Power cord upgrade

@zuesman I see.  I know all about OCC, I used to use Audio Sensibility products and am aware of the personal relationship Steve Huang has with Dr. Ohno. If there is someone who actually has the real OCC stuff I would wager on him. They are great products for the money, but I now get better sound using other products. Go figure.

Well, folks, it gets better.

The unit used in the Shunyata video is an Ideal SureTest circuit analyzer model 161-64. I’m remotely familiar with this unit, which in my world is used by building inspectors to detect bootleg grounds that go undetected by regular circuit testers. It is strictly a power line testing tool that has nothing to do with audio.

In the video Caelin uses the ASCC setting of the 161-64, purportedly to demonstrate the current-carrying superiority of his power cable over a random PC power cord, something that should not necessitate professional testing equipment but I digress.

Here is a quote from the 161-64 manual:

ASCC Measurement The SureTest calculates the Available Short-Circuit Current (ASCC) that the branch circuit can deliver through the breaker during a bolted fault (dead-short) condition. The ASCC is calculated by dividing the line voltage by the circuit’s line impedance (hot + neutral). Depressing the side arrow ( ) displays the worst-case scenario where all three conductors (hot, neutral, ground) are shorted together -- the neutral and ground provide a lower impedance via a parallel return path. Note that this second test will trip a GFCI. See the following equations for clarification. ASCC1 = Line Voltage (VHN)/ (Hot Ω + Neu Ω) ASCC2 = Line Voltage (VHN)/ (Hot Ω + 1/(1/Neu Ω+ 1/ Grd Ω)

Again: "the current that the branch circuit can deliver through the breaker during a bolted fault (dead-short) condition".

In other words, the video experiment tells us that a random PC power cord would fail at 500A in a dead short-circuit situation vs the Shunyata cord’s 1000A or so.

This is without a doubt absolutely true, but here is how Shunyata spins it in its literature:

DTCD (Dynamic Transient Current Delivery) analyzer

DTCD is a method of current analysis that measures instantaneous current delivery in the context of a pulsed current draw. in layman’s terms, it is a way of measuring current performance into typical electronic component power supplies.

Sure! If you happen to weld your hot, neutral and ground wires together, as one does 😂🤣

And then this:

DTCD Current measurement: This measurement depicts the difference in available impulse current between Shunyata’s Venom-3 power cord ($99 retail) and a standard black component power cord. Note the enormous difference in the quantity of current available compared to the stock power cord. The stock power cord delivers only 47% of available current compared to 84% with a Venom-3 power cord. By any standard of measure, this is statistically significant.

It is certainly not significant to a component’s sound quality, if nothing else because it describes an event that has a near-zero chance of happening in a listener’s lifetime (a dead short) and if it did, that component’s sound quality would be the least of its owner’s worries.

I hate to say this and bring more grist to critics’ mill, but it’s probably safe to say that in this particular video at least Caelin shows little respect for his viewers’ / customers’ intelligence.

Here is the 161-64 product page in case yall care to take a delve.

mclinnguy,

just like anything there's different levels of OCC designed wire It's not just the wire that matters it's everything else as well the design of the cable the materials used for insulation that's why audio sensibility is not that expensive It's the bottom end of OCC single crystal wire, only his speaker wire that uses the rectangular OCC is good enough to challenge the very expensive stuff, if you tried the Neotech Sahara or Amazon you wouldn't be going back to the cables you're using now. but they probably are out of your price range, the copper rectangular speaker wire starts at$4,000 US for 2 m and the silver wire starts at $9,000 US for 2 m.

@devinplombier

It is certainly not significant to a component’s sound quality

Perhaps not, all it does is prove one particular cable can handle more current than the other. It was just my response to someone who keeps claiming all one needs is "any 14 gauge wire". I am quite sure simply looking on an electrical amperage and wire gauge chart is not the best method for improved hifi, and from most reports an excess of gauge is beneficial.

In choosing cables for my system, I will choose based on the results of the best tool available: my ears.

Another vote for Audio Sensibility. Also Hijiri.