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Why Power Cables Affect Sound

I just bought a new CD player and was underwhelmed with it compared to my cheaper, lower quality CD player. That’s when it hit me that my cheaper CD player is using an upgraded power cable. When I put an upgraded power cable on my new CD player, the sound was instantly transformed: the treble was tamed, the music was more dynamic and lifelike, and overall more musical. 

This got me thinking as to how in the world a power cable can affect sound. I want to hear all of your ideas. Here’s one of my ideas:

I have heard from many sources that a good power cable is made of multiple gauge conductors from large gauge to small gauge. The electrons in a power cable are like a train with each electron acting as a train car. When a treble note is played, for example, the small gauge wires can react quickly because that “train” has much less mass than a large gauge conductor. If you only had one large gauge conductor, you would need to accelerate a very large train for a small, quick treble note, and this leads to poor dynamics. A similar analogy might be water in a pipe. A small pipe can react much quicker to higher frequencies than a large pipe due to the decreased mass/momentum of the water in the pipe. 

That’s one of my ideas. Now I want to hear your thoughts and have a general discussion of why power cables matter. 

If you don’t think power cables matter at all, please refrain from derailing the conversation with antagonism. There a time and place for that but not in this thread please. 
128x128mkgus
mrdecibel
3,065 posts
 
The Belden brand " connection " that comes with equipment, is generally under a purchase agreement, contracted to the manufacturer, as their wire supplier. There are around 40 other well known companies who " manufacture "  electrical wire, such as Carol, Southwire and GE ( and these, along with Belden, are some of the largest producing wire companies in business today.), that supply power cables to manufacturers. Wires for appliances, auto, aircraft, medical, clock radios, etc. All of these wires do need to conform to specific electrical guidelines and UL rules, etc. So, a cable that is supplied with a CJ power amp ( CJ has been contracted with the same wire company, which is a smaller producing company, for as long as I can remember ). 
fleschler
2,021 posts
 
I haven't read all 10 pages of posts but here's another example of an extreme difference between PCs.   My EAR Acute CD player came with a cheap computer grade PC.  I switched to a Audioquest PCs NRG 3 and 5s.  The result was nearly the same, slow and murky sound, lacking in highs, tubby.  Horrible.  I then used a GroverHuffman.com PC cable (or a high end cable of your choice).  The EAR Acute sounds now as good as the near SOTA CD players available.  It competes with my $22K analog set-up.   That's why I can wholeheartedly recommend the EAR CD players as bargains, but you MUST put in a high quality PC or else it's mud.  
jafreeman's avatar
jafreeman
689 posts
 
xyobgyn, 

Yes, the situation is much as you say;  we can bring all this expensive gear into our homes, plug it into the wall, and not always be overwhelmed by great sound.  It will be good--could be made better. AC power is often noisy and the typical 15 amp house circuit  cannot provide enough wattage to perform the work required by a system of any decent size.   Some modifications are necessary, and these can be taken to the Nth degree. A 20-amp dedicated circuit can be added.  Two can be added.  Isolation transformers are used, as well as regenerators and passive conditioners.  AC outlets and power cords can be added, but something has to done to address ordinary conditions if you are using extraordinary equipment that is capable of extraordinary performance.  Empirically--from experience and without further evidence--these things are the best Rx.      

Regards,  
Joe 
xyobgyn's avatar
xyobgyn
42 posts
 
Jafreeman,

I read both your posts regarding ARC. This is exactly what you said following the ARC quote regarding speaker wires and interconnects:

”Audio Research cannot emphasize enough the use of high-quality cords and wire, and I consider their advice of the highest authority. I have always taken that as audio canon. ”

You clearly changed what ARC actually said in your sample from the manual. You changed “speaker wire and interconnects” to “high quality cords and wire” trying to spread their official comment to include power cords. I think that is a distortion anyone can see. 

Your comment that follows is an interesting observation of what ARC was doing at one point in time, but CLEARLY not a public endorsement from ARC in their user manual suggesting that the end user will benefit by using a different power cord.   (As you tried to imply)

I’m glad you were able to improve the sound of your system with new PC. In my mind, perhaps only mine, that puts your power conditioner or main AC line into question, but I’m afraid you might take that personally.

I don’t think I would take anyone’s word as canon, though I would respect what ARC publishes on paper in their user manual.

But please, my reading comprehension is intact. Your quote from ARC doesn’t support that ARC told users to choose their PC carefully. Not at all.


nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,906 posts
 
I am surprised no one else picked up on this.  An interesting poll would be to see if any companies include on paper, in their user instructions, opinions that one should invest in the best possible or best matching PC to go with their amp, preamp, DAC, Turntable or whatever?
The manual that comes with the Kinki EX-M1 integrated states to get rid of the "el cheapo" power cord that comes with it and to get a better one.
it’s very dissapointing to think that they don’t know how to build a great power supply to perform that task at the levels most of us invest in our equipment.
 
I think they do know but they weigh the costs of building a robust power supply that a smaller percentage of users will appreciate compared to the majority who will simply be content with it. They're buying the brand and nothing more. The more discerning here will seek out better so don't despair: it's just the way things are.

Sarjan over at 6moons marveled at the overbuilt power supply on the Jay's Audio CDT, saying that it distinguishes top hifi gear from the entry level. This is not to say that ARC or other great makes are entry level, but a lot of gear built today is derived from the same group think that used to think that as long as it's built to spec and what the manual dictates, than all is well. That way of thinking has held back real innovation. Working outside the box is what's needed.

All the best,
Nonoise
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