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the magic of power cords

We need a bit of magic in our lives. It might be the reason why audiophilia has such traction among people from all walks of life.

The neophyte's skepticism is likely proportional to the level of technical training - the more you think you know, the stronger the conviction that, for example, the power cable business is a sham: "electrons are electrons" and "if the house cabling is bad, why would the last 3 feet matter?". The stronger the conviction, the more humbling the experience of hearing the power cord magic in action.

A few years back a Sophia Electric amp came into my hands with what looked like a generic power cord. The few non-generic cords I tried (Audioquest AC15, Audio Magic XSteam, Shunyata Research Diamondback) made a significant difference for the worse. The thin, black, generic-looking original cable allowed for a clarity and definition of voice and instruments that got totally washed out with the aftermarket cables. A night-and-day difference. No doubt - the power cord made a huge difference - but not in the expected direction. The Audioquest AC15 was particularly bad.

For awhile, I kept trying them around on all incoming equipment (be it DACs, preamps or amps). The AC15 sounded so bad every time that after awhile I wasn't even trying it out.

Many years and few amps later - something seemed not quite right with the presentation of my KAV-300i: slightly dull upper bass. Power cord: Zu Birth. Finally (after multiple interconnects and few speaker cable swaps) I pull out the power cord stash (same as above). This time around the AC15 was the great surprise: it allowed for clarity and macro dynamics well above the others.

What do I learn? Nothing, really. When is shielding important? When is gauge? How about the conductor or the insulation? How come there isn't one "best" design?

The magic continues.
cbozdog

Showing 5 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
See my system thread for my recent experience dabbling with a new power cord upgrade.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
Two concrete reasons why some power cords might work better than others:

1) EM shielding, which can work both ways.
2) current delivery, which may be beneficial for high power amps in some cases, but probably not all.

Power conditioning often helps as well, but I do not view that as part of a power cords job. Other devices better suited for that if needed.

Night and Day is a strong yet ambiguous term. It really only means there appears to be a discernible difference as opposed to not. It will likely be small on the grand scale of things with power tweaks in most cases, but enough to be significant for those whose ears are very well tuned in, which tends to be the case with most "audiofiles". Beyond that, when a difference is heard, it can be hard to attribute to the known change versus perhaps some other unknown factor, like changes in our own physiology day to day and how that might affect what we hear.

I preach the approach to try tweaks if there is a good value proposition and some clear reason to expect it might work. But go easy, don't flush a lot of money down the drain. Look for value and good customer service/return policies if not satisfied.

"Magic" or even pseudo-science alone is not a good reason to try something.

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
"Hi Mapman, perhaps "free will" can be reason for trying?"

No doubt.

But in any task, there has to be priorities. This stuff is based on science and technology first so best to cover those bases as best possible first before getting into the greyer areas, where much more uncertainty exists.

Its more a matter of what is practical. Of course one has free will to go about however one chooses. How about throwing darts or eenie meenie miny moe (spelling?). But that's not to say that all will be equally effective. We know that will not be the case.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
Bo would make a great heel wrestler in WWE.

His gimmick: "I always know what is best for you so let me tell you something, brother...."

Seriously, Bo knows what he knows and is not afraid to say so. Good for him!

OTher than coming across like a heel wrestler, I have no qualms with most of what Bo says.

And that's the bottom line cause Mapman says so!
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
I n practice, I make a simple judgement when listening to whatever. It either sounds good or bad. The difference between the two might be called night and day, but in fact could be relatively minor. I either enjoy what I am hearing or not.

On that track, since I listen to my main hifi setup the most, I set the bar highest there. IT has to sound good all the time, allowing for variations/deficiencies recording to recording. So there is a lot more that goes into that than other cases.

I also listen to a second system, headphones, table radios, etc. in my house. Not to mention car stereo. Each of these fits the bill although to a less "perfect" extent when I listen.

Its all a matter of what a person finds satisfying to meet the need case by case.

It can't all sound perfect all the time. Expecxting that is the certain path to audiophile hell.
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