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If Power Cords Don't Matter...

First of all, I don’t own any high-end power cords, mostly because I can’t fit them behind my rack. Second, I am not trying to stir up controversy, as you will see from my question. I understand that the people who believe power cords make no difference argue that once the power gets into the component, the AC is converted to DC and the power supply of the component takes over completely. I think I have that right for the most part. So it that’s true, and it probably is from a traditional EE standpoint, why is it that I have not heard anyone say that power conditioners make no difference? I am not aware of anyone with a decent system ever saying that a Niagara or Triton or Audience teflon conditioner didn’t affect their sound, for good or for bad. So if the EE theory is true, wouldn’t power conditioners make no difference either? I have an Audience AR6T for almost 10 years and I think it made a big difference. BTW - I am not talking about Power Plants, which deal with voltage stabilization, which is a different topic.  Obviously, if your AC voltage is way off, it's going to cause problems.  
chayro

Showing 1 response by rudyb

rudyb
141 posts
 
As always ... the only way to find out if adding / changing a component (unfortunately almost always an expensive one) makes the sound 'better' is a blind A/B listening test. But that's often difficult or impossible to set up because of the required instant switching.

An easy test is: ... https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/06/02/411473508/how-well-can-you-hear-audio-quality
If you can't pick the uncompressed sample 100% of the time I think it's safe to say you can stop investing.

But isn't part of the fun just 'owning' the esoteric stuff?

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