Power cable from wall socket to power strip

If you believe a power cable makes a difference, and you believe you hear a difference, then be happy.  I will not tell you what you can or can't hear. I am neither that arrogant nor disrespectable :)

Now as both a subjective audiophile and an engineer:

Yes, they can bleed 60 Hz and harmonics into poorly shielded signal cables. 

Yes, many cheap cords are not even twisted inside to minimize emissions.

Yes they can pick up RF

Yes, I have found cheep cables that were not even welded to the prongs, Just held in place by the overmould! YIKES!

As with any cable, the shorter the better. The appropriate gauge, the better. Twisted the better. Separation from signals the better. 

BUT, OK, several hundred feet of ALUMINUM entrance wire, bi-metallic contacts in the breaker, hundred feet of the cheapest copper you can find in your wall, that "magic cord" and then going into an alloy fuse, tin plated fuse holder and into several hundred more feet of cheap copper in the transformer or whatever they do to it in a switching supply, the ultimate RF generator.   So, is that where you want to spend your money?    I spent mine on some replacement ends so I could shorten and tidy up the cables.  I also have a Emotiva DC blocker as I DO get transformer hum depending on how many LED lights, dimmers and DC fans are running.  Transformers are the very best RF filter there is. I love linear supplies. 

Some even suggest "audiophile" outlets.  Well, there are three actually different outlets.  The 49 cent "contractor" ones with back-stab. Total garbage, swap them all out.   Then the mid grade  $1.95 with much stiffer holding power and a little heavier, followed by the $4 "commercial" grade. What my house if full of.  Snug fit. Good contacts. Don't fatigue. These can also get "medical" separated ground or "data center" which as far as I can tell, differ in the orange or green dot only. 

Your choice.  The only risk is some esoteric "audio" cables are not UL/CSA certified so you are on your own to know if they are safe as far as not starting a fire. 

@simna 

 How can the power cable from the wall outlet to a power conditioner have any importance?
The power has traveled through miles of ”ordinary cable” to my wall outlet, so how can this last bit to the power conditioner, that is supposed to clean the dirty power, have any impact on the sound?

       Did you bother to read anything I posted?

       Bother to LOOK into any of the SCIENCE involved/mentioned?

    Virtually every modern convenience, computer, electronic medical, listening or communication device you've been enjoying, invented since the late 1900's, resulted from the study of just those (mentioned in my posts) phenomena.

        While what I've posted are my postulations (far as PCs); they are based on some VERY SOLID SCIENCE (Physics/QED).

                                                    references:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_quantum_mechanics#:~:text=Examples%20include%20lasers%2C%20electron%20microscopes,systems%2C%20computer%20and%20telecommunication%20devices.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chadorzel/2015/08/13/what-has-quantum-mechanics-ever-done-for-us/?sh=37c459944046

https://uwaterloo.ca/institute-for-quantum-computing/quantum-101/quantum-applications-today

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-practical-uses-spooky-quantum-mechanics-180953494/

                                              Happy Listening!

I have an old Shunyata 4 outlet Hydra power conditioner bought at reduced price on Ebay. Only the CD transport and Holo May dac are plugged into it. The conditioner was not making a very noticeable difference until I plugged a Shunyata Delta AC power cord ( from dedicated line Hubbell hospital wall outlets to conditioner) into it. That made a very noticeable difference for the better. This cable is made specifically for Shunyata power conditioners and has enough pure silver in it to make it expensive.

All of the rest of my power cables are Level 3 AntiCables which I like a lot though the all copper blades need to be de-oxidized periodically.

People harp and argue a lot about cables not making a difference because how could they - they can only be as good as the mains power feeding them, but my take has always been that any wire is essentially a filter. That filtering can be executed cleanly or not.

I also made some mineralized grounding boxes (signal ground type) for the transport, dac and subwoofers and that lowered noise floor enough to distinctly hear a difference.

Tweakers have more party.

"The founder of Shunyata has an article or video somewhere on his site that explains how looking at power like plumbing is wrong and explains how to look at it and why it works."

https://www.gcaudio.com/tips-tricks/why-power-cables-make-a-difference/

simna OP

Is the sole purpose with high end cables to deliver the power as stable and clean as possible?

1) No. Not for stable power. Every cables the electricity passes from the power plant to your audio gears affect the shape, texture, and tone of sound of your system. The structure and quality of good PC will decide the sound of PC. And that PC sound will be added to existing audio sound.

If a good sound PC (not more expensive PC) is used instead of a bad sound PC, the result will be cleaner.

Is the sole purpose with a power conditioner to clean and deliver stable power?

2) The power cable can’t clean the electricity. The PC can’t clean the electric noise from hair dryer. Dirty electric noises from the power plant and neighbor’s wash machine are all in the power. Of course, my home hair dryer has more electric noise than neighbor’s dryer. But the PC can’t clean the electricity.

The input and output of most power conditioner (transformer type) are not directly connected. So, the power cond can clean the power some degree. However, since all PC and power cond are not made perfectly (makers have no idea how to make a perfect audio PCs), there are more bad than good.

But there are people that says that power conditioners drains the life out of the music. Why is that? What has gone wrong then?

3) I know no one has figured out about power cord and power conditioner yet. Cable companies have no idea. Some does bit better because they have more experience. In my view, those even 30-40 years experienced ones know almost nothing.

The sound difference between PCs are so small. May be max 10% of total sound. 40% of the total sound is wrong and that 10% doesn’t matter much and will not fix the true problem. The human ears are just so sensitive to find out which is better. The better doesn’t mean it is perfect. Anyway they don’t satisfy anyone anymore in few days.

But I have also heard bad change in the sound when I have replaced several ordinary power cables with ”better cables”. Why is that?

4) They are not "better cables." More expensive are not "better cables." Many times stock cables sound better than expensive badly made cables. The PC maker has no idea.

How can the power cable from the wall outlet to a power conditioner have any importance?

5) If a good PC is used (between the wall to PC) instead of a bad PC, the final sound will be cleaner, warmer, and smoother.

The power has traveled through miles of ”ordinary cable” to my wall outlet, so how can this last bit to the power conditioner, that is supposed to clean the dirty power, have any impact on the sound?

Read #2.

Alex/Wavetouch

I added a 4AWG/per conductor power cord from the Furutech wall outlet to the PS Audio P20 and another 4AWG power cord from the P20 to the high current Steve McCormack modified DNA-1. The increased amperage was well-appreciated by Tekton Design Double Impact speakers. Each of those speakers has 11 drivers requiring amperage to reproduce sound. The additional amperage is all I can attribute to the improved sound. I listen to music at around 50dB and the dynamics peaks are around 73dB…happiness achieved.

@coralkong 

This below is the Shunyata cable you may be remembering. I have one connecting my 4 outlet Hydra to the wall. It made a very noticeable difference in sound quality without squashing dynamics. My Hydra only conditions two power cables - to my CD transport and dac. I find that connecting pre and power amp cables to the Hydra steps on dynamics too much.

Shunyata Alpha XC

Since I started this thread I've been searching the internet for information about power conditioners and power cords. I found so many different and contradictory answers and opinions so I wrote these questions that made some here mad at me.
I'm sorry for that. It was not my intention to waste anyone's time and I'm certainly not trolling. Some answers got a bit too technical for me and I tried to rephrase my questions.
But I understand this is not something that has a solution that fits everyone.
mihorns answers made it clear to me that testing is the only way to find out what works best for one and each. As some of you already had said.
And again, I'm really sorry that I upset some of you.

Thank you all!

Trial and error seems to the way I usually evaluate changes I make within my systems, along with a lengthy audition.

@simna-

     I found so many different and contradictory answers and opinions so I wrote these questions that made some here mad at me.
                                        I’m sorry for that.

                                         You opened the thread with:

               I don’t want a discussion with ”non believers”.

                              Let the Cargo Cult go build another runway!

                                                    Who cares?

                                                 Happy listening!

simna OP

mihorn answers made it clear to me that testing is the only way to find out what works best for one and each.

How do we know which one works better? It is simple. The better one (power cord, any audio cable,  and any component) sounds closer to the original music. The original music is cleanest, smoothest, and the most musical. Alex/Wavetouch

I figure the best way is to borrow some high end power cords and compare them with an ordinary power cord.

@simna

yes, Yes , YES!! The best solution is to try yourself in your own system using your own ears. Only you can determine if the sonic change if any is worth the price within your budget. While you’re at it, if you get a demo power cable, you may want to try on your other components also.
Some cable companies allow free trial, or you can buy and sell used to save $.

The power out of the wall is commonly very noisy from other appliances, grid sharing, etc. Generally, a “quality” power conditioner usually has significant positive results (lowers noise), but a very small few with likely an extremely revealing transparent system, the conditioner may subtract a positive sonic trait. But it seems most report significant positive changes.  Dropping the noise floor allows one to hear more into the music.