how can a line cord affect frequency response ?

Two weeks of theory is not going to convince someone who just heard a difference in the first 5 seconds of swapping. Justify all you want. Only hearing the music matters to me. Does not really matter if it is a placebo effect or what. I hear a difference is all that matters.

below is a message bet I sent several yrs back
I just had an argument with a techno type about
cables.
Done it many times, its interesting.
He said that cables do not make a difference. (Of
course he is the engineer type who prefers the low
cost solution backed up by theoritical claims that
never faces the acoustic reality of the products that
he supports)

So I brought him over to my house and switched out
thin monster type cords vs a cheap pair of ps audio
speaker cables(I don't even want to show him my real
ones).
Guess what, he heard a undeniable difference,
which he then justifies by saying that the gauge size
is different and therefore the resistance is lower and
that makes a difference. So I asked him that if the
guages were the same, then they would sound the same?
He said YES!
I then asked him if one were silver and the other were
copper, would it make a difference?
He said since the conductivity is different,
the answer is YES!
So I said if the gauges were the same and the same
conductors were used, there would be no difference?
He said YES!
I asked again if the above two were the same but if 1
was a twisted pair(or coax) to better reject
interference and the other was not, would there be a
difference?
He answered, anyone would know that a twister pair has
better noise rejection so,
the answer is YES!
So I said that if the conductors were the same, the
gauges AND the same geometries were the same, then
they would sound the same?
At this point, he suspects a dead a end trap and he
pulses a long time before answering...
Yes ....
So I carried on, I asked if shielding makes a
difference? He's cautious now, and answers, if in a
noisy environment (like near power transformers ...),
yes ...
So I said "in order for cables to sound the same, then

all of the above must be the same? in which case you
must have the same cable! RIGHT?"
he went ....
While he was quiet, I gave hime a couple more things
to think about, like dieelectric, vibrations, skin
effects, termination, static, etc ...
He came back and said well, maybe they are not
audiable ...
at which I replied "you must be deaf or in denial"

looks like this is the same study with PC's

hearing is believing. either i hear a difference or i don't hear a difference. at this point it's an anecdotal report which cannot be verified.

suppose i was listening blind and could hear the difference 90 percent of the time, what would an engineer say at that point ?

it seems that some people deny perception. granted there are psychological and physiological facors which affect perception. however, one can not deny it's validity if the evidence is meaningful.

Oh, forgot to mention, next time l went over to his house, he was using oval 9'S . Now he is using Nordost Heimdalls & VD power 3. Now, he is lusting after my Siltech Sig & Khamas. YmMV

For decades I have experimented and listened for changes in my system. Sometimes I hear something, sometimes I don't. When I hear something I am open minded. When I don't I am a naysayer. C'est la vie.

Ronniekoh,

Unlike power cords, speaker and interconnect cabling can "directly" affect inductive speaker loads, or sensitive gain stages. Both cables are in the audio stream, and can affect frequency response by inductance, resistance, and capacitance. The altering or addition of these passive components may/can be proven audibly (pending their values) instantaneously. A power cord's job is to transfer available voltage/current into the components power supply, thus converted to stable, low ripple DC. This DC will be attained no matter what conductor material is sellected to feed it. Silver or gold conductors will merely grant but a few milivolts difference (over a 6 ft length) into the isolation transformer, over copper. The outlet voltage varies far more at any given moment! Whether being fed by 50 Hz or 60Hz, the power supply converts it into DC, and is un-affected by the passive components mentioned earlier.

Besides all the preceeding footage of non-audiophile Romex wiring, what about all the "acclaimed" aftermarket line conditioners being inserted between the outlet and audio components? Lots of passive/active components in direct contact with the AC stream, thus feeding the exact same audio component. All of which would add way more coloration in comparison to ANY power cord related issues. Oh...and yet ANOTHER power cord! Where's all the "frequency" related questions there? It just doesn't apply to power supplies and cords, with regards to limiting a component's output frequncy. Where's all the concern about the isolation transformer's copper wiring, or core composition? Just think about each and every component's internal soldering, for those bringing up that PC-related topic (includes most power, speaker, and IC cables).

For every personal scenerio you've witnessed/debated someone claiming to hear differenses, I can match with ones who have failed during blind testing, whether in their personal environment, or a dealer's. I've been at this HiFi stuff for three decades now, and been through these discussions/testing before.

My problem is that I lack the discipline with not responding to these forums. Seems no one ever seems to sway the other camp, but in my lengthy career of electronics trouble-shooting and personel training, I've observed all kinds of scenerios where work colleagues report having repaired/diagnosed a problem that wasn't even related, but in fact, they reset or disturbed something else in the process. My explanation/advice to them is to re-verify, sabatage, or replace items they've swapped. More than 70% of the time, they didn't truly fix the problem. That's my advice to you readers. Ignore the label ego and bragging rights, and create engineered methods to reconfirm what you're hearing. That's all...