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Why Power Cables Affect Sound

I just bought a new CD player and was underwhelmed with it compared to my cheaper, lower quality CD player. That’s when it hit me that my cheaper CD player is using an upgraded power cable. When I put an upgraded power cable on my new CD player, the sound was instantly transformed: the treble was tamed, the music was more dynamic and lifelike, and overall more musical. 

This got me thinking as to how in the world a power cable can affect sound. I want to hear all of your ideas. Here’s one of my ideas:

I have heard from many sources that a good power cable is made of multiple gauge conductors from large gauge to small gauge. The electrons in a power cable are like a train with each electron acting as a train car. When a treble note is played, for example, the small gauge wires can react quickly because that “train” has much less mass than a large gauge conductor. If you only had one large gauge conductor, you would need to accelerate a very large train for a small, quick treble note, and this leads to poor dynamics. A similar analogy might be water in a pipe. A small pipe can react much quicker to higher frequencies than a large pipe due to the decreased mass/momentum of the water in the pipe. 

That’s one of my ideas. Now I want to hear your thoughts and have a general discussion of why power cables matter. 

If you don’t think power cables matter at all, please refrain from derailing the conversation with antagonism. There a time and place for that but not in this thread please. 
128x128mkgus
mzkmxcv
777 posts
 
@gpgr4blu

There may be numerous ways, but I would like you to pick one that doesn’t deal with mains leakage or EMI and explain how a power cable improves it (such as the stated extending of treble response). I would also recommend emailing any of the companies whose products you experience have had improvements with upgraded power cords and see what someone with likely a PhD in mechincal/electrical engineering has as a response.

As I said, 99.999% of devices I’ve seen show no mains leakages and perform to spec with the OEM cables. If you think a better power cord makes it perform better than what it’s spec’d at, more power to ya.

If you think there are actually sonic changes that measurements can’t show, I would also like to hear your reasoning. We aren’t talking personal preference of how one measured speaker is supposed to sound better than another, we are talking simply any changes at all.

If I claimed “upgrading” my car’s battery cable gained me faster acceleration, I’m pretty sure you’d be doubtful too.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,544 posts
 
@mzkmxcv,
When you saw that dress at different times, was it from the very same source and not from ones that intentionally showed different versions of it? I, myself, saw different colors from different sources that intended to show them that way due to admitted use of filters or to make a point. I never saw a different color when looking at the same picture from the same source or site. Are you saying your were fooled by that, and that is your analogy?

All the best,
Nonoise
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
Indeed, if it sounds better to you, go for it. Just keep in mind it’s all placebo.

However, I can say with most certainty that the sound coming from your speakers is 100% identical

It’s not placebo though. I have found the differences in sound between a $2 factory-supplied cord and a well-built high-end cable to be drastic, and repeatably so. I’m sure there are instances where cables don’t make a big difference, but so far I’ve found upgraded cables to help with each piece of equipment I’ve tried one on: amps, DACs, preamps, etc. The funny thing about it is that I didn’t want cables to make a difference - I didn’t want to spend money on them. Then I heard the differences clear as day and came to understand that cables are components that you cannot overlook if you want a truly high-end system. Mzkmxcv, do you have a revealing system? Why not just try a 30-day money back guarantee power cable in your system and see if you can hear it?
mzkmxcv
777 posts
 
@nonoise

I was on my phone and fell asleep to people reacting to what they see/saw, fell asleep, woke up, and I saw it differently, and never changed back to the incorrect colors no matter when/how I saw it. I really was freaky, as I was most posit e it was white/gold.

All I’m saying is that just like people still see the dress as white/gold even after being shown it’s blue/black, people’s ears also play tricks on them.

But like I said, if you hear a difference, buy all the power cords, brilliant pebbles, WA quantum chips, etc. that you want. Just don’t confuse your reality to actual reality. All it does is deter newcomers.
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
I feel sorry for anyone who believes that reputable high end PCs cannot improve the sound of a system in many ways--in fact, too numerous to list.

I do too. It’s like going to an art museum with your friend and being brought to tears by the beauty of a certain piece of artwork and having your friend glance at it for 1 second and say “there’s no scientific research showing that that specific piece of art is beautiful, therefore it’s just placebo effect.” To which I would reply, “Have you tried simply looking at the art piece? You’re missing out on a lot of life by carrying around that attitude.”

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