2. cables
  3. 141153-122613

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. 
128x128mkgus
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
Thanks people! My question is why are the cables cost more than some components. I am not a newbie just was a question for pondering. I actually build my own components (complete line will be out in 2019).

And that is the crux of the matter for me. The cost/benefit ratio is just not there unless you DIY. For the money, you would be better off buying multiple low-end Furman power conditioners and isolating your equipment into groups.

Best,
E


stuff_jones
64 posts
 
It seems strange to ask a question and request that the full range of answers not be given. 
vair68robert's avatar
vair68robert
102 posts
 

I can't believe that insulting those who have heard differences between power cords or
by saying that it's our imagination because we spent money therefore 
it must be better makes for intelligent conversation .

"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. "

from mkgus's original post !

Happy Holidays



nonoise's avatar
nonoise
4,382 posts
 
I can’t believe that insulting those who have heard differences between power cords or
by saying that it’s our imagination because we spent money therefore
it must be better makes for intelligent conversation .
It’s become a favorite pastime for some once they realized they couldn’t convince us otherwise. Repeatedly. It’s no longer about the cables.

All the best,
Nonoise

glupson
1,794 posts
 
bigkidz,


"...if you can use a soldering device, most of the time you wouldn’t look for a cable or cord first to tune in your system."

It may not be directly related to why people sometimes obsess with cables but many are not that good with actual manual work inside of some piece. In fact, to them (us) it is kind of intimidating to see what is inside. I opened one component yesterday to change a hard drive. No soldering, just four easy screws. Still, I was very happy that most of the parts were relatively far from that hard drive. I did, just for the heck of it, change the direction of one of the fuses, though. That is as far as I could go with fiddling inside. You are, obviously, way more advanced than me and, I suspect, than many here who talk about these things. I doubt that is the main reason for cable industry blooming, but may have a little bit to do with it.
More to discover