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Ideal power cord lengths?

A quick Google search suggests there is consensus that the ideal power cord length is 2m.  1m cords sound “harsher” and 3m cords sound “smoother”, with 2m being the sweet spot.  The PS Audio dude suggests that the reason is that the reason is that all cords have an impact on the power, and the greater the length, the greater the impact, good or bad.

I know many will say there is no difference between a 1m cord and a 3m cord.  But my question is, who here has tried like model power cords of different lengths, and what were the differences?  
 

Second question:  How does length factor into the equation when you have a cord feeding a conditioner, then other cords feeding components?  If 2m cords are in fact the ideal, would 1m cords be ideal when using conditioners?

I tend to believe those that say that power cord lengths matter.  While I’ve not been able to do this test myself, I’ve had these two experiences:

  • Testing Audioquest Diamond and Nordost Valhalla 2 USB cables, the cables shorter than 1.5m sounded TERRIBLE by comparison.  Especially the .75m Audioquest Diamond vs the 1.5m version.  But the 1m Valhalla 2 also sounded awful in comparison to the 2m version.  In general this opened my eyes to how much cable length matters, and counterintuitively in the case of digital cables. 
  • I have a 2019 2m AudioQuest Hurricane Source cable from back when AQ braided their cables, and I also have the newer non-braided Hurricane Source, but 3m in length.  The new Hurricane sounds vastly superior to my old 2m Hurricane.  In comparison the older cord compresses the soundstage depth.  I don’t know if the differences are due to the differences in length, or if it’s due to a design change by Audioquest.

Very interested in learning of others experiences with power cord lengths.

 

 

nyev
pwdmark's avatar
pwdmark
33 posts
 

PS: Even Audioquest does not ship their Niagara Power Conditioners with a power cord (nor Denafrips).

From their website:

Niagara Noise-Dissipation Systems do not ship with an AC cable. Why?

The cable that feeds any power product is the most important AC cable in the audio/video system. For any power product to maximize its ability to dissipate noise, the attached AC cables must be Direction-Controlled to drain induced radio-frequency noise. AudioQuest AC cables include ZERO-Tech for uncompressed current transfer and optimal Noise-Dissipation. Further, our patented GND-Tech (Ground-Noise Dissipation) pulls RF noise out of any product it’s attached to.

When partnered with a Niagara power product, our Direction-Controlled AC cables create a complete Noise-Dissipation System, ensuring the most effective and efficient dissipation of RF noise.

We allow our customers to select the appropriate length of cable for their systems and to decide how completely they’d like to optimize their Niagaras.

 

nyev OP
1,031 posts
 

I always take info from vendors with a grain of salt. I had thought Nordost recommends 2m power cords but I could be mistaken. I once found a link on these boards to a Nordost Q&A that lists recommended lengths for all types of cables. The PS Audio guy also recommends 2m as “the sweet spot” and said he has a number of theories as to why, inferring that longer than this can be worse.

Regarding pricing, yeah, all HiFi vendors are seemingly making ridiculous margins. I just bought some Herbie’s Cone/Spike Decoupling gliders for my speaker spikes to sit on. They are considered the “budget” option for these types of products (but people report positive results). But for the life of me I can’t see how these would cost a manufacturer any more than a few dollars more than a standard set of furniture sliders from Home Depot. Cable companies get picked on but it’s all types of HiFi vendors really. On the flip side the HiFi market is minuscule. For anyone to be in such a low volume market, it would only make sense if the margins were exorbitant with the small number of people in the market willing to pay.

Of note, yes, the Herbie’s gliders do seem to make an easily noticeable difference. I tried putting them on one speaker and not the other.  That made the differences really obvious.  But I don’t have experience with similar products and I’m guessing others are effective as well.

ryder
1,697 posts
 
Pennfootball71
20 posts

 

Power cables need capacitance…Long ones have more.

you can even measure that!

shunyata ideal length is 1.75M.

voodoo 2meters

wireworld 3 M

you see they all vary

 

3m is too long. In my book, the sweet spot is between 1.5m to 2.0m which is about 5 to 6 ft. Both Wireworld PCs which I own are 1.5m in length.

rilbr
100 posts
 

I find the two meter sounds better than one (or shorter). This makes me think of the length of wire from breaker box to room receptacles. And of course the type of wire.

I believe we are limited by practicality. 

The late Bob Crump determined in his extensive tests, that 7.5 feet was optimum and any lengths longer would not give any more sound signature of the given cable. Of course he did not test 100 cable brands, nor has anyone else. It would take too long and cost too much.

I have found with shorter than 1 meter cords, the Belden 12 AWG ( or generic similar) with a better IEC connector, sounds very good, and better than some custom cords. For longer than one meter, choose an Audiophile power cord. 

bikeboy52
190 posts
 

@1971gto455ho Could you post some pictures of your system? Im thinking about making some changes to my mine and am curious about all that you’ve got going on there, thanks in advance. “Pony” panel especially,Ive never even heard of that before.

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