My friend locally had two different Oyaide AC outlets side by side and I was amazed at the sound difference between the two but how each was far superior to the Hubbell he had used previously. This is a great tweak and I agree with your comments.
Law of "increasing returns" Oyaide AC outlet/plug
We are all familar with the law of decreasing returns, where twice as much money spent on a system will often not return twice the improvement, etc.
But I believe one of the big benefits of high end audio is the law of increasing returns, where a small improvement can yield big gains.
Tonight I installed the just on the market Oyaide berylium (platinum and palladium too) R-1 AC receptacle and P-004 male plug.
These replaced a standard wall outlet and heavy duty male end on a romex extension cable which feeds my system. I trimmed back the in wall cable to expose fresh cable before connecting it to the receptacle, and painted all solid core cable with Qicksilver extreme silver gold.
I probably would have gotten even more of an improvement had I been able to bypass the AC conectors alltogether- just hardwiring the extension to the existing housewire or better yet a dedicated run from the breakerbox, but being an apartment renter subject to inspections by the landlord, niether was practical, so I improved what I could.
My point is, for around $200 (and could I have hardwired it would have been free) I have gotten a massive upgrade. It sounds like I upgraded a source component, and the plugs haven't even broken in yet.
On a mid-fi system, I doubt one could have heard any improvement, and on a lesser system, maybe a little improvement.
This I believe is the big bargain in high end. Having such a revealing system opens one up to free and relatively (for this hobby) low cost upgrades that really improve fidelity, and I count that as an "increasing return."
But I believe one of the big benefits of high end audio is the law of increasing returns, where a small improvement can yield big gains.
Tonight I installed the just on the market Oyaide berylium (platinum and palladium too) R-1 AC receptacle and P-004 male plug.
These replaced a standard wall outlet and heavy duty male end on a romex extension cable which feeds my system. I trimmed back the in wall cable to expose fresh cable before connecting it to the receptacle, and painted all solid core cable with Qicksilver extreme silver gold.
I probably would have gotten even more of an improvement had I been able to bypass the AC conectors alltogether- just hardwiring the extension to the existing housewire or better yet a dedicated run from the breakerbox, but being an apartment renter subject to inspections by the landlord, niether was practical, so I improved what I could.
My point is, for around $200 (and could I have hardwired it would have been free) I have gotten a massive upgrade. It sounds like I upgraded a source component, and the plugs haven't even broken in yet.
On a mid-fi system, I doubt one could have heard any improvement, and on a lesser system, maybe a little improvement.
This I believe is the big bargain in high end. Having such a revealing system opens one up to free and relatively (for this hobby) low cost upgrades that really improve fidelity, and I count that as an "increasing return."