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Resolving power cables do they really make a difference


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47 minutes ago, vinilink said:

To my ears, I hear absolutely NO difference between 4 and 4000 pounds power cables. Wonder if this guy can pick differences in sounds when cables are swapped on blind testing? 

The answer is obviously no. Power cable proponents never do blind testing. Neither do their manufacturers.

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I could hear a difference between a couple of cables using as blind a test as I could manage.

My findings were:

Shielded cables reduced high frequency noise affecting the treble. I later tested listening close to the speaker without playing anything and the amount of audible noise coming from the speakers (when nothing is playing) is much less with shielded cables. To me this suggests that noise from the power cable might be affecting my other cables, perhaps the speaker cables.

The Chord Power Chord had less perceived bass than the Isotek EVO3 Sequel for some reason, not sure why this would be as both are shielded and both are about the same price.

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18 minutes ago, audio_file said:

I could hear a difference between a couple of cables using as blind a test as I could manage.

My findings were:

Shielded cables reduced high frequency noise affecting the treble. I later tested listening close to the speaker without playing anything and the amount of audible noise coming from the speakers (when nothing is playing) is much less with shielded cables. To me this suggests that noise from the power cable might be affecting my other cables, perhaps the speaker cables.

The Chord Power Chord had less perceived bass than the Isotek EVO3 Sequel for some reason, not sure why this would be as both are shielded and both are about the same price.

Comparing non-shielded to shielded is a no-brainer. It's the rest associated with power cables blinded that need proof. Did you compare the chord to the Isotek blinded?

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7 hours ago, Ittaku said:

Comparing non-shielded to shielded is a no-brainer. It's the rest associated with power cables blinded that need proof. Did you compare the chord to the Isotek blinded?

Some who say there is no difference include shielded vs unshielded and say this makes no difference. That's why I mentioned it.

 

Someone who didn't know prices or names of any of the cables switched cables at random while I was in another room.

The cables were behind the rack and I couldn't see them.

All were played on the same system using the same demo CD.

 

This is as much of a blind test as I could manage at home, but it wasn't good enough for some critics. Others were happy with my test.

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6 hours ago, audio_file said:

Some who say there is no difference include shielded vs unshielded and say this makes no difference. That's why I mentioned it.

 

Someone who didn't know prices or names of any of the cables switched cables at random while I was in another room.

The cables were behind the rack and I couldn't see them.

All were played on the same system using the same demo CD.

 

This is as much of a blind test as I could manage at home, but it wasn't good enough for some critics. Others were happy with my test.

Sounds good. Well done.

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3 hours ago, Ittaku said:

Sounds good. Well done.

The four cables we tried were:

Standard black lead

Isotek EVO3 Premier

Isotek EVO3 Sequel

Chord Powerchord

 

I think  it does depend on the sensitivity of your equipment, and also the state of your building power (including other appliances that are running.

 

I notice much larger differences using my Naim Nait XS2 amplifier than I do with my Cyrus Pre2 Qx + Stereo 200 for example.

 

I have also compared with and without a filtered power board and using the same board in one building sounded the same to me, but in my apartment it made a difference.

 

As I said before I can hear a noise through the speakers even when nothing is playing, so I might just have more noise in my building than some others.

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  • 1 year later...

From technical point of view, definitely power amp.

A source, such as DAC or CD player consumes 15W of steady power. Neither do its requirements change nor is it great amount of power.

Anything really could be used for source.

If you are fanatical, get DeOxit and clean both sockets in equipment and pins on power cable. This should give more improvement than any exotic power snakes...

 

Power amp on the other hand uses a lot more power and it is changing depending on volume and music.

Power supply matters to the power amp a lot.

Starve it of power and you will loose slam.

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Guest deanB

Given that their other senses are often enhanced, how good would blind people be at blind testing audio equipment. And how much easier would it be to conduct the testing.

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12 minutes ago, deanB said:

Given that their other senses are often enhanced, how good would blind people be at blind testing audio equipment. And how much easier would it be to conduct the testing.

I read somewhere this is a myth.

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4 minutes ago, Plasmod3 said:

Depends. Need more info on your type of cable. Silver or copper? Multi strand or solid core? 

 

Solid-core power cords?  In theory that would be great but solid-core wire is not available in a large enough guage to be usable as a power cable.

 

Plus there's the issue of stranded cable being resistant to being flexed ... solid core will weaken with flexing and eventually break - ie. it's fine inside a case but not as an external cable.

 

Andy

 

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11 minutes ago, andyr said:

Solid-core power cords?  In theory that would be great but solid-core wire is not available in a large enough guage to be usable as a power cable.

 

I seem to recall reading somewhere that solid core power cables are not legal in Australia

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Guest Eggcup the Dafter
17 minutes ago, andyr said:

 

Solid-core power cords?  In theory that would be great but solid-core wire is not available in a large enough guage to be usable as a power cable.

 

Plus there's the issue of stranded cable being resistant to being flexed ... solid core will weaken with flexing and eventually break - ie. it's fine inside a case but not as an external cable.

 

Andy

 

Solid core "twin and earth" mains cable (used for house wiring) was a popular speaker cable in the UK for a while in the 1980s. I experimented with it for all of a couple of days.

 

https://www.diy.com/departments/prysmian-6242y-3-core-2-5mm-twin-earth-cable-50m/33842_BQ.prd looks like the stuff but judging by the one-star review even this stuff is made cheap and nasty these days.

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Guest Eggcup the Dafter
5 hours ago, muon* said:

I read somewhere this is a myth.

There was a college for the blind near where I used to live that trained blind people to be piano tuners on that basis - they took as long to learn as anyone else. It was a good trade though.

As it happens, the job has reverted, somewhat, to sighted people who can see the screen on the iPad app :sad:

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12 hours ago, blakey72 said:

Just a quicky. What do you think you should put your best power cable on? Amps or dac/source?          

My recent purchases came with moulded cables, so nothing too "special", but were different construction and presumably chosen for source and amp respectively. No, I didn't try them the other way round. And no, I'm not converted to expensive power cables because of that.
 

But it does suggest that a particular power lead may suit a particular product more.

If your "best" cable (or indeed the others) aren't specified for particular items, just switch them round and see which combination sounds best to you. Though if any of them get hot when used with your power amp use a different one there.

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11 hours ago, sir sanders zingmore said:

 

I seem to recall reading somewhere that solid core power cables are not legal in Australia

 

 

Perhaps that's why you can no longer buy the wire to make such cables?  :)

 

Andy

 

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