2. cables
  3. 183326-178782

An interesting experience with power cable.

I’ve read a lot about power cables throughout the years and finally took a leap of faith and bought 1 silver-plated power cable. Of course I immediately plugged it in my amp and turn on everything for a listen. I could hear a tiny improvement but honestly was underwhelmed. I plugged the basic cable back into the amp. I plug the upgraded cable into my DAC for fun.

 

WOW, immediate and significant improvements. I gained a substantial amount of smoothness and sweetness and perceived clarity was also improved. I have alternate the upgraded power cable into the amp a few times, each time I get the same results, underwhelming, not as dramatic as if the cable went into the DAC.

 

So that was unexpected, I’m not saying power cable for amps are not significant. What I’m saying is, if you have only 1 upgraded power cable, the rest being stock basic, then plug it in your DAC, you might be surprised as well. Thanks for reading fellas.

 

Very curious to get a 2nd cable for the amp now.

128x128samureyex
terry9
2,333 posts
 

@macg19 , it seems to me that they use 16 strands of 15 AWG. If we assume 6 strands for ground and 5 strands for each of 'live' and 'neutral', that would mean 8 AWG for power, better for ground. With the rest of what you say, I have no quarrel.

1971gto455ho's avatar
1971gto455ho
482 posts
 

@audphile1

With much pride it’s not over kill, 4 x 5’ 6” columns that love dipping in the 1 ohm area. Room is a decently dressed 36 x 22 with 10 x 12” woofers,12 electro static mid. range of various sizes, you can enjoy close to live possibly even hurt yourself if so desired.

Cheers

bojack
650 posts
 

To quote Alex Lifeson's Grammy speech: "Blah blah blah. Blah bla blah blah, and blah blah."

1971gto455ho's avatar
1971gto455ho
482 posts
 

As he turns on his Walkman 

boomerbillone
355 posts
 

HELLO SAMUREYEX!  CONGRATLATIONS! Your amp has much better power supply garbage filtering circuitry than your DAC has!  Many of us (especially wih receivers) benefit enormously with better power cables. Your experience demonstrates that one must try a particular cable on their own system to know if it will make an improvement. Look for local dealers who will let you take home a cable and try it out. Especially with speaker cables. What works well on one combo of amp & speakers may not work wll on your best friend's system. Try before you buy if possible. At least get a guarantee of full refund if the cable doesn't work out well for you. The USB cable between computer and DAC is extremely sensitive to the equipment it iserves. On my system (ASUS laptop and Sony DAC) one well regarded cable was just plain terrible. So far, a cable from Canada is best (by a wide margin) in that spot. Happy Listening!

More to discover