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Ideal power cord lengths?

A quick Google search suggests there is consensus that the ideal power cord length is 2m.  1m cords sound “harsher” and 3m cords sound “smoother”, with 2m being the sweet spot.  The PS Audio dude suggests that the reason is that the reason is that all cords have an impact on the power, and the greater the length, the greater the impact, good or bad.

I know many will say there is no difference between a 1m cord and a 3m cord.  But my question is, who here has tried like model power cords of different lengths, and what were the differences?  
 

Second question:  How does length factor into the equation when you have a cord feeding a conditioner, then other cords feeding components?  If 2m cords are in fact the ideal, would 1m cords be ideal when using conditioners?

I tend to believe those that say that power cord lengths matter.  While I’ve not been able to do this test myself, I’ve had these two experiences:

  • Testing Audioquest Diamond and Nordost Valhalla 2 USB cables, the cables shorter than 1.5m sounded TERRIBLE by comparison.  Especially the .75m Audioquest Diamond vs the 1.5m version.  But the 1m Valhalla 2 also sounded awful in comparison to the 2m version.  In general this opened my eyes to how much cable length matters, and counterintuitively in the case of digital cables. 
  • I have a 2019 2m AudioQuest Hurricane Source cable from back when AQ braided their cables, and I also have the newer non-braided Hurricane Source, but 3m in length.  The new Hurricane sounds vastly superior to my old 2m Hurricane.  In comparison the older cord compresses the soundstage depth.  I don’t know if the differences are due to the differences in length, or if it’s due to a design change by Audioquest.

Very interested in learning of others experiences with power cord lengths.

 

 

nyev

Showing 2 responses by mahlman

mahlman
433 posts
 

There is a principle involved here. Only if you spend lots of money improving something of extreme minuscule benefit that only a meter could possibly measure can you be judged worthy to have an informed opinion.

 Right there at the top of the list from Audiogons weekly update was this jewel. Only on Audiogon do you get such priceless topics and pithy answers. The surreal ones from believers and the amusing from those of us who know better. In the mean time I bet the OP has bad music files and trying to fix them with stuff and not Audacity, Thanks for the chuckle of the day though.

mahlman
433 posts
 

Number one problem if you have a decent level of components is your source file. I spend time making mine right or deleting them if not fixable. At times the files need nothing which is good but even with the touted hi res music not a given. I fix up and sell used Klipsch gear and I used to get complaints that it does not sound as good as when I heard them at your place. I learned that I also had to tell my customers if you want the music to sound as good as what you hear at my place you have to do the same things.  Bad source files was the single biggest problem and the cheapest one to fix. Audacity is free and then your time to learn to treat files so you like them. I am a minimalist and I use the fewest number of items I can to get good sound as I figure them more I throw in the mix the more I have to try and make right as a cohesive system. So I have a PC that has the high definition driver for the sound card installed and used, feeds to my Crown amps then to my system for my smaller built two way. On my larger system mentioned in my profile I added a Xilica DSP since the horn throat is 108" and it need time aligned plus the K-402 horn works the best with DSP. I have people over on a pretty regular basis and it is funny to see some of them sneak a peak at the back side of my rack to see what the "hidden gear" is that makes things sound so good.

  What I have found is the minimum amount of gear sounds just as good and most of the times better then complicated expensive high end setups if it is done right and you have really good speakers + sound files. 

 

  I am no longer looking to improve my daily listener because it satisfies my desire for good sound. I watch the guys with lots of gear and see that most are never quite happy and change things pretty often. I think they have over complicated things beyond the chance of top level integration, if that is even possible with so many devices at play, and of course never look at music files. Speaking of which I never stream. I download and put them on a hard drive where I can edit the files if need be. I have heard to many setups with much gear and streaming I did not care for. I was not going to ask to slog through someones pride and joy to try and figure out what was wrong though so I can only reflect on observations.

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