Hearing is believing?........power cables.......
cars are a good example of people adding bling - a good engineer can certainly modify a car for better, more sporty performance (at the cost of increases in NVH) rodman's post is a fine example of woo-woo - but not anything scientific indeed, lack of symmetry is one of the most exciting discoveries in particle physics |
OK - I’ve read many of the entries in "page 2" of this thread and figured I’d throw in my 2 cents worth. AND - I apologise for the long post, but cables are complicated. First let me state: I cannot "prove" the science in the following post, but I rely on my ears to tell me when improvements are observed. The metrics I use to gauge improvements are - Dynamic performance (i.e. faster, more snap to percussion instruments - bass depth - bass control - clarity (i.e. resolution) - image (i.e. more spacious and enveloping) in the last 3-4 years I’ve experimented with power cables and IC’s and mostly with unconventional cable geometries. What prompted this journey? ... - I was installing a two-way light switch and tested each conductor with a digital multi-meter. One of the conductors that should have provided a reading of zero was actually registering a reading of around 38 volts. I decided to try my analogue meter as a backup - it confirmed there was a voltage, but only 13 volts. The digital multi-meter had a higher internal resistance, hence the larger voltage. I consulted the web and found this is a common occurrence on Romex that contains three power conductors (commonly used for this type of lighting application. The reason is - the power in the live conductor, transfers by induction, noise into adjacent conductors. Now, it is common knowledge among audiophiles that in order to minimize noise transfer by induction you do not allow cables to run in parallel and close together. So with this in mind I decided to try a braided cable geometry. - the conductors are cris-crossed, so it should minimized induced noise I first tried braiding three Romex conductors and found that cable outperformed a stock power cable. But romex cannot stand flexing - so it was not a good choice - so I tried a 12 gauge extension cable - it outperformed the Romex Figuring conductor purity would make a significant improvement I then tried braiding the conductors from a piece of Bulk DH labs Power Plus cable. Due to the vastly superior copper used this cable provided significant improvement in the metrics listed above. It even outperformed a piece of heavily screened Furutech bulk power cable having the same connectors. After a lot of thought I then developed the Helix design in this link http://image99.net/blog/files/be8de0c383c5434907610d6b55049e69-75.html The improvements are the best I’ve experienced to date. I then decided to try the same helix geometry on my interconnects http://image99.net/blog/files/4127b5fe2694586e383104364360373b-74.html They also provided amazing improvements in sound quality. So why do they work? With the helix design - the neutral and ground conductors cross the live conductor at almost 90 degrees - which I believe virtually eliminates the transfer of noise within the cable For power cables, having noise on the neutral side of the cable would impact the ability of the power supply to provide good clean power to the attached circuit - "dirty power" impedes performance For Interconnects - If you look at a circuit diagram of an amp... - the signal wire of the IC connects to the input - the neutral connects to the ground side of the component If noise is present on the neutral conductor of conventional interconnect cable it would affect the neutral side of the component and impact the performance of the components it is connected to because the neutral side now has noise on it. But consider this, noise from one component can also flow to the neutral side of a connected component, causing it to perform at less than optimum So all both cases - having a noise free neutral provides better sound quality. So do all conventional cables (i.e. those with conductors that are adjacent to each other) suffer from induce noise? - I believe so. They certainly do not perform as well a either braided, helix or tight twist variants in my listening tests. What some companies do to get better performance... - braiding - Kimber Cables - not so effective as the above - higher quality conductors and thicker insulation - the majority of companies use this method - different sized conductors - generally a larger gauge neutral line is used - now becoming more popular - tight twists - it reduces noise very well More advanced cable geometries are being developed all the time - but the simplest and most effective DIY geometries I’ve used to date are simple braids and the helix design. When I installed the helix design across my system, not only did the sound quality exceed what I thought was capable with my components, but each component ran several degrees cooler than with the stock cables. I also use quality conductors... - for power cables I use DH Labs Power Plus for the live conductor - for IC’s I use a solid silver signal conductor and a larger gauge high quality copper neutral conductor. Both Braiding and Helix geometries would appear to minimize the inductance and capacitance values of the cables, but that also depends on the insulation properties of conductors used. I've also noticed that the more affordable components show the most improvements - I have concluded that this is due to the lower quality power supplies that is often used. - My amp has a large toroid transformer, so the improvements are marginal - My Node 2 has a smaller transformer, but the cable seems to allow it to perform to a higher level FYI - I’ve compared my cables to some very expensive commercial products and I have yet to find a better cable. If you are not an advanced DIY’er I would recommend the Braided approach. It’s easy and more affordable than the helix and will provide a high quality alternative to commercial products. That’s my journey in a nutshell :-) There were many more variants, but this post is already way too long Regards - Steve |
@randy-11 - people definitely bling out their cars! By performance mods, though, I meant mods that actually increase performance, such as stiffer motor mounts, better air intake assemblies, engine tuning.. I think you caught that differentiation, just making sure. @williewonka - I started on another helix PC today. It’s for my preamp, it will replace the one I made from braided cat 5 cable. Which, by the way, sounds incredible and has not yet caused my house to burn down. But my amps both have helix cables, so I thought I’d see what one on the pre sounds like. Thanks for sharing all of your hard work. I definitely appreciate it. |
The equivalent of a dam is the large capacitors in a linear power supply. If big enough and filtered appropriately then the power cord only needs to be specified properly. If too small then performance will be variable depending on many factors - volume level, power supply levels during the day, power cords and what else happens to be plugged in and turned on. |
