Let's talk power cords

Charles yes indeed he said the nano-liquid coating needs a lot of burn in so he said >800 hours before he ships it out. And I plan to try it on both and see what sounds best. I have good cords now Cerious Nano Signature I hope this is a nice improvement.

Hi Jond,
800 hours? Well you’ll be the recipient of a thoroughly burned in power cable 😊. I get the preamp "heart of the system" idea but I’d try it on both the preamp and your tube Audio Note  DAC. Most DACs are generally quite responsive to better power cables. Curious to know where the cable will have the greater impact in your fine audio system.
Charles

Yes, Chris is one of the good guys to deal with as are many others that I've had the pleasure to communicate with. :-)...

I just wanted to say how awesome Chris Venhaus has been to deal with. I made a mistake as I mentioned on my initial order, Chris got back to me the very next day and refunded my money same day. He gave me advice on what cord matched my budget which I took. Emailed me the day it was in the build queue, asked my preference on which end the shield should be connected, and is burning my cable in for 800 hours before shipping. Truly exceptional communication and service thus far!

Agreed jond-
pre-amp first since this the heart of any system.
Happy Listening!

@samac Thinking my preamp, my amp has a fixed cord so it's either preamp or DAC trying preamp first.

@jond 

Cool, got it. That's a sweet cable you have coming. Where are you going to use it?

I'm putting mine on my amp then I'll move my other Cullen cable to my APC surge protector/pc. I'll then have all upgraded power cables in my system.

Cheers,

Scott

Ok take two, with gracious assistance from Chis Venhaus, Furutech FP-S032N with gold FI-11 connectors! Well within my budget, sub $500, and still very excited!

@samac Ha disregard my message which I deleted I never bought the connectors themselves! No wonder it seemed like such a good deal back to the drawing board on that idea.

That's cool, jond. That's a heck of a deal. Those Furutech FI-50 plugs are sweet. Did you go with gold or rhodium? Look forward to you impressions.

I've got a new cable coming myself; Cullen Cable Crossover Series ll. Really looking forward to it.

http://http//www.cullencable.com/crossover-series-ii/

Cheers,

Scott

As above, I concur w/ moto_man -
the Audience line of cabling is very good indeed. The older versions still hold up well.
Happy Listening!

Good for you mtimm1!  You took some sensible yet modest steps with all of your cables and let your ears tell the tale. It's unfortunate there are numerous A'goners who will tell you your ears can't be right because you have no measurements or engineering rationale to explain what your ears are telling you.

As far as you as a listener goes, all that stuff really is "blah blah blah"!😉

I upgraded the stock power cords to some decent AudioQuest on my bryston amp and preamp and I did notice a difference, the background became quieter and some subtle nuances became more apparent, also there seemed to be less compression and more Dynamics. But hey what do I know! I also noticed a difference going from super cheap Home Depot speaker wire to type 4 as well as when the 20 year old RadioShack interconnects were changed to some mid range AudioQuest interconnects, like everyone else who has tried one said, try it for yourself and see what you think, leave all the rocket science quantum physics blah blah blah to NASA

+1 hifiman5

@mikhaelkuz   This true story may help explain why I feel the way I do about seeing systems and their listening space.

I have a new audiophile friend who had me over to hear his system. As soon as we walked into his listening space I knew I was in for an interesting, new experience.  His listening space is enormous!  The room has a peaked two story ceiling.

Well...I listened, enjoyed and even learned of some music I had not previously been exposed to.  Nice evening.

When I got home and my wife inquired about my experience. I told her of the space and the system and how much I had enjoyed hearing a system so different from my own.I told her if there was one thing he might do to improve his system, it would be to go with larger speakers in the manufacturer's line as I heard some hints of compression on loud sections of a particular song.

I quickly went down to my small/medium sized basement listening room to listen to some of the same music on my rig.  Sounded good, but different.  Our rooms and systems to accommodate to them are so different.

A few months later, after he had visited here to hear my system I returned to hear his again.  As soon as we got into the room he said, "so can you tell what's different".  Any guesses?  He had gone up two sizes in loudspeaker and now had a system that could fill his enormous space with music.  It was only after he revealed the change that I told him what I mentioned to my wife after my first encounter with his system.

The point?  I will never have a system as "grand" as his.  It would not be appropriate to my space.  In fact, I don't think his speakers would even fit in my room.  As informed audiophiles we have both developed, over time, systems that conform to our tastes, space and yes, budget.  I enjoy listening to his and he seems to appreciate listening to my system.  No envy on my part or his I suspect.  We both have what we need for our specific spaces and tastes.  

We both have perspective!

@hifiman5 My apologies, it was post by other audiogoner prior to yours. My mistake, in my mind they kind of lump together.
As of system - our experiences often developed over time. My current system hardly resembles what I had 5 years ago, in fact all components are different. Now it is Pass Labs 30.5 amp - but before it was W4S, before that was Krell, before that was Conrad Johnson. And it is just amps. How current system can help anyone to understand my experiments 10 years ago is beyond me. Outside of course "mine is bigger" (or more precise, or more analog, or more sensitive, or more musical -take your pick)).

@mikhaelkuz
Here is exactly what I said word for word. Please re-read. No where in the post do I opine on your’s or anyone else’s worth.

"I wish a requirement of the Audiogon sign-up process involved revealing your system’s details. It is much easier to weigh the gravity of a member’s views on topics audio if you can view their system details to give context to their views."

I said it would be much easier to weigh your views, not that your views would be of no consequence.

I stand by what I said earlier. Knowing what system and listening space people are living with does lend perspective and thus understanding to what they say on this forum. Period.🎶

Perhaps if we could better understand everyone else’s perspective, there would be less angst expressed on A’gon. 🎵

@hifiman5 several posts above you told that I am not worthy of conversation and should not be paid attention to because I did not describe my current system. Did you chang your opinion?

@mikhaelkuz I guess I am hopeful that we can all be big boys and girls and accept what we see from others and respect their systems. When I see someone’s system that may be bigger and badder than mine I admire it not denigrate it and there are lots of folks here who have very impressive systems and spaces. Great! I’m happy with what I listen through and as long as others are similarly happy, then good for all of us!

My hope of reading and posting here is that we, as a community of music lovers, can share experiences with our systems that may inform others and assist them in realizing the full capabilities of their systems.🙂

Oh yeah, this is about power cords.  My two cents, big difference.  A better power cord means more depth in the music, more realistic instruments,  and losses too.  The wrong power cord can mean less slam, less bass. Etc.   it’s amazing what a change can do. 

I want to believe every professional review I read starts with a room that is ideal for listening and all reviewer rooms are perfectly sonically corrected.  Unfortunately I know that is not the case.  Some of the reviewer’s are in small apartments or in their homes. That should be the standard though.  Why isn’t it?  Everything after that goes downhill quickly.   It makes a big difference. 

And just like the professionals, people on here arent in perfectly set up rooms.   One man’s heavy bass is another man’s lite bass.   Basically, everything is out the window when it comes to sound.  What is your power source, where are your speakers placed,  how’s your hearing?  What volume do you prefer?  It all makes an enormous difference. 

Honestly I am not looking forward to "my system is bigger then yours" type of conversation.

Thanks folkfreak!  I did not pay adequate attention to the word "sound" in Geoff's post.  I was taking it more generally that we cannot learn about the context of where a member is coming from by seeing their system set-up.  My bad.  Sorry Geoff.🙁

@hifiman5 far be it for me to intuit what @geoffkait is saying but my experience is that you cannot tell how any given system sounds from pictures or knowledge of the components -- there are far too many variables in room interaction, component synergies (or lack thereof) not to mention the listeners own preferences. What I think you can ascertain per your original post is how seriously the system owner has thought about the performance of her system and how much attention they have paid to fine tuning it to help it give of its best

So yes to using systems descriptions to gauge the credibility of the poster, and no to assuming you know how it sounds

geoffkait Come on Geoff...you really believe what you just said above? You can’t tell "anything" about a system by knowing what components comprise it, or by seeing pics of the components and how the system is configured or about the physical space the system inhabits??

I have learned a lot from viewing the systems here and I have no doubt you are more than capable of the same!🤨

I actually do not (rpt not) believe that anyone can tell anything about how a system sounds by knowing what components comprise the system or seeing photos of it. I don’t think you can intuit anything about the sound based on the speakers, the electronics or cables. I don’t think you can read between the lines or assume anything, even if the room is well organized with lots of room treatments and tweaks in plain view.

For those of you who have not posted your systems here...why not?

I wish a requirement of the Audiogon sign-up process involved revealing your system's details.  It is much easier to weigh the gravity of a member's views on topics audio if you can view their system details to give context to their views.

pay little attention to the above

Pay little attention to someone who will not compare cables or show their system here. Their opinions are pretty well worthless when it comes to establishing superior audio systems. 

Perhaps more then 15 years ago I bought Harman Kardon receiver for my home theater. It was humming with sensitive speakers, and problem was acknowledged by company as a design issue. They sent 2 chokers to put on power cord and it somehow helped, albeit later they replaced power supply anyway.
Since then I never heard in my system any effect of power cords on any of my systems. I never tried 20K ones - but I tried PS audio, Shiniata, Pangea and Signal Cables. None of them to my ears caused any change. Now I use Signal Cables around as they are well made and inexpensive -but honestly I could not hear any difference.
Same with speaker cables - blessed with friend as neighbor who was constantly experimenting I tried several. Nada, regardless of amp and speaker. My last change probably an exception, from "borrowed for free" Nordost (not the most expensive one) to Canare 4S11 (I moved and had to return Nordost), which I bought on Amazon for less then 50 backs each (good looking and terminated) was the only one I could heard some difference, with Canare getting an upper hand. Probably.
Interconnects I could hear the difference, slight, but audible. With sound getting less pleasing with price going up - one silver cable was especially brutal. I left with inexpensive MIT cables as the most neutral and later changed them to bluejeans - without any audible effect to my ears.
At the same time I can easily hear the difference between speakers (of course), amps, preamps, dacs and even digital transports (I was shocked for example how much better Auralic Aries Femto sound was compared to OPPO 105 digital output using the same media server and DAC).

Is it possible that some of us "cable sensitive" and others are "cable deaf"? I clearly in the second group.

I think power cables can make a difference, but it depends on the component. For example, I've heard no difference with power cables on my Sanders Magtech but heard big differences on my brother's McCormack amp.

" Those who have not tried them, somehow, do not want them to exist"
+1 / Well stated sc4a

There are those who have tried high quality power cords and those who have not. Those who are the proponents of high quality power cords have tried them. Those who have not tried them, somehow, do not want them to exist. 

Before I tried a high quality cord in my system I was deeply skeptical. 
Still, and this is the most important fact, it cannot be determined that a cord will or will not produce a positive impact to the sound of your system until you actually try one in your system. 

Any cable must be put into your system and the system must be played to make any determination. Otherwise only speculation can be applied. Proof is useful, speculation is not.

Suggest: go to the lending library at  THECABLECOMPANY.COM

Also see JPSLABS.COM

Yes they do. Unbeliveable, huge difference.
I did not believe it myself until I tried to make a cheap DIY power cable.
it improved the sound a lot compared to the standard 2$ power cable.
That was 4-5 years ago. Since then, I built more than 20 of them.
The last cables were made with expensive materials, gold or silver plated OCC copper and Neotech plugs. They sound amazing.
It is definitely worth the money and it has brought a huge upgrade to my system.
Everyone should try for themselves and listen.

It does make a difference although not perhaps in the way cable companies may advertise.  Generally a heavier gauge power cable will provide a better perceived response than a smaller gauge in a power amplifier with a higher power demand. You can buy 12ga power cords at Home Depot and terminate the amplifier side with a proper three prong socket- if you know what you're doing, and wind up with satisfactory results. I have and I did.

Almost all new amplifiers use solid state rectifiers that allow electricity through in bursts so even if your power consumption is 400 watts as a steady state, in the moments power is pulled to charge the power supply caps it may be drawing much more.  A heavier wire will deal with this better than a lower gauge wire which is why appliances spec an amperage rating, as do power cables.

To Shadorne. In my experience,Power Cords and Power Conditioners WILL HELP, no matter how good your home power supply or how good the power supplies in your equipment. The reasons. 1.  Power supplies in “Every” 
home in Canada and the US are contaminated with noise, a simple fact. The materials, geometry and fabrication methods influence the quality of the power cords. Philosophically - the power cord exists- therefore it has properties. The Military, NASA and various scientific research facilities have measured these properties and has seen fit to provide specifications for the materials used for products submitted to them. If these facts are unable to convince you then - Congatulations - you are truly UNCONVINCABLE ; is that close to invincible?  : )

Clarity Cable vortex give your lower midrange some body and your treble more extension and air. 

I suggest you you check out Duster's posts on Audio Asylum under Tweeks & Cables. He is a wealth of info.

https://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/etv.mpl?forum=cables

Hi all,  just a question,  does anybody has compared iec plugs? With different materials,  treatments,  allows, rhodium,  gold,  silver  platted? With the same power cord,  do the plugs make a significant difference? 

Yes Randy, they ALSO help improve sound quality

try an isolation transformer !!

Try try an MIT Oracle 3 , non networked power cord on your best unit. Surprise awaits. 

+1 Zkidd / That has been my experience as well

Thanks! for sharing- zkidd
what other gear, cabling, is in your system? Are you using all Black Sands
Violet Mk. II power cords all around?
Happy Listening!

I hate this topic because it is one that is so contentious but I agree with the gentleman who said that his brain says that there should not be a difference, and yet his ears tell him otherwise. And add to that even my wife and daughter hear differences and they are the last people who would comment on anything related to my audio system. So, yes, I believe they is a difference, and the Black Sands Audio Violet Mk.II is my all time favorite, and I have auditioned many. Trolls can keep their comments to themselves for I have read or heard them all. I also believe that tubes make a difference. That is my belief after 22 years in this hobby (obsession?) and I am sticking to it...