2. cables
  3. 180700-9627

I keep being reminded of how much power cords mater

I went through a major upgrade a couple years ago. I quickly upgraded my speaker cables and interconnects. But just listened for about a year. Then one by one, in absolutely no hurry adjusted my venue, and USB, power cords… etc. it seems every month I consider and optimize one thing. I know what my system sounds like.

I noticed a couple weeks ago that I still had a Cardas Clear Beyond power cord on my preamp… but that I still had the Transparent Ultra power cord I had purchased for it in my storage room. Hey, I’m 70… my memory was never good… not getting better. Cardas Clear Beyond are good… when you need a little warmth… I do not. I put the Transparent back in… A great shift in the balance, adding detail without loosing the warmth and midrange balance. A very happy and perfect adjustment. (A friend is a real Cardas fan… I had bought as an experiment, and never swithed back).

That got me thinking, what was on my Audio Research Phonostage? I looked. Turns out it was the original Audio Research cord… they are now very heavy copper with 20 amp connectors. So, I took the Cardas Clear Beyond power cord and put it on the phono stage. Wow, what an improvement. Just in case I had not recently tried a stock power cord, this reminded me why one uses high quality cords.

The power cord for my phonostage is definitely not done. I am pretty sure that a Transparent would be better on my system… but I’ll have to try it… or maybe an AudioQuest. So, my odyssey is not over. But each small change ultimately nets a better sounding system.

Looking back at all the increment changes that have mattered in the last few years… the improvements between direct lines, cables, interconnects, power cords, positioning seem to add up to as much improvement as the upgrades to all my components. But the cost of these probably only 15% of the components.

ghdprentice
builder3
750 posts
 

If you consider mere "power delivery to the component" sufficient, why worry about better speakers? Don't they all achieve "sound delivery to the ears"?

jafant
18,803 posts
 

ghdprentice

 

Transparent is a sonic match for Audio Research (ARC). Not sure if Cardas has the same aural presentation and sound?  Which Ultra model do you own? Original, MM2, GEN5 or GEN6 ?

 

Happy Listening!

tsushima1
1,165 posts
 

“ The Caelin visit was 30 years ago “

And swore never to return 🤣

ghdprentice OP
6,362 posts
 

@jafant

Cardas was a fantastic match for some of my previous components. But, you are quite right not a good match for ARC, at least REF level.

 

I am very impressed with Cardas’s approach that they start very warm at the bottom and become more neutral as you go up the levels… basically matching the need from budget to high end in components. This has been my experience as well.

 

My Transparent are Gen 6 (?)… the current model. After my component upgrades I tried some MM2 (as well as some other brands), verifying their efficacy… then upgraded.

 

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 

@millercarbon    I see a company offering "upgrade DC power supply wall warts".  Would these also make a difference on a turntable or phonostage?

Results are all in the details but in general, yes. Wall warts use different methods to get DC, but the one thing they all have in common is cheap parts. Cheap parts in audio equals poor sound. 

The first wall warts I upgraded were for Synergistic Research Active Shielding. I had Michael Spallone do them, because even though it was totally something I could do, he has a lot of experience doing this and has tried a lot of different diodes and caps and knows which ones work best. Hands on experience is the coin of the realm here, something to bear in mind when reading posts. So I had Spallone do it, and the difference was night and day- deeper, liquid, layered. All from a better wall wart.

Soundsmith uses wall warts for their Strain Gauge phono stage. Fantastic system, just a little light in the weight department, sounds exactly like the little wall warts don't quite have the balls for true deep extension. Or maybe its the hair thin wires they're expected to transmit the power through. Or the flimsy little connector. Probably all of that together. 

Anyway, there are several upgrade options (including the wire) and all have been tried and recommended to work by actual SG owners. Comparing costs and likely results I decided to go with a full on-board DC battery and gain stage upgrade by professional recording engineer Rens Heijnis in Belgium.

So I guess you might say this is a bit more than a better wall wart, but same idea. 

In general, if the wall wart is used to supply power to audio circuits then yes there is all kinds of room for improvement. Sometimes though this is not the case. The wall wart with the Townshend Allegri Reference preamp is used only to power the display and remote. So no difference there. But anywhere the power is drawn for signal then yes, definitely.

Same goes for the turntable motor. The Teres motor once used on my Miller Carbon turntable was upgraded over time to run on various power supplies. The better the power supply, the better the sound. Pure DC from a battery worked better than anything plugged into the wall.

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