"Audiophile" Power Cables: The Greatest Audio Conspiracy Theory of All Time?
Just mention the word “audiophile power cord” in a group of seasoned audio enthusiasts and the resulting exchange will resemble the calm and collectiveness of someone throwing a firecracker in a chicken coop. In the audiophile world, there is no other subject as polarizing. Some scholars have even argued that the phrase “WTF?!!” was first introduced into our contemporary culture moments after some Neandertweak claimed that “premium power cords can make an audio system sound better!”
The details of the origins of the “audiophile” power cable are a little obscure. Perhaps long ago an energetic employee working for an audio cable manufacturer had the “Ah Ha moment?” He’d spent more than his share of quality time developing better sounding speaker cables, and one fateful day glanced over at his amp and thought: “Speakers get AC from the amp. Amps get AC from the wall. If this meaty cable works great for speakers, what would happen if I made a power cord out of the same stuff?” And so, he decided to cobble up a set. He approached the power cable with the same attention to detail as he did with his speaker cables, and after terminating each end with something that had a low likelihood of not catching the lab on fire, he plugged it in … and BEHOLD!!! To say he liked what he heard was an understatement. An alien craft landing in the designated employee parking area of his lab would not have left him with a more bewildered look on his face. But, unsure how to connect the dots from theory to reality,he developed a new audio vocabulary to extract a "believable" technical explanation of what he just heard. He polished up his demo a bit and invited a couple of colleagues over for a listen. With the world’s first premium power cord, newly formed technical vocabulary, and wll-recorded demo material on hand he convinced his colleagues they heard something pretty spectacular, too. Word got around. More auditions. More positive feedback. Then it hit him: “I gotta tell management about this!”
But not so fast. The technically inclined in Section B got wind of this. These were the modern-day equivalent of Nostradamus. They could analyze a handful of measurements and predict how something would sound in the future. So, the guys from Section B prepared to come at him with the full force of industry standard hand-held HP calculators, pocket protectors, Radio Shack SPL meters and electronic theory in their arsenals -- ready to humiliate the “power cord dude” in front of his pack of the “audiophile” power cord faithful. They were going to be a tough sell. Meticulous. Exacting. These were the guys that measured out precisely 5mm of Brylcreem™, when “just a little dab” would work just fine for the rest of us. The guys from Section B placed themselves between a pair of decent loudspeakers ready to pounce on any inkling of “better sound.” They were quite emphatic about not hearing anything different. Afterall, their Radio Shack SPL meters have never lied to them yet. Why would today be any different? Upper management observed stealthily from a distance.
It turned out to be more like a geeky version of “Rope a Dope” than dismantling “the cable dude” and send him scampering out of the room with his cable between his legs. The cable dude just stood there like a giant redwood taking blow after blow, carefully listening to their pleas for sanity and acknowledging their technical evaluations. Always countering with the same remark: “Yeh, I get that. But have you listened to it?” Exhausted, the “deniers” stomped off, knowing full well they had won the debate, but still frustrated that they couldn’t convince the power cord dude he that he possessed the mental agility of a small soap dish.
Management took notice and found themselves in the unfortunate position of being compromised regardless of what position they took. Do, we slap the cable dude in the face and ruin his ego (and, perhaps his productivity) for life? Or give the green light to a product that pegs the BS Meter of the guys in Section B? After careful consideration, management came to the only logic conclusion: “There’s money to be made here!” Section B was never the same.
The power cord dude was promoted to Power Products Designer and a finished prototype was only days away. Then, something interesting happened. They took their newly developed “audiophile” power cable to an international industry trade show and put it out there in front of some of the country’s best high end audio dealers for their feedback.
Music played. Heads nodded. Orders were placed. Shelves were stocked.
I’m certain the first “audiophile” power cable customer had to convince someone(s) that he just didn’t throw his hard-earned money away on something with no technical merit. He remembered his visit at the audio salon and the salesman’s pitch, who remembered the factory representative’s pitch, who remembered with district manager’s pitch, who remembered with factory trainer’s pitch, who remembered the power cord dude’s, eh, Power Products Designer’s pitch, and pulled off a flawless presentation. Well, to the surprise of everyone in the room (especially his wife) he managed to get his buddies so fired up that they HAD to go visit the dealer’s showroom and plead their case to snag a set on loan so they could audition them on their OWN systems.
Music played. Heads nodded. Wallets came out.
It didn’t take long for the audio dealer down the street to get word of the business he just lost to his competitor. A highly agitated dealer called HIS audiophile cable rep and asked why THEY are not in the audiophile cable business?! This quickly worked its way up the chain, and before you can say “Autocorrelation Sonic Holography Preamplifier”, there were not one but TWO cable companies offering “audiophile” power cables. Including the new industry standard at 2x the price of anything offered by the other guys.
Before long the news of this new product category reached the true connoisseurs of audio perfection – the respected high end audio reviewer -- the guy who could tell you what Joan Baez had for breakfast that morning just by listening to her sing Diamonds and Rust. This guy’s got ears, and a typewriter, and he’s not afraid to use them. And, yes, as predicted, he “heard something” and wrote nice things about it. Potential advertising revenue and saying nice things about a new product are, let’s say, not out of phase with each other. Like many others before him, he struggled to describe in industry-standard engineering terms WHY the power cord sounded like it sounded. But he was convinced that every existing high-end audio system was now demoted to mere mid-fi without them.
Then, quicker than a toddler can modify the structural integrity of a Clearaudiio stylus, audiophile power cables were an adopted component in any NOTE-worthy audio system. Manufacturers developed real business plans with real business strategizers and got to work setting up distributors, field reps, product trainers, marketing plans, “key customer” dealer events -- complete with their own recommended playlist, suggested wines, and catering via White Castle.
The Dupeologists (individuals highly effective in the art of duping people) were embedded at every level in every crook and cranny. The Power Products Designers got bigger offices, entire power cable product lineups were developed and every company that had the ability to wrap strands of high purity copper with a jacket and attach plugs on each end was in the “audiophile” power cable business. On the consumer level, it was quickly reaching a level of respectability that demanded involvement by serious music lovers at some level. The audiophile power cable that was installed on the power amp, was now joined by one for the preamp, CD player -- even the Samsung sound bar. An entire product category had developed and didn’t just take the industry by storm. The number of audiophile power cable enthusiasts reached thousands worldwide, eventually exceeding the number of consumers who enjoy the convenience of single-cup Keurig coffee makers in their motorhomes.
Oh, the humanity!!
You have to ask the question: “Where were those consumer advocates hiding? How could they let this happen?” You know who were talking about. Those guys who parachute out of the sky in a moment’s notice to protect the rest of us from bad decisions. If these guys could time travel, they’d go back and lock elbows with Ralph Nader to reinforce the position that the Corvair’s rear suspension could fold in on itself. They’d ALSO prove that the Corvair didn’t have air bags, AND would have failed miserably in a rollover test, AND didn’t have a catalytic converter! I could have used these guys when I was a young lad waiting in line to make my first purchase at a hifi store. An intervention, including full body takedown, would have been entirely justified for saving me from spending $7 on a glorified lint brush wrapped around a walnut handle peddled as a “record cleaning system.”
But, alias, it appears to be too little, too late. The avalanche has started. We’ve got guys out there that claim to not only hear the differences between an OEM cable and an audiophile cable but claim … wait … here it comes … the differences between different brands and price levels of audiophile cables!! Then there’s they selected group of Techomutants out there that build their own stuff from scratch, claiming that home-made cables sound better than … get this … FACTORY-built OEM cables! This makes about as much sense to “Section B types” as adding a Paragraphic Frequalizer to your system.
It’s (finally) time to jump into the meaty part of the discussion – The Conspiracy. I have a theory about conspiracy theories (if there is such a thing). Here goes:
“The shelf life and voracity of a conspiracy theory is entirely dependent on who controls the information, not the validity of the claims.”
Which brings us to the question of WHO is controlling the information? What entity (or entities) could have this level of penetration to reach the ENTIRE globe and endure the constant barrage of debunkmenship of dozens of Section Bs working in unison? <whisper> It’s rumored that it could be The Deep Stasis? A secret organization of all-knowing, all-reaching, infinitely powerful group of individuals who can make anyone believe anything related to audio performance. We could appoint a special council of the most proficient AudioGon members (the guys with the highest number of razor-sharp, one-sentence stinging rebuttals in the forums) and aggressively go after them. But how do you go after an organization that “doesn’t exist?” Great question. And, since we’ll never get the answers the audio world and ancient astronaut theorists are looking for, The Deep Stasis theory appears to be a dead end. So, it looks like it’s on to Plan B.
We’ll have to drill down so deep and extract so much useful data that even a biochemist working for Exxon would be proud of our accomplishments. So, outside of The Deep Stasis, we need to look at some “plausible” answers to that powerful question.
“Audiophile” Power Cable NIERS (the opposite of DE-NIERS):
- Were DUPED!!
- Someone put LSD in their oatmeal.
- Have seriously degrading hearing but THINK they are just fine. Or, better than fine. They ARE audiophiles, you know.
- Work for, or in, a business enterprise that financially benefits from the successful market penetration of audiophile power cables. Follow the money?
- Have confirmation biases and just imagining they are hearing a difference. Only their shrink knows for sure and HEPA rules won’t allow us to speak to them about it. So, like The Deep Stasis, it just another dead end, and we’ll never know for sure.
Or…
- Those who claim to hear differences in audiophile power cables vs OEM are highly-preceptive, intelligent individuals (many with advanced degrees) who have spent many decades engaged with the critical listening and evaluation of state-of-the-art high-fidelity components, source materials, adjustment & calibration, room acoustics and other factors contributing an elevated musical experience. They also possess an excellent control of vocabulary, are highly articulate, and masters at successfully communicating those observations to others.
As the author of a serious piece of investigative work, I need to maintain my neutrality. Therefore, I can’t offer an opinion.
I’ll just leave you with one final question:
Does anyone have any idea how to hide 5 pairs of Audioquest NGR Thunders behind an equipment rack setting just inches away from the wall?
Others have expressed discontent in the cost not being "sky sky." therefore, not reputable. The company itself is USA based, with USA patents. On forum posts a little while ago, I read about wanting to support this country (best in the world) and furthermore, manufacturers of audio gear. Good for GDP so we can take down another spy balloon...lol happy listening and all the best to you |
Rule of thumb ,the garbage power cord the equipment comes with ,is not a friend to your equipment , even a Pangea sig mk2 power cord from audio advisor is night and day better sounding for many reasons starting with the connectors, land using Cardas top 6-9s purity Copper ,and a quality dielectric ,and shielding stock cables has None of that. Then a good line conditioner comes into play for even the line conditioner needs a Solid powercord . forlow monies the Pangea AC-9 SE is perfect for a amplifier ,or line conditioner. |
@allenf1963 @wolf_garcia @sgreg1 Mark Twain is attributed as saying: "If I had more time, I would have wrtten a shorter letter." |
@waytoomuchstuff , excellent journalism. Now I patiently await the “audiophile fuse” origin story. |
Try adding some grape nuts to your oatmeal. This sensation (NB; This ridiculous but accurate description) adds to the drabness of oatmeal. Maple syrup or brown sugar needed too. Does your day job involve writing? Was James Thurber your grand pappy? Do you play records backwards? I was up late last night listening to music capping off w/ some Christian Sands. This seems apropos too.
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Responding to the first post. I had many boutique power cables from a few manufacturers, all stiff and unwieldy. Sitting on several metres of 4TC and 8TC wire, from a custom speaker cable order that cancelled, I listed them for sale at $1 a foot for about 4 months and got no replies. After moving my system to another part of the room, I discovered I had to rearrange the components again to accomodate dressing the ultra stiff 25 year old or older power cables. Or, after checking the power ratings on the braided stuff, made my own cables, since they exceeded the power demands by 10 to 100 times. Did the magic happen? Absolutely! The funny looking cables with the yellow Hubbel and black schurter plugs were light, easy to manipulate and flexible enough to route easily. The real magic was people willing to pay $100 each for the old fancy cords I kept from my early days in buying stereo.
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Still don’t see how wiring upstream of power conditioner can make a big difference…..are power conditioners lacking? FWIW, in1657 French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal made the comment about writing a shorter letter. Anecdotally of course, ground magic mushrooms in oatmeal are highly rated. |
If you record the analog output of an audio device at very high resolution playing the same song, with the various power cords, cleanly routed, and then you subtract the output recordings from each other and you get ZERO, then the argument is over. This experiment has been done. No difference. QED. This power cord issue should be dead and buried. Sell your fancy power cords before everybody figures it out. |
It can eliminate voltage drop, especially under load, for instance. |
I was always skeptical about the effect of hi end cables on the sound quality. I do believe very poor, small cables can have a detrimental effect on the output, that is even measurable. However the difference gets to the point of not being measurable once a certain gauge and grade is reached. At one time I attributed the alleged audio difference to human vanity, people refuse to admit that they wasted huge sums of money for no improvement, so they simple imagined better sound to save face. After some years of pondering and reading various opinions I took another look at the debate from another angle. This I went to logic and in doing so I looked at various pieces of gear, this settled the debate for me. Ultra expensive, ridiculously huge gauge make no difference at all. Why do I say this? Look inside any speaker, amp, power amp or any other piece of gear, you will not find any very expensive cables. Pull the connector panel off of a pair of $50 grand speakers, what it connected to? A standard 18 gauge wire if you're lucky, maybe not even that, might only be a 20 or 22 gauge? The same goes for amp and pre amp plugs and cables. If the manufacturers with all their brain power and fancy equipment can't find a reason to put hi end wiring in their gear that they sell for thousands and thousands of dollars I can't find a reason to waste my hard earned money on such wires or cables. Remember we are talking about manufacturers who looked for every tiny advantage to show a better number than the competitors, thd that is .0001 better, 2 watts more powerful and so on. |
In my experience, the minimum basic ‘requirement,’ or ‘necessity,’ or, ‘thing that’s going enable a system to sound more towards the best it can sound,’ is 100% OFC copper throughout, and cable gauge matters too - 18-22AWG interconnects, 8, 10 or 12AWG speaker cables, 10-12AWG power cords, and gold, silver, or copper connectors. Of course, one can do better; there’s even better copper; I’m talking about the most basic requirement to achieve a quality sound. |
@attila7 my apogee duetta 2 speakers have high end wire, and my krell amp has beryllium copper buss bars instead of wire, and both those items were made in the late 80,s and earlier 90's. You must be using midfi equipment. |
I was not questioning your gear nor am I offering mine up for praise or criticism, I was simply presenting some observations. I'm amazed that you are able to know the quality of my gear without knowing what it is? I'm also curious as to what you consider to be hi end wire in your speakers as you did not specify the gauge, the strand count, the oxygen content or any other specification? If you're running a 100% oxygen fr gauge hi strand count wire to your speaker and the wire inside the speaker is 18 gauge low strand count with no oxygen spec I fail to understand how you qualify it as hi end? |
@inrealtime +1 "Voodoo does work, but only when you believe it." @attila7 +1 ... well said: "I went to logic and in doing so I looked at various pieces of gear, this settled the debate for me. Ultra expensive, ridiculously huge gauge make no difference at all. Why do I say this? Look inside any speaker, amp, power amp or any other piece of gear, you will not find any very expensive cables. Pull the connector panel off of a pair of $50 grand speakers, what it connected to? A standard 18 gauge wire if you're lucky, maybe not even that, might only be a 20 or 22 gauge? The same goes for amp and pre amp plugs and cables. If the manufacturers with all their brain power and fancy equipment can't find a reason to put hi end wiring in their gear that they sell for thousands and thousands of dollars I can't find a reason to waste my hard earned money on such wires or cables." |
This really made my day! I loved reading every word of it. Made me chuckle out loud. I bought a pair of tube amps and they didn't come with power cables so I bought a set of Pangea. I have to say when they arrived I found it comical that the house wiring was like a drinking straw dumping into the power cords which are like a garden hose. Wait a minute, I have a thought! It might be like free range chicken eggs. The electrons are trapped and confined in the wall wiring and are allowed to run free for that 1 meter to my power amps! Thanks for the entertainment. |
I experimented with the following cables to supply my power conditioner and I didn’t like any of them when used alone: 1- Mundorf Angelique However, I found out that shunting cables togethers aggregates their features. I used short lengths (< 1 foot) of a selection of the cables above. It was easy to change the character of the whole system sound. My favourite cables are: 1- Mundorf Angelique The Van Den Hul TheClearwater goes from wall outlet to the power strip. This cable is smooth especially in the treble area with weak bass. This cable works as a back ground canvas. From the power strip I connect cables in shunt to the power conditioner. Cables 1&3 make the midrange and sound in general more pronounced. 2 enhances treble. 5 enhances (thickens) bass in general. If I need more treble for example I just shunt more of cable 2. Caution: working with electricity is dangerous and should only be done by qualified personnel. I am not responsible for any damages or injuries.
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I’m using a $124 4' 10AWG 3-conductor "MagicPower" cable from Signal Cable made in the USA. Overkill? Maybe. Underkill? Some might think so. I’m happy knowing I have a UL rated quality cable and can be "done with it" feeding my amp. |
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waytoomuchstuff, I commend you on a logical, well written post. Now, let’s put an end to this silliness. Click on www.tinyurl.com/valhalla2-us 😲 Next, click on www.tinyurl.com/valhalla2-china 🤑 There is an $11,679.99 price difference between these two power cords. Does anyone here believe YOU WOULD ACTUALLY HEAR an $11,679.99 difference between these two friggin’ cords? 🧐 If you truly believe you would, contact me IMMEDIATELY as I have a very limited number of real estate properties to sell that are ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEED to increase their value by a factor of 10,000% in the next 2 years! This offer comes with a money back complete satisfaction guarantee! 🥰 |
Thank you for the positive comments. And, your product example is probably the most extreme version of a "knock off" I’ve even seen. Now if someone could just hack my attorney’s computer and give me the same advice for a few cents .... Excellent reference!! I particularly enjoyed the quote at the end: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."- Albert Einstein Thanks for sharing. |
On the power side, I've seen power conditioners have a significant impacts (good and bad) on audio systems, mostly to address problems with the source power. For power cables, beyond using something like Paul Birkand's solid copper power cable (all the intersects are 90 deg) - nothing more or less than addressing source power issues. Now signal cables.... :D :D :D |
I have yearly hearing tests performed. Been asked more than once if I could hear dog whistles. Before any statement that proclaims "I can definitely hear a difference" must endure a blind hearing test of at least 3 different power cord setups. We hear what we want to hear, see what we want to see and have preconceived notions, probably dependent on how much $ spent, on what we 'should hear'. "If a million people say a stupid thing, it's still a stupid thing". |
@mastering92 The above is what I often tell audiophiles when I visit audio stores and they ask me questions - such as: "what kind of power cable should I get?" "They" ask you questions when you visit audio stores. Who are "they", the dealer from the shop or other visitors? Why would other visitors ask you instead of the dealer the question? Are you the consultant or specialist for the dealer store? Just curious. If you were truely an expert, would you mind I asking your opinion on the effectiveness of the Monster HTS power conditioner series. How are those compared to most of the modern pricey power conditioners in terms of the quality of the internal components such as DC-DC converter, DC-AC inverter, regulator circuit, filters, etc? |
there often seems to be the assumption that "cable people" are extremely gullible, do not know how to listen, don’t trust their own impressions, and want to spend money on impressive, useless cables and tweaks...I actually did some blind listening on power cables...of the 2 most expensive, one was my clear most favorite, and the other my clear least favorite...the lower and mid priced ones were all better than the stock cable...unanimous agreement |
I can’t fundamentally disagree with your statement: "We hear what we want to hear, see what we want to see and have preconceived notions, probably dependent on how much $ spent, on what we ’should hear’" I would only add that many audio enthusiasts enter new territory with a great deal of skepticism toward a specific product, a catagory in general, or the price point (usally elevated). The presence of "negative bias" should have disqualified the item(s) of interest if this line of reasoning were valid. Yet we often find new discoveries that expand our horizons even though our initial impressions were, in some cases, quite enthusiastically in opposition to all things connected to it. I’ll conclude with: "If a million people are obscured from the truth, it doesn’t make it untrue." |
Can you say 'Screaming Eagle' ?? Have I got a blind hearing test for you waytoomuchstuff !! A wise man once said "Never give a sucker an even break?" but he probably meant to say: "If you never saw the 'Wall of Sound' then your probably just need to buy some more expensive power cables to make yourself feel better about it."
Have you herd? [mentality] |
