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Suggested Power Cable for Streamer

Fellow Audio Fanatics - 

I’m at the stage of fine tuning my system. It’s been roughly three years of investment, trial and error, and pure enjoyment. However, as many of you know, this hobby tends to make us obsessive over the prospect of making “incremental improvements.” 
 

Why? 
 

I think it’s simply because we’ve made adjustments over time that paid off. 
 

MY QUESTION 

I am currently using a NRG “The Five,” which is a heavy gauge power cable from a gentleman up in Canada. Great cable for the price! That said, my sense is it’s a cable designed more for power amp rather than source components like DACs or streamers. 
 

I’m wondering if I could improve the performance of my streamer with another cable more specifically designed for source components? If so, what cable might you recommend?  Your responses are greatly appreciated. 

I’m posting my system below for context. 

  • Innuos Zenith streamer with NRG “the five” cable 
  • Merason DAC1 with a LessLoss power cable 
  • Linear Tube Audio preamp with a cardas clear reflection cable 
  • Conrad Johnson Classic 120 with a Cardas Clear Beyond XL cable
  • Speakers - switch between Dynaudio Heritage Specials and QLN Prestige 3  

Everything is connected to a Puritan 156 with their classic cable. I will soon upgrade to their Ultimate cable which will plug directly into the wall.

 

 

 

128x128bluethinker
lwin's avatar
lwin
568 posts
 

@bluethinker Yes the majority of my system has Voodoo cables. Some are top of the line such as the front end gear and my amps and some are the next tier down. 

shanesrain
89 posts
 

I read about cardas copper and they have a vague history. Some of it may have included different companies at different times. I don't know if shorter is necesarily better here, but assume it does. I hear it can make a huge difference in other cables. I am also looking at similar problem, but approaching it from the power regenerator aspect, because even if I do power cables through cardas, I'll be at higher budget that I can't afford. Plus I would still have filth through the incoming lines. But this is all a year or so out. Imo Audience 70 grain per foot structute has less noise than the 300 to 400 structered per foot other cables. But the price in power is considerable to cardas.

shanesrain
89 posts
 

It would think the power consumtion and impedence of the streamer plays into factors. Not sure if this could fall under low eddy current ideals or not.

mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
263 posts
 

 I don't know if shorter is necesarily better here, but assume it does. I hear it can make a huge difference in other cables. 

According to Caelin Gabriel the ideal length for power cables is 1.5-2 metres. With the current high end versions you don't even get a choice. And I'm sure he has done more tests of various lengths than anybody. 

shanesrain
89 posts
 

@Mclinnguy

Why does length matter? Wouldn’t circumference negate those required lengths. This sound very naim. This is bogglimg. Is ergonomic one of his objectives. Single stranded vs solid core would seem to weigh on dynamics and would seem to factor in, not to mention other dependent variables. I wouldn't think length is the complete factor. Things like power consumption would seem to have considerable differences too imo.

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