Stepping in it
Join Our Community Subscribe to Paul's PostsThis morning I am heading over for the second of the amplifier shootouts to see what kind of progress we’ve made. On my system it certainly sounds significantly better, but we shall see.
There’s been some conversations going on over on our Community Forums about power cables – why do they sound different than stock cables – and perhaps even a bigger question, is that actually true.
There’s pretty universal acceptance that signal cables make a difference but the same cannot be said for power cables. Here we have clearly opposing camps of thoughts on the matter: one camp would suggest only the wire gauge (thickness) matters, while other believe everything matters.
Of course you know where we stand on the matter – we make a line of aftermarket power cables.
I thought I’d begin this series with the story of how we built one of the first aftermarket high-end power cables on the market, many, many years ago.
I will tell you up front the entire process was seat of the pants – the only measurements we made that had any meaning were noise related – we tried in vain to measure any differences whatsoever in connected power supplies without any success. I believe the guys over at Shunyata claim to have figured it out from a measurement standpoint and if true, I am impressed
But, perhaps as you follow along with the story, the trials, the tribulations and the results, it may give you a bit of insight into this whole subject that you didn’t have before.
See you tomorrow.
Hi Paul.
Me I started in the first camp based on the opinions of highly acclaimed amp-designers. But having experienced the effects of different power-cords in my own system I had to join the other camp. But seeing the variety of most different and contradictory designs not only discriminated by “shielded” or “unshielded” but also by wire material and geometry as well as cryogenic treatment and vibration-damping and filter boxes added, I doubt that the problem is understood.
I initially was convinced, that is was not the cables design but the better mechanical contact quality that finally was responsible for the sonic differences – after having added a high-end wall outlet. But after having added a simple dedicated power-cord from the mains box and getting a jaw-dropping listening experience I am convinced that there is more than contact quality only. But what is the most relevant parameter then? I am keen getting to know your perspective here.
Regards
I am going to try and simply describe what I hear, how it seems to work and not a lot more. I don’t suggest I have all the answers.
Attention Doctor Kildare! Attention Doctor Kildare! Come to the ER STAT! We have another case of acute audiophile jaw-drop syndrome that needs your immediate attention. (There’s quite an epidemic of that among those poor audiophiles these last few years. Usually several weeks of bed rest in complete silence helps them recover but it’s only temporary until their next shopping spree 🙂 )
Hello Paul,
A couple of years ago I had a system anchored by a McIntosh integrated amp. Soon after, I bought a McIntosh room correction unit. I was also shopping for a rack and as such, space was limited. So the room correction unit temporarily sat in the floor and was plugged into an outlet down the wall from the main system. Immediately, I noticed a hum. After calling McIntosh, I discovered the hum was caused by the RCU being on a different circuit than the rest of the system. Plugging it into the same circuit as the system eliminated the hum.
About a year later I started replacing all my components and at RMAF last year I watched the power cord demo in the Nordost room. I was absolutely stunned at the difference a power cord made. While in town visiting the local Nordost dealer, the sales rep came to my house and recommended that I first start with the power cord from the wall to the power conditioner. I took his suggestion and replaced the conditioner’s stock cord with a Nordost Odin cord. After a week or so of questioning my decision, I turned the system on one afternoon to hear a totally different sound. In every category I experienced dramatic improvements. I then began replacing the power cords on all of my components.
I realize there are those that are convinced that power cords don’t make a difference. But no one will ever be able to explain to my satisfaction, if it was not the power cord, why changing one cord made such a profound difference. Given the experience I had with the cord and also the room correction unit, I am totally convinced that electrical power is almost as much a contributing factor as anything in overall system performance. One that should not be overlooked.
I agree. For anyone that’s ever heard a proper demo of this it cannot be just swept away with people explaining how it cannot be possible that you heard what you heard. That’s just silly.
It took me a while with listening, of course, and then I could accept interconnects and speaker cables. AC cords were harder but finally a good listening session did it. But the why of it always bothered me more than it did for interconnects and speaker cables.
Then again electronics assume a stable, clean DC supply made from AC. And anything that improves that should help the sound, especially because the power supply is the amp. What we think of as the amp is a complex valve controlling the release of energy from the power supply. But then it seems that the better the power supply(in terms of cleanliness of DC, low impedance, etc.) the less accessories like AC cords should affect the sound. It seems like a perfect power supply, if it were possible, should be unaffected by AC cables.
Do you and other listeners find that the better the power supply the less the affect of the AC cables? I’ve never had a good enough chance to test this.
Hi Paul, sorry for my English. I live in Chile where the mains is 220 volt 50hz.
According to my experience I can what I offer is that electrical cables improve the sound, particularly power amplifiers, but not as much as analog or digital cable. I’ve found the switch to flagged as Xindak cables and PS Audio. (Do not top of the line).
Without being electrical or electronic engineer, the power amplifier converts electrical current into analog sound, before reaching the speakers and therefore is the main source of energy for this process.
The three main objectives to be sought to design and make a cable to any type of cable is to achieve the greatest possible transparency, the lowest possible distortion and the sound is as smooth as possible.
Deternerme I have to talk about it for many years since I was with a pair of analog cables 0.5 meters long, Madrigal, the CZ-02 Interconnect (RCA) and recently traded it for a 2534 UNBALANCED RCA NEGLEX MOGAMI PATCH CABLE to just U.S. $ 73, being totally surprised by the rafters that occurred mainly in greater transparency and less distortion on the Madrigal, the other objective is more difficult to prove.
Hoping that serve them useful, Yours cordially.
I don’t think price has a lot to do with it for many applications but for those who believe power cables just simply all sound the same, I would have to suggest otherwise. Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate your response Paul. A pair of dimensions in general. I have three power cables Xindak PS-02 with one of the three drivers Silver, as they say the specifications and also a PS Audio AC5. One of the Xindak had it connected to my power Bryston 9B SST and PS Audio to my pre / pro Bryston SP2. About a month, simply by testing these cables exchanged for obvious differences, fundamentally more transparent, which is what I most appreciate and easier to confirm.
A simple electric tweak also perform years ago with big dividends, taken from page Bound for Sound, is to set the polarity electric plugs in all my audio room, this means that all phases leave the same hole (should be determined whether left or right).
To consider it.
Sincerely.