Why does better power = better sound?

We all "want" something to change the sound, but what is important is what "needs" to happen in order to do so. The later is knowledge and the former is emotion. I don't like endless arguments. I like to argue forward.

Yes, you can say something sounds different but until you can define the attribute responsible for it, I'd be real careful to decide you "know" what it is.

Everyone like to touch and feel cords, fuses, ETC and think that since we can change these items, they are somehow outworldly responsible for what we hear. Why? They make up a very small part of the AC circuit that has several feet of PC board traces, NPN and PNP junctions an all sorts of resistor and capacitor signal traces. I would suggest that the "bottleneck" for the signal is far removed from a power cord (AC signal never even see's that circuit) or a fuse.

What effect does a NPN or PNP transistor have on the sound? We can't change it or really "see" it. The doped silicone is hardly esoteric in nature and yet we seem to feel it is of minor consequence to the sound. How about your PC board AC singal block traces? Those are far more critical to sound than 18 AWG unbalanced leads extrernal to your pre-amp or power amp.

A FLUKE test of AC line noise is NOT a measure of what the line noise does at the END of the DC block. Show me a test of the influence of the DC Vcc noise relative to the AC block and we'll talk. If we can't show what the "needs" are to hear what we "want" to happen (sound changes)are we learning?

Of interest,
...I wonder if Rower's sound is different late at night than it is during peak demand hours?...

There have been studies done that show or senses CHANGE with conditions. Our eyes improve with bright lighting and our ears are less monitored by the brain over what we see. At night it is the opposite. So what's really better late at night? The surroundings (dark) benefiting or senses, or do we want to decide it is AC line noise reduction? To be fair, I enjoy music in a dark room. But, I'm not going to say it's better late at night. I can make the basement pretty dark during the day. That mouse chewing inside my old apartment wall was always louder at night though!

Also...
...if the power supply in a component is less than perfect, wouldn't it be affected by the power that is delivered from the wall?...

You can make a pretty darn good power supply with three terminal regulators that have very low ripple with modest capacitor banks (we want to evaluate VOLTAGE chnges, not CURRENT draw). A power supply is pretty boreing in that the task is;
1.0 right DC level (regulation of voltage clamping).
2.0 no sag under current demand over time (capacitor banks).
3.0 isolation of magnetic fields from the AC circuit (crappy transformers).

If it does those three things it's working. A dumb transistor just needs pure DC potential. The three terminal regulator voltage clamping circuit is pretty robust to variations in line voltage as the DC voltage levels are WAY under the line voltage anyway. Get a three terminal regulator and make a power supply to prove it to yourself. Vary the AC from 100 to 120 and watch the three terminal regulation output DC value. Stayed the same right. The heat thrown off will change though, as that's how those HOT little buggers work when they regulate the voltage. Most "cheap" voltage regulators are less than 2.0% regulation like a LM340.

Fuses in speakers effecting the sound? Sure, a fuse is a device that works by HEATING and CHANGING physical attributes / electrical (it MELTS when it works!). Also, a fuse is the predominant component in a speaker "lead" relative to the speaker cable itself. Since they melt in order to work and...do you think they act the same just prior to melting than at room temperature? Silver fuses? Well, silver melts before copper (lower tmperature) so it's worse, not better all things being the same. You need to balance silvers lower resistance with its circular mil area to arrive at the same wattage at failure. To say one is better than another is to say you MATCHED the thermal resistive gradient to be the same. Otherwise, you are simply using a "big" fuse over a "small" fuse where the bigger fuse is changing less relative to the current drawn through it, and sounding better. A fuse that is moat linear resistance over a wider temperature range prior to melt is going to be better. I would guess, because I am, that a material that has a high change in resistance with temp will sound worse than a material that doesn't. And, the "sound" of the material is NOT what you hear, but the consistency of the resistance of that material. Where is this data?

I'm a real answer kind of guy. I just don't accept the audiophile acceptance of unproven sonic attributes. Sound different...sure, just don't pretend you "know" why when it can't be proven with measurement. You can't measure it you say? Than just STOP right there and say you don't know why.

That component on your shelf is FULL of real answers as to WHY it sounds like it does, even if WE don't know what they are. The designer sure does. I find it funny that a few cords and / or mystery dielectrics we set the unit on (or things on the unit itself) make outwardly big changes in the sound. Really? And the likes of Nelson Pass and their ilk are unaware that a few accessories make such huge changes in the sound?

My experience with three different preamps says no. The designer blows me away. No amount of prudent and cost effective designed cords made any one unit sound like the other. They are all good, but all very different. Inside those units lies the answers, too. Not outside.

Most "cheap" voltage regulators are less than 2.0% regulation like a LM340

If I remember correctly LM340 has 0.01% Vout/V line regulation and 0.3% Vout/I of load regulation. Perhaps you had in mind output voltage tolerance that is indeed 2% in the best case, but is completely irrelevant to operation of audio power supply. In addition power amps are mostly unregulated or have SMPS.

I mean the Vcc voltage supply rail regulation from the power supply. Audio components use a constant Vcc in many stages so it does indeed apply in small voltage transistor circuits. Not every stage is unregulated like a power amplifier (and even some of those are regulated). So yes, there are chips inside many components that feed on a constant supply voltage rail.

The higher the Vcc voltage (30 volts verses 5 volts), the better the dynamic range and the lower the noise. You can use RF isolation decoupling capacitor filters with resistors with higher voltage, too.

So you need enough DC Vcc to provide the voltage swing at the AC output with as good a dynamic range as you can get. A side benefit of higher Vcc seems to be better Vcc line filtering (all that line noise we're talking about).

That's about the best of my memory on op-amp circuits. Someone can probably explain it all in real easy to grasp terms that use them every day.

A good power supply should eliminate noise as you go through each block. Several small filter in series beat one big one every time and, they catch noise throughout the circuit.

I had a listen to one of my audio friend's sytem the other nite.

He was the fellow who got me started down the road of power cords and power conditioners and has always been a Shunyata fan boy.

He reported that replacing his top of the line Shunyata PC with top of the line Siltechs on his power amps into a Shunyata Talos was quite an improvement.

It did sound very good to me,but his system always sounds great.

After a couple of weeks with the new power receptacle from Furutech,the GTX D gold, I decided to try wallpluggin my Acoustat amps direct into this dedicated 20 amp line and omit the hydra 2 and it's 20 amp Annaconda power cord.

I will eat crow now, and say that this gives me better sound.

The reason for this I believe, is that the Acoustat tube servo amps also drive the panels and there are 5000 volts that need all the power they can get.
Whereas in the past, every conventional tube or solid state and D amp that I used needed the Hydra 2 combo to sound good in all previous systems.

In my case,the more direct power path to the amp/speaker the better the sound,( 20 amp dedicated line, to the Furutech receptacle to 2 Annaconda Helix power cords to 2 Acoustat tube servocharge amps).

I would have to add that the addition of the Furutech GTX on the dedicated 20 amp line was a revelation.

Why do some tubes sound better than others?
Possible answers are- design, build quality,materials used,
and others.
Similar answers for the following can apply.

Why do some tube circuits sound better than other ones?
Why do some solid state designs sound different?
Class A, A/B, D- do they sound different, or maybe no?

Why do some capacitors sound better than other ones?
Why spend the big bucks for something that's just another cog in the wheel?Why should they have a sonic signature?

Why do people tube roll or modify gear?

Why does one fuse sound different than another?

Why does vibration control or room resonances have any thing to do with how I enjoy my mega buck quality audio gear?It's the best there is, designed by a genius.
Impervious to the effects of the surroundings it placed in or the power it's fed.

Dedicated 20 amp line? Hogwash.My gear's doing just fine plugged into the sound bar on the same line as my furnace and fridge thank you very much.

I just turn out the lights and it sounds better.

It's not the light factor that was being referred to, so that gave me a chuckle and I'm not alone.

Late night listening, when the grid is used less( less demand in the wee hours of the morning 12 am 1, 2 am,has most oftern been the defining factor that systems sound better when there is less electricity being consummed in the homes of non audiophiles and less demand from industry and business.Hence bad power bad sound, so live with it or do something to improve it.

The music always sounded better to me later at nite.

Some folks would argue that a well designed product should sound good at anytime of the day.
Again, I state that I have never owned any gear so well designed.

Whether you turn out the lites or not, or whether you close your eyes or leave them open , late nite listening sounds better and it's not the absence of light that is the reason.It's the absence of grunge on the lines, and low voltage, two things that are present when listening at other times of the day.

There are some people who would never turn the lites off when listening.Depriving oneself the pleasure of gazing at the sheer beauty of those designer power amps would be a diservice to them and to the craftsman who made them so beautiful.

Fuses, who sees them?

People do seem to oogle big fat power cords though.
Is that why they sound better?

It's easy to ask for the measurable proof to back up the "improvemnts" some folks state.

Are dedicated lines just a figment of some folks imaginations?

Surely it's the same panel, same breaker and same electrical current going to the gear, which some folks say just can't be improved upon or altered . It's just electrical current afterall, look at all the miles it's travelled and thru all the wires it's travelled ,how can a dedicated line make an audible improvemnt?Why bother?

Yet I don't think I've seen one negative remark about dedicated lines.

I'll leave it to the myth busters to tell me why it can't make an audible difference.

I hear it, but I can't prove it.

Now on to the fuse.

Again how can it make difference?
Well I can't explain why and I don't have the gear to measure if it does or doesn't.

But I heard how a stock fuse can cripple the sound of most amps and fuse protected speakers that I owned.
So did Peter Aczel.
Magnepans and solid state and tube amps benefitted sonically when I used diy fuse substitutes.

Not advised,but the sound was better.
I did not have any bad luck, no meltdowns or failures gear wise, but I never left my gear on 24/7 either.

When the designer fuses came out they offered the sonics of no fuse but with the protection of a fuse.

I switched to the upgraded fuses, the best of both worlds.

I guess I am one of those folks who has to see it, or I should say, hear it for myself before I accept anyone's opinions one way or the other.

If I never tried dedicated lines and fuse alternatives,how would I have been able to give my impression of what they do?

Spouting a lot of techno babble is very impressive,but until one does the experiment for themselves, it's just speculation and conjecture based on scientific jargon.

That's as much a belief system as those who believe things do work but don't know why.

Or care less for that matter.