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
I sell a 3 dimensional sound. My way of roomacoustic measurement is a very important part in the succes.

Onkyo is the most cheap brand who can give a deep and wide stage in the lower price tag. I sold brands like: Marantz, Denon, Cambridge, NAD, Arcam for many years. Those ar what I call 2 dimensional brands. When you use these with speakers who can give a deep and wide stage there is almost no depth compared to Onkyo ( Integra)

I only work with Onkyo, Primare and Pass Labs.

cables: only Audioquest, Kimber and Purist Audio

Same story for Monitor Audio. Compare these speakers with Kef, Dynaudio, B&W, Focal etc in the lower price range and you will hear the same difference in depth and wide when you use a 3 Dimensional amp. Stage is also superior in sharpness for individual focus.

Same story about cables.

In the last 6 months I sold about 70% of all the stock of the distributer for Olive in my country. They had very low prices. So I did win every single battle against other streamers of other shops.

Always create a higher level in endresult compared to my competitors. That is how I work. I always want to win. Hearing is believing. That is why sound counts at the end. It is that simple!

I have to admit that the knowledge and insight of other people who work in this business is a lot lower compared to mine. This makes it a lot easier. I am Always testing and improving my knowledge and insight in sound. I test new systems etc. Most people are very lazy in my country, they do nothing to improve there knowledge anymore.
If component sounds already good with stock powercord, it will be very hard to hear differences. With aftermarket one it will also sound good.
That is why sound counts at the end. It is that simple!
I never heard a component with a stunning powercord like the best Purist Audio makes.

Can you give me a name of a component with a stock powercable who has the same level like e Purist Audio Limited edition.

If you never have heard this cable or compared it with a stocj cable you really don't know where you are talking about. it is that simple! Audio is Always about facts. What you hear is what you get!
Well, I'm a music dealer. CDs Vinyls(mostly), cassettes, R2R etc... Feel free to find hidden treasures among my vinyls http://www.discogs.com/seller/Iriedog
Different music always good to explore and it always sound different.
Why not spending more time for record shopping instead of auditioning aftermarket powercords?
Music is the essential of audio. It always will be the main thing. My biggest hobby is music. I buy a lot of music every week. Without music you never can enjoy your audio system. In 16 years of time I met several people with extreme expensive highend sets with not a lot of own music. I told these people that it is impossible to become happy with there set. It is all about music!