Why Power Cables Affect Sound

mrdecibel,

So prof, it seems that you did not hear differences in the pcs you tried. If you did, or thought you did, you doubted yourself as a listener, and claim placedo effect. That is a problem right there,

I detailed the situation earlier in the thread. Did you read it?  In a nutshell, I did not perceive any obvious difference with a couple Shunyata power cables.  But in the most expensive (and biggest, thickest) one I was given, I thought I heard an obvious difference.  The system seemed to become more lush, darker, smoother.   It seemed so obvious I wondered if I actually liked my system with that cable in use. 


Then I had a friend help me blind test it against a cheap stock power cord.  In which case, all the sonic characteristics I felt so sure I'd heard disappeared and I couldn't for the life of me distinguish the sound from the cheap power cord.

In other words:  when I actually decided to just trust my ears, not my eyes, the high end cable didn't pass that test.

This is not surprising, if you know anything about the nature of how fallible our subjective inferences are. 


I have no problem admitting I'm human and fallible.   I feel that is actually being open minded, vs vs insisting that my subjective assessment just "absolutely, can not ever be wrong!"

You didn't answer my question:   Are you open minded to being wrong about what you believe you have heard in your system? 

 Are all of your buddies who loaned you cables, experiencing the placedo effect? Are you saying that everyone is experiencing the placedo effect, in this particular instance.

As I already stated: I am not claiming everyone here is just experiencing a bias or placebo effect.

But the method used by most audiophiles to test gear - with particular relevance to controversial tweaks - is not, unfortunately, well suited to distinguishing between bias effects and the real thing.

All cables have a resistance, an inductance and a capacitance. Can these three physical quantities account for ALL of the differences in sound that power cables provide? I'm sure fancy multi stranded power cables have different R, L and C values compared to romex or generic power cables. 

I'll say it again. The differences are due to the level of noise rejection afforded by the power cable. Volts is volts, current is current, cycles is cycles. But noise is not noise. Time to give this a rest.

prof, you never stated in your earlier posts that you did not hear any differences with the Shunyata cables, although, I assumed it by your writings. Is it possible for me to be wrong ?. Anything is possible, but I have not been wrong that I can remember ( and, I am talking about, and only about, this particular subject concerning my listening abilities ). There have been times I have not heard a difference, or a difference that was very subtle. Generally, quite dramatic. What about your friends and buddies ? You did not answer that question. And, I am not sure what " test " you are speaking of. I take a cord out of my system, replace with another one, and wait. I listen to the same several songs I am familiar with ( and these are mostly from audiophile labels ), as I feel they are less processed at the studio end, and show greater sq than most. But, I can also play something like the Rolling Stones’ Wild Horses, and hear differences, when differences exist. Here is another one for you. Not only do I hear differences in power cords, but I can hear them " break in " ( also known as burn in ) with use and time. There are other threads about breaking in of equipment here, and elsewhere. On another thread, I stated that I was, once again, cleaning out my closets, of the plethora of amplifiers I have on hand. In this process, I am listening to them again, and even modifying a few, before I sell them. You know what. They are all different is sq. So listen, I feel I am wasting my time here, with you, and some others, so I am happy to move on and let things be. So, continue pronouncing on the subject, as you will no longer have me reply to you. We are obviously worlds apart in certain areas of this hobby, no matter what you may say or think. Although, we both enjoy music, and enjoy listening to music. Be well, be merry, and Happy Holidays. Enjoy ! MrD.