Why Power Cables Affect Sound


I just bought a new CD player and was underwhelmed with it compared to my cheaper, lower quality CD player. That’s when it hit me that my cheaper CD player is using an upgraded power cable. When I put an upgraded power cable on my new CD player, the sound was instantly transformed: the treble was tamed, the music was more dynamic and lifelike, and overall more musical. 

This got me thinking as to how in the world a power cable can affect sound. I want to hear all of your ideas. Here’s one of my ideas:

I have heard from many sources that a good power cable is made of multiple gauge conductors from large gauge to small gauge. The electrons in a power cable are like a train with each electron acting as a train car. When a treble note is played, for example, the small gauge wires can react quickly because that “train” has much less mass than a large gauge conductor. If you only had one large gauge conductor, you would need to accelerate a very large train for a small, quick treble note, and this leads to poor dynamics. A similar analogy might be water in a pipe. A small pipe can react much quicker to higher frequencies than a large pipe due to the decreased mass/momentum of the water in the pipe. 

That’s one of my ideas. Now I want to hear your thoughts and have a general discussion of why power cables matter. 

If you don’t think power cables matter at all, please refrain from derailing the conversation with antagonism. There a time and place for that but not in this thread please. 
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Showing 1 response by kob

In 1985, while dealing with a common home builder, "3 home styles / 3 color choices", I was able to negotiate double sheet rock in listening - living area and home run romex wiring to the locations for my equipment.  No before and after comparison available.  After listening for a few weeks, I went to the local home improvement store and changed the outlets from 15 amp to the 20 amp outlets.  The improvement was immediate and positive.  ALL interactions in all areas of your system be affected if you have the ability to compare, patience to listen, and understanding of the changes made.  Sometimes the differences are not an improvement, but there will be a change.