Doing the Power Cord Thing

Happy to announce that the tools arrived on time today, and I was able to assemble the components. Installing a power cord is never just installing a power cord. You find all sorts of other things to fix up while you go along. In this case I re-routed the cable, making an optimal L shape between my Furman Elite conditioner and integrated. I found the USB cable which connects all of my music to the DAC was intertwined with power and network and signal cables, so this gave me the chance to clean that all up.


I'm not sure I hear anything, but if I do, I would say, enhanced tube like liquidity and delicacy for flutes and violins, darker deeper sound stage and faster energy when needed.


Am I making it up? Was the benefit actually from the power cord and not from re-routing the cables? I'm not sure I am glad I got to work on a project again though. :) For about $100 it's a pretty good deal.


I will say the cable construction is really nice. The outer jacket is super resilient and flexible. Clearly very protective and capable of taking a serious beating. The three main conductors are padded with what feels like cotton yarn. The male connector was tight, and the female slid in as if oiled. 

Hey Eric, Since you have been rolling your own, by now you prolly know if you buy cheap, you get cheap.
VH Audio has many different varieties of power, IC, and speaker cables and all the terminations one could ask for.  Contact Chris at VH Audio and see what he might suggest to you on your journey to nirvana.

Eric I would be interested to know how your cable turns out.

The male connector was tight, and the female slid in as if oiled.

Dude, that's just wrong!  Heh heh.  Be interesting to hear your thoughts after more break in and comparison to another PC.  BTW, what PCs were you using before?

Heres another thought.  Since you already have the connectors, if you're not sensing much benefit with the DHL cables, why not just order some "better" cables and see if they're any better?  I'm thinking of doing the same thing and was going to use the same connectors as per @grannyring recommendation.  But if I'm going through the trouble of doing this I was gonna pony up for a better cable maybe from the likes of Furutech or Oyaide Black Mamba -- something like that.  So, I guess what I'm saying is, if the DHL cables don't do much for you, stick a crowbar in your wallet and try better cables so I know what to buy.  Ehem. 

erik_squires

I’m not sure I hear anything, but if I do, I would say, enhanced tube like liquidity and delicacy for flutes and violins, darker deeper sound stage and faster energy when needed.


Am I making it up? Was the benefit actually from the power cord and not from re-routing the cables?

My favorite part is the way it went from "not sure I hear anything" to "enhanced tube like liquidity and delicacy" in just one sentence. Addresses bias, humbly expresses self-doubt, and declares victory all at once. Sweet!

Except, hate having to tell you this, but it was the re-routing. Done this a few times myself including last night when all I did was prop up a few cables for greater separation and it was pretty easy to hear the improvement. So your DIY power cable probably made things worse. But everything else you did made things even more better, enough for you to pretend the DIY was worth the effort. But you knew that. "Am I making it up?" Yeah. Sorry.

Which was of course the foregone conclusion. I had a friend spend 30 years toiling away trying everything he could think of all to "save money" and the best he could come up with sounded awful compared to the cheapest one I could dig out of my old discarded cables drawer. Whatever you spent, give it to me and I will send you back a cable that believe me, you will be sure sounds a whole lot better. Shipping included.

But hey! You faced down your fear of lethal voltage! I wouldn’t lose one minute of sleep over the lack of testing. I mean, not like its gonna burn your house down.