ONE MINUTE Premium Power Cable Survey

The results will be interesting.

Gents,

Since this is a topic that still invites "lively" discussions, I was very interested to measure the pulse of A’Gon contributors related to adoption levels, degree of satisfaction, and commitment to the product category.

Thanks for your participation. I’m hoping to get a good sample from the group.

@lak Yes, indeed.

Done

Done! Looking forward to the survey results.

24 results and counting.  Thank you!!

fyi- I fixed a couple of issues with the survey.  Sorry for any confusion this may have created.

Wonder if Jason will do the survey. Or Clear Think? 

Okay, we're up to 40 responses!!

I was hoping for 100 for a good sample.  Looks like we might make it.

Thanks again for all who replied.

It felt good to be honest. Add one more to the list.

56 responses as of this morning.

Suprising results so far.  Can't wait to share when we hit the 100 mark.  Or, when the survey fizzles out.  Whichever comes first.

Thanks again for responding.

I have Pangea SE version cables. I don't know if they count as "premium" but I did the survey anyway. Thanks for doing this.

@hilde45 Absolutely!!  Anything that you purchased separately and is of greater value than the standard OEM cable packed in the box is a "premium cable" in my view.

 We're at 71 responses now.  Thanks for participating.

Just a little housekeeping issue:

My plan with Survey Monkey had a limit on the number of responses and survey questions. There were a couple of questions that I thought were very important and I decided to pay the upgrade charge this morning so I could include them.

Early survey responders did not see these questions. Sorry about that. This was not an oversite, but due to the number of responses, I felt it was worth the investment to include these two additional questions. Although early responders will not be able to change their responses, it looks like we’re going to get a nice sampling (40+) of responses to have a good result to share with the group.

I have to say that I am VERY surprised by some of responses so far.

Just a procedural question. How do you keep one person from answering multiple times to mess up your results?

Done

@acman3

Good morning. And good question.

Wlhen someone revisits the survey they get an alert from Survey Monkey that they have already taken the survey, and is presented with no other options. There may be a "firewall" here that’s easy to work around that I haven’t tried yet. Also, it would be a simple task to revist the survey from another device and the survey would see that user as a "new participant". So, theoritically, you could participate in the same survey as a different user from your desktop, laptop, tablet, phone or your Samsung microwave oven app. There may be an industrial version out there that has face recognition, samples DNA or scans your record collection to see if you have any counterfit copies of the Led Zepplin IV album to reduce the likelinhood of fraud to close to zero, but I just wasn’t that ambitious. Maybe a PIN assingment or password might be something to look into -- next time?

Hopefully, the participants entered the exercise in good faith. That’s the best I could ask from a group of friends.

I think that is good enough and any further action needed on our part would lower sample number. I was not complaining, but I just thought of the people who seem to dedicate their lives to proving cables are, or are not important to our hobby, and it looked like they might be able to tilt the actual findings.

I look forward to the results. Thanks for the thread.

@waytoomuchstuff Great survey and I look forward to seeing the results. The only suggestion I have would have been to add an option on the question about the experiences with premium cables making significant improvement to no improvement. It’s hard to coin all premium power cables to any single answer. I’ve had some cables that change the sound significantly, but not for the better, and others that completely transform the system sound in a positive way. As such it’s on a case by case basis vs being a general experience across all. 

@blisshifi

Good suggestion. I was agonizing over the granularity of the survey. Comprehensive vs brief. I actually decided to add 2 questions after the survey was underway that I thought were very important.

I’d like to see more surveys in the future. Perhaps a "pre-survey survey" to take the pulse of members to see what questions they would ask on a particular subject. Then build the survey based on the Top 10 (or, 20?). What genre’s are most popular for this group? Or, what is your ’go to’ source for SQ, as a couple of examples? Might be fun!

@waytoomuchstuff I have been thinking of making surveys myself to better understand the wants/desires/experiences of audiophiles and music lovers. I wasn’t sure what the participation level would be, but it seems you are getting good traction. It’s good inspiration for me wanting to do something similar. 

Thank you for your efforts. 

@waytoomuchstuff 

Early survey responders did not see these questions. Sorry about that.

If you list those two questions here, the few of us early responders could message you our answers

I think you could think of even more questions as time passes. 

Thak you for doing this look forward to the results. 

@mitch2 Great Idea.

Here's the additional 2 questions:

11. Related to your bias, what was your expectation of power cables BEFORE your first audition?

High.  I expected a significant improvement

Somewhat optimistic about the result

Plausable.  Could have some sonic benefit.

Not plausable.  The theory just didn't make sense to me, but listened anyway.

Low expectations.  Was expecting no sonic difference.

There's NO way these can make a difference.

Other (please specify)

Question Title

12. Have you designed and built your own custom cables?

Yes

No

Thanks for your willingness to do this and I'll make sure your responses are added to the survey results.  Sorry to make this more difficult for you.  I'll try to do better next time.

Don't be silly, it took me one minute. 

The results should be interesting - thanks for taking the time.

Done

A note on survey design - allow more space for open-ended responses for why the questions do not apply.

In my case, because I use isolation transformers before power supplies. This does the same job, but better. These are results of experiment..

@terry9

Good point. I think you’ve nailed the point of an audio forum for audiophiles. Try something new/different. See how it works. Share those comments. Invite comment from others. So, good for you for spending quality time with real experimentation, and sharing your conclusions.

It was challenging for a senior citizen to come up with the "Top Ten" questions that would be interesting to the group. After much deliberation, I decided to make the investnement in a survey upgrade to add a couple more questions that might be important. Other questions (including "other power delivery enhancing devices" used) were considered. And, yes, your comment/question would have certainly solicited some interesting responses from the group. It’s just a little in the game to include it.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I think surveys on a number of topics might be fun. Prehaps a survey to determine what surveys would be interestting to the group, then a pre-survey survey to arrive at the most relevant questions. Suggestions on survey design would be helpful as well. It’s a start.

Thanks for your comments. Very much appreciated. And, helpful.

Kinda funny, I almost messed my survey up - thought it included speaker cables - caught myself before it was too late when I saw it was specifically Power Cables, went back and did again! 

Nice idea, Thanks!

@davehemp Nice recovery.  Well played.

WE"VE BROKEN THE 100 RESULTS TARGET!!

I thought of cutting this off at 100 responses, but due to the fact that we're still getting members who want to participate, I think I'm going to go back to "Plan A" and let the survey run an entire week.

With that in mind, I plan to close out the survey Monday evening.  And, post the results on Tuesday.

Thanks again for your participation.

John

Way, I just re-read my comment and it was far too abrupt. Sorry about that. I was responding as if to a survey with public policy ramifications, done by a pro. Now you are suggesting Best Practice. Impressive. Thank you.

@terry9 I interpreted your comments as well worded and helpful.  No issues here.

Took survey too

I was on the fence about power cables for about, let’s say 5 years? I first heard about power cables because people raved about Cullen power cable. Was not in a financial position to try. Also because I didn’t wanna "gamble" on something that might not even improve the sound. But I did make a mental note to experiment with power cord one day. 

Fast forward 5 years later to today, I bought 1 and I’m just absolutely blown away. Not even expensive, less than $70. I just bought my 2nd one and awaiting arrival.

If I could go back 5 years, the first thing I’d do is buy 2 power cords for $140. No, more like $120.

Full transparency, I initially bought the power cable for the amp, but that didn’t turn out great. It felt like a magnifying glass onto an already blurred image. The massive improvement was plugging it into the DAC. The 2nd power cable I’m waiting delivery on, is gonna go into the amp. Idk what to expect, just like my very 1st cable. But I’ll post a small update when I get it.

160 RESPONSES as of this morning!! And, yes, I’ve reviewed every one of them.

Was hoping for a good sample (100) and you guys have exceeded my expectations.

Thanks for the responses -- and, comments.

Some of my power cords are 15 years old. My Don Sachs linestage came with an Ice Age Audio power cord that is huge and really adds some body to the sound. Ordered two more. PS Audio S300, Orchard Audio Starkrimson Ultra and Oppo 105 behaved the same way. They loved them. I'm on a roll! Hooked the Ayre Codex DAC up and...disaster. Lost bass, got bright and spitty. So much worse than the OEM cord. 

Understand the big 10 ga cables helping high power amps. Surprised that they helped the low power draw Oppo, while hurting the low draw Ayre Codex. 

It is possible the unbroken in cable sabotaged the Ayre. But, the one one the Oppo was also brand new. I'll break in the cable and try again. If it works, it will be the first time I've ever had a full loom work.

Thanks,

aldnorab 

I took the survey, looking forward to the results.

I fear that the results will show what is already apparent... That there are two camps, those who believe, and those who do not. It'll be interesting to find out if there is much of a middle ground.

Well I will be in the camp  where cables don’t make a difference but I love gorgeous looking cables from AliExpress ☺️😌😂

One minute is too long to spend worrying about power cables that cannot affect sound.  Spend your money on stuff that makes a difference.

One minute is too long to spend worrying about power cables that cannot affect sound.  Spend your money on stuff that makes a difference.

I was once firm in this belief as well. Until I tried, and heard the difference.

@nosualc +1

Fyi,Results are non another thread!