It sure can make a difference. Such a pity that many audio electronics are so badly built that you need a band aid like this - but some cost only $100 and are a cheaper solution than upgrading the audio.
Hearing is believing?........power cables.......
For anyone who is skeptical about the difference a high quality power cord can make in your high quality audio system........try it.......hearing is believing. About 10 years ago when I bought my first "entry level" hifi system (B&K amp/preamp, Canton speakers) my audio advisor dropped off a Tara Labs Prism power cord. He said just try it for a week and if you don't think it makes a difference just return it. I, like most unfamiliar with high quality cables, was skeptical.......how could a cable 1 meter long from the wall to my equipment make a difference? I put it on the power amp and yes I could definitely tell there was a more defined bass and overall clearer soundscape. I'm a musicians, so I figured maybe the "non audiophile" can't hear the difference. So my brother-in-law who is a bricklayer came over and we did a blind listening test. I randomly switched the Tara, sometimes trying to fool him......told him I switched but didn't........he could tell every time I used the Tara! So I was convinced that it was "wishful thinking on my part or particularly sensitive ears. If you don't think a great power cable can make a difference........take the challenge. Try one for a week and see (hear) for yourself!
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shadorne It sure can make a difference. Such a pity that many audio electronics are so badly built that you need a band aid like this - but some cost only $100 and are a cheaper solution than upgrading the audio. Yeah, it’s a real shame. All those badly built high end electronics like Lamm, DartZeel, Pass, Oppo, Meitner, Krell, Bricasti, Ayre, Classe, Parasound. It must be the same reason aftermarket fuses work so well - because high end audio electronics are made so badly and their power supplies are so lame. 😀 |
In my experience power cables are most important when trying to overcome a difficulty like in a situation where your system is stuck in a very electrically noisy environment -- thanks to the superior shielding of high end power cables. Instantaneous current helps thirst power amps and is concerned with gauge -- you don't have to spend a lot to get that. |
shadorne @geoffkait Good to see you agree - electronics like Meitner which costs a small fortune really ought to have a decent power supply that filters out extraneous noise such that a band aid power cord is unnecessary. Uh, I wasn’t agreeing. I was being sarcastic. Sorry to disappoint. I will have to make my smiley faces bigger. 😀 . |
@geoffkait OMG - so you really believe with all that money spent on the highest end gear that you can't even get a reliable power supply that filters out all mains noise - and therefore a band aid power cord is necessary. If you are correct then most SOTA boutique audio really is pathetic in terms of performance. Glad I got rid of the gear that did that for me, as I don't accept poor quality power supply design and I prefer to avoid band aids. |
shadorne @geoffkait "OMG - so you really believe with all that money spent on the highest end gear that you can’t even get a reliable power supply that filters out all mains noise - and therefore a band aid power cord is necessary." Most likely there’s a Strawman argument in there somewhere. I’m not saying that at all. Do you know what the word sarcastic means? 😀 "If you are correct then most SOTA boutique audio really is pathetic in terms of performance." Correct about what? Power supplies in high end electronics? I was joking. Wasn’t it obvious? "Glad I got rid of the gear that did that for me, as I don’t accept poor quality power supply design and I prefer to avoid band aids." Who told you to buy crappy gear? Calling power cords "band aids" doesn’t change the fact that replacing stock power cords in high end well-designed electronics with better power cords usually improves the sound. That’s equivalent to saying aftermarket fuses are band aids. Hel-loo! It’s also why almost all high end cables are cryogenically treated. Necessity is the Mother of Invention. It’s not really a band aid, it’s just improving the physics and or electronics. I'm not saying it's pig headed to think its all about circuit design and power supply design but it's sure near sighted. |
The OP made the same very reasonable recommendation, to open and close the post, that describes his(and his relative’s) experience. The result: the typical typographical/verbal dysentery, from AudiogoN’s resident, OCD, naysayers. So tedious! My apologies to the OP, who is a fairly new member: Please persevere in your experimentation and grow a thick skin, if you intend to continue posting here. ESPECIALLY when you find something you can actually hear as an improvement in your system. There are some here, that WISH you were deaf! |
I totally agree with Rodman,if you hear a diff. and like it go with it. I have personally found a diff. for the positive using a better pwr cable than a stock cord.It has never been a huge profound night and day difference but is enough for me to stay with the change. I would'nt get caught up into having to have the latest and greatest,stay within a decent budget for you. Kenny. |
@geoffkait "Calling power cords "band aids" doesn’t change the fact that replacing stock power cords in high end well-designed electronics with better power cords usually improves the sound. " Ok ok so you say it is a fact. I agree it is a fact and simply point out how badly designed and built these "high end well-designed electronics" must necessarily be. Designing a good power supply and good mains filtering isn’t rocket science. If power cord companies can do it then why do SOTA designers and manufacturers have such a big hole in their technical skills??? Why do they fail? Why is this not poorly designed and built gear? Is it acceptable to expect problems from the get go with SOTA gear? Isnt a power supply supposed to filter out mains noise? |
@geoffkait Nothing I said is Strawman. You say SOTA gear improves with better power cords. FACT I do not contest that statement but ask is this acceptable from SOTA gear? I ask if it is not reasonable to expect SOTA gear to work properly without special power cords? Or at least come with a suitable power cord in the first place (if it makes so much difference)? |
Shadorne @geoffkait "Nothing I said is Strawman. You say SOTA gear improves with better power cords. FACT I do not contest that statement but ask is this acceptable from SOTA gear? I ask if it is not reasonable to expect SOTA gear to work properly without special power cords? Or at least come with a suitable power cord in the first place (if it makes so much difference)?" It’s a Strawman argument when you ask if SOTA gear works properly without a special power cord. Of course it works "properly." That’s not the issue. The issue is EVERYTHING can be improved. No matter how expensive. Better capacitors. Better resistors. Better internal damping. Vibration isolation. Shielding the transformer. Better fuse. Better power cords. Hel-loo! Have you been living in a cave for the last twenty years? |
@geoffkait Hel-loo! If as you say I live in a cave at least it is in the real world. You are living in a tin foil fantasy land. I hope you are delivering high quality coal to you local power station so that you can enjoy the improvement from burning better coal. Everything makes a difference you know! |
@schubert Of course the last few feet can filter power and improve performance of SOTA equipment - no flat earth or right wing nuts deny that. However, so can the power cord and power supply in the SOTA equipment. It is reasonable to expect an improvement with a power filter for cheap crap gear but why is it unreasonable to expect SOTA equipment designers to build an adequately filtered power supply to begin with? What is is wrong with the knowledge of SOTA designers? Do they ALL only know how to build amplifier sections of electronics and were ALL asleep during the power supply design training course? I will not resort to personal attacks like you, Geoff, nonoise and Rodman as it kind of looks very much like a right wing nut would behave when you attack people rather than address the point. Why are SOTA designers so bad at designing power supplies? |
I attacked no one personally, an observational comment . I asked an Admiral once, Chief of Naval Aviation, why they haunted the top engineering universities for pilot recruits . He replied that engineers were perfect for the job, they had the smarts for it but lacked the imagination to image themselves plowing into rear of flight deck on night landings . I knew him well and he had had a few so I think he was telling the truth as he saw it . |
On a serious note, science of the brain has exploded in last decade . The human brain above all seeks to maintain a balance, having to change your mind about long held views/ knowledge can upset that balance which can cause health problems, mental and physical . that can even result in death . Ever seen a hard-core racist change his mind through rational discourse ? Neither has anyone else . The brain is fully capable of and often does , make someone who learned and firmly believes that something can not make a difference UNABLE to hear,see or grasp that difference should it exist , if it knows balance will be upset . It cares nothing about science. People are not usually being bull-headed just to be same, most often they are just following orders from headquarters . |
If upgraded power cords don’t make a difference, how come Mel Torme was standing between my speakers this evening? If an aftermarket power cord improves the sound, it doesn't mean the electronics are inferior. One hasn’t changed the electronics, but only the power cord. If electronics manufacturers were to include the best power cords with each sale and charge accordingly, how many overall sales would they lose or gain? And yes ... I am to the right of Darth Vader. :-) Frank |
I find it funny that a) we still have this argument and b) there are still people who don't think a PC will change the sound. I can at least respect the argument that the change in sound is not an improvement. While I don't agree completely, it at least recognizes the reality that the large majority of us have experienced. |
ROTF-LMAO! That’s to be expected(unfortunately), given how many view the universe with such myopia/naivety. (https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0708/0708.1536.pdf) |
Giving a personal case in point . I was once badly wounded and in a ward with others in same situation , seeing others suffering was very traumatic . I lost ALL sense of touch, taste, smell and vision was reduced to a very narrow tunnel, maybe 5 degrees . I had NO idea that any of that was happening though psychically I was doing well . Brain was doing its thing . After few weeks all returned ,Docs seemed cynical, Nurses didn't they saw it all the time . I did have to learn to write again , maybe brain blew a fuse on that one . |