Why Do Cables Matter?

//And again why is it that audiophiles think they can add any information to the sound with expensive equipment and cables (yes, some people have delt with this question but I think they were all recording engineer who understand this concept.) //
 

Is this what we're dealing with? Better cables (and some that do cost more) get out of the way of the music. What a waste of time and effort.

All the best,
Nonoise

@donavabdear 

says: “Why do audiophiles think that inserting a very high quality AC cable between the romex and the Amp fuse makes the audio signal change (there is no audio until after the transformer where the power is changed to DC). (Also I've spent 100 of thousands on Power conditioning personally).”

This may be difficult to grasp, but a good power cable can affect the sound produced by your system without interacting directly with the processed signal path🤯  I know, right?  

One way a good PC can do that is not limiting the current to your gear.  That requires both adequate gauge wire AND good connections.  Wire and connector metallurgy can affect this greatly.  I tend to like power cables built with 12 gauge or greater POCC or OCC copper, and copper connectors plated with gold (warmer sounding) or rhodium (less conductive, sounds neutral to me with leaner more defined bass - but a long break in period). I built a wire that uses silver plated copper connectors and it is a unicorn cable, tipping the frequency spectrum up in everything I have plugged it into.  Too little resistance? Dunno, it’s not for me.

Another factor is reducing stray electrical fields behind your gear in the vicinity of low level analog or digital signal cables, especially on or near the back plate of your integrated amp or preamp where many cables and their connectors come into close proximity. This is accomplished in power cable design with shielding, cable geometry and connectors that reduce emissions.  Problems with interference can arise from the current in the cable, and electrical noise from your gear - especially digital sources - returning to your outlet, power strip or power conditioner via your PC.  The area behind your gear is the worst place for your delicate low level signals to transit, but transit they must. Why pro audio uses balanced interconnects, am I right?  And why you like wireless connections.

There is also a school of thought that vibration is bad for power circuits, and serious manufacturers of power cord connectors like Furutech put a lot of effort into reducing vibration. And their high end AC connectors do sound very good to me.  

I have built PCs for a few hundred bucks that I think sound terrific, and I’ve bought or built PCs for a lot more that were just OK or even unlistenable.  I have bought some finished PCs from China for a little over $100 that sound fantastic, while others I bought sounded meh. And I have listened to higher end power cables from some big name brands and I thought they were worth every penny.

So maximizing current delivery and minimizing noise and vibration in power cables can have noticeable benefits on sound of your hifi.  And even though they are technically upstream of the processed signal, because they occupy a common space on your shelf with cables delivering low level signals between your boxes, PC’s are an integrated part of your hifi ecosystem where every step you take to isolate the signals from noise and from one another matters.

Audiophile don’t “think” well designed power cables improve how they experience the music produced by their systems.  They know it from empirical experience because they try different cables and they hear differences in the sound coming out of their speakers or headphones.  As mentioned by others here, exceptional cables really enhance spatial cues and recreate the timing and flow of the recorded notes in ways that just make more sense to my ears and my brain.

Spend less time typing about why it doesn’t work, and spend more time exploring different cables in your systems at home.  You might actually enjoy yourself.

And again why is it that audiophiles think they can add any information to the sound with expensive equipment and cables

Not adding, but revealing.

Better equipment and cables sound better and usually expensive. 

My AQ Fire rca cables are more revealing than my previous AQ Water, and cost more.

@knownothing Thank you for your great response, I really appreciate it.

@tjag Thank you for your answers without getting so upset, believe me I challenge people at my church about theology and they give me the same upsetting responses I get in this forum strange that the reactions are so parallel.

I have a question for both of you, I use 2x P20 power regenerators from PS Audio they are about $10k each and seem to do their job. So my question is why do I need my fairly expensive AC cables to and from those power reconditioners, (I have isolated 20 amp circuits and audiophile Edison connections installed) the P-20s take AC power turn it into DC then regenerate it back to AC with hopefully perfect specs. Also in general I don't have any problems with RF in my system with any cables I've tried.
Thanks