Which power cord more important?

Further notes

By & large, my exp shows me the higher up the cable feeding chart I went ($$$-wise) the greater the noticed influence on my gear.

The beeter the gear, the more easily noticed the changes were.

When I've sought to supplant one or more cords ie., mono blocks, other pc's sometimes need to be changed as well... or the ICs themselves.

I got pointed towards Voodoo cables for a look see into power cables early on. That proved a good move IMO. Various levels there provided me quite different results and that exp laid the foundation for my speculations on higher priced cables affording certainly different, and often, better performance.

i stoppped at the Voodoo gold Dragons for amps. Bruce's Tesla II is different and questionably better. The Golds are simply best for amps, but can be placed about anywhere.

The Shunyata Python (red) is demonstrably better than the Golds, but tends to be a bit grainier. The VX version is my preff of the two, and ONLY for wayward didgital or spinning devices. The helix ver of the same cord was entirely different, being more refined, no grain, yet threw the SS way back from the LP. Loads of rear of stage info. Although the Helix was a tad more delicate sounding than the previous Red tipped ver, it possessed the same ipactful bass, and upper end extension. no matter where it was placed, yet proved beter on higher current drawing gear... eg., amps.

The Elrod Sig III simply put is an amp cable. Tube or SS, amps are it's 'Soup du Jour'. It does little wrong if anything. Arguably the lower end impact seems attenuated at first listen, and well maybe, yet following some ear adjusting, it seems more natural. I think some may call that 'tightening the bass'.

Likewise at the other end of the scale, I've found Audience, mid level to entry level PSA, Kimber (below the PK10 Pladium) to not show themselves as major players by contrast. In other words, they simply were different sounding... not truly improving upon or raising the bar of the sonic recreation.... albeit, better than OEM cables at least.

Every move or addition builds upon the last change in the system... and why I say Get in where you fit in... things will ultimately come together for you, regardless where you begin.

Different is a lot easier to find in cabling, than is truly better.

Good luck.

Marakanetz,

I knew that statement was going to come back to me the moment I hit the enter key. Your way makes complete sense but like everything in audio, I find there are always a few exceptions. The only reason that I threw that comment in was to imply that you need to be careful because you don't always see the problems that can occur when you upgrade your system. It can be very frustrating. For example, I wanted to try sacd a few years ago so I went and bought a sony dvd/sacd player. I think it was a 9000es. I really don't like the term high/low end with regards to audio equipment for several reasons. For lack of a better term, though, I would say the sony was the "lowest end or weak component" in this system, compared to the others. After a few days I was wondering why my system just did not sound right. To make a long story short; when I unplugged the sony, my system sounded normal again. Apparently the power supply was not designed that well and was letting a lot of noise escape back into the system. The fix was a jps PC with a filter made just for that and a small power strip that isolated the component. Not a problem that you see all the time, but a frustrating one. Also, some components, like my ayre v 5's do not like other power cords. I have tried at least 5 or 6 different brands and the stock cord always sounds better. I hope this info is more clear (and useful).

Your assumption is not necessarily case. I've never tested AMP vs. CD player but I tested Transport vs. DAC and the Transport (first in the signal chain) benefited more from my best power cable.

Logically, you want to treat your components starting with the first link in the signal chain. Assuming power cords remedy some deficiency in the power the component is receiving, by the time the signal reaches the amp the "damage" is done.

Logically, you want to treat your components starting with the first link in the signal chain. Assuming power cords remedy some deficiency in the power the component is receiving, by the time the signal reaches the amp the "damage" is done.

Not necessarily. "The damage" introduced by each component is a matter of degree. Your logic ignores the possibility that the magnitude of the damage that will be introduced by the first link in the chain (in the absence of the better pc), as amplified by what follows, might be less, or even much less, than the damage that may be introduced by a component which is later in the chain (in the absence of the better pc).

See my post earlier in this thread, and the other thread I linked to, for some specific reasons why that possibility may occur. And why, in fact, lack of good shielding on the amp's pc may RESULT in problems being introduced earlier in the chain.

Regards,
-- Al

R1g_audio

I'm curious what cords you've tried on you V5. Do you have it plugged into a conditioner or into the wall? I've a cardas golden pc on mine (into the wall) and much prefer it over the stock cord. I'm going to be trying synergistic cords though and I'm betting they'll blow the cardas away.