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EnKlein David Interconnect and T-Rex Power Cord Review

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A couple of years ago, I was introduced to the world of Enklein. At the time, after many hours of evaluation and break-in, I concluded that, though not ideal in every respect, the EnKlein “Zephyr” and “Taurus Reference” were a combination of interconnect and cable that clearly yielded improvement in my reference system. As it turns out, Dave and Tom Kleinbeck, the two brothers behind EnKlein, have been hard at work evolving and perfecting their designs. Indeed, the design goal sounds incredibly simple; that is to design and construct cables that preserve the music and as such must have as little impact as possible to the signal running through it. Given their deep and well-established roots and reputation in the professional music and recording industry, they bring to the table a unique combination of real world experience, skills, and perspective regarding the overall detrimental impact that cables can impart on sound quality due in part to the environment in which they are used. This knowledge and expertise has clearly guided their highly principled design work.

The Enklein interconnect lineup includes the Prairie Fire II, copper-based entry level (if you can call it that) interconnect, followed by the excellent silver-based Zephyr, which is my current reference, the solid-core silver based Aeros, and the top-of-the-line silver based David. The Enklein power cord offerings include the entry level Big Tom, followed by the Taurus Reference which has been one of my reference cords for the past couple of years, and the new top-of-the-line T-Rex.

I have made mention of David in the previous couple of reviews I have written, despite the fact that the length of time I had to spend with these cables was rather short. With their new statement interconnect, David, EnKlein have continued their work in the area of immunity to outside and environmental influence. To that end, the David is designed with what they are calling “Dragon Skin,” technically known as EMISS (Electromagnetic Interposition Shielding System). This four part shielding system that consists of alloys of Cobalt and Nickel, aluminum, copper, and steel are said to effectively block electromagnetic interference and as such allow the cable to perform its function without outside influence on its performance and sonic characteristics. The body of David employs the use of sealed air tubes which contain silver conductors. These are also protected by a shielding methodology of their own design and undoubtedly further shield the conductors from the mechanical effects of external vibrations.

This particular set of David interconnects were terminated with modified Silver WBT RCA plugs with what appeared to be delrin outer caps. Each and every one of these design features are developed and employed as individual solutions to removal of outside interference or influence to the overall cable’s construct. In other words, these things pack a whole heck of a lot of technology and advanced design in order to maximize and achieve a faithful transmission of audio signal from point A to point B.

The EnKlein T-Rex power cord very much echoes the design philosophy and goals. The actual wire innards are similar to that of the EnKlein Taurus Reference which happens to be my current go-to power cord for most components in my system. The key differences encompassed in the T-Rex are once again focused on delivering power to a component without having that delivery impeded, distorted, or in any way adversely affected, by the connectors or environmental factors. To that end, the T-Rex is constructed with much of the design technology that is present in the David. This means that the T-Rex is fully constructed with the EMISS / Dragon Skin technology. In this case, the wire is a 10 gauge bundle of stranded silver-plated copper. The terminations too are quite different from anything I have used. The T-Rex is terminated with ends incorporating beryllium copper base metal connectors with a coating of platinum. The final protective coating is pure palladium. The enclosure is made from a thermoplastic that is commonly found in everything from automotive plug connectors to swimwear due to its strength and resistance to solvents.

The first meter of David will set you back $14,000 for single-ended, $16,000 for Balanced. The T-Rex begins at $5,000 for a three foot cable.

Setting Things Up

As I mentioned in my previous few articles, the David and T-Rex came at a time when there was an abundance of activity in my music room. It was therefore a bit difficult to truly isolate from time to time the effects imparted by these very special EnKlein cables vs. the components being reviewed; for example the Triangle Art RA-6 Power Conditioner, Melody Audio P2688 Line Stage, and Melody Audio MN845 Monoblock power amplifiers (you will be reading about these beauties very soon!). As such, I needed to be judicious and sometimes do some back-tracking in order to be absolutely sure of what I was hearing. Fortunately, in the case of the David interconnects these were already well-used and therefore required very little time to settle in and sing. In the case of the T-Rex, there was some running in necessary and I was fortunate enough to be able to kill two birds with one stone as the Triangle Art RA-6 power conditioner also needed some running in.

Once I was convinced that the cables and electronics were at a point where things were not changing at all or very little, I began to unravel the mysteries of what I was hearing. Indeed, the reference system had in some aspects taken a quantum leap forward in sonic excellence.

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