Do power cables make a difference to sound quality?

Gents this seems to be becoming the new Audiophile switch thread (or even worse MQA thread).
…Just saying

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The most important factor is the interaction between your loudspeakers and your room.

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That’s what I said in the first two sentences I wrote.

They can make a difference - but not necessarily always for the better. On a whim last year I bought the priciest power cable I ever have, a Shunyata NR V10 open box for about $325. Sounded terrible on my DAC V1 which was my intended location - really ‘hifi’ but huge bloated bass that wasn’t right for the room and speakers - so it ended up on the power supply for the optical rendu instead, where it’s probably overkill. Made up a nice cable out of a basic Naim 12AWG pc that’s been cry-od from AV Options with a basic Furutech male connector (left the molded IEC) and it sounds just right (all in about $125).

I have other examples in my system, but my point is you don’t have to break the bank, and more expensive isn’t necessarily better, and best to system match. I have an inexpensive (I think it was $129 on sale) Audience Forte that wouldn’t work anywhere in my main Naim system but now sounds just fine, without comparison, on my new Matrix Mini in the office.

So just get something decent gauge, with decent connectors and leave it at that. But I would never spend more than 5-10% of what the gear itself cost. Ok, I had a long-ish Sean Jacobs with a special Bulgin connector made up for my vintage Naim 160 because the cable that came with it was old and crap and 18awg hanging on by solder to tiny pieces of tin in the original bulgin connector. Amp was $470, cable $275 with shipping from UK. Transformed the sound for the better though, and easier to swallow than a $1300 recap (which, alas, will need to come someday, but not for awhile) Devices with lots of current is where you’ll hear the changes the most imo.

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For me the principal determinant of sound quality in this very moment is to leave this topic! :slight_smile:

Last I checked headphones are designed with speakers inside them…so you might have to redefine your pecking order :slight_smile:

Only if they really suck. In which case they may damage your amps.

But what REALLY matters? A kiln dried birdseye maple platform for your turntable. (NOT black maple. Black maple sucks worse than lousy power cables.) Particularly noticeable when playing Nina Simone and Etta James. Or—and this is the real deal—when Lionel Hampton plays in the bottom octave.

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Cars and motorcycles are both vehicles, but they don’t generally get confused in conversation.

Speakers / Headphones are in the same categpry.
Similar, but clearly not the same thing.

—Cheers…

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As an engineer, if the last 6 feet of power transmission to your power supplies makes a difference AT-ALL, then you have to take a long hard look at your power supplies. Somebody didn’t go a good job designing them. There are so many high end pieces of gear with absolutely crap power supplies (I’m looking at you, modern tube gear). Fix the gear instead of adding a high priced questionable band-aid.

Sheldon

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Yes, if you drag them on the ground while listening carefully

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Nope, that’s not enough. You need a custom power pole :slight_smile:

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The first comment in the article is this -

Audiophiles are weird people. They literally think that by sinking thousands upon thousands of dollars into high end equipment, they can hear things that aren’t there.

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And you presume that differences that individuals hear in their systems are based on preconceived ideas, how arrogant. The best way to judge a component is in your own system. Some of us can listen objectively, and make a judgement. From my experience, power cables make a huge difference, and easily demonstrated.

Not a good idea to attribute character defects to another forum member you don’t even know.

In addition, perhaps @Roqxide is correct. Consider: the components you are listening to objectively are in your home because you made a conscious decision to obtain them and connect them. That’s a preconceived idea if I ever saw one! Unless you are continually being surprised by audio equipment showing up, set up by gnomes in secret during the dark hours of the night!

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Maybe so, but those of us who can actually hear are sick and tired of the standard song and dance; You can only judge in blind listening tests, what you hear is actually not real…what a joke.

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I tried blind testing but I couldn’t find my hifi.

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While I’m not going to say arrogance, this appears aggressively confident at least. A lot of what we see and hear isn’t “real”, it’s processed, and no two processing devices are quite the same.

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Well, no, very few people would say that it’s not real, it’s the source of that reality that’s the issue. All of our senses are mediated by a plethora of psychological, biological, neurological and social factors, … to the extent that there’s very little sense in claiming a one-to-one mapping between experience and objective reality. So yes, buy a really, really expensive power cable and you’ll find that there’s a whole bunch of compelling (and scientifically convincing) arguments as to why it sounds better, but they’re all to do with the way in which experience is shaped by cognitive expectation and bias.Yep, you can actually hear a difference - no argument from me - but take some time to explore the literature regarding confirmation and expectation bias and you might decide that the source of that difference is something other than the cable.

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I went down the route of trying mains power cables a few years ago. Incidentally, I have about 90m of double braided screened OFC mains cable with 2.5mm2 line conductors and a 4.0mm2 earth conductor if anyone’s interested. Made up with silver plated mains plugs and wattgate IEC connectors - audible difference? Nothing, nada, zip, zero…

Any decent audio component will have >100dB PSRR (Power Supply Rejection Ratio). If changing a mains cable makes a difference, replace the component to which it’s connected, cos it’s cr@p…

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The first time I listened to a fairly decent power cable, I fully expected not to hear a difference; I did hear a significant difference. It seems like expectation bias does not apply to me🤔

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