Do older power cables still hold up to newer ones?


I have been thinking about this for a while now. I have a 20+ year history in this audio hobby. Back then in the early 2000’s I was working at my business and had a bit of disposable income and I built up a system, some of which I still own today. Namely my VAC Amp and Preamp and my CEC TL1x. (I have bought new speakers, a new DAC and DDC, a music streamer. I’ve replaced my old Wireworld Gold Eclipse III interconnects and speaker wires already) I have some highly rated power cords of their time from 2002. I have 4 Shunyata Black Mamba cords on the front end equipment and a pair of BMI Whales on the Amp. (My Renaissance 70/70 amp requires two power cords.) Everything except the amp is plugged into the original Shunyata Hydra power conditioner and i have 2 20 amp dedicated lines for everything. Most other things in the system have been updated this past year. So I really ponder if it would be worth it to convert these cords to something new and will it really cost a lot more to improve upon them? These were all very good power conditioning products back then. I am not interested in buying multi thousand dollar cords. I am retired now and I don’t want to spend money on anything I don’t have to and I probably won’t. I just wonder how good they really are anymore??? It’s probably hard to tell because so much time has expired since they were made and sold. I could test something out from the Cable Co loan program I guess, but to me it seems that will end being very costly to improve upon these cables. I do have a Wire World Electra 8 cord coming to play with that I got off US Audiomart just to see if it makes any difference anywhere. I just got my pre amp updated waiting for it’s return and i plan to take my amp to FL to drop off to VAC for a upgrade/refurbish. I also plan to re-tube it and that can cost $1600-$3500 depending on which tubes I get. So my pathway to resurrecting the system doesn’t include power cords at this time. (I took a hiatus from the system for 10 years busy chasing other hobbies, but that phase of my life is over as my age has caught up to me..LOL)

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Showing 1 response by gdnrbob

+1 on your nice equipment.

I will preface with the fact that I never thought cables would affect sound reproduction in a meaningful way...

However, when I demoed the new (then) Audioquest cables, I had to admit that, yes cables do make a difference. (As your experience with the AQ Hurricane's shows).

As much of the new cables are rather pricey, I tend to buy used and troll HifiShark.

Though I might be a generation or two behind the cutting edge, I still get to enjoy upgraded sound quality.

B