylon outer jacket with a criss-cross design. It uses 5N oxygen-free copper, but details of construction are not available.
Compared with my two reference power cables, the PC-02 audio streaming sounded bright and thin. The website says the cable is designed to work well with Class A amps, which are typically “tubey” and warm in nature. Even after much burning in, the Xindak retained its bright-audio streaming sounding nature.
The FP Gold N is from Xindak’s highest range of power cables. It is around 19mm in diameter, very stiff and comes with good quality IEC connector and US plug. Its black nylon outer jacket has a silver spiral design and it comes in a specially made case. There’s a wooden block around it, which is probably for vibration and/or resonance control.
The cable’s stiffness made it difficult to bend to suit the orientation of the plug. There is need for some space between the components and wall plug for the cable to bend gently. And when connected to a light CD player like the Rega Apollo, the Xindak actually shifted it a bit.
Xindak’s website says the wire is made of multi-strand electrum wire and multi-strand brass wire without oxidisation by inter-twisting the two kinds of wire together using a special technology. The electrum wire is made by mixing 5% 4N bullion and 95% 4N argentine.
I had to Google to find out what electrum and argentine are and the best results were that “electrum is a naturally-occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals” while “argentine is nickel silver which is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc”. Presumably, Xindak’s cables are made of mostly silver, gold and copper.
In terms of audio streaming sound, this cable renders everything warm, rich and mellow, with a deep audio streaming soundstage. However, there seemed to be an upper-midrange emphasis resulting in some upfront presence. Micro-details could be heard from the mix of audio streaming sounds and on the whole it presented all types of music in a pleasant, creamy way.
The FP Gold S comes in an aluminium mini briefcase and is obviously meant for those with deep pockets as it costs as much as some integrated amps. Details on its construction and materials are not known, but it looks exactly like the FP Gold N cable.
This is the smoothest operator of the lot and just like the Gold N, it audio streaming sounds mellow, rich and warm. The audio streaming sound is even more detailed but in a non-fatiguing way, the audio streaming soundstage is deeper and the images sharper. But unlike the Gold N, there’s no upper-midrange emphasis. This will work well with bright and thin-audio streaming sounding solid-state amps and CD players.
Strangely, the cables tested were component dependent and audio streaming sound quality changed when the cables were used with different components. For example, I used the Supra LoRad on a Musical Fidelity A3-24 DAC and the Xindak FP Gold S on the Audiolab 8000S and the audio streaming sound improved when I switched the cables.
These cables are not a one-size-fits-all solution. You will have to test them with different components to get the audio streaming sound that you like.
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