The WireWorld Electra and Silver Electra line is a good value for source components, shielded and all OCC copper.
Showing 4 responses by zlone
@knownothing Knows something. Excellent comments. |
I am a technical person, and I agree, I cannot think of how a power cord would affect the digital output stream from a dedicated streamer. But at least we agreed earlier that a power cord can make a difference where analog is involved, so they can make a difference. However for pure digital, without any idea how a power cord could affect it, but know they can have an affect on other components, I think we have to look at empirical evidence. I started thinking about my Innuos Zenith streamer, and its predecessor an Aurender N10. Both products touted their power supplies. I pulled up the Innuos page for the Innuos Zenith, the very first sentence reads: "Pushing our popular ZENith even further, the advanced MK3 includes a Triple-Linear PSU with Mundorf CAPS and custom-treated SSD. Ideal for audiophiles who want a smoother, more relaxed sound with a wider soundstage" So the experts at Innuos say that clean power matters. And if clean power matters, then it seems that a power cord could affect the performance of a streamer, even though it is just twiddling bits. Do we know how or why, nope. But empirically the evidence inherent in the design of the Innuos gear and other streamers, and the educated opinions of experts in this forum, seem to say that it matters. Logically a power cord cannot make a difference in this case, but the empirical evidence says otherwise.
|
@knownothing Good point. When I stated that we don't know how they could affect a purely digital component I was conceding I have yet to hear, in the case of a streamer, how they might affect the sound. Especially in the case where a USB connection is used to the DAC and the clocking is handled by the DAC. I did not address the more general case of properly shielded cords not affecting the components around them. I agree that this could be a primary improvement with an aftermarket cord vs the stock cord. I am currently selling off some old cables and came across an inexpensive, unshielded 10 AWG power cable I bought last year on a whim. I swapped it in on my power amp, which was using an Acoustic Zen El Nino. After a day I remembered why I pulled it out, a very fine grain was added to all the sound, fatigue in a previously fatigue-less system. Does it need break in, maybe, but I won't sit through that to find out. FWIW, I am a believer that it all matters and it is very likely that a good cord does affect the performance of a dedicated streamer. Motivated by this conversation, I moved a Wireworld Silver Electra 7 cable from my preamp to my streamer, which is where the seller recommended I put it in the first place, and moved the Acoustic Zen El Nino from the streamer to the preamp. The sound changed for sure, and for the better, which cord where made the difference? Did I answer your question?
|