Thanks. It’s the same DPS4.1 with the FI-25 (R) replaced with the FI-50 NCF (R). The connectors will need about a month before they are fully run-in (hopefully). At this point it’s the usual effects of reduced airiness and percussion sounding off. However, there’s already a glimpse of brilliance with the FI-50 NCF (R) as the overall sound is bolder and more colourful with some detail in the music sounding different in tonal quality.
Early impressions are promising.
It’s the same DPS4.1 with the connectors switched.
Gotcha. You swamped connectors. Smart move getting that brace. It’s on my list at some point.
Good stuff 
If the Luxman draws a decent amount of current even while not in use, I’d say around 2 weeks should give you a good idea. When powering all my kit I found between 350-400hrs & no longer had the big strange swings in balance, after this amount of time it was just improvements from then on. When used on lower power kit, seems to take about double that time.
Good to know. 3 hours in and the cable is already showing huge potential.
Firstly, the FI-25 is not very good. That is the only comment from me as I will need to sell it later.
Next, the DPS4.1/FI-50 NCF(R) is certainly better than the TCS31/FI-28(R). There’s bass now, lots of it. It’s punching below there. The soundstage and dynamics, all improved at this early stage, and different(improved) tone as most instruments sound different in a better way. It’s quite surprising a cable can bring such a difference. I’m happy.
That’s good to hear, keep us posted on how things run in. Based on a number of your previous posts, this cord to me seemed to be exactly what you would be after, so hoping the recommendation works out well for you. With my DPS/FI-50 NCF combo all was new at the same time so not sure how much that will change what you experience but if you’re already happy with the bass, I’d expect it to still fill out a bit more & increase in both depth & articulation. Also, if at times you notice some harshness in the upper midrange/highs, don’t worry about this, it will go away.
What have all the experiments concluded so far?
What is the best material/plating for the plugs and sockets?
Rhodium Plated?
Gold Plated?
Silver Plated?
Non Plated?
Phosphor Bronze ?
Pure Copper?
Copper Alloy?
Pure-Copper Rhodium-plated conductors?
Pure-Copper Gold-plated Conductor?
Pure-Copper Silver-plated Conductors?
Hopefully those with more experience will respond shortly, but I’ll say one thing I’ve been dying to say.
I’ll quote @AHT “I installed Furutech NCF outlets (GTX DR NCF duplex receptacle, GTX Wall Frame, and Outlet Cover 106 NCF) two years ago, and it was possibly the best upgrade I have ever made, at reasonable cost.”
I have by no means tested all the possible options but from my experience can say a few things. First, not all gold plating’s sounds the same, same goes for rhodium, etc., every brand can have a different sound for the same plating. Phosphor bronze or any of the other cheaper metal/alloys are a complete no go for me, they add a harshness to the sound that I assumed was just a digital audio thing, turns out once they were all eliminated from my chain so was any trace of harshness from digital.
I have long posts above about Rhodium, so I’m not going to repeat all the info but when done properly, Rhodium is by far my choice for power connector. The Furutech gold masks far too much detail for my liking. The FI-50 NCF’s are said to be the most neutral sounding connector (they still have some colour as do every other one out there) & my experiences reflect that. If you need a bit of warmth, I’d much rather do that with the bulk cable itself & not the connector. This way you still get the warmth but don’t loose the transparency.
Rhodium gets a bad rap, for being bright & fatiguing (but as I’ve posted above, people are jumping to the wrong conclusion). I’ve replace 5 ends that were gold to the FI-50 NCF Rhodium ends, I did this in steps, my concern being that while I might bring more detail/transparency I would also loose some warmth/musically, which is not what I wanted. What I’ve found is exactly the opposite, not only has the transparency of the system increased dramatically, I actually have more warmth then what I started with & the kit is far more musically involving.
As for outlets, the NCF R version is a massive leap from either phosphor bronze or brass contacts, said it a number of times already, a ridiculous price for an outlet but one of the best bargains out there as far as price vs performance goes.
Edit: I’ll also add, & have mentioned this in my long winded posts above, always best practice to match metal plating’s like for like on each connection, you can have different plating’s on each end of a cord but the physical contact of each end should match what its in contact with.
I was specifically referring to Furutech.
If you’re in the UK and comply with UK regs your choice of conductor (plug pins) material is somewhat limited to Copper Alloy Conductor whereas some of the non UK plugs have pure-copper conductors.
Unfortunate that it looks like the UK doesn’t get the same options as the NA/Schuko male plugs. In this case, Furutech generally does a pretty good job of their pricing as far as if the product costs more, it should perform better. The UK NCF(R) plug should be their best sounding plug. In my experience the NCF material does actually have an impact on cleaning up power/lowering the noise floor.
This is all very interesting. What’s the best practice of physicality fixing the cable to the plug ?
Most of the better ones have a grub screw within each pin. Is there some ideal way to terminate ?
Looking at my Nordost ones when putting in an upgraded fuse, I could see some soldering within the pin terminals.
I have seen some online recommendations to fit a cap over the bare cable ends before a cold grub screw clamp to minimise potential oxidation.
Although, if your swapping out different plug ends every few months - perhaps long term oxidation issues are not a concern. 
I’ve got a few high quality power cables sitting in the drawer that could well benefit from some Furutech magic.
Some insight over best practices to attach these items would be very helpful. Thankyou.
I am thinking of going in this direction as well however I am looking at Douglas Connection to fabricate it for me.
I assume you are in the States?
I’m not sure what their UK plugs look like internally but if they use the same connection, generally its preferred to use their small spade connectors, that are crimped on. This is how I terminate all my cords, would be their FP-209 (R) spades
Do they charge a premium to fabricate them? I was checking into VH Audio as well or possibly FutureShop in the UK
The Furutech manual actually has a warning to never solder mains power connections in a plug and to use direct compression (screws) or crimping.
When done tight, oxidation isn’t a concern. Any oxidise would be on the exposed tips only and not on the contact area of the connection.
FI-E50 NCF now replaced the FI-38 on the captive lead of my power block so running in again, bit of a curates egg at the moment whereas the 38 was doing nicely after 6 weeks. Took me a while to work out how to get at the L and N terminal screws on the E50.
Congratulations! I hope the break-in period for this isn’t too long for you.
