Power cord upgrade

@zlone

I know the Puritans take about two weeks to break in, but after five days of painful listening with terrible, etched highs, I had to swap out the cord for 20A Shunyata I had laying around. This quickly resolved that problem

Interesting. I just removed the ultimate cord and inserted the classic back into the PSM156 because I thought this comment was quite odd. I certainly don’t get any etched highs, if anything it is smoother and easier to listen to than the ultimate. Less resolved, less detail, less refined and not as nice sounding, but not terrible by any means. The worst part of the classic and the part I noticed the most was the bass was bloomy and very much uncontrolled with the classic vs. the ultimate. But I suppose the Shunyata is that much smoother by comparison? Which Shunyata cord is it?

@skids I wish I could try the Hurricane HC in the Puritan but it is not a C19.

Won't know without trying, right? I am satisfied with the over all sound now, so looking for more of it. Make any sense??

Yup, makes total sense. I feel the same about my system right now, leaves nothing to be desired, so I have a C19 Sigma V2 on the way to see if I prefer it over the Ultimate.  We are audiophiles, right? 

@skids 

Certain brands come up more frequently, such as AQ and Transparent, and I like that for a good starting platform.  

After trying a few others I wouldn't be surprised if you prefer the Shunyata V14 NR cord you have on the Aurender now, as that was specifically designed to be used with streamers. But sounds like you want to go with AQ or Transparent. Let us know! 

@zlone If one simply wants the cheapest OCC cable, look no further than Audio Sensibility. You can get an OCC power cable for half that amount. This is in CDN dollars. 

Steven Huang owner of AS was a family friend of Dr. Ohno. 

@jasonbourne71 

@1971gto455ho 

Just watch this and learn something

instantaneous current draw

I believe the naysayers systems just are not resolving enough to hear the differences. I know I started out that way. Proof was in the pudding once I made a major jump in equipment.

@1971gto455ho 

@jasonbourne71 

@classicrockfan 

You guys read that above? 

Again appreciate everyone's input, and am surprised at how long this thread stayed alive.

You can thank the guys above for keeping the cables threads alive. I think they must all be cable bi-curious. 

@hce1 

Well said, you write well. 

The irony is those who profess science are usually the ones without any formal education in science, and attempt to "inform" those of us with science degrees how it all works, because they have "all the answers".

There are millions of music fans such as the OP who have overcome their pre-conceived barriers and experimented, perhaps using guidance from experienced audiophiles, then using common sense arrived a reasonable understanding of how different cables affect the sound of their system, and as a result enjoy their music even more. ie: they became audiophiles. I am also one of them. 

And then there are the hardened ones who refuse to wander beyond their belief system for fear of falling off the edge of the planet. 

@devinplombier 

That's 500A, which should cover pretty much any audio-related use case many times over.

Does it though? I found it surprising also, it is a 20 amp circuit and he is pulling 1000 amps out of it. Apparently audio is not a hair dryer or a toaster- it is not about continuous rather instantaneous current delivery, or in Shunyata's slogan DTCD. But this is perhaps why when one connects an excellent audio cable one often hears more loudness and better dynamics. 

@zuesman I have seen you write this a few times in various threads.

I can buy 24ga OCC wire for $2.20 CDN per metre. Given one needs 20 strands of this to make a 10ga power cable, the wire would cost me $44 per metre or $88 CDN for a 2m power cable. Given that a company the size of Transparent or Shunyata could buy large quantities of this and get it for a much better price than I, and subtracting the cost of their "cheap" OFHC or OFE C1010, could we assume it would cost them a maximum of about $50 more per power cable? For a $3000 power cable this is negligible. Common sense tells me if it made a difference they would use it. 

I understand if someone wants to sell cables and doesn't have an excellent decades long reputation of selling exceptional sounding cables, they will turn to marketing to and throw numbers, figures and terms in order to sell it. If someone thinks they can buy a 7N OCC cable for $50 and believes everybody else who pays more for their cable is getting ripped off they are fools. I am sure there are those who bought a cable such as this one and thought it sounded great because they believed it was 7N OCC copper and that is the only part that matters- the mind is a powerful thing.

Who is able to actually confirm the purity of the copper, anyway? Do we trust the seller/supplier? I see dozens of resellers of 7N copper wire, who audits them? 

Or if this 7N copper exists, should we care? is this the same as the amplifier that has 0.001% distortion sounds 100 times better than the one that has 0.1% distortion? 

This article is 10 years old now: Roger Skoff on copper purity

@zuesman I see.  I know all about OCC, I used to use Audio Sensibility products and am aware of the personal relationship Steve Huang has with Dr. Ohno. If there is someone who actually has the real OCC stuff I would wager on him. They are great products for the money, but I now get better sound using other products. Go figure.

@devinplombier

It is certainly not significant to a component’s sound quality

Perhaps not, all it does is prove one particular cable can handle more current than the other. It was just my response to someone who keeps claiming all one needs is "any 14 gauge wire". I am quite sure simply looking on an electrical amperage and wire gauge chart is not the best method for improved hifi, and from most reports an excess of gauge is beneficial.

In choosing cables for my system, I will choose based on the results of the best tool available: my ears.

Also Hijiri.

On my "must try list". Along with that other Japanese cable manufacturer Acrolink, which I believe was a division of Hitachi metals; they could be believed to have the true 7N copper, they claim to use it.