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!


 


blumartini
@mahlman

Hey man, have you looked in the mirror lately?

"Malman, Too funny and I love some of the trolling here. In the memory of "insearchofprat"

"Malman, do I look like I care what you think? 🙄 Your post is not only a drive-by shooting but it’s a hijacking. You can’t even stay on topic.

"Malman, Blind testing is garlic and wooden stakes to Vampires. 

"Malman, By the way I found a cooker at Costco I think will work but I have a question. Should I use peanut or sunflower oil? I figure a light all natural oil will help the transients be much better and allow for a much more transparent sound signal.

"Malman, " LMAO! Uh, no apparently you haven’t, or your auditory memory failed you miserably in those assessments.

 "Malman, You can tag along on theannual pilgrimage to Arkansas to pay your respects.

What exactly was this post above?


Is it a selection of mahlman's posts from elsewhere?

@delkal

I by no means am knocking your claim, I just thought that you might be on to something. I have been in blind test group listening sessions were we have listen to each of our personal test tracks as a guide and played them over and over 3 times to see if each of us agreed on our overall assessment of the signature.
I've heard a few power cord demonstrations and it is really easy to hear the difference between the hardware store IEC cords and even modestly priced specialized power cords.  I've only heard a few comparisons within a brand line between expensive and ultra expensive cords, and the only one where I was quite impressed with the ultra-expensive cord was a NBS demonstration involing their Black Label cords.  The Black Label sounded considerably more dynamic, and I liked that result in the particular system used for the demonstration, but, I have no idea if that particular effect comes with negative consequences in a different system (it is all about tuning/compatibility).

The most recent demonstration I heard was one done by the Isotek people.  They demonstrated a $400 cord against the hardware store cords, then, using their chord, they added in their various power conditioning boxes.  I ended up buying two Isotek conditioners which come with this cord, and upgraded the power cord feeding one conditioner with their more expensive power cord.  Decent power cords and conditioning make a substantial difference.

One of the most impressive demonstrations I've heard involved a comprehensive system for grounding equipment.  It is the system developed by Nordost.  The before and after sound employing the grounding scheme was quite impressive.  I was particularly surprised because I generally don't like Nordost interconnects and power cables.