Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa

Frankly, these look too thick. I once tried a thick Pangea power cord and it was so heavy that it literally lifted my DAC up so the front was off the shelf. Ergonomics is probably like 75% of a power cable.

@xxx Iā€™m afraid your experience is highly likely to be ā€˜buyer biasā€™. It took me many years to ignore perceived changes in my music based on the installation of a new cable. Nowadays the difference has to be palpable for me to accept a causal effect. As far as Iā€™m aware there are only three things that you can change in a system that gives you such a difference: the DAC, the amp, the speakers. As long as the interconnects are not knackered or suffering from dodgy connections (with the exception of analog interconnects which do benefit from some kind of shielding) then they can be taken out of the SQ equation.

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Hi Lorin, Iā€™ve seen Jussiā€™s iDSD measurements but are there iDAC2 measurements?

Their explanation is below but it appears to boil down to iDAC2 having more space and better components for the better output stage (no battery, no extreme bass circuitry, no crossfeed circuitry, no gain adjustment circuitry, smaller headphones output circuitry than iDSD).

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/29757-ifi-audio-micro-idsd-black-label-released-on-the-30th-of-november-2016/?page=4&tab=comments#comment-614267

@Fernando_Pereira - What you say makes perfect sense.

@Rik_Carter - What you say makes perfect sense.

:sunglasses:

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Not seen any actual measurements. I was probably thinking of this comment

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Haha. Legend!

Just the act of changing cables over (power or signal) will wipe any dirt or oxidation off the contacts, so changing the connection quality. Put your old cable back for a week and report back.

Sometimes, connections can go bad without you realising it. A while back, I was adding a Pi PSU to my power strip and I noticed that the mains plug for the Arcam AV amp had started to push itself out of the socket. It was about half way out, so just on the verge of breaking the mains connectionā€¦ IEC lead connectors can also push themselves out over time. A regular unplug/plug routine will fix this.

This is why Pro connectors (XLR etc) generally have some sort of latching or bayonet fixing mechanism (plus gold contacts).

Iā€™ve experienced the same thing, and come to the same conclusion. If the cable has good shielding, it is possible it is preventing some RFI etc., type of interference. As long as you are buying something that costs $35 a meter and not $350 or $3500, I donā€™t think you have anything to be embarrassed about.

Anthony is also correct: periodic removal and re-insertion of cables can result in a better connection and better results.

Really? I donā€™t think Iā€™ve ever experienced this. It sounds rather like the belief I have that wire coathangers breed by themselves in the dark interiors of wardrobes. :wink:

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Yes really, I have seen it. Some are of poor quality (esp older ones) and will do this. Back in the day when I used to design electronic equipment, we always used retainer clips on IEC connectors to stop this happening.

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This thread has reminded me about the flavour of the week in the 90s for numerous hifi contact lubricants. Treat all your connectors with it for improved bass, soundstage etc etc. All the hifi comics were raving about it, but of course it isnā€™t even mentioned at all now. The theory is sound (you can buy commercial contact cleaner fluids for relay contacts for example which also stop air getting at the contact area) but as usual, when the snake oil merchants move into the market, exaggerated claims and prices are the norm.

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Iā€™m starting a GoFundMe to pay for better cables at the power station, anyone want to contribute ? :smiling_imp:

I have to confess to nice thick cables into my power amps without ever having compared them.

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Ha, no. Would rather put those funds towards one of theseā€¦ for myself! :grin:

It wouldnā€™t be low noise but would more importantly ensure isolation from mains RF (for critical listening sessions).

:open_mouth:

Or maybe not; full of noisy switching power supplies no doubt. :slight_smile:

Yep already mentioned above it would not be low noiseā€¦ but it may be the lesser of the two evils when you compare with mains RFā€¦ :wink:

Ask your amp and/or DAC designer which they are more concerned about, AC ripple or mains RF - good chance itā€™s the latter. They do a good job with power regulation for the former but the latter can be harder to filter.

A battery-to-AC supply solves that. Hopefully I win next weekā€™s lotto for the Powerpack :grin:

I read a piece once about some reviewed who had mega expensive cable from his power inlet to the sockets in his listening room in the converted garage. #@#@##!!

Itā€™s a slippery slope. First they start with the fat power cables. Next thing you know itā€™s quantum purifiers all over the shop. We must all keep an eye on our old friend Slim in case he starts marking things with special textas.

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Weā€™ve (nearly) all been there. I was a cable slave for years. If youā€™re getting pride of ownership from them and you like the look as you say you do, then thereā€™s no harm done. :+1:

On the subject of cables, the telling experience for me (apart from the empirical science and measured lack of differences) was when I did a heavy downgrade of some very, very expensive bi-wire (donā€™t get me started!) to some budget crap and heard no discernible difference at all. That, along with the rational part of my brain really cured my audiophilia nervosa around cablesā€¦except maybe tonearm cables :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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I was always a cable sceptic I had a Naim pre-amp and Naim were resolutely anti fancy cables so I never got in to it. Of course the new Naim is massively into all of that gumph.
I couldnā€™t even tell you what my speaker cable is. Itā€™s black and bendy which was a reaction against the white Naim cable which has a bend radius of a light year.

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yeeahhh, they had their own ā€œquirksā€

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