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

@glupson

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

Yes.

@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.

larryi,

I have been to many such demonstrations, and not once, has the demonstration ever been blind. In fact, what is being demonstrated is clearly indicated, usually accompanied by not so subtle hints at what the sonic differences are. If a blind test is a more significant step up from a sited test, then doing that is one significant step down from even a blind test as you have both the presenter begging the answer, and peer pressure on top.

Hardware store IEC cords are often 18awg, maybe 16awg, while good, but not very expensive shielded cords targeted at instrumentation are $10's of dollars, not hundreds.