In term of construction, what's the difference between cheap vs. expensive power cables


When it comes to interconnects and speaker cables, it is easier to understand the justification for the costs of these cables.  But when it comes to power cables, it is a little difficult to understand.

Some believe that as long as the power cable has enough gauge the that's all you need.  I've used some cheap power cables vs. some high price cables and there are clearly differences in sound, so the "gauge" of the cables is not the ONLY thing and it's a little bit more complicated than that.  

In speaker cables design, you can adjust the R/L/C parameters to achieve a certain kind of sound and it's easy to visual how these parameters will affect the sound.  For example too much C then the sound will lack leading edge.  Too much L then the sound will be brittle.  If too much R then the sound will lack dynamic.  Or if the cable has too much jitter, then the transparency will be affected.

But the power cable main job is to establish a DC source, it's not too clear how the R/L/C parameters will affect the sound the same way these parameters will affect the sound of the speaker cable.  Also I am not sure how jitter would affect a power cable either

So the bottom line is what's actually inside a power cable that make them so expensive?  Do they use fancy dielectric?  How about construction geometry?  

For a designer, I mean how do you fine-tune your power cable.  How do you know your power cable will sound good?
andy2
@andy2 - RE:

In term of construction, what's the difference between cheap vs. expensive power cables
  1. the wire used - UP-OCC copper (or similar) is best for details and dynamics 
  2. Solid wire is always better than Stranded wire
  3. Insulation on the wire - Foamed Teflon is best (i.e. next to air)
  4. Cable Geometry - e.g. having space between the conductors improves cable performance - geometry improves clarity
  5. Connectors (i.e. plugs) - I prefer silver plated copper - they seem to convey best details, dynamics and image
That's it -  simple really :-)

Of course trying to find all of these "features" in one cable is the hard part :-)

One of the best I have found is Inakustik

If you build your own from scratch you can have it all - see...
http://image99.net/blog/files/be8de0c383c5434907610d6b55049e69-75.html

Hope that helps - Steve

The challenge of understanding the mechanics of power cables and audio is nothing compared to understanding the psychology of denial. For those on the fence between learning a little bit and trying a power cable for yourself vs. going down the feral path of conspiracy theories, why not just be honest and admit that you just don’t want to spend the money and move on? If you try it and hear nothing, you get your money back. The danger is that you'll hear something and be out a few hundred bucks. If you don't want to spend that, then it's just much simpler to live with an economic argument based on frugality than on the notion that there's a conspiracy to defraud people of their money. Real frauds don't have return policies.
That's all fine and good, but how are you gonna argue against anyone who uses all those exclamation points? 😀

All the best,
Nonoise


@nonoise I don’t know how to battle exclamation points, and all caps give me a migraine. I’m with Mr. Lipman on exclamation points, even though Elaine is cuter.
@hilde45,
Maybe if a certain someone would change their avatar to an image of Elaine, it would make it a bit more bearable.
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