The Truth About Power Cords and there "Real" Price to Performance


This is a journey through real life experiences from you to everyone that cares to educate themselves. I must admit that I was not a believer in power cords and how they affect sound in your system. I from the camp that believed that the speaker provided 75% of the sound signature then your source then components but never the power cord. Until that magic day I along with another highly acclaimed AudioGoner who I will keep anatomist ran through a few cables in quite a few different systems and was "WOWED" at what I heard. That being said cable I know that I am not the only believer and that is why there are so many power cord/cable companies out there that range from $50 to 20-30 thousand dollars and above. So I like most of you have to scratch my head and ask where do I begin what brand and product and what should i really pay for it?

The purpose of this discussion to get some honest feed back on Price to Performance from you the end user to us here in the community.

Please fire away!


 


blumartini

Showing 4 responses by cd318

@in_shore

"There’s not much close to the confiscatory pricing of lengths of wire in this hobby except for perhaps streamers and server’s , basically computer parts in an attractive looking box.

I love these threads and if I were in the audiophile business selling lengths of proprietary designed wire would be my first choice and my 2nd would be streamers and servers at eye popping esoteric prices of course..."


Yeah, that would be the easy way to do it - if we had no scruples of course.

Once upon a time Noel Lee (Monster Cables) transformed himself into an almost overnight millionaire with little more than the power of suggestion - ie thicker = better.

Naturally enough many since have sought to follow in his footsteps.

However since those days of poor DIN plugs, crudely twisted wire extensions, and the cheapest possible bell wire are over, a different approach must be found.

In this era of readily available high purity oxygen-free copper, suggestion just won’t hack it anymore. Audiophiles may be gullible but not that gullible.

And so a better weapon must be found, and it has been.

Paranoia.

In particular the widespread attempt to feed concerns over electromagnetic / radio interference (4G/5G, smartphones etc) has now become the weapon of choice to induce audiophile paranoia.

As advertisers have long known, humans are always vulnerable to paranoia.

More importantly they will pay good money to be relieved of it.

The issue of whether the most expensive cables (power, loudspeaker or interconnect, take your pick) that money can buy today actually sound any better than those from the mid-1970s is not something any cable vendor would dare to claim.

They simply dare not propagate such falsehood.

For obvious reasons.

@in_shore, on second thoughts, if you want to write the blurb I'll find a supplier or vice versa...

I wonder whether only audiophiles are susceptible to Paranoid Cableitus?

Would it be also possible to sell $1000+ RJ11/ethernet/router power cables too?

Probably not as virtually everyone already understands that the actual broadband supply (and to a lesser extent) the kilometres of cabling to your home are far far more important than whatever’s cabling the last metre or so.

What’s that I can hear being said?

Something about a sow’s ear and a silk purse?

Drat, and double drat!
Foiled again!

Oh well, it’s back to the power of suggestion again.

I wonder what a Tom Cruise or Taylor Swift cable endorsement would cost....?
Outside budget you say? Then affordable non committal fancy marketing will have to do.

Oh how I long for the days when all it took was a semi undressed beauty to sell your stuff...



@douglas_schroeder , "Got bias?"

If you meant me, then the answer is a definite yes! I do have a strong bias against fraudulent cable insinuations. (Let’s not call them claims - no manufacturer/seller would dare).

The same way I presume that you have a strong bias for big dealer/adviser profits.
@douglas_schroeder ,  "But, the audiophile public once in a while needs to see that there are good people trying to serve them (And, of course, serving themselves by involvement with the gear; that's obvious) and are not duplicitous.  :)"

Agreed. There are many good people who are genuinely trying to help the audiophile public. 

The trouble is that there also seems to be no shortage of those who aren't. 

Anyway, thanks for your considered reply and no hard feelings - best of luck with your writing. It's been a few years since I last checked out dagogo.com but I do still remember enjoying reading Jack Roberts' Beatnik Column.