Power Cord for Digital

look at vh audio flavor for power cord ,ive used his wire and beldon wire,and loved them over alot .im using tara lab air now, and chris cord for digital is as good. tara cost 695.00 flavor 3 diy is 50.00 or so.im breaking a flavor 4 for my mono amp.and it sound better today than yesterday .we will see at 250 hours for breakin,must be loosing its snake oil.

I had used a JPS Digital cord on my Wadia and Accuphase players to great effect. This particular cord DOES lower noise and in the wrong circumstance can take some of the life out of things. In the right system, it is very effective.

While I am a big believer in good power cords; I am very skeptical that there is really a specific power cord for digital components.

Let's say I make power cords. All of the cords I make are identical in every single way, except for the color of the outer jacket.

I decide the cords with the red colored jacket are for digital. I can now say on the package that the red cord is made specifically for digital, even though they are really all the same.

A manufacturer can save money by making some unshielded cords, then charge a premium for the shielded ones.

Not all applications need shielded power cords. Using a shielded cord when the shielding is not needed has no effect. So you could just buy shielded cords or cords designed to eliminate RFI and forget the rest. There are ways to eliminate RFI in the power cord without shielding.

Just try some cords and buy what sounds good to you. If you can't tell any difference like Dr. D then you've saved a bunch of money.

Good power cords are definitely NOT snake oil. But snake oil marketing is used by some companies to sell their products for more than they are worth.

Robert,
If you went with a VH audio Flavor 3, It would be hard pressed to beat at 2-3 times its price/performance ratio. Specially made for digital components,12ga and a great value.

I have the original SA-14 and find that changing power cords makes little or no difference. If you find one that makes a sizable difference, please let us know.

Richard

Make sure it has at least 12 AWG conductors and has a "floating" shield (that's a braided and/or foil shield that's connected only at the AC plug end.)

That may sound like overkill, but for some reason CDPs and CDTs and (especially) DACs seem to like 12 gauge power cords and the floating shield will keep digital RFI from being broadcast from the power cord.

Also try and plug your digital stuff into a different circuit from the other sources.

Blue Circle BC62