After Market Power Cables - Gold or Snake Oil?


Myself and a collegue of mine have been discussing the potential benefit(s) of using after market power cables with hifi equipment. I claim that since the majority of home owners gain their power from the everyday wall socket, how does the addition of a short length of 'expensive' cabling make any appreciable difference to the sound quality. Are we kidding ourselves and buying into marketing hype or is there some scientific truth to the matter? I am a musician/recordist who understands the fundamentals of electricity and sound reproduction.
checkmate110

Showing 1 response by swklein

People who argue against the sonic benefits of powercords either, in my opinion, haven't tried them, or have equipment designed such that they don't make much difference (either because they don't resolve the information or are designed with spectacular power supplies: I gather this is true to some extent with certain brands of electronics such as Bryston). In my system, which includes Audio Research electronics and Transparent cabling, the differences between power cables and the improvements they can offer are both shocking (to me, a former skeptic) and instantly obvious to anyone. It's not subtle. Forget electronic logic on this one. Bumblebees can't fly either, according to aeronautics. The history of science is the recognition of clear phenomena, and trying to find a way to explain apparently anomalous conclusions after the fact.

Indeed, in medicine, particularly in Britain, there's a movement towards what's called "evidence-based medicine." When I naively suggested to a group of doctors at a party that I assumed all medicine was "evidence based" they could barely contain their laughter. Figure out what works first, they said, figure out why later... or maybe not at all (no one really understands even now why aspirin works, an analogy I've cited in these forums [fora?] before). Same here (if towards less serious ends).