Tellurium Q

Silver and Silver Diamond Power Leads

£1,200 / £2,200 respectively

As anyone who's ever spoken to Tellurium Q's head honcho Geoff Merrigan will attest, he lets his products do the talking. That was pretty much all I was left with, after a telephone conversation about these two power cables that had just arrived. There was no hinting at what I should be expecting to experience, nor was there anything remotely like a sales pitch about the exotic materials and unique production methods, etc., used to create them. Even on the company's website, you are simply told that the Silver Diamond has “some of the magic” of the Statement power cable because it came out of that same research. Cheers, thanks for that.

So much for the “known unknowns”, as a great philosopher once said. The known knowns, by contrast, start with the fact that both Silver and Silver Diamond power leads as reviewed are 1.5m long and terminated by the justifiably popular Furutech connectors. The IEC plugs appear to be that company's Rhodium-plated option, with the Silver Diamond sporting a much thicker and slightly less pliant cable in addition to silver pins at the wall-end. Saying that, both of these TQ power cables are more flexible than many other similarly priced designs I've tried – I'm looking at you HiDiamond 4.

Happily, in my view, the exterior design is a good deal more low-key than some other brands, making these easier to fit into their surroundings – and sneak past more keen-eyed partners, possibly. These are premium power leads (the Silver costs £1,200, the Silver Diamond £2,200), and suffice to say they're as well made as you've a right to expect at these heady price points. For the purposes of this review, I plugged them into my HiDiamond HDX2 distribution block, as I figured that any improvements would be apparent across the board. I also subsequently tried them directly between the wall socket and component, so as to bypass anything the HiDiamond unit might be adding or subtracting.

TELLURIUM Q SILVER

The standout characteristic of this power cable, when compared with my reference lead, was that the mid-bass had more edge to it. In fact, the entire midband sat a little more forward than usual in my system, but not to the detriment of the rest of the frequency spectrum. The result was that strings and vocals had increased presence and the decay of cymbal hits, for instance, was more naturally presented.

Bass notes also had more snap with the Silver power lead, too, especially demonstrated by plectrum-wielders such as The Stranglers' JJ Burnel. His gritty sound and the way he digs the pick into the strings came through clearer with the Silver cable, making my current choice seem a little relaxed in comparison. Overall then this classy cable gives a grippy, animated sound that really moves with the music.

TELLURIUM Q SILVER DIAMOND

Compared to the Tellurium Q Silver, the Diamond version brings more air and space. I can only attribute that to an even lower noise floor, as power cables cannot add anything – instead, they can only block outside influences better. The upshot here was greater levels of dynamics and an opening up of the soundstage, which leads to one being able to pick out the decay of individual orchestral instruments more quickly than with the Silver. The latter was already better in this respect to my usual £1,800 lead, by the way.

This power lead also shines a subtly brighter light upon the timbre and tone of vocals and acoustic instruments alike. As well as fostering more expression, this luminance also invigorated low-end instruments, giving them more clarity, definition and direction. Jehan Alain's Litanies played by Greg Morris not only became more expansive to my ears, but the organ's lower register had more visceral grip than previously heard. Also, the high mids and treble were allowed more headroom than the Silver. The natural reverb of the Temple Church, London, used for this particular organ piece could so easily muddy the harmonics – but not so here, even at the dramatic finale.

THE VERDICT

First, some context. You should only be looking at spending anywhere near this sum of money if you're running a high-end system; even good mid-priced ones won't be detailed enough to justify the expense truly. With that in mind, should you be in the happy situation of having lots invested in your hi-fi, then both these cables are an essential audition. True to form, Tellurium Q products have a smooth and sophisticated sound, but never sound dull or veiled; the Silver epitomises this and the Silver Diamond adds extra insight and scale. Both are there or thereabouts in terms of being the best value at their respective price points, especially the Silver Diamond, which is hard to beat at any level. Tastefully turned out, superbly built and sonically excellent – both are state-of-the-art power cables that don't disappoint.

For more information, head on over to Tellurium Q.