What was the first power cable that you noticed a difference in the sound?

I heard a difference with Shunyata Venom 10 NR - I acquired it for $350 as a demo.  I was 'lent' it to see if I noticed and appreciated the difference - it did and for me it was worth the price.

Synergistic Research A/C Master Coupler. Still have it on my Diablo 300.

For me it was a Cerious Technology cord one of the early ones I forget the exact model.

I acquired two Zu Mother power cords for my Shanling EL34 based monoblocks years ago and the improvement over the original factory cords was audible. I have never forgiven Zu… 🤣

@curiousjim I can think of only 3 possibilities.  

1.  your amp has a power supply that stores power for dynamics and bass in capacitors, chokes or other passive devices so tthat a large power cord isn't needed.  this is most likely.

2.  you're listening isn't good.  Not likely.  You're a veteran.

3.  your system sucks so bad it doesn't help  also extremely unlikely.

If you have a power problem with your amp, it will be immediately obvious when you install a $30 10awg power cable from ebay.

Now other components, such as DACs and streamers, have such minor power needs that it isn't unusual for a power cord upgrade not to change anything.

Jerry

Synergistic A/C Master coupler, long long ago....then Tekline, then Cerious Technologies...I also use the lower cost Transparent and Audience in secondary systems...found all worthwhile, and used power cords hold their value extremely well

LessLoss Classic Entropic. 

For me it was Shunyata power cords.  75% of both my systems are wired with Shunyata interconnects.

@swede58 

I can’t find the A/C Master Coupler on SR’s website.  When did it come out and what was the price then?

Thanks!

@jl35 

Could you hear differences immediately when you plugged them in?  What are you using now?

Are you talking about the Audience F3’s?  I bought one for $300 when they first came out and ended up buying two more for $300 total about a year later.

I'll have to go with Lessloss. Made be a believer.

Going from supplied cables to a BLE Design (on Ebay from Florida) 10 gauge OFC with rhodium plated contacts yielded darker background and a slightly more neutral color. $35. Using them on phono, pre, and subs. I’m good.

I heard it immediately, as did a non audiophile music loving friend...and I didn’t want to like them, as I preferred not to purchase them...currently using Cerious Lumniscate in main system, and Cerious GE, Audience F3 and a low end Transparent Audio in various systems....using the old Tekline still in home theater...I sold the A/C Master 10 years after I bought it, for same price I paid...

@evank @jacobsdad2000 

I went to the Less Loss website and I didn’t see prices.  Can you give me an idea of the cost of their 1 to 1 1/2 meter PC’s?

Thanks.

@curiousjim Bought the A/C Master coupler round 97 for less than $400 If memory serves.

@carlsbad2 

I’m using a Hegel H390 integrated amp and am currently using the Pangea AC9 SE MKll.  Paid $300 for the 1.5 meter cord.  It’s a beast of a cord and I want to replace it mostly because the IEC connector is a loose fit in the Hegel and with it being so thick, it’s not very flexible.  Having said that, I might hear a cleaner top end using the Pangea, or I might be talking myself into hearing something, so that is why I asked the question.

@curiousjim  Used ones  go for about 700 to 800. Don't know what they are new.

Anyone used Audio Art Cables? 
Thanks.

@curiousjim In your price range the LessLoss Cmark Prime is $485.00 and was a marked improvement over my Zavfino Majestic Mk III cables that are on sale for $450.00. I also prefer the LessLoss as they are flexible. I upgrade to the Classic entropic for my DAC. 

@jacobsdad2000 

Out of curiosity, what is their Entropic process?

Thanks.

The only under $500 power cables that I found a noticeable improvement from are Audio Art Cable power1 Classic, and power1 e Croy. Had tried Signal Cable, PS Audio, and a few others that were no better than the stock equipment cords.

I started with a bunch of DIY Supra Lorad 2.5 SPC and Belden 19364. The differences they made over stock cords were obvious.

The Supra cleaned up the sound and brought more detail. The Belden energized the music and increased bass quantity, though at the expense of increased noise floor. 

I have since upgraded my cords to assortment of brands that cost average $800-1000 each. There is a marked improvement in sound quality in cords priced around that range compared to those below $500. From that price range to mega bucks ones like Ansuz's and Synergistic's higher ends, negligible. I know, I exhaustively home auditioned plenty of branded cords and where not possible, I did AB comparison of cords in showrooms. Without these higher end cords, my setup had substantially smaller soundstage and less slam. Upgrading fuses in both my integrated and DAC brought also significant improvement in clarity; I use Hi-fi Tuning ones.

These are what I have currently in my setup: 

Mains: Nanotec Power Strada 309 (with Furutech FI-50 NCF)
Amp: SoundString Gen 2 SE High Current
DAC: Divini Audio PT-Z 7N
Sub: Real Cable Citrine
Desktop streamer: Nanotec Power Strada 308 (with Furutech FI-50)
Desktop mains: Synergistic Research Foundation High Current

 

Shunyata NR power cords. Alpha on amp. Delta on Line stage. Venom 10 on SACD player and phono amp. They really do reduce noise so you can hear deeper, wider and taller. 

Run Jim run as fast as you can. Just drop the cords and run. This goes on forever and ever and ever. That’s what they want you to do. It never ends, unfortunately it looks like you got taken for a ride. Don’t feel bad it’s happened to all of us at least once

Have to say that it wasn’t even an expensive cable that made a notable difference in my system. The first one wasn’t exactly an improvement, which was a Pangea MkII. But it still wasn’t one very much more expensive after that one that made a serous improvement, either.

For me, just a well made aftermarket cord with decently fat gauge, quality shielding and that is well terminated. But to that, nothing made as big a difference after some better “cheap” cords than introducing a Chang Lightspeed power bar. Better yet, separating digital front end with a separate power bar from the one used for the preamp and power amp.

Still waiting. See I'm one of those guys who actually took a physics class, studied power distribution and networking, and practiced it professionally for nearly 50 years, and have seen and heard, if not all, most of the tweaks in that time.

Here's one - the original Monster Cable demo had 18 Ga lamp wire rolled in a coil behind the switch while the Monster Cable was laid straight. No surprise the Monster Cable A/B'd better - the coiled lamp cord was a series inductor, AKA a low-pass filter with measurable DC resistance. Trim that out and the difference went to zero. 

If a power cable 'lowers the noise floor', that would be measurable, and might just help things.  Anybody ever measure that? Yeah, didn't think so. 

In my system, QSA Lanedri, and I've had the Argento Flowmaster Reference in my system. 

@panzrwagn zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

@jacobsdad2000 zzzzzzz ? Yeah, that would be a grounding issue. As in your lack of grounding in basic physics and electronics.

@curiousjim Master Couplers are all over used sites, I’ve bought 5 or 6 of them from ebay or audiomart etc. SR doesn't make the anymore.

"Better yet, separating digital front end with a separate power bar from the one used for the preamp and power amp." @riccitone 
Does everyone do this? Sounds reasonable to me . . .

Cardas Clear Beyond 

DH Labs Red Wave

@carlsbad2  I find your first suggestion very interesting.  If I understand you correctly,  there are amp designs that manage power in such a way as to make power cables a non issue, assuming of course you are using any decent cables that can carry the required current in the first place.  My last three amps have all been Hegel products.  H390 to the H590 and currently a pair of H30s.  I have heard zero difference it sound regardless of the PC I've tried.  Was using Furutech DPS-4.1 and currently using Puritan Ultimate.  Throw the stock cable that Hegel supplied into the mix and the sound is the same.  Will I hear an improvement if I spend thousands on the PC?  

Power cables don’t really make a huge difference with an amp. Components like Streamers, is where p/c upgrade is noticeable.

nordost  Heimdall works  for  me 

The only really noticeable change for me was, an Isotech power cord to my Modwright power supply.

Shunyata Venom-X EF

With patience these can be found used for $500

@bigtwin Yes, that is my thought.   I have a friend who rebuilt his tube amp to sits on top of a bank of capacitors twice the size of the amp.  All the power cable has to do is keep the capacitors charged up. this is a very flat power demand.  

Cable deniers usually base their claims on their superficial understanding of electricity.  If you amp's average wattage is 240 watts, then you only need 2 amps and an 18 gauge cable is plenty big so 16 awg is "oversized".  What they miss is the extreme dynamics of the load in an amp where 50 amps might be needed for a picosecond.  

So if you have power available downstream of the power cable that can respond to these dynamic demands,  then the amp will be insensitive to power cables.  The cable only has to provide the nameplate wattage of the amp, which is relatively low. 

OTOH, I have a tiny little tube amp, a Sophia Baby, that weights 13 lbs.  I thought surely a 14 awg cable would be plenty for it.  after a couple of days of disappointing bass a friend suggested a bigger cable and immediate improvement.  In retrospect, it makes sense since this small amp has a minimal power supply.

Notice that I have ignored all the magic dust in $4000 cables.  All I have addressed is cable size.

Jerry

@panzrwagn No one here wants to listen to basic truths.  Shunyata, Synergistic Research, Audioquest, Furutech, and others have latched into a bunch of gullible dreamers with little common sense and no room for enlightenment. As long as they're not taking food from their kid's mouths let them have their little diversions. 

jacobsdad2000 - " Those of us who know are not listening. " or those of us that know are actually listening.

With one exception, I’ve never noticed a difference.

The exception is the power supply running from the controller on my turntable that runs to motors (VPI Avenenger Titan).  It ran very close to the cables coming off my tone arm and created a distinct hum.  Replacing with a nice cable stopped this.

mind you:

1.  I’ve taken care to route power mains away from interconnects, only crossing at 90 and never running close parallel.

2.  All power supplies are already post-filter

3.  I’ve used heavy duty mains on everything.  (So low gauge, heavy duty, nice wires, but talking New Egg computer mains, not super high dollar audiophile brands.  Just big wires with lots of shielding and hospital plugs routed at a distance.

Oh, caveat #4,  all my interconnects (excepting coming off the turntable) are XLR fully balanced, so less susceptible to interference.

@dill perfect, now I can have my coffee knowing you are listening. 

when i used power cord, i was able to power it up and get sound and when i disconnected it, i really heard no sound. that's how i first time heard differences.

Well I had a system  that just didn't  play bass I changed  the receptacle s to the 20 amp lines to the amps. Wow I got a bunch of bass. I am wondering  if you cannot tell much difference  because  you have a problem  farther up the line. If you don't want to spend to much money  try a hospital  grade plug. You can hear the difference  between  the plating on the receptacle s as well I have both gold and rhodium  receptacle s. Try cords from a friend or try cords that you can audition  and return. 

Regards