1. Home
  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. 
mkgus
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
And what about when the new, exciting expensive gizmo fails, and is clearly no better, or even worthless? What then stevecham? All your notions of why... go right down the drain.  
I certainly have returned new ,expensive stuff because it failed to impress. Including DAC, interconnect, power cord.       
And kept stuff because yeah it is better.   

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
jetter852 posts01-20-2019 1:23pmGeoffkait (resident directionality guru), would you think that a manufacturer supplied power cable where the cable is made with the correct directionality would sound better or worse than a mega priced aftermarket PC made with the cable having the incorrect directionality but supposedly better construction/materials?

I have no idea. Too many variables. 😬
french_fries
735 posts
 
I have had problems with overly BRIGHT aftermarket power cables. So I went back to the Belden cable that came with the amplifier and the sound became smoother and less harsh. I feel a well shielded power cable is more than adequate unless you have other issues with a component. Interconnects do have (IMO) more of an apparent effect on
sound quality, but I always find that the "fancier" the wire, the "more everything" comes out of the speakers.  Wire does not suppress the bad- it accentuates the good and the bad. And not by a mile, but perhaps a few yards. The quality of the recording is #1. #2 is the source component. And so on. The other end of the chain are your speakers.
Not forgetting your room of course. I auditioned a system in a mirror-filled room once and had to advise someone whether or not to buy a fairly decent pair of speakers. What could I tell him? The guy selling them used headphones anyway (!) What a joke. 
stevecham
3,298 posts
 
@elizabeth:

And that happens sometimes, doesn’t it? But note how it still doesn’t get us off the slippery slope of G.A.S. because we are addicted to our own positive reinforcements (adrenalin, endorphins) and will keep trying until we get our "fix." Also, there are times when something is inferior and we do something about it, and that, too, is positive reinforcement. One way or the other, we feed our addictions. We’re hard wired to do so.

I still think the technical reason for some power cables sounding better than others is reduction of noise floor and/or rejection of RF and other EM garbage.
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
After years of experimenting with conditioners, power cords.. and of late outlets. I am claiming there is some undefined aspect I call the thickness. or tightness or density or fuzzyness no one has measured in the AC power, (because no one has LOOKED FOR IT) that CAN change what the miles if wired give you ... in the last two meters,Some day I hope my notion is discovered....
.
More to discover