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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
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
dentdog                                            
I have a 23 ft (7 meter) length from preamp to amp. XLR. and yes I can easily hear the differences in the cables I have used for it. Years ago, Kimber PBJ. Then  about 9 years ago Kimber Hero. Four years ago a complete fail of Cadas Parsec. (great at 1 meter, terrible at 7m) Then home made with Kimber wire, then two years ago i went for a $3,200 Kimber KS1116 XLR pair. best sound by far.              
And I am upgrading power cords and can hear each type as I upgrade. Your experience may vary. But all of it is hyped, both for and against. Sadly, you just have to figure it out on your own. Best advice... Use your OWN EARS. decide for yourself.
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
82 posts
 
@jea48 I really appreciated those quotes you posted. Thanks! With my power cables, I notice more slam/weight to the bass (which could be caused by the stock cord limiting current) and I notice cleaner treble (perhaps caused by issues with high frequency current limiting and it’s increased IMD). 
gpgr4blu
810 posts
 
I can tell the difference between stock power cords and say, Audience, Audioquest or Shunyata high end cables--all of which I have, had or listened to in my system at length. I hear better and tighter bass, better microdynamics, dimensionality and pace or some combination of most of the above in all of them. These high end PCs all differ in character but all exceed, on balance, what stock cords bring to the table.
I often fail to hear differences in tweaks to my system but I hear the differences in PCs and ICs as clearly as I can hear the differences in room treatments. If others cannot hear these differences and rely upon the limited universe of existing measurements that don’t come close to measuring all aspects of human hearing, good for them--they can use lamp cord and save thousands of dollars on expensive PCs or ICs.
As for me, I’ll keep listening to my expensive PCs and ICs and enjoy the differences that they bring. There is no measurement that will convince me that I'm hearing 
mzkmxcv
558 posts
 
@gpgr4blu  
 
I wont argue about what someone else hears or doesn’t hear, but: 
 
limited universe of existing measurements that don’t come close to measuring all aspects of human hearing
 
I find this interesting. What do you think measurements can’t capture? I’m not talking preferences, but simply measuring: frequency response, THD, IMD, dynamic compression/linearity, crosstalk, channel mismatch, phase mismatch, noise floor, impulse, spectral decay, etc.
gpgr4blu
810 posts
 
@mzkmxcv:
Timbre, texture of sound, the presence or absence of easily heard vs buried microdynamics in a passage, imaging and, most importantly, whether the music sounds natural and rhythmic and engages one emotionally or is presented in a mechanical and metronomic fashion. Indeed, we only have measurements for characteristics of sound which are within our knowledge. Not to dismiss measurements. They are important--for example I don't think an amp can sound good if it measures poorly, but an amp that measures well doesn't necessarily sound good at all. 

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