"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):

  1. Were DUPED!!
  2. Someone put LSD in their oatmeal.
  3. Have seriously degrading hearing but THINK they are just fine. Or, better than fine. They ARE audiophiles, you know.
  4. Work for, or in, a business enterprise that financially benefits from the successful market penetration of audiophile power cables. Follow the money?
  5. 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…

  1. 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?

128x128waytoomuchstuff

I would rather believe in cables than religion, way more fun and less preposterous.  

If you don't have a highly resolving system and have not tried these cables, like it or not, you don't have an opinion.  So keep your thoughts to yourself.  It's probably that you resent others who have the resources to build a great sounding system.  I get it, that's life... it's not fair.

If you have a nice system, have tried some of these better options and still haven't heard a difference, good for you.  Saved some money but didn't enjoy the fun of an improvement.  

The price is what you pay, the value is what you get.  And that's all relative to how much you have.

 

      The Church of Denyin'-tology has been with us for many years and remains alive and well (well: so to speak).       

     "Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."  (Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse , 1872) 

     "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon,"  (Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873)

      "The super computer is technologically impossible.  It would take all of the water that flows over Niagara Falls to cool the heat generated by the number of vacuum tubes required." (Professor of Electrical Engineering, New York University)                        

      "There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom."  (Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1923)

      "Man will never reach the moon regardless of all future scientific advances." (Dr. Lee DeForest, Father of Radio & Grandfather of Television)

      "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible!" (Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895) 

      "The bomb will never go off.  I speak as an expert in explosives."  (Admiral William Leahy, re: US Atomic Bomb Project) 

     When the steam locomotive came on the scene; the best (scientific) minds proclaimed, "The human body cannot survive speeds in excess of 35MPH."

      Until recently (21st Century); and the advent of the relatively new science of Fluid Dynamics, the best (scientific) minds involved in Aerodynamics, could not fathom how a bumblebee stays aloft. 

     Often; Science has to catch up with the facts/phenomena of Nature and/or, "reality" (our universe). 

     I haven't been in school since the 60's, but- at Case Institute of Technology; the Physics Prof always emphasized what we were studying was, "Electrical THEORY."         He strongly made a point of the fact that no one had yet actually observed electrons (how they behave on the quantum level) and that only some things can really be called, "LAWS." (ie: Ohm, Kirchoff, Faraday).   

          PERHAPS: that's changed in recent years and I missed it?

waytoomuchstuff

Thank you for a humorously wonderful synopsis of a phenomenon that can not be explained well enough to satisfy everyone in any direction.

“"Audiophile" Power Cables: The Greatest Audio Conspiracy Theory of All Time?”

No.

"P.T. Barnum was right."

Typical naysayer response from those who know better despite never have done the experiment. You are certainly are not going to persuade those who have. One has to to wonder, who really is the fool ...

I owned a Audio store for 10 years ,a dedicated 20 amp line preferably like myself 

a 4 wire dual ground 1 common, the other ground insulated isolated ground 

with a separate buzz bar, copper gold AC outlets also very important vs crappy stock receptacle.   A line conditioner is important also and with question good quality powercords equally important like all connectors brass is 3 x less conductive then copper even powercord connectors as well as IEC inputs all a link in the chain ,this applies to all connectors throughout which myself addressed over a year ,Fuses is another bottleneck for all current goes through them . Balance is very important . From my experiences that is my opinion.

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

The ASR crowds are just as clueless.

My 2 cents.  #1 A good power regenerator with low impedance is a game changer.  I have a PS Audio P20 and it is the bomb but there are certainly others.  Nothing like getting a near perfect sine wave to your equipment.  It is like upgrading every power supply on the rest of your gear.  #2 I always struggled with the whole power cable thing until I understood that energy doesn't travel thru a power cable like water thru a hose.  The energy is propagated via an electro magnetic field surrounding the conductor.  The energy is transmitted by the electrical and magnetic fields.  CK out Poyntings and Maxwells Equations.  I made me think of cables and cable geometry in an entirely different light.  That said, I still wasn't a true believer in cables until I added some of the Audioquest Storm Series cables to my components.  It was a game changer for me.  I actually did hear a difference.  I believe it was primarily because of a lower noise level.  That said your system must have the resolution to make this noticeable.      

I'm still trying to get past throwing a firecracker in a chicken coop. We have been trough this before. If you add an after-market power cord to a component and it makes a positive improvement, then a conspiracy theory is not evident.

maninatural

Hats off to you for writing this engaging piece!   Seriously though, well done!

I hope your kind words are for my post and thank you!

What make every audio systems’ sounds harsh? It’s the veil sound which is always positioned right in front of listeners. This veil sound is aggressive forwarded sound that makes whole sound very forwarded. Every audio system have this veil sound and audiophiles try to ignore it, but human brain detects this aggressive ear hurting veil sound and put your ears to be numb as a protection process.

Alex/Wavetouch

I miss Frank Zappa more than anything in the music world! waytoomuchstuff may be my new ZAPPA-ISH (to tilt my hat to George Jew--ish Santos) hero!

Satire or not, there seems to be some kernel of true feeling embedded in any joke, and I want to take this back to a couple of basic thoughts for anyone who is reading this hoping to improve the sound of their system.

1a) From an engineering perspective, it seems reasonable to believe an upgrade in sound quality is possible through the use of audiophile power cables for the simple reason that they should be either shielded or otherwise constructed in a way to minimize the magnetic interference they impart on adjacent cables and equipment.  1b) To what degree this phenomenon (or some other) is further enhanced by ultra-high purity copper, silver, etc, I don't know, but if anyone has reasoning to support the importance of ultra-high purity conductors for "the last three feet", please illuminate the discussion.

I break this into a and b parts because getting the benefit of part a can be achieved relatively economically, whereas part b can cause costs to go up dramatically.  As with most things in audio, only you can decide what your value proposition is.

2) No power cable is going to clean your power.  This is a separate issue to be addressed by a separate device, dedicated circuits, dedicated ground, etc, and yes, the effects can be very real, whether on the signal path or by reducing the mechanical noise emitted by transformers.  I don't believe there is a power cable that will take care of this issue. If there is, please share.

Hats off to you for writing this engaging piece! The cable thing continues to dumbfound me. I think that I also hear with my eyes. Nice looking cables just sound better to me...well not all the time, but you get the idea.

One thought: Most probably agree that the power supply inside our equipment makes a difference, so whether inside or outside, it becomes part of the whole.

Seriously though, well done!

Human brain blocks the harsh (bad) sounds and ears become numb. You can’t hear the difference in PCs sounds because your ears are numb. More you can’t hear the delicate sound, your audio system’s sound is harsher. Remember, harsher sounds always win to nice and soft sounds. ***Wives’ ears are not numb and wives hate harsh audio sounds.

To soften your ears, 1st, listen to the original music for 3 minutes. And listen to WT audio sound (at 16:20) in PC comparison video. *** Don’t listen 1st and 2nd PC’s sounds after hearing the original music. Softened ears will be numb again.

Alex/Wavetouch

Use your own ears.  Best advice.  Next best.  Trust yourself.  Don't let the next article sway you.

There is a good way to learn how to trust yourself, esp. if you do not have a deep musical background.  Here is the scale I use from Authur Salvatore:

http://www.high-endaudio.com/philos.html#Weak

Go to My Hierarchy/Levels of Audible improvement.

This 1 to 7 scale of improvement is really helpful when trying to determine how good something works.  You can organize and put a number to it.  If you look at his list, retesting is implied in the list.  Even with my deep musical background, I find this list very helpful.  It clarifies decisions.  Using his scale, here's how it has helped me.

Going from integrated to separate components: 7

Trying Monster Cables for the first cable improvement: 1

Using my first set of matched audiophile cables, Straightwires: 5

Going from solid state to tube: 7

Going from a good direct drive turntable to my old Oracle: 5

Putting an expensive set of XLR cables between my amp and preamp: -4 (got worse)

Putting a cheaper set from a brand commonly used in live concert setups: 4

Putting that same brand between my preamp and CD player: 2

Putting the expensive brand between my preamp and CD player: 5

Replacing my old Straightwire speaker wires with Anti Cables: 4

Replacing the Oracle with one of Jean Nantais' remanufactured Lencos: 7

Adding a regenerator to my system: 5

Comparing Monster Cable interconnects to the ones sold on Monprice: 4 (cheap Monoprice cables were consistently better.  Someone whose opinion I respected stated the Monoprice cables were unusually good sounding for the cheap price.  I bought a set, and tested them.  He was right.)

These are comparisons from off the top of my head.  There are, of course, more.  But you can see how using Arthur's evaluation system does make the decision more objective.

Also, when anyone gets out graphs and numbers derived from physics equations, be very, very, very skeptical.  There are many ways to measure.  And the commonly used equations frankly don't take in account the subtleties of critical listening.  Some, who as I stated before, listen with a graph.  In other words, they don't either trust there own hearing, or perhaps can't hear subtle differences.  I still remember having a discussion with an old IBM electrical engineer who insisted solid state sounded better than tubes.  Never listened to any music.  He just kept pushing graphs and numbers.  Smart guy, but he obviously didn't trust his own ears.

That is why I loved this story and specifically put my Salvatore ratings for major cable changes.  Cost was immaterial.  The most expensive cable was the best in one case, the worst in another case.  The Anticables were bought 15 years after the Straightwires were cheaper and better.  Every Monster Cable I tried showed no improvement over cheap stuff (Which may support many people's theories that cables don't matter.  Monsters are sold many places and fairly cheap.).

Don't underestimate physicists and electrical engineers to delude themselves with equations.  Being a former scientist, I have many stories of scientists believing the equations and ignoring the test results because their precious calculations did not agree with real world results.

Hopefully using Salvatore's rating system will help people make decisions and not get confused from all the noise out there.  Even though we're heard this story before, hopefully this will help people with decision making and help them get out of the hype-trap.

I did list all my "7" improvements over my 40 years in this hobby.  You don't forget those.

I read if you can’t hear the difference on cable your ears must be under your feet.

God, so over the back and forth on this subject. Use your own ears. If you hear no difference in your system return them and move on. There is a big grey area between the two warring ends of the spectrum that I and many others reside in. Generally, people need to stop trying to shove their opinions that are often not from experience down other peoples throats. How it sounds to your own ears in your unique system and listening room within the budget you are willing commit is all that matters!

God, so over the back and forth on this subject. Use your own ears. If you hear no difference in your system return them and move on. There is a big grey area between the two warring ends of the spectrum that I and many others reside in. Generally, people need to stop trying to shove their opinions that are often not from experience down other peoples throats. How it sounds to your own ears in your unique system and listening room within the budget you are willing commit is all that matters!

With a blindfold

Listen to a good quality $2000 speaker and then swap them out for a pair of $20K high end speakers. Would I hear a difference? I’d think I consistently would, so would any of us.

Listen to a decent integrated amp and then swap it out for a top tubed preamp and monoblock poweramps. Would I hear a difference? I’d think I consistently would, so would any of us.

Listen to decent moving magnet cartridge and then swap for for a high end moving coil cartridge. Would I hear a difference? I’d think i consistently would, so would any of us.

Why/

Because there are year and years of solid engineering and research that go into knowing how to make gear better, assuming you have the time and money to put into it. That knowledge creates differences that serve the music.

Then you get to cables where, blind listening tests become more problematic. Differences are subtle and less consistent, system dependent and so on.

Not sayin they don’t make a difference but face it, cables are where dealers and manufacturers make money after you have you have assembled the main components of your system and then you try to tweak out that extra bit of performance for relatively little outlay of cash. I have never had the same "Ah-ha" moments after upgrading a cable as I have another more critical part of my system.

Upgrading them, in my experience has not provided the  bang for the buck improvements compared to other gear and the point of diminishing returns kicks in pretty fast.

So instead of ponying up $60,000 for 6 power cables that cost $10,000 each, spend $6,000 for 6 power cables that cost $1000 each and give the $54,000 you just saved to the SPCA.....you just might feel better and your system might sound better as you sit in your listening chair with a happy heart. No confirmation bias needed.

Post removed 

I asked the power company to install Audiophile cabling all the way to my house., but they refused. 

If a $5k 2ft cable stuck on the end  of power company + house wiring makes difference, there must a reason. A technical reason. But I have never seen a technical explanation that makes sense. And I have seen some that make no sense whatever (on AQ's product site in fact.)

And the diference should be confirmable via double blind comparison. Never seen that either.

 

 

Whether it’s power cables or interconnect cables, there IS a difference! Even this ‘Deaf Guy’ can hear the difference… 

 

I recently sold a pair of speakers that I replaced all the XO components with high quality parts. This made a huge difference in clarity, transparency and detail.

When the buyer was auditioning them at my house he saw a pair of blue jean speaker cables off to the side that I used for a pair of Klipsch Forte's that I had. He asked if I would swap out my Analysis Plus Big Silver Ovals for them. As soon as I restarted the music he said "wow what happened?"

He commented on how the sound stage collapsed to just between the speakers and how they "weren't as clear".

He was right. I mention this because I hear a lot of people comment "just get a set of Blue jeans cables, no need to spend any more". 

When auditioning cables I think it's important to live with the new cables for a while then go back to your old ones to see if there is a big difference.

I've noticed this with speaker cables more than others.

I cannot believe how some people cannot hear the difference in power cords. If they have a half decent system. Unless of course, they tried none.

 

Otherwise, nothing new on this thread. Just like the Jason Bourne posts polluting every single cable thread with his gibberish stuff on power cords on his 1973 gear with captive power cords

where can I get some of the special oatmeal people keep mentioning...?

it'd make for a healthy breakfast to start off a beautiful day

Hey, guys. Thanks for participating in the topic. My hope was that the title would be a giveaway that the topic was not to be taken too seriously. My goal was not to take an active position one way or the others, but to laugh at ourselves (from all sides) on how we approach the subject of power cables.

I’m convinced that no one was persuaded one way or the other by the OP’s comments, or any other comments posted on the thread. Which was my objective.

I especially appreciate those who endured through the reading of my entire commentary and had nice things to say about it. It was fun to write (over several sessions).

Glad to be here.

"When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees."

Abraham Lincoln

That was a gem of a post. Don’t apologize about the length—it was as long as it needed to be. 

Comments in this thread denying the influence of cables are like vegetarians in a steak house complaining about the menu.

Obviously power cords make a HUGE difference, I love my Acoustic Zen Krakatoas... and like 95% of "conspiracy theories" they all turn out to be true, they should be called spoiler alerts... so yes, your very title is confirmation that power cords do work wonders

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]

@arizonabob

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."

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 

@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?  

 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".   

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 

@vinyl_rules

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 ....

@markw1951

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.

 

I would like to believe that power cords don’t make a difference, but I have ears and I still can hear. Acid in the Oatmeal… 🤔 

Power conditioner way to go! My gear has hardwired simple power cord from the 1960s. I heard huge difference with power conditioner. I might get a medical grade power cord for my Dac for $13. 
 

 

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! 🥰

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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.

Later on, I might have an electrician come and wire a dedicated circuit (15A is enough) to my amp, and just my amp, just for the fun of it. Snake oil? Maybe, but it won’t hurt.

Why others can’t hear a difference on pc , ic , and speaker cables? Why?

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