Do powercords make a difference in sound?

11-20-12: Almarg
why are we all here? Most fundamentally, as I see it, and as I believe most of us see it, we are here to share information, ideas, and experiences, which hopefully will be mutually beneficial as we try to guide our investments of time and money in directions that stand the greatest chance of being rewarding.

That is what it is all about. Almarg with his background, is always helping people match up components, and helping them diagnose a problem. A lot of us (myself included), learn a lot more from his posts.

He has enough knowledge to make a statement about the use various accessories, and other things that may influence the sound of a system.

I myself still have not seen any test results of any kind, that shows they work. Manufacturers of audio amps, and all kinds of other components, have to prove what their equipment can do. Not so with these types of tweaks.

Also, the tests, and science used to make audio gear, has way more consistent results, than human observation does. Eyewitness testimony is a good example of human err.

Hifitime, I will just say that I have had too many experiences with audio that belie that our measures, tests, and physical laws cannot explain obvious improvements in audio reproduction. I will mention only a few. The Zilplex room treatments, a set of eleven 1/2" solid silver cups on plexiglass mounts and positioned around room, make the walls disappear. The StillPoints Ultra Five isolation feed just make other isolation laughable. The Urushi caps using a very inexpensive cap and wrapped in cotton twine and treated with urushi lacquer greatly outperform teflon caps costing twenty times as much. I have been in many demonstrations as well as having much personal experiences with all of these. Perhaps there are some measures that might be used in each case to prove my point, but why bother?

Each of these has many competing devices. Why don't all others close shop? In the case of the StillPoints, I know the basis of their "technology," for the Urushi caps, I suspect that vibrations are a key element, but why the use of the urushi lacquer? For the Zilplex treatments, I have no idea save the possibility that they are very small Tibetan bowls. Very much of audio design is trail and error, validated by what we hear, and we don't all hear the same.

"Hifitime, I will just say that I have had too many experiences with audio that belie that our measures, tests, and physical laws cannot explain obvious improvements in audio reproduction. "

Its undoubtedly true that not everything is known about most anything.

But I would argue that in teh case of home audio, all that one needs to know can be learned and applied practically. The ingredients for top notch sound are well known and applied by experts daily.

So, if one has already applied the well known good practices, the goal of achieving "good" sound should be reachable.

If that is not enough, and one wants to dabble or explore new less understood horizons, that is fine.

The problem I have is when people are encouraged to focus on the latter prematurely before perhaps the "fundamentals" have been addressed properly. That is not a happy path to audio nirvana! But nothing wrong with it for those who never want the journey to end even after they've crossed the T's and dotted the I's to the best of their ability..

Hifitime, I will just say that I have had too many experiences with audio that belie that our measures, tests, and physical laws cannot explain obvious improvements in audio reproduction. I will mention only a few. The Zilplex room treatments, a set of eleven 1/2" solid silver cups on plexiglass mounts and positioned around room, make the walls disappear. The StillPoints Ultra Five isolation feed just make other isolation laughable. The Urushi caps using a very inexpensive cap and wrapped in cotton twine and treated with urushi lacquer greatly outperform teflon caps costing twenty times as much. I have been in many demonstrations as well as having much personal experiences with all of these. Perhaps there are some measures that might be used in each case to prove my point, but why bother?

Each of these has many competing devices. Why don't all others close shop? In the case of the StillPoints, I know the basis of their "technology," for the Urushi caps, I suspect that vibrations are a key element, but why the use of the urushi lacquer? For the Zilplex treatments, I have no idea save the possibility that they are very small Tibetan bowls. Very much of audio design is trail and error, validated by what we hear, and we don't all hear the same.