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An interesting experience with power cable.

I’ve read a lot about power cables throughout the years and finally took a leap of faith and bought 1 silver-plated power cable. Of course I immediately plugged it in my amp and turn on everything for a listen. I could hear a tiny improvement but honestly was underwhelmed. I plugged the basic cable back into the amp. I plug the upgraded cable into my DAC for fun.

 

WOW, immediate and significant improvements. I gained a substantial amount of smoothness and sweetness and perceived clarity was also improved. I have alternate the upgraded power cable into the amp a few times, each time I get the same results, underwhelming, not as dramatic as if the cable went into the DAC.

 

So that was unexpected, I’m not saying power cable for amps are not significant. What I’m saying is, if you have only 1 upgraded power cable, the rest being stock basic, then plug it in your DAC, you might be surprised as well. Thanks for reading fellas.

 

Very curious to get a 2nd cable for the amp now.

128x128samureyex
carlsbad's avatar
carlsbad
1,551 posts
 

Sounds like your new cable is undersized for your amp.

samureyex's avatar
samureyex OP
102 posts
 

@carlsbad That is possible. I do have a monster of an amp in terms of size. 90 lbs and it has a 2,000 watts toroidal transformer in the supply or something like that. I suppose that’s a lot. One thing I have to note is with the new cable into the amp, it doesn’t sound like it’s lacking in power, it seems to my ears that the amps are more hyper-focused and felt like I’m hearing the shortcomings of my upstream, in this case the dac. The thing is I can't imagine the basic stock cable can be less "undersize" than the new one I bought. 

 

@gammamike Yea $500 is too expensive for me right now. I have to remember what you say in the back of my head. I’m currently looking into acquiring the dac that is supposed to pair with my amp, some sort of current injection technology. Thanks.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,774 posts
 

Just a heads up, a quick A/B test is never a good indication. Have the cable on the component for 24hrs drawing current before you sit down for critical listening. Let it all settle. This is if the cable is broken in. If it’s brand new, allow about 200hrs before you judge it.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,774 posts
 

Also, a cheap way to upgrade a stock power cable if you don’t want to spend $500 is to swap the AC and IEC connectors. A good set of plugs will produce a nice improvement noticeable in reduction of noise floor, opening up soundstage, etc.

carlsbad's avatar
carlsbad
1,551 posts
 

@samureyex I have a 12 lb tube amp that makes just a couple of watts per channel and I was shocked that it was limited by a 14 awg power cable.  I'll never use anything smaller that 10 awg on an amp again.

A small power cable will limit dynamics, rapid changes or bass notes.  music that is more consistent in level and range will be mostly unaffected.

Jerry

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