Why the last few feet of the power cable matter

Paul answers this age-old question of why power cables matter

[KingKong-mpgj]

The last few feet matter because they are the only ones audio companies can make money with.

[odizcvw]

With limited knowledge but a scientific background, I was skeptical about power cables having an influence on sound. But I experimented with various home made cables and found to my surprise they can have a significant impact.
My observations suggest that they act as a filter, a shield and a conduit.
I found the shield works well on a digital source. I prefer unshielded on amps. I think that architecture makes an impact. Connector quality makes much smaller impact.
I use twisted pair for power conduit. This would filter common noise. I use a ferrite bead on the safety earth but not on the hot/neutral. On the power conduit the inductor dampens dynamics, but added to the safety earth it improves in the way reduced noise improves sound. But I also found that wire gauge makes a difference. Same architecture, but much larger gauge sounded better. Again makes no sense as all this is plugged into a smaller gauge in the wall. So I don't try to understand it, I just use what works and enjoy it. And no, since I spent next to nothing for it I am not justifying my investment.

[RM-lvng]

Didn't believe in power cables until I tried the AQ Storm series. It was eye opening.

[rdeye]

Dear god what was this? After hearing this, I'm now sure it doesn't make a difference 😂

[richardt]

I am so tired of unscientific claptrap in the audiophile world. What's even more galling is to be called an "air-quotes" denier simply because the science behind this nonsense isn't there. In most fields people say follow the science - when it comes to audiophile lore it's apparently better to ignore the science and logic.

I'm also frustrated by the pompous "people who have no experience" jibe - we've all got ears, Paul, we've all got minds that work, and most everybody who follows you on YouTube will have experience of a highly resolving system, so please don't keep putting down people who have (like me) years of experience in installations of high end equipment and who can say, categorically, that there is no science or logic or reason in spending a fortune on expensive power cables for the last few feet of power.

[Justin-fyxk]

Theres something very wrong here. Paul goes on about how important it is to have screened mains cable and how it is the most important thing you have to do to stop interference getting to your equipment. How come a very high end audio company dont believe in shielded mains cables. That company is from the UK and is called Naim. Yes they also sell snake oil $600 dollar mains cables. Why do they say a shielded cable will degrade the sound. Something not right here guys.

[royrogers]

ok, so cheap standard electrician wires inside the wall is shielded by the wall paper and chip board so you need to buy a 1K$ powercord the last few feet to the amp... yeah, of course that make total sense.

[JingoLoBa]

Paul was right, no matter what he says…he ain’t going to change some minds.

[ThinkingBetter]

Obviously what our eyes can see matters. Our perception of audio includes some degree of visual deception of our brain. There is far more impact on our audio perception from the visuals on cables than from actual technical improvements. It’s like a good quality perfume can make us think a woman is more beautiful.

[SilverAnalog]

In 1/120th of a second (1/2 a singe cycle of the 60 hz cycle) electrons move about 2250 kilometers distance.

[Wised]

If your power cable picks up noise because it's not shielded, so will all the wiring in the wall that leads to the outlet. Shielding the last three feet "the tip" will make absolutely zero difference. US home wiring runs 15 amps. Running a bigger conductor than that is absolutely asinine and truly ass backwards! The solution is a properly constructed power transformer. If your amp can't filter out line noise, get another one since the one you have is crap.