So back and forth it goes, and nothing changes. Why not get 10 sample audiophiles who have a history of posting here and have a listening study. Location could be at an agreed on audio show so it would give us some fun things to do.Small ante fee to be determined. Say $200? 5 for and 5 against believing or not believing the difference power cables make. Blind test. Any person can switch sides after the test. Score the test and the winners take all. The losers get a audiophile t-shirt for parting gift. We all get to meet each other and have some laughs. I'm in, so we only need 9 more.
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.
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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prof I had a friend help me blind test it against a cheap stock power cord. In which case, all the sonic characteristics I felt so sure I'd heard disappeared and I couldn't for the life of me distinguish the sound from the cheap power cord.That doesn't sound like a double blind test, so the results aren't scientifically valid. ... when I actually decided to just trust my ears, not my eyes, the high end cable didn't pass that test.Even though the test wasn't scientific, you can't accurately say that the cable "failed" the test. The purpose of a listening test is to determine whether - under the specific circumstances of the test - a difference is detected by a given listener or listeners. The test is only a "failure" if for whatever reason the listener is unable to make a choice one way or the other. |
tobor007 Why not get 10 sample audiophiles who have a history of posting here and have a listening study. Location could be at an agreed on audio show ... Blind test ... The losers get a audiophile t-shirt ...I’ve suggested this several times, and agree that an audio show would be good place to conduct a scientifically valid, double-blind listening test. The problem is that few audiophiles seem to have an interest in participating in such tests, which to be fair are typically time consuming and tedious. Most of the contributors here who clamor for blind testing do so as a red herring - they’re not really interested in such tests and if they were, they’d have conducted a few and would share the conditions of the test and results with others here. By the way, there is no "loser" in an audio listening test, because a listening test is not designed to test the listener. For that, you see an audiologist. |
@jea48 haha! It did not happen, but we tried. @djones51 I’ve heard that a power cable needs to be at least a minimum length to have a good effect, say 5’ or more. I don’t understand why but it makes sense to me that there would be a shortest length which has an effect. I don’t think a 1/8” long power cable will do much good. @geoffkait I agree it can’t all be psychological bias. I have too many personal experiences that tell me something else is going on (in many instances). I remember when I was exploring different speaker wire gauges, dielectrics, and geometries. Many times I hooked up the cables and expected a positive improvement and got it. Then I hooked up a cable that I was so confident would be the best yet and I hooked it up and it sucked the life out of the treble. Still convinced I had a good cable, I tried it again and again at different times of the day, in different moods, and after some burn-in and even after trying to trick myself that it was better sounding - it just wasn’t. I ripped it out and went back to my original cables. In no subtle manner, the sound was back to enjoyable with lively treble. There is a zero percent chance that what I experienced was “all in my head.” |
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