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the magic of power cords

We need a bit of magic in our lives. It might be the reason why audiophilia has such traction among people from all walks of life.

The neophyte's skepticism is likely proportional to the level of technical training - the more you think you know, the stronger the conviction that, for example, the power cable business is a sham: "electrons are electrons" and "if the house cabling is bad, why would the last 3 feet matter?". The stronger the conviction, the more humbling the experience of hearing the power cord magic in action.

A few years back a Sophia Electric amp came into my hands with what looked like a generic power cord. The few non-generic cords I tried (Audioquest AC15, Audio Magic XSteam, Shunyata Research Diamondback) made a significant difference for the worse. The thin, black, generic-looking original cable allowed for a clarity and definition of voice and instruments that got totally washed out with the aftermarket cables. A night-and-day difference. No doubt - the power cord made a huge difference - but not in the expected direction. The Audioquest AC15 was particularly bad.

For awhile, I kept trying them around on all incoming equipment (be it DACs, preamps or amps). The AC15 sounded so bad every time that after awhile I wasn't even trying it out.

Many years and few amps later - something seemed not quite right with the presentation of my KAV-300i: slightly dull upper bass. Power cord: Zu Birth. Finally (after multiple interconnects and few speaker cable swaps) I pull out the power cord stash (same as above). This time around the AC15 was the great surprise: it allowed for clarity and macro dynamics well above the others.

What do I learn? Nothing, really. When is shielding important? When is gauge? How about the conductor or the insulation? How come there isn't one "best" design?

The magic continues.
cbozdog
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
04-04-14: Jea48
How much better will a $250K 2 channel audio system sound than a $50K system? Five times better? How about twice as good? Or maybe only 5% or 10% better?

My vote would be for the latter choice, 5-10% improvement. Of course I have not compared a $50K system to a $250K system, my answer comes from comparing a $20K system to a $120K system.
IMHO, to even be twice as good, the less expensive system must be defective or set up improperly. The law of diminishing returns hits very hard and very early in most things in life, including audio.
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Yes Mt, I have several MAC HC's as well as the MAC source ones.
What I like about MAC is that it seems to sound at least good, if not great, on about anything.
My new to-go to is the Cullen Crossovers at about $200 bucks.
Very "blackgound" for any cable much less for that money.
czarivey
5,931 posts
 
There are factors in $250k system that can be easily mathematically diminished leaving just a coefficient which is probably $10k maximum assuming that $250k system mainly consists of overworked and overpriced products that have low return for the huge investment.
No need for magic and no need for science either -- open your school math book and just do ya math!
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Yes Beewax, I think we all agree its not magic.
Problem is the variables are so many with so many unknowns, that short of a general field theory and a Cray in every house, cut and paste is the only course.
ptss
1,964 posts
 
"A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link"-remains true. Don't give up. If you learned nothing it's only that you didn't have the technical/analytical expertise and/or resources to enable elucidation of the results-at that time. Gauge,conductor(s),lay, insulation,shielding, termination=all essential & vital to performance parameters. To deny this would be to imply there are no serious, intelligent, well meaning cable developers-which is simply untenable. And of course, as in everything there is a "best". In our hobby though "best" is generally a relative term,particularly related to personal sensitivity to hearing and musical nuance/emotional impact, and the sensitivity of the balance of the equipment in the system being experimented with. Try some other cords; it's fun.
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