Audiophile Cable TRUTHS: Power Cords

[tpr]

I bought a really nice power cable for $5, 000. It has beautiful plugs on both ends. Looks like carbon fiber. Male, and female. When I get some more money saved up I’m going to buy an amp, and some speakers.

[MilGrip]

Without blind tests, and ABing, it's nothing but guess-work. Going from "dark", to open and airy, takes several dB, across several octaves, for a 🌙/ 🌞 difference to be made, se-ve-ral decibels! If your [anyone's] power cable is doing that, there are serious issues going on, that should not be. Accommodation is what most people are hearing, closely tied to expectation bias. My 2c.

[howardskeivys]

Personally, I think this is a costly manufactured solution to a trivial or virtually non existent issue. I must however confess, that my local ‘bricks & mortar’ hifi dealer was having a stock clearance sale. I picked up a bargain. A 5 feet ‘high end’ audiophile mains cable reduced from 5 thousand pounds to 5 hundred pounds. I fitted it to my 1800 spin speed automatic washing machine. The results were phenomenal. Now, when the machine has a full 10KG load and reaches it’s maximum spin speed of 1800, the noise it produces is infinitely more pleasant. The highs are smooth and polished and have lost any hint of sibilance or graininess. The mids are clear, natural and full bodied and the lows are so well controlled the need for room treatment or DSP have been negated. The machine no longer goes for a walk around my utility room, though I credit this to the girth and binding qualities of the cable, not it’s electrical properties.

The downside. Because you know there is always compromises. My teenage daughter used to get a real thrill from sitting astride the machine when it reached maximum spin speed. That damned ‘high end’ audiophile cable has denied her that basic and simple pleasure.

Enjoy the music.

[mchlhth]

Hi Danny, “flat earther” here who wants to like your work on crossover designs and speaker upgrades, but I have also handled power supplies for computing measuring in the kilowatts and theater lighting arrays and sound systems where deploying arrays that pulled nearly 100 killowatts wasn’t out of the ordinary. I’ve used actual power conditioning equipment. I’ve also built countless power cables with numerous terminations for equipment that can pull up to 10KW at full power. I absolutely cannot condone anyone buying a $250 power cord. My 20 year old self would laugh, and my present-day near-40 year old self just feels sad. Here’s why:

Consumer and prosumer audio equipment have switching designs to get from the alternating current to direct current for use with anything inside an amp, DAC, preamp, etc. To go from AC to DC, electric power goes through a transformer, a rectifier, and several filtering and conditioning stages to smooth out variation and ripple, before it even touches anything else. (Never mind the fact that some integrated circuits have specific tolerances where they simply don’t work well, or just fail outright, if they run out of spec, so clean power delivery from the output stage of the power supply is a must.) Much like speaker wire, so long as the power cable is using the appropriate gauge for its length as to not melt and start a fire, it’s fine.

I think, outside of the audiophile community, you would be (rightfully) laughed at if you said you purchased a $250 power cable… I can buy a whole 92%+ efficient 1KW power supply for that money, and it would come with a pennies-on-the-dollar, 2 meter long, 16-gauge C13 cable, and it work exactly as expected. A better power cable wouldn’t make it work any more efficiently or have more stable 12V or 5V output. Wouldn’t have to even buy one of those weirdo power conditioners either. (Again, I have dealt with real power conditioners for actual high load situations. They are not small and they are not quiet, and they belong nowhere near audiophile equipment.)

[chriseggroll]

i think double blind listening tests are the gold standard for this sort of thing, as knowing what's hooked up can influence how you feel about the sound. i'm sure cabling and the power source can make a difference, but for me at least there are just hard limits on the lengths i will go. tube connectors and good speaker cables seem reasonable, but i don't know about power cables. you would need a good power strip too

[willbrink]

You have always done a good job of supplying before/after testing of mods made to speakers. Where are the measurements for the mega hose cable vs the power cable supplied by the manufacturer? That would seem the obvious step to me considering prior approaches with speakers and upgrades.

[DynamicRockers]

14:03 I worked in big studio facilities around the world for many years and I've only seen regular 2$ IEC power cables on pro gears. Sometimes studios have regenerators or isolation transformers but it's only if they had no choice because of surges, line noises or big swings. The filtering stage of any pro audio gear should be sufficient to clean up the AC defects. If it's recorded like that in those studios, you'll get them on your home system anyway. Just open a 2000$ EQ rack and smile at those hair-thin oxydized internal connectors... Sorry but I'll let you hear this audio guru preaching how AMAZING vs AWFUL and LIFELESS it sounds when you plug a 40W amplifier with an industrial pure copper 4/0 AWG 100A power cable. Me on my side, I'll play some records in my modest room and just enjoy it for what it is, music. Peace

[TestarossaMusicista]

"Not a lot of money"
"Couple hundred bucks"

Literally a piece of wire.

[chrisg]

Why have I never seen any of these cables in Recording Studios? Surely the same argument must apply.

[andrewskaterrr]

Comparing water filtration to a power cable doesn’t work, they are two different things.
Water from the city pipes will not get cleaner by replacing your in home pipes. You incorrectly compared it to adding filters which would clean the water. Replacing the pipe won’t filter the water so the water will be the same.
Power from the wall will not “get better” by replacing the cable, it can only be “less bad” as the cable eats up electricity due to resistance, and using 12awg over 14awg would assist in that.
The only way to improve the power quality would be by running through power conditioner, which would be similar to a water filter. At that point you’re trying to “clean it” using actual tools and not just a cable. The only thing a cable can do is hurt the signal.
If you want to claim that it makes an IMPROVEMENT, and not a negative change to signal that you perceive as “better” eg: HF roll off, then prove us all wrong and runs the tests between cables. Gene at Audiobolics does, and he’s an electrical engineer on top of that. Sound is easily measurable, so if you want people to believe what you say, then prove it.

[tee-jaythestereo-bargainph]

Danny i was always against higher end cables then i bought a power cable and ran a dedicated 20-amp circuit in my dining room which is my music room and I tell ya danny i was blown away so much so i basically had to eat my words after all these years calling cables snake oil !

[odizcvw]

I am oriented to science and facts. I thought there is no way a short power cable can make a difference. I also read many articles expounding the virtues of power conditioners.
I experimented with DIY power conditioners and found exactly what Danny describes. A little can help, and too much can kill the system. Isolation transformers slightly reduced sound quality. Inductors, even a small amount could kill the sound stage and make the sound dull and lifeless.
Power cables are where I was shocked. I found a substantial difference in sound. I make my own, and they are a solid improvement in bass, sound stage etc. I used some DIY recipes from VH Audio cables with 10gauge wire. Sounds terrific. I put minor amounts of filtering in the distribution box using caps and also built a DC block circuit to avoid transformers from buzzing and saturating. This was all I need. There is only a couple feet between the conditioner/distribution box and the electronics. I also built an 8 foot cord to go from the wall to the distribution box. I also put a ferret clamp on the safety ground at each consumer. An inductor or a ferret clamp is not good on the power wires. I cannot explain any of this other than the notion of an appropriate amount of filtering. It could also be that the caps act as a volt/var circuit. I live in a large city and there is a ton of noise in local distribution including RF over power. My house is full of LED lights, dimmers and switch mode power supplies. There are several computers plugged in and powered at any time. Every house on the street has the same. We all have a plethora of radio antennas for wifi, cellular, garage doors and home automation. Somehow these power tweaks that cost me nothing helps my system work well.

[jeffkalina]

Which chart do you use to measure electrical noise levels?

[stephenyoud]

As a polymer technologist who did his PhD on Polyethylene, I'm interested to know what kind of changes can occur with Polyethylene at room temperature in a so called burn in phase that would affect its electrical insulation properties. Polyethylene is a semi crystalline polymer and crystallises as it cools from the molten state at between 120 - 135 deg C depending on its polymer structure. the amorphous phase between the crystallites is above its glass transition point and is in the rubbery state and will experience some relaxation of the built in stresses within the material caused by its rapid cooling from the melt state 9during the wire coating extrusion process. but whether a bit of molecular relaxation in a non polar polymer insulator would or could affect sound, remains to be seen, or heard... as a LINN Owner, arent we used to being flat earthers?

[nedendres]

I've listen to a few of GR Research's videos and frankly they are mostly just malarkey. Like this one.

[michaelkiteboarder]

Meanwhile back at the Bar or auditorium or tv station they use the very cheapest cables / cords they can get buy with to ORIGINATE / mix the sound.

[kenmccallum]

“a fool and his money are soon parted”

[zogzog]

Oh dear. Yes cables CAN make a difference - if there is insufficient gauge or poor connectors. But a $5.00 cable will have the necessary gauge and it is trivial to make a good connection. Spend your money on speakers. The reason this is so sad is that Danny is right up there when it comes to speakers - but now he descends to snake oil.

[jenshoefer]

If high end power cables would make a real difference, manufacturers of active speakers would deliver them along with the speaker instead of the standard cord or they would deliver none and leave it to you...I mean one decent studio monitor costs easily 2000 EUR, providing a 90EUR OFC or OCC power cable along wouldn't make much price difference ...yet they deliver the speaker with a standard power cord...so, obviously they don't think it influences the experience with the speaker

[rtth]

A lot of people commenting on Danny but very few who actually take up the invitation to put his assertion to the test. For me, I listen to the fellow who do audio experiments on a regular basis