Another unconventional power cord test?

John, I've read your posts over the years and you seem to have been through more pc's than most anyone here. I've been through what I call the "PC Jungle" too over the years, but not as extensively and expensively as you, and I've just about had it with this area of audio. Just went through some trials in the past 3 months. At this time, I've lost patience, but I've dabbled for years with various pc's, so it's not like I haven't given them a serious time. They make a difference, but finding a pc to maximize the potential of the component and your speakers is rough.

Foster_9, I agree with much of what you say. I know other audiophiles who feel the same way, and I can't say that I blame them. At times it can be frustrating and overwhelming, there are just too many variables involved. I know one fellow who has very expensive cables who just went back to all stock power cords and tuned his system around them. I've played with enough combos to know that this could certainly be done, and would remove one more variable from the confusing mix.

That said, I still find power cords to be very alluring. Though I was late to the party, I have more money tied up in power cords than I do in cables. This certainly doesn't mean this is the right thing to do, I haven't heard my friends system with stock cords and much more expensive cables than mine. However, I've seen how I can use cords, interconnects and speaker cables to balance the sound to suit my tastes over the years, and I am sure that I could probably still get great sound by removing any of those three variables. Either going with stock cords, interconnects or speaker cables, and still get possibly just as good of an end result.

Many times simpler is better. I've heard integrated amps that have embarrassed much more expensive separates. So I would never suggest that someone keep playing the game until they find just the right combination. That game can be so frustrating, and to make it even worse is the fact that when I do hit the magic combination, I still can't stop. I have to keep on experimenting until I lose all of the magic. LOL! I'm getting very close now to the sound that I like again....and this time I want to jump off the merry-go-round for a while, as I'm starting to get burned out too.

Strangely enough. many of my cords today are not the latest and greatest, but mostly older classics, Elrod's, Nordost, etc. One's that I discovered years ago, moved on from, and now have come back home to. I think that may be a sign that there is hope for me....that I may be settling down. LOL!

Cheers,
John

"finding a pc to maximize the potential of the component and your speakers is rough. "

PCs/any general purpose home computer or laptop are good at storing and sending data, but are inherently noisy. Best to isolate them from gear that produces HiFi sound. USe ona separate circuit, physically isolated from hifi gear, and connect wirelessly using Wifi to a network player that IS designed to connect to a stereo and deliver high quality sound. This is the only safe bet! Mating computers and hifi gear is alsways risky business otherwise. You might get lucky, but why take the chance? Isolation from sources of noise is always a good thing with good hifi gear. No different here, just a lot of potential problems.

I know you're giving Robpriore good advice Mapman. I've also known I needed a dedicated line for digital for a long time. Just haven't made that move. I must get a separate circuit installed for my Macbook Pro and cdp's. But, I finally got a vintage turntable delivered today (Sansui SR-222). First turntable I've owned since 1979!

You're right John, this can be frustrating! What's even more puzzling is the fact that if I don't like the sound I'll reboot my computer and refresh the room correction software and the sound is better. So weird, and almost silly. I typically make that part of the experience: reboot and relaunch correction software each time I engage in a listening session. Better safe than sorry.

In terms of isolating the PC, plugging the power cord into a different circuit is totally necessary. Getting it to run on battery is even better, not very convenient though.

I don't typically buy in to very expensive cables but I did buy a Wireworld Ultraviolet for my usb to Dac connection. I am not spending $1000 for the Light Harmonic USB cable, even if it does make your morning coffee!

I've taken it a few steps further by incorporating a USB to SPDIF converter that supplies power to the converter with a battery. So i've completely isolated the sensitive clocks in the converter from computer noise.

Taken together it sounds great. Now, i mentioned room correction software - i'm using the ARC system 2 - and the difference is astounding. I can't listen anymore unless the software is engaged. Had I known this in the past I would have hung on to my old Adcom amps and most of my other components since the room correction makes the MOST difference I've ever heard in one component. I've verified all this with many test subjects. Nobody can hear a powercord difference, everyone can hear room correction difference. And ARC 2 is cheaper than a single high end powercord - at least it was!

I use Jriver 16 - too scared to update since everything works now, no point in ruining that! But I have the software load 10 seconds of data into RAM - prebuffer - to add stability to the data output. I have no idea what difference this makes to the big picture but prebuffering prevents any issues related to the computer itself taking resources away from streaming that data. Even though I'm using the preferred asynchronous USB protocol it makes sense to prebuffer.