I haven’t even messed with that cord. It is out of the rotation. I purchased a 12 gauge cord long enough to plug directly into the wall and that seems to be the way to go. Both my Levinson and Rowland amps seem to have better bass as a result. Especially the Rowland. It really woke things up.
Power cable dilemma
I have to ask the community for an explanation to account for an issue I encountered this past week.
I received a Mark Levinson ML-23.5 amp this past week. I plugged it in with a high end power cord I purchased years ago (because it looked better than the cheap cord that came with the unit. Lol). I switched from an ML-9 so I had certain expectation of the sound. After listening for about 30 minutes, I noticed that the amp did not sound very dynamic. I got up to go feel how hot it was and the heat sinks were barely warm. I turned up the volume and listened for another 15-20 minutes. I got up to check the temperature and the heat sinks were still barely warm. Also, I was playing the amp at volume level 28 on my Cambridge 851N. That is pretty high. The sound was still lifeless. I shut everything down and just sat there, dejected. Was the amp defective? Was it just a bad match? Were my expectations too high? I don’t know what made me try it, but I swapped out the power cord with a plain black cord and powered up the system. Unreal. I was now listening at volume level 22 to the same song, with staggering dynamic impact, at what seemed to be a similar volume. Furthermore, after about 20 minutes, I went up to feel the amp and the heat sinks were very toasty! So the question is: what could have possibly been wrong with the original cord that would result in lower volumes and no heat buildup? It is like it was throttling the current. To me, a cord either connects or it doesn’t. It works or it doesn’t. There should not be an in between. Does anyone have an explanation for this?
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You won’t find any empirical evidence or studies that show any correlation between the price of a power cord and any improvements made in the sound quality of a component like an amp. Do you really think that the engineers and designers that produce very expensive amplifiers would include a cheap cord with their product if they had any reason at all to believe that including a better one was necessary to enjoy its full audio quality potential? This is confirmation bias and not much else. A $2000 cord will not sound better than a $200 cord assuming that both are well made of quality materials. The profit margins on high-end audio cables is astronomical. A joke really. That said, if dropping a few thousand dollars on a power cord makes you happy, so be it. Many high-end cables are pretty to look at, so I guess that's something. |
Well @jrimer if you are not keeping it, then someone else could see if it is also bad in their systems. How much do you want for it? |
Recently purchased an expensive amplifier (2K) and received a 3x16AWG black cord with it. If you purchase a component, you will likely receive a 3x18AWG black cord as I did in the last year of an equally valuable DAC. Producers of electronic equipment are not in the business of selling power cords, so what you get, is, in fact, less than optimum - according to them! Hence, if the "engineers and designers" are allowing for something other than the $10 cord they provide to be used; then there is plenty of doubt that it would be your best option. |
Pretty clear the OP should migrate to ASR or just be a total cable denier and just stick with generic PCs and no longer sure why he’s now wasting our time here.
The empirical evidence comes from reading reviews, trying different cables that seem to offer what you’re looking for, try them, and move on from there. It’s called being an audiophile. If you need numbers to tell you what’s going to sound better you don’t belong here and we’d all be better off if you just looked for your answers on ASR if you can’t trust your own ears. If you can find the best cables going by numbers, goodonya but please don’t pollute this site any further because it’s utterly useless and ridiculous. I’ll just say that no — NO, manufacturer EVER displays their gear with generic cables. Why do you think that might be? Hmmm. ASR is calling your name. Good luck with that. |
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