Do power supply units/cables make a difference in sound quality?

@baumwoll - having spent many years investigating cables, I have had first hand experience of how different things can positively impact the sound we get to enjoy from our systems

I have has success implementing cables on mini-systems costing as little as $200, up to pretty good systems in excess of $70k - other members have much more expensive systems and have observed improvements also

Unfortunately the cable companies like to spin their jargon as to why their cables are the best.

But the answer is pretty simple - a good cable will use...

1. excellent quality wire - copper or silver
   • There are varying grades of copper in used, the best being UP-OCC copper
   • There are varying grades of silver used, with UP-OCC Silver currently being the best
   • What is the difference? - Conductivity
     • beryllium copper, teryllium copper, Bronze or Brass
       • are all copper alloys
       • their Conductivty is 70% or lower
     • Pure Anealed copper is rated at 100% and is the Benchmark for Conductivity
     • OFC copper is around 101%
     • UP-OCC copper is 102% -103%
     • Silver is 106%
     • UP-OCC silver is 107%
   • What is the benefit of using a high conductive metal ?
     • better details and improved clarity
     • better/faster dynamic performance
     • better/faster transient processing response
2. good quality insulation
   • lowers cable related noise issues - so it lowers the noise floor of a cable
   • The Dielectric Constant (Dk) The ratio of the permittivity of a cable
     • is the metric used to indicate the electrical activity of the insulation
     • As the signal changes polarity in an AC sifgnal it charges the insulation in one direction
     • and then recharges it in the opposite direction as the polarity changes
     • this flip-flopping injects noise into the metal wire
     • using insulations with a low Dk improves clarity, details and imaging
       • PVC has a Dk of 4 (ish)
       • Teflon is 2.2
       • Foamed Teflon is 1.45
       • Cotton or Silk is 1.3
       • Air is 1.1 Vacuum is 1.0
3. built using a good noise cancelling cable geometry
   • Cable geometry is how the individual conductors are situated with respect to each other.
   • When you have two wires side be side in close proximity, as with many cables in use, you get distortions induced from one wire into the wire next to it
   • This is noise and impacts overall cable performance
   • Some examples of cable Geometry are
     • twisted pair
     • braided (e.g. Kimber Kable products)
     • Helix Spiral designs (e.g. Anticables)
     • Ribbon - Like Nordost speaker cables
4. use great quality connectors
   • many connectors use brass or some copper alloy, but as identifed above, the low conductivity metals impede performance
   • Also, in the case of interconnects and speaker cables, the mass of the connector also impedes signal trasmisson
     • well enginnered Low Mass, high conductivity connectors provide significantly better performance
   • For Power connectors, pure copper or silver plated copper provides better performance

As with everything in this hobby there are improvements that can be achieved with "refinements" to the above design points and those refinements will cost a lot more.

RE:  the "Power supply" to the system

• most power supplies to the house are stable, but some people do experience noise related issues often from commercial builds that are close by, and for those, a good power conditoiner or power regenerator is often reqired
• Othrewise, if the power supply to your house is relatively clean then simply having a good power cable to each component will improve sound quality, Why?
  • this is how it was explained to me by a very knowledgeable person with a wealth of Electrical Engineering experience
    • At each connection point in the "power supply line" i.e. at each breaker, outlet and plug - the transfer of electrical energy is only depedant on the quality of that connction and the quality of any wire used to bridge from one connection point to the next
    • This is why a good power cable will provide improvements in performance
• A dedicated line from the breaker panel to your system provides noticeable benefits
• Quality outlets, like Hospital grade MRI outlets from companies like Pass and Seymour, will grip the plugs more tightly and provide better power transmission

RE:  the power supliies inside components...

• Power amps tend to have very large transformers and banks of capacitors (i.e. compared to source components), which are designed to supply enough power, especially when large transient signals are encountered
  • But even the very best amps can also benefit from having a very good power cable
  • But for the best amps you will need an exceptionally good power cable in order to achieve any noticeable benefit
• Source components, especially in the more budget oriented designs, tend to have a less capable power supply, so having a good power cable will provide a more noticeable benefit.
• Wal-Wart power supplies are perhaps the worst - I avoid them or replace them

The cable companies I typically recommend include

• Zavfino
• In-Akustik
• Hijiri

There are a few others, but these provide good and noticeable Bang-for-buck

Zavfino is a great place to start and their product line caters to many budgets and their products actually perform.

As you may have observed in this thread, there are many opinions out there.

Some believe in the benefits of cables and other do not

So use the Audogon search feature to aquire knowledge from postings from other members pertaining to cables.

Apologies for the long post, but this subject gets complicaed very fast

Hope it helps - Steve

@baumwoll  Threshold amps are some of the greatest amps ever built. I personally use a Threshold Stasis 350e in one of my systems and I recently replaced the four rail fuses.

I could not believe how great it sounds now, it was great before but now incredible and I haven't changed the main fuse yet!

I used HIFI Tuning gold plated silver fuses, only about $40-$50 each, but an incredible upgrade.

There's a lot of negativity about cables here so just try the fuses, it's a very small investment.

Power amps always directly plugged into the wall.

Thanks steve for your input...were all the benefactors of your experience 👍

Steve, Thank you for taking the time to post such an informative description on the subject of cables.  I buy into the contribution of high quality connecting cables between components up to a point of cost/benefit.  The value of a power supply unit costing 4 figures is questionable for me, given the stability and lack of interfering noise on my rural electric supply.  I am really curious about Lordmelton's suggestion to try HiFi Tuning gold plated silver fuses, I assume on my Threshold amp.  I wil explore that.  Thanks all.

Lots of smart folks offering opinions. I'm in the same throes debating whether to add something other than the Furman ELITE15 PF i Linear Filtering AC Power Conditioner that I own. Before I dive into a more expensive component, I'm having a dedicated line installed from my main panel to my stereo system. I also purchased a "Silver Cryo Receptacle" so the cost will be a few hundred dollars. I've talked with a few audiophiles that confirm, it is an inexpensive step to do before shelling out thousands for a power plant, conditioner, etc. that may/may not help.