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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
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Give me a T. Give me an R. Give me an....

What’s that spell?! What’s that spell?!
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
atdavid
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.

>>>>>That’s gold, Jerry, gold! Question to atdavid, do you have a logical fallacy generator on your computer or do you make these things up yourself?  
blumartini's avatar
blumartini OP
224 posts
 
Ok all,

Question? In your humble opinion, what is the best Power Cord and what do you like about them from prices that range:

$50-$100
$200-300
$400-500
$600-$1000
larryi
4,334 posts
 
I heard two blind power cord demonstrations, where the two cords were both of similar price, and it was fairly easy to distinguish the cords in both cases, but whether or not one was better might be system and taste specific.  In one of those bind auditions, I thought that a power cord by Basis Audio was clearly better (can't remember what it was competing with) because the sound was more dynamic and lively sounding.  But, when I tried the cable in my own system, it sounded a bit too hard and brittle. 

It is not necessarily a comparison between different price components; it is a matter of what sounds right.  It also matters what component is being powered; I've tried different cords on some components where I've really not heard a difference.  As a rough rule, tube gear, particularly linestages, seem to be somewhat insensitive to changes in the power cord.  I don't think it is necessarily a matter of how much power the component draws either; I've heard differences with DACs that cannot be drawing that much power.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The one cord I would get if I had the money AND if I still used power cords would be the AudioQuest Hurricane, you know the one that respects the inherent directionality of wire, the own that goes for around $4,000. Why? I’ve heard things. People talk. Oops a-daisy! The Price Range wasn’t wide enough.
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