As some of are aware, I’ve ordered and going to try the Designacable CatSnake Cat6a Floating Ethernet Cable to replace my various Chord Steaming Cables.
Whilst on their website, I noted that they also make a Mains Cable.
Has anyone had any experience and if so, what were your thoughts?
DG…
Hi DG, no experience, only 1st impression thoughts.
It looks well made as is usual with DC, but it’s nothing special, Lapp Olflex CY cable is regular industrial grade flex, MK plug (correction Masterplug/Permaplug) is nickel plated (not silver as the headline says), locking IEC is OK but why locking. The coloured sleeve ??
Price is OK, thank goodness it’s not inflated with smoke & mirrors marketing buffalo chips.
The UK plug and the IEC plug did not look any special, albeit robust, but the cable had a good spec, so looked at other options.
My wall sockets are MS HD Power Silver plated versions, so have decided to get their Silver plated UK plug and IEC plug, some certified cable and to make my own to try out.
Not too expensive in comparison, so worth giving it a punt.
Out of interest, it’s the same UK plug that Chord use on their top end mains cable.
Will report back later.
DG…
No MK plugs are used in this combo. 
Yes, it states the plug is Nickel plated giving a silver look, although you can infer from the title that it is silver plated.
Not the a the actual plug, as I couldn’t find an internal photo of it, but this does show the insides of the plug.
Looks like a fairly standard outdoor Masterplug UK plug, so nothing special. And, the IEC plug looks more industrial , albeit, robust.
Their Ethernet cables look to be good quality to the appropriate standards and get good write ups and reviews, but their mains cable don’t appear to be in the same league.
DG…
As you know I use MK plugs. 
MK tough plugs
Bussmann 13A fuses
Doncaster 3 Core Rubber Flexible Cable
3183TRS 1.5mm2 Black
IEC Connector c13 10a Martin Kaiser 794
All terminated with ferrules to stop terminal screw pinching split on multi strand.
Appologies for that, the DesignerCable blurb says its a Masterplug, but the DC photo doesn’t match any www Masterplug picture
says its a Masterplug
Interestingly, the picture on the Masterplug website, shows it branded as a “Permaplug".
Masterplug themselves do not make a Nickel plated version, so Designacable must get this done themselves. Wonder whuy tgey get the UK plug Nickel plated, but not the IEC plug.
DG…
Yes these plugs are what I know as Permaplug
I have the ‘silver’ versions on my amp & tuner power cables.
Re ‘silver’ Permaplug don’t spec a silver version, I bought mine from Hifi Collective.
They are also used by Vertere Acoustics on their Redline range (@ £750.00 for 2m)
NB: The main product sector for Permaplug is heavy duty industrial & construction.
The Permaplug/Masterplug 13A plugs are just robust heavy duty plugs as @Mike-B points out. I believe they are favoured by some hi-fi cable manufacturers as they apparently will accept some heavier guage cables without modification, where as the MK Toughplug may sometimes require bits to be cut away depending on cable diameter. I’ve never seen any specific comments anywhere regarding the affect on sound of either one.
One concern is that as pointed out Masterplug only produce unplated plugs. So if they are plated by a third party then I suppose that technically this invalidates the CE certification as they have now been modified.
Yes the MS HD Power 13A plugs are used by The Chord Company, albeit proprietary versions. Their covers are opaque, unlike the commercially available one. Also they use white ones not available commercially. No idea if this impacts in any way on performance. In this case the plating is carried out by the manufacturer so presumably CE certification is obtained on the finished product, ie. post plating.
PS. There is a school of thought/belief that white plugs sound better than black ones as the carbon powder used to colour the black ones can act as a dielectric between the pins. No comment here.
The problem with that is that you are in effect adding another interface in the mains path, which is why it is generally not considered to be a good thing with hi-fi mains cables, or so I understand. Anyway they look to be very smartly made cables. How do they compare with standard Naim cables or Powerline Lites?
As we know
There are all sorts of variables in our plugs and sockets different metals for pins and fuses etc so that was something I was prepared to accept to avoid stray strands or the screw centre destruction of the multi core.
The reason I really do this is to have a better than average rating of cable and connectors in the main feed.
I’ve 2 powerline lites never used in the equipment boxes quite simple because with the moulded IEC end I’ve no way of knowing how really well the termination is made also the conductor size is only 0.75 mm2
Also as Naim strictly address in the equipment manuals that for best sound and less fuse fatigue then a 13A fuse must be used.
This incurs a dilemma of legality and legislation that states that a conductor size of less than 1.25mm2 is unsuitable for such a fuse rating therefore I max out the spec to 1.5mm2 to be in good specification.
All done in the interests of safety and OCD satisfaction of the cable permanently in use.
DG - might be worth keeping an eye out for a pre-loved Power-Line. I use one with my KDSM, an option that wasn’t available with the previous generation slimline case version.
I use a MS HD mains plug (just the bog standard Copper version) for a 2 way Hydra for my 350s. A decent quality plug, with plenty of room internally and an effective cable clamp to handle large cables, or in my case two cables.
This something I’ve brought up before because I couldn’t understand how Naim could legally supply mains cables with the incorrect fuse rating in the plug. I think the answer was along the lines that it’s legal in mains cable assemblies below a certain length. Complex legislation here. The fact that it’s a ‘cable assembly’ and supplied as such is apparently relevant here. All only as far as I recall.
Regarding the cable CSA of 0.75mm2 I recall it being said many years ago that this was chosen to provide best performance with Naim products and that using a higher guage cable would not be as musical. Of course the Powerline in much heavier guage so I’m not sure what the official line is now. As I said, my recollection is from literally decades ago…so probably way out of date.
Lots of codswallop gets spread here but it is the manufacturers forum so supplying correct info and letting people decide is the best course.
You seem to have sometimes a similar view to myself and people don’t like it but hey speech is free and the truth shouldn’t be gagged.
There will always be salesmen for manufacturers and punters.
I used to have these with my Naim kit, then when sold that moved over to Chord cables.
DG…
