The Truth About Power Cords and there "Real" Price to Performance


This is a journey through real life experiences from you to everyone that cares to educate themselves. I must admit that I was not a believer in power cords and how they affect sound in your system. I from the camp that believed that the speaker provided 75% of the sound signature then your source then components but never the power cord. Until that magic day I along with another highly acclaimed AudioGoner who I will keep anatomist ran through a few cables in quite a few different systems and was "WOWED" at what I heard. That being said cable I know that I am not the only believer and that is why there are so many power cord/cable companies out there that range from $50 to 20-30 thousand dollars and above. So I like most of you have to scratch my head and ask where do I begin what brand and product and what should i really pay for it?

The purpose of this discussion to get some honest feed back on Price to Performance from you the end user to us here in the community.

Please fire away!


 


128x128blumartini
blumartini,
What I wrote isn’t obvious to most on this forum. Most in the cable forum go on the "if I put it in my system and believe I hear a difference, I can trust that method to tell me the truth."

And I didn’t see anything in what you wrote that suggested it was obvious to you. As far as I can tell you don’t voice skepticism about the standard audiophile belief that changing AC cables changes sound, and you have seemingly uncritically praised the Audio Bacon "tests," which doesn’t at all suggest you take the problem of sighted bias seriously.

Maybe Jay didn’t have an exact science but it was most definitely a good starting point to something different than doing the same thing over and over and getting the same results, that is called "insanity".

I can’t parse that paragraph. It’s not like Audio Bacon did anything different. They put cables in to their system, listened, and believed everything they think they heard. What’s different or a "good starting point" about that, in terms of moving the evidence for audiophile AC cables forward. They just took the standard unreliable method and did more of it.

And in the article we find bald assertions like:

Audio Bacon: Aside from practical (and legal) considerations, there’s also the type of solder, connectors, materials, and even technique used. All of these will determine the sound of a power cord.

...with no technical evidential support whatsoever.


Not to mention this disclaimer right below that:


Audio Bacon: Blind tests are pointless for the same reason why the skeptics request them – your mind is always playing tricks on you. – Audio Bacon

Which is a statement of pure anti-scientific ignorance.



You said you don’t believe in magic crystals, yet seem to uncritically accept results based on exactly the same method, a purely subjective "If I try it and think something happened, it happened!"

Why do you seem to drop your critical thinking for AC cables and not new age healing crystals?
I dropped in the thread because it seems you wanted a discussion concerning "The Truth About Power Cords." In which case, it makes sense to ask "where is the theory (that passes muster with other engineers) and objective evidence that AC cables COULD sound different, and the tests controlling for sighted bias that they DO sound different?"

Or, if this is supposed to be a thread about "the truth" only for those who already have accepted the audiophile cable dogma? It seems that’s the case, so maybe it’s best I leave you to it.
Cheers.



+1

Anyone who makes such a comment about blind tests can't be taken seriously.
Snake  🐍 oil is the lubricant for the tracks on which the train carrying Advanced Audiophiles travels. All aboard the advanced audiophiles train! 🚂 Toot! Toot! Remember the Little Train that Could. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can! 
I have no objection whatsoever to anyone doing blind tests, which they probably don’t anyway, but results of a single blind test - or any test - have no meaning because so many things can go wrong with the test. It’s a complicated system. A lot of things can go wrong and affect results. A lot of people seem to think it’s a slam dunk and case closed. But that’s not true at all. Evidence is the accumulation of the results of many tests, test on different systems and by different persons. This is especially true for negative results, which is what the pseudo skeptics are prognosticating - negative results. Hel-loo! 🤗
@prof
I thank you for your input and for stepping up to the plate in this oscilloscope v.s. the ear discussion. There is much confusion out there when it comes to audio science, marketing and the ear and what you are saying about the mind playing tricks is true for alot of consumers. For the record, I do believe in science but at the end of the day it does have to process in the point of origination "the brain" and ears and thats why cable companies sell cables. At the end of the day it's the chicken or the egg theory. My hope for the thread was to somehow try to come up with a baseline that would bring the end user closer to their sound expectation at a reasonable dollar to science and ear other and not Marketing magic Crystal B.S. that drives power cord cost from $300.00 to $$.$$$.$$. And yes, at the end of the day people do rely on their ears as the ultimate science.

Thanks for your contribution:)

Cheers