Once in a Tahitian blue moon, an A/C power cord is unleashed that’s so insanely over-engineered that it (almost) defies description. After looking at said cable for a few seconds, its muscular aesthetics trigger an audio-nutter response that forces audiophiles to drool, shiver excitedly, and then swear the sky… er… blue.
Words like ‘bonkers’, ‘bespoke’, ‘bad ass’, ‘bodacious’, and ‘booty-licious’ are all accurate descriptors for the pinnacle of obsessive-compulsive engineering gone near-insane that is Rick Schultz Audio’s new top-of-the-line Emersion A/C power cord (PC).
RSA’s Emersion AC Power Cord – entire PC
Product Description
Based out of Alberta Canada, Rick Schultz brings more than 25 years of advanced engineering knowledge to crafting ultra high-end audio cables. His former companies Virtual Dynamics™ and High Fidelity Cables™ were both well-regarded outfits that manufactured some of the best sounding audiophile cables the world has ever heard.
RSA’s Emersion PC – magnets array
Rick Schultz Audio’s new Emersion A/C cord, (1.5m length- $11,000 USD), is a large power cable (PC). The magnetic array’s dimensions are 6” inches wide, 8” inches high, and 15” inches long. Each waveguide weighs 12 Lbs. The magnets use two built in rails to support the unit’s size. These “magnetic conduction” waveguides are designed to purify the transfer of electrical current.
RSA’s Emersion PC – support rail
The Emersion PC features three 11-guage 6-nines Oxygen Free Copper (OFC) wires. To prevent oxidization, the copper conductors are silver-coated. The wires are terminated with OCC-silver (OCC-Ag) plugs and custom-fabricated exterior shells that RSA makes in-house.
RSA Emersion PC – custom plugs
Set-up
To support the Emersion’s magnets, I bought several 12”-inch by 24”-inch marble tiles from my local Home Despot™ (sic.). I placed the marble slabs on top of two red granite bases that once functioned as the base of a coffee table. To minimize vibrations from filtering through the marble, I inserted several thin layers of acoustical dampening foam between the marble tiles and granite bases. I also installed four hockey pucks underneath the array’s rails. To better understand this power cable’s size, please Czech-out (sic.) this picture:
RSA Emersion PC – marble tile stand
Again, those marble tiles are 12”-inches wide by 24”-inches long. The Emersion also uses four cable separators to create an air di-electric that physically separates its wires.
Owner and CEO of RSA, Rick Schultz recommends using the Emersion power cord with high current components like power regenerators, A/C conditioners, pre-amps, and power amplifiers.
Initial Impressions
The 15-Amp Emersion A/C power cord that I was given for review was an early prototype with a grey finish. The grey color is no longer available. The standard finish of all current production Emersion PCs is now black.
I first plugged the Emersion into an Esoteric DAC, then into an Audio Research LS-28 tube pre-amp, and finally straight from the wall into a heavily modified power regenerator. My stereo system clearly sounded best hooked-up to the re-genny. Why…? Instead of improving the sound quality of just one component, when providing hyper-pure A/C power through a regenerator to all of the other gear, the sonic performance of every unit noticeably improved.
Most A/C power cords above the $10,000 USD retail price range will improve the sonics in several specific ways. These improvements usually involve: a), faster transients, more energy, and livelier dynamics. B), an increase in the soundstage’s height, width, and depth. C), better timbral accuracy, textural nuance, and tonal richness. D), a lower noise floor. F), what happened to E)…? G), better separation and more precise placement of individual instruments within the soundstage. And H), superior musical cohesiveness. Much to my surprise, RSA’s Emersion power cord improved all of these sonic characteristics at the same time!
Zeppelin- Early Days – album cover
Listening to Led Zeppelin’s Early Days, (Atlantic Records™ – A2 83278), on a Redbook CD upsampled to 24/176, I realized that I’d never heard this album – on any format – sound so lifelike and accurate. In particular, the song “Battle of the Evermore” rocketed my soul to the moon. The backgrounds were blacker than a politician’s heart during an election campaign. The amount of micro-details and sonic textures brought forth by the Emersion PC was shocking.
Comparison Tests
RSA’s Emersion PC vs. RSA’s Apparition PC:
I first compared the top-of-the-line Emersion PC (1.5m length- $11,000 USD) to RSA’s silver medal Apparition power cord (1.5m length- $6,000 USD). The Emersion’s neodyminium magnets are much larger than those used in the Apparition PC. In theory, larger magnets produce a stronger magnetic force. While both A/C cords have the same ‘house sound’, the Emersion clearly created deeper resolution, superior timbral accuracy, and even more dynamic energy than the Apparition.
Is the Emersion worth the extra money? If you own a top-shelf 2-channel rig that’s capable of squeezing every last drop of sound out of recordings, then the Emersion PC definitely is worth the extra cashish (sic.). The Emersion clearly has better sound – across the board – than the Apparition. Even one Emersion A/C cable installed at the front end of any system will dramatically improve a worthy stereo’s overall sound quality.
Shunyata’s Omega-X XC A/C cord vs. RSA’s Emersion PC:
Shunyata Research’s Omega-series of power cords are known for their expressive dynamics, superb soundstaging, and precision 3D imaging. I proudly own an Omega-X XC (high current) PC (1.75m length- $8,500 USD). Stated succinctly, compared to the Omega-X XC, RSA’s Emersion is a superior sounding power cable.
Specifically, Shunyata’s XC A/C power cable produced noticeably slower transients and less dynamic energy. With the XC installed, I felt like I’d accidentally ingested too many drops of CBD oil and I was slowly collapsing into a distorted sonic hallucination of slower pace, weakened dynamics, and less energy.
This “slowness” also came with a considerable loss of mid-band transparency and micro-detail retrieval. By comparison, the XC sounded clouded, congested, and confused – especially in the bass registers. Competing against the warm, lush, and organic midrange sound quality of the Emersion power cord, the Omega was drier than a California fire hydrant. The XC simply did not have the breathtaking timbral accuracy, tactile clarity, coherency, or bristling musical insight of the Emersion.
Overall, in my opinion there was no contest here. Compared to the Emersion PC, the sonic character of the Omega-X XC power cord was more polluted than Camp Lejeune ground water. After trying to listen to three or four songs with the XC, the rush to re-install RSA’s Emersion A/C cord was simply overwhelming. Next.
Argento Audio’s Flow Master Reference Extreme Edition (FMR EE) power cord vs. RSA’s Emersion PC:
Argento Audio’s Flow Master Reference Extreme Edition, (2.0m length- $18,500 USD), uses air and physical space as a di-electric to separate its hot, cold, and ground wires.
Challenged by RSA’s Emersion PC, the FMR Extreme power cord offered about 5% less dynamic energy. The Emersion A/C cable created faster transients, superior dynamics, and a fuller sound. Although the differences here weren’t enormous, the Emersion PC was the sonic winner in my book. I’m not kicking Argento’s FMR EE to the curb. It’s a superb sounding power cable that I’m proud to own. In the aggregate though, in my 2-channel rig, the FMR Extreme A/C cord did not produce the incisive resolution, dynamic energy, and transient speed that the Emersion did.
More concerning is the difference in price: a 1.5m Emersion PC is $11,000 USD; a 2.0m Flow Master Reference Extreme Edition costs $18,500 USD.
Stage 3 Concepts’ Poseidon A/C cord vs. RSA’s Emersion:
Prior to auditioning Rick Schultz Audio’s Emersion power cord, Stage 3 Concepts’ Poseidon, (2.0m length- $26,000 USD), was the best sounding A/C cable that I’d ever heard. As sound quality goes, the Emersion and the Poseidon power cords are very close to each other. Both PCs offer a remarkably natural sounding body and warmth. Both also create deep resolution, immense soundstaging, and an expressive timbral texturing that is breathtaking.
The Poseidon has a wee bit more, (maybe 2% or 3% more), ‘thickness’ in its overall sonic presentation. This is not to say that it sounds slow or sluggish. It’s just marginally fuller and denser. The Emersion’s midrange has slightly more bloom, is farther forward, and better centered. The Emersion’s sonic character is more focused in the midrange and upper midrange. The sonic differences between the two PCs are minimal. As such, I could happily live with either of them. The big difference between the Emersion and the Poseidon is, once again, the asking price: the Emersion is $11,000 USD and the Poseidon retails for $26,000 USD.
How can an $11,000 USD A/C cord sonically compete against a $26,000 USD power cable…? It’s simple: Rick Schultz sells his cables direct to audiophiles. This “direct sales” business model means that there’s no middle-man doubling the price and no retailer jacking it up even higher. If the Emersion PC was being sold through boutique audio shops, it would (likely) sport a retail price tag of $33,000 or even $35,000 US dollars.
Shortcomings
Shortcomings…? First, the moolah needed to buy even one Emersion A/C cord will inherently limit who can afford it. Second, an end-user will need an accomplished 2-channel rig to hear the shiver-inducing sound quality that the Emersion is capable of producing. Third, the Emersion power cable is component-sized. The 12 Lb magnetic waveguide cannot hang in the air. Without support, the magnets will plummet to the floor faster than a lead zeppelin. An end-user will (probably) need an amp stand to place this PC’s mid-section magnetic array on. As such, if you’re dealing with tight space constraints, this power cord may not work for you.
Listening Tests
Released in 1982, Peter Gabriel’s fourth album Security, (Geffen CD-2011), is a profoundly introspective record. The songs on this disc are more akin to sonic artwork that’s designed to awaken semi-conscious emotions than to merely be radio-playable music. This is (arguably) Gabriel’s finest studio recording.
Gabriel – Security album cover
The best way to experience the fever-dream sonic landscape that Gabriel captured on this album is to lay back, close your eyes, and calmly let its complex rhythms and lyrics wash over you. RSA’s Emersion PC allowed my stereo system to pull so much sonic information out of this recording that, once it had finished playing, I felt spiritually refreshed and purified. And that’s what the end goal of investing in a 2-channel rig should be: to create music that allows a listener to feel something of substance and meaning on an emotional and physical level.
For perspective, I next tried Tool’s curious 1996 album Aenima (Volcano Entertainment LLC 61422-31087-2). As this record meanders along, the songs oscillate from sounding delicate, flowery, and introspective to being cement-mixer heavy and driven by skull-crushing rage.
Tool – Aenima album cover
Featuring Maynard James Keenan’s expressive vocals, Danny Carey’s immensely technical drumming, and the band’s groove-laden rhythms, Aenima bristles with raw emotion. The experimental art house songs on this record rip-ride along with a swaggering conviction of pride and purpose that is legion.
Most of Tool’s songs are built around challenging rhythms, air-tight percussion, and rampaging guitar and bass lines. Some of Maynard’s lyrics explore the psychology of our nature as human beings and as a tribal species. Other tracks are just Maynard venting about… well… whatever he’s angry at. Suck back a can of Redbull™, hop into a gurgling Lamborghini, and fire down the autobahn at freeway mad speeds: THIS is what Tool should sound and feel like; a raw and visceral sonic experiment that awakens your heart and makes your blood shake.
Hearing the caffeinated vitriol of the song “H*oker with a P*nis” roar forth, the smoldering rage that slowly builds, and builds, and builds to a point of climaxing into an atomic explosion of pure hatred put a twisted smile on my face. Intimately connecting with Maynard’s frustration and anger, I suddenly felt like a convicted lunatic whom had courageously tunneled his way out of a level-4 psychiatric facility with a grapefruit spoon and found freedom on the other side of the fence. Sweet vainglorious musical freedom!
With RSA’s Emersion PC powering my 2-channel rig, albums that I’ve been listening to for decades were all more lifelike and emotionally involving. I was hearing micro-details, sonic textures, and layers of sound which I’d not previously known to exist on recordings. Whether the music was Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Patricia Barber, Motörhead, Mahler, Slayer, Saxon, Chopin, Goatsnake, Rossini, or… sweet Byzantine Jesus… whatever, it didn’t matter. All of it sounded better with the Emersion A/C cord providing juice to my stereo system.
Conclusion
As of May 2026, Rick Schultz Audio’s Emersion power cord is the best sounding A/C cable that I’ve ever heard. No other power cord currently exists that cleanly beats the sound quality of RSA’s beast. Not surprisingly, the Emersion isn’t cheap. You want the best? Well… the best doesn’t come cheap.
And yet, if the Emersion PC was being sold through retail outlets, it would likely sport a price tag of $33,000 or $35,000 US dollars. Thankfully, it doesn’t. By selling direct to the audiophile public and eliminating all of the elements within the retail distribution chain, an Emersion power cord can be had for 1/3rd of that cost. Priced at $11,000 USD, the Emersion is not only an end-game A/C cable, it’s also (by audiophile standards) a stone-cold bargain.
Stated succinctly, nothing cleanly beats the sound quality of the Emersion PC – nothing. In 15+ years of writing professional audio reviews, this is the only A/C power cord that I’ve ever accredited with offering a component level improvement in sound quality. And by “component level”, I mean Aeris Cerat or CH Precision level. Germane to this, I bought the review sample. And, as my budget permits further down the audiophile autobahn, I will be buying a few more of these breathtaking power cables. Highly recommended!
