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

" that the price-performance ratio in part depends on what you are connecting the power cord to "

Yup... and at both ends.  It starts at the outlet, (and any power conditioners after it, and before the equipment).

I'll also add that sometimes too much of a good thing... can be a bad thing.

After initially liking what I was hearing with my Shunyata investments... I kept going.

After losing most of my midrange, and the treble becoming pinched and thin... the majority of that stuff is in the closet.

" 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? "

Sometimes you have to look at the measurements and composition of the cords/cables.  Typically, (IME), cables with high capacitance and/or inductance... have deleterious effects on SQ.

" Well, since the first 25 - 100' or more of cable in your house is most like 12 or 14 gauge solid core romex, shouldn't we just keep it all the same and use more of that? "

There's an old audiophile saying...  " don't think of the power cable as the last few feet... but the first few feet. "

" @blumartini  please update about the friend in Hawaii and his generator.I'm really curious if that would provide clean power "

OMG no!  Way too much EMI and RFI.  Very dirty power... unless you use a PS Audio power regenerator or some form of isolation transformer.

At times I have had to use a gasoline generator to power my house... and my PS Audio Noise Harvesters go berserk.

Here's a used "Reference"  MC for $375.

https://www.usedcable.com/synergistic-research-reference-ac-master-coupler-x-series-active-15-amp-ie...

Not sure what the difference is between it and the standard MC.

Standard MC on ebay for $325.

https://www.ebay.com/i/153422829878?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&am...

LOL... umm... I would like to request a section for:

Best Price To Performance Power Cords for Systems that range 10K- and under ???

@tweak1 

"I probably have several thousand dollars of cables in the closet, most have little to no resale value."

Your closet has my curiosity piqued.   :)

I should add that it was the original Venom from a few years back.  It's been sitting around collecting dust because I was having a hard time finding a good spot for it.

During some recent interconnect and PC changes... I tried it on the Oppo. Yuck!!!

At this point it's gonna get Ebayed or traded in to the Cable Co towards another purchase.

Disclaimer:. Not affiliated with... or compensated by manufacturer... but the following gives a basic explanation how cables can affect sound.

FWIW...

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/whatwiredoes.htm

Now... as another example, (on a smaller scale), let’s look at phono cartridge tweaking. Most phono preamps have/allow for changing capacitors and resistors... either manually or by knobs/switches...
that affect the frequency response of the cartridge.

Using the same basic understanding and principals... some companies may use different gauges of wire... different dialectric insulators... different metals... and different sheilding, to manipulate electrons of a power cord, (or interconnect or speaker cable), to a sound that they prefer.

Some individuals will prefer this "house sound" , while others won’t... and even others won’t hear a difference due to ear shape, or ear damage.

While I have no foundational argument for what I am about to say... I might even suggest that using the above mentioned methods might even cause a phase shift... with the end result requiring a speaker placement change.

And no... I’m not smoking or drinking anything. Just a theory based on subtle changes and experimentation with my setup.

@dynaquest4 

"I have an OPPO-105 and I use the stork cord. I have never, not even once, thought it put out audio that was unlistenable."


Hook a 15 amp Shunyata Venom to it and wait a couple days.

Not saying the Venom is a bad cord... just that the Oppo won't like it.

@turnbowm

I can't anwer that specifically... but there was a definite change in frequency response.  Only way I can describe it, is that the highs went super airy to the point they were piercing... and the vocal range disappeared almost to the point of being inaudible.

Would it have gotten better if I left it in longer?  Don't know... I didn't wait to find out.