Have you been surprised by power cable changes? s

sleepwalker65:

The power cord only comes into play on amplifiers if of insufficient gauge for the current draw.

So maybe you will explain to me why changing power cords makes so much difference on my CD player. It draws only a few amps. Yet power cords make a huge difference on every single CD player I've ever heard.

Or why power cords make such a huge difference on my phono stage. Which draws even less power than my CD player. Yet the power cords make a huge difference on every single phono stage I've tried them on.

Come to think of it, my Synergistic Research Master Control Center, which powers active shielding on my interconnects, draws the least power of anything, yet power cords still work on it. Why?

Without power conditioning, power cords can bring noise from switch-mode power supplies into the audio chain if filtering on each component is inadequate.

D'oh. I coulda had a V8!

Except, wait a minute! All the stuff above was with power conditioning. So just for the sake of the argument we will assume that I (and everyone else of the zillions who have compared) have one of those crummy conditioners that can't do ... whatever it is you think they do. So why then do power cords also make a difference even being used between the wall and the power conditioner????

cleeds:

It seems to be common that many who've discovered the benefits of improved cable started as skeptics. That really frustrates the measurementalists who claim "placebo effect" to explain why some prefer better cables. 

"Measurementalists", good one! You make that up yourself? Whatever, I like it! Perfectly encapsulates the slavish devotion to ideology of those who put so much faith in something they don't understand that they aren't even aware it is in fact faith, and that they are worshiping instead of thinking. 

I was brought up on Julian Hirsch and a staunch believer that wire is wire. Until one day, okay I can hear a difference with speaker cables but that's it, for sure my patch cords are fine. Until one day a dealer let me compare my patch cord to some $75 interconnect and my patch cord sounded so bad I thought for a minute I had somehow broken something. But that's interconnects.

Surely not power cords!?! How could power cords possibly make any difference? Its AC! There isn't even any signal going through it! And doesn't every single component ever made, the first thing it does is take that AC and filter and store and rectify it into DC? Its just Ludicrous Speed silly that a power cord can make any difference!

Until you hear it. At which point, either admit the reality that there's something here you can't really explain but does in fact exist or..... become one of those hard of hearing zombie brained measurementalists.

While I whole heartedly agree that cables of every description can and will make an audible difference it is not always for the best.

But that’s why it is SO much fun trying out new cables and tweaks, finding what works best with what components.
It’s all about individual synergy.

I do consider myself lucky to have stepped off the PC train by making my own from cable I obtain from work ( exorbitant price per foot so ought to be good ... Lol ).

Now have 9 home brewed power cords and sold all my boutique collection.

Never looked back from making my own speaker cables either from Western Electric tinned copper bought from the Bay.

Not gotten any momentum on tackling interconnect .... Yet.

Anyone else notice how many rave reviews the new top of the line Audioquest power cords get, like Hurricane? You know, the ones that are controlled for directionality. Do any other power cord companies do that? I tend to doubt it. What’s weird is it’s not even the audio signal that’s traveling through power cords, at least not as it’s usually thought of.

@geoffkait   Many manufacturers do it.  Every Furutech bulk power cable I have seen for instance, Nanotec does it.  Supposedly derived from testing wires before wrapping and labeling. I guess its a thing.  Hard to listen to pre-terminated PCs backwards.  Has anybody tried to “reverse” ICs or speaker cables to see if you can identify a difference?