How to A/B Test Power Cables & Interconnects?

Settle down, people. We aren't curing cancer or defending the homeland. It's a hobby, and it lends itself to a lot of subjective opinion (wine?). 

robertcan I appreciate your perspective about $$$ spent on room treatments. I take your point. 

My OP was never about A/B testing a  bunch of expensive cables and comparing "color" of each. The essence of the question was this: if you are investing $50k+ in a system, are you cutting off your nose in spite of your face to use the power cords that were included in the box? Is it a no-brainer to spend 5% of budget to upgrade cords and cables. 

My primary concern was always noise floor, not "color."

Conclusion (for me anyway):
Many "answers" have been proposed. The one I am choosing to take away: Not necessarily. There are other areas to spend with potentially higher ROI. Room treatments certainly being top of the list. (My room is FAR from perfect.) I choose to invest in cables and interconnects from the "Plus" and "MusicLink" lines from Transparent Cable. These are "lower end" from Transparent, but still a stretch for my budget. I also did two home-run circuits, 10awg romex, matching phase, Oyaide receptacles.

Regarding power and cabling, I've done more than some and less than others. Money wasted? Maybe. Honestly, I won't do a ton of A/B testing so I may never know. I see it as an investment to eliminate a theoretical constraint on my system. I sleep well, knowing that I have not constructed my building (stereo system) on a foundation of sand (poor power). 

Speakers deliver tomorrow. I am shifting my attention to the music.

Thanks all for input.  

If it makes you happy, and takes away worry, it is money well spent. When you spend that kind of money on a system, you want it to look nice as well. 

Are your receptacles in separate junction boxes each with their own run back to the breaker box or are they in the same junction box with the grounds tied together. Having multiple grounds is generally a recipe for noise, but if you are using XLR, it will likely never come into play.


"I also did two home-run circuits, 10awg romex, matching phase, Oyaide receptacles. "

Two homeruns are identical length romex, and on same phase. Seperate junction boxes. Grounds go to same panel, but not sure about them being "tied together." My thought was one circuit for power amp and the other circuit for all other components. 

XLR from DAC and Phonostage into PreAmp, and XLR from Pre to Power Amp.

I have not tested it for noise yet,....

If you have separate junction boxes for the receptacles, then I would assume the grounds are different (at the receptacle). 

All equipment has either intentional capacitive connections and/or parasitic connections from internal circuitry to case-ground. Without your equipment connected, except for the AC, those grounds connect back at your electrical box as you have it wired. As they operate, they inject signal into the ground, which is now separated by two long wires which means that ground on one set of equipment is going to be different from ground on another set of equipment. That ground difference is injected into the connections between your equipment.

As you are using balanced connections, fortunately most of that noise is going to be eliminated, but keep in mind, that noise tends to "pump" with the signal, so your floor with no signal may be really quiet, but that does not mean there are no noise issues.

If all the equipment has the same local ground, then the ground noise is only injected over the lengths of the power cords, not the length of the home-runs (2x) plus the power cords. As the injected current will be the same in both cases, the longer resistance of the added 2x home runs will make for a bigger noise signal voltage.

OK. How do I address this? What is involved in getting both circuits on a common ground? (Assuming that is the solution.)