Audioquest Storm Series power cables

@facten please provide “blind test” results to backup your statements. clarification of word “quality” in your statement "quality aftermarket power cord” will be welcome too! 

@music_is_life Higher standards always welcome, but technical performance superiority claims need to be confirmed either by measurements or blind auditioning, apple-apple. 

@facten “possibility of improvement”: I did compare expensive heavy $500 power cord with built-in ferritic RF noise filter clamp, to Accuphase pre/amp stock cables, few times, and found no sound difference. I used analog vinyl - and SACD source. RF filter clamp effect was confirmed in measurements, which come out as about 12dB RF noise suppression in common mode, in 1MHz-1GHz freq. sweep. Similar improvement was achieved by adding standalone RF filter clamp on top of stock cable. As for resistance improvement, higher AC voltage drop of couple millivolts was measured in original cable vs expensive one, which is not significant, and can’t cause any listenable difference. 

@ursm 

1): signal path cables - yes, better EM shielding, better match to audio analog/digital path impedance, better connectors always helping me to reduce noise, and to flatten freq response. 

2): power cables - nope, clean, not oxidized over time, looking fresh, power cable' provided by manufacturer is fine, technically nothing can be improved. If cable is tool long, I cut cable and use professional grade plug. As for phono-pre or other separate's cable, you may use ferritic EM filter clamp to put on cable, which will reduce significantly AC power line. Good filter clamp reduces noise in original cable by 60dB or more (x1000 less noise), and it cost nut much, In many cases replacing aged wall outlet, and resistive fuses in the house AC power distribution is helping to reduce power drops. Try to avoid ground loop in hifi setup, if hum noise can be heard from speaker.

@music_is_life how someone can design and manufacture all of your equipment, if it cannot be measured/tested? in analog design we use a lot of very expensive circuit simulation tools as well, where all electrical spec is verified on HVM basis. 

@ozzy "people with no actual experience with better power cords"

Dear ozzy, please elaborate on “better” in your statement, it is not clear what do you mean. If would be good to know what cable you compared to, and what exact issue was fixed. If your “better” means look, feel, higher price, I would agree with you! 

All respectful equipment manufacturers have nice power cords incl in the package, and they do design power module in the amp/pre/etc for best performance, assuming incoming power noise etc. Plenty of designs have main power module separated from sensitive audio processing unit, others have power cable attached permanently to reduce resistance. Most of resistance in AC path is not the power cable, rather fuse, power switch, power transformer winding etc. Typical power transformer used for pre has about x10 Ohms resistance, while power amp has much lower resistance in the range of Ohms. Power amp cable resistance is couple of milli-Ohms, which is 1 / 1000 or less comparing to the rest of AC path. 

@facten +1 

In my 40+ years professional experience, incl big shows and recording studios, I found as “hearable" power issues can’t be fixed by power cord replacement, unless power cord/connectors are broken or are not meeting spec. To identify bad cables, I use special tester with two plugs. 

@facten thanks for your fb on my credibility, sorry for not impressing you much (yet)! Currently I am designing analog circuits, and I am using very expensive cable, in some sensitive measurements, specific signal test cables cost me $5000 a pair! I am reading Audiogon community posts to identify what else to look in analog circuit design, and to improve testing. That’s why I am asking for blind test results, which supposed to be “final" judge since 70s, when discussions got too hot. Btw, what about your credentials, are you technical /science personality, or more like marketing/sales person?

@facten "Audiogon really needs an ignore function” agreed!