Advice needed on power cables, wall warts, conditioning, electrical outlet


Hi everyone,

I would appreciate any advice on power cables, wall warts, power conditioning, better electrical outlet,  etc. 

If I have a power conditioner, with all of my equipment plugged into it with their stock cables, would upgrading the individual components’ power cable, wall wart etc. really help to improve the sound quality?  If yes, in what order of priority would you suggest?  Looking to make some low/moderate cost "tweaks" where it makes sense.

FWIW, here’s my setup:

  • 15 amp dedicated electrical circuit with standard home grade grounded electrical outlet.
  • Furman PL Plus-C power conditioner (repurposed from my music equipment studio rack) plugged into this AC outlet.  (Furman has a hardwired power cable, so I cannot easily swap it out)
  • All of my audio equipment plugs into the Furman: e.g. integrated tube amp, DAC, Sound Expander, ethernet to optical converter, Sonore Optical Rendu (feeds the DAC via USB), and Small Green Computer Roon server.
  • All components have their respective manufacturers’ standard issue power cord or wall wart.  (Sonore Optical Rendu with their Small Green Computer standard LPS).
  • TrendNet ethernet switch, not on the conditioner and uses wall wart.  CAT 8 to upstairs to my Asus router also wall wart and not on conditioner.
  • Asus router to Verizon FIOS ONT via CAT 8 ethernet.

Any advice and comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

bogbeat

Showing 1 response by riie

In my previous system this was a night and day difference and a must to be at least listenable. The twitter was so bright and over accentuating everything that it sounded like knife sharpening. The sibilants were ear piercing. At that time I lived in a 65 year old townhouse with potentially the worst electricity ever. For example, the system was completely unlistenable between 6pm and 9:30pm. After 9:30pm you could listen to it as it sounded a bit better. Weekend mornings sounded ok too. My friend is an electrician. I asked him if he can pull a dedicated line for me to plug in the gear, we decided on 20 amps. I bough an Audioquest Edison plug and he put it on that dedicated line. Things improved in terms of dynamics but the brightness didn’t. I then bought the Niagara 5000 power conditioner and 4 Monsoon and 4 Cardas Cygnus power cords. Some components liked the Cardas better, some the Audioquest but the main difference was that all the brightness and over accentuating went away. It literally disappeared and the tweeter became very relaxed and natural sounding. This literally was a night and day difference for my system. Your mileage can very however as these things are system dependent. It is better to play it safe and try before you buy.