Do power cords make an audible difference?

@Photon46, I was not pulling your leg. A friend of mine told me that if I could not hear the difference of a power cord he loaned me, my system could not be high end. Maybe he was right. I didn't hear any difference.

A friend of mine told me that if I could not hear the difference of a power cord he loaned me, my system could not be high end. Maybe he was right. I didn't hear any difference.

IMO it is a common fallacy to assume that system quality and musical resolution necessarily correlate with the ability to resolve differences in components, cables, or power.

Certainly that CAN be the case. However, consider some examples where it is not.

A speaker having impedance characteristics that fluctuate widely over the frequency range, drop to low values at some frequencies, and have difficult phase angles, will be much more revealing of amplifier and speaker cable differences than one that presents an easy load.

A source component or preamplifier with a high output impedance will be more revealing of differences in interconnect cables than one with a low output impedance.

An electronic component that has unbalanced interfaces will be more sensitive to differences in interconnect cable shield resistance if it has higher stray capacitance and ac leakage paths in its power transformer (which increase sensitivity to ground loop issues).

And, addressing specifically the subject matter of this thread, increased sensitivity of an amplifier to power cord differences can be the result of looser regulation in the amp's power supply. Or it can be the result of greater amounts of high frequency noise being produced by that power supply, which increases the need for effective shielding in the power cord, to prevent that noise from coupling to other parts of the system. Or it can be the result of poor shielding or greater sensitivity to that noise elsewhere in the system. Or it can be the result of poor rejection by the amp's power supply of noise or distortion on the incoming ac.

None of those kinds of factors mean that the system that is more resolving of cable or component or power differences will be more resolving of musical detail, or capable of higher quality music reproduction. They just mean that it may be more difficult to attain optimal results with that system.

Regards,
-- Al

Just because someone else can't hear it on their kit and/or we can't find the scientific explanation to satisfy our intellect, does not mean a thing can't exist.

Power cords have made a worth while improvement in my rig. A twenty or so amp dedicated line is a worth while improvement as well.

I added a $1,500 retail DAC in my system with another $600 retail worth of cables (but using stock PC) and saw very little improvement. It was more resolving in one way but wasn't great to listen to. As a matter of fact I walked away from it for about a week and didn't listen at all. Thought I lost my interest. But then I added a good PC and made my $2,000 purchase worth every penny.. and then some.

But as with everything audio, it is all based on your perception of good sound and everything is subjective. No test tool, no meter, and no one person with a "good ear" could ever convince me of what is supposed to sound good. When I find it, I keep it. Maybe I'll try other things but at least I'll know what will always work for me.

My take( having spent way to much time doing comparsions )is yes they do make a difference and sound different. As many have pointed out it is system and taste dependent. Notice I did not say better sounding. On my integrated I think the stock power cord sounds more open and smoother then my $200 very nice power cord. It makes the system sound more aggressive and the stage has more depth and images are tighter but it is a smaller stage
It makes me wonder about three things.
1) One would think most gear voiced with the stock power cord??
2) In an amp or CD player (or whatever) we have very small wires going to the amps outlet and then we put a garden hose on it for 4 feet that goes into a power condtioner to a smaller garden hose that leads to the wall outlet with 14 or 12GA wire. This make no sense to me.
3) If one has an amp that has a captive cord and one likes the amp is it a good idea to get an EIC installed on the amp to take other power cords??? As mentioned above wasn't the amp voiced with the stock power cord???
keith