... abit confused: how does a power cord affect the presentation of sound...


Hello to all...

I was shifting around components in my system, trying to squeeze out better controlled bass, more definition within the soundstage, and better define the "voice/midrange" presentation...

I presently have a tube preamp (hardwired with a wall wart) into an HT Receiver; source is a Marantz SA-8001 CD Player

Swapped out a Yamaha HTR -5550 (hardwired) for a Parasound HCA-750A (which needs a power cord).

CD Player is powered with a PS Audio Statement SC power cord, so I went in my closet and pulled out another PS AUDIO Statement SC power cord, hooked it up and expect to give it at least 5 days continuous re-break-in before serious listening.

Took a minute to lookup reviews about this power cord - and I read some rather confusing reviews: some luved 'um, some liked 'um, but some thought them " ...slow... " (?), and giving a veiled presentation...

I'm gonna listen and decide myself - but I'm abit confused: how does a power cord affect the presentation of sound - I know that interconnects and speaker cables would/could/Do affect sound presentation - but how could a power cord?

Explanation/thoughts please...
insearchofprat
unison77,

Your original system either came with an extremely bad cord in the first place or you are experiencing what is known as the "placebo effect".


Expectation Bias.

i witness a friend of mine make a fool of himself when I took his over prices Power Cord to a Hifi meet-up.    JPS Allumiti or something at around £6k.

The magic chord was switched back & forth numerous times against a bog standard kettle lead.   Only the chap behind the kit knew which was connected.

No one in the room could hear a difference, aside from my pal.   When he exclaimed “Oh come on that’s night & day...”.  It was revealed the £3 kettle lead was in...


My pal learned nothing from that day.   A fool & his money are easily parted.
Hi,
they do affect the power supply of a component, wire and plug quality has different sonic characteristics, EMI control is not the same in different powercords connected to a component.
My very limited budget prevents me from believing in any of the PC or interconnect bull about SQ improvement. I do enjoy reading all the opinions though and even the scientific ones which are fairly indisputable but does the science reach the eardrums? 
Let's be logical.
It is possible that active power conditioners affect the sound of the system.

But if you are talking about 6 feet of power cord with no active component, this can have nil effect as long as it's large enough to carry easily the power being drawn by the system.

Think about it.  Behind the 6 foot power cord there is a (usually) much longer connection to your meter.  Won't that foul up the power?  OK you can up-specify that and many of us do.  But probably not with wire costing $1,000/foot.

The meter is connected in the street to the local transformer that may be 400 yards or more away. A quarter a mile of wire fouling up your system.  You don't own that wire so there is nothing you can do about it, even if you could afford the $400,000 to improve it.

Even if you improve the power cords local to the system, there's a lot more wire carrying your power that you can't touch.

Like bits are bits, in the digital domain at least, power cord is power cord, as long as it's thick enough for the job.

And snake oil is snake oil.