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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
thyname's avatar
thyname
3,107 posts
 
You guys are wasting your time. You cannot win any argument with any cable deniers folks. That's the reality. They will never submit to actually trying stuff, instead, asking us to provide proof and measurements. They often throw in some mumbo-jumbo electric engineering stuff into the discussion, often copied from another similar forum, just say: "you see - it cannot possibly make a difference".

More often than not, their actual gear is a pittance, stuff from the 80s, with captive power cords, and low-fi gear. Even if they tried good cables, they won't hear any difference anyway, as their stuff is junk. A $1,000 power cords will not make a DIY Amp costing $499 in 1988 sound like a modern, say $10,000 Amp. As simple as that.

I always find them to show their jealousy, lack of means to accomplish anything, and a serious case of "If I cannot afford it, it is not worth it" mentality.

Just ignore them. Find like-minded people, with good gear, and open-mind to experiment and try new stuff.
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mzkmxcv
777 posts
 
@elizabeth  
 
Hearing a difference is not the same as there being a difference. 
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,957 posts
 
@mitch2
1. What characteristics of a power cord would affect voltage (i.e., cause a voltage drop) - is that primarily a function of resistance and wire gauge, or something else, and
2. What characteristics of a power cord would affect bandwidth?  
Voltage drop can be caused by the connectors or the wire itself- they all respond to Ohm's Law. If you find that either are getting warm, you know for sure there is a voltage drop occurring.
The geometry and materials affect bandwidth, in addition to gauge.

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,928 posts
 
Hearing a difference is not the same as there being a difference.
So when measurements fail to convince, and listening tests fail to convince, and you no longer have a leg to stand on, just get metaphysical.

Right. 👍

All the best,
Nonoise
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