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
Mr. Smarty Pants, shielding on power cords doesn’t actually do anything when the rf is coming in on the conductor along with the current. Hel-loo!

The primary psychological phenomenon appears to be that naysayers have psyched themselves out.
geoffkait13,658 posts01-21-2019 7:06am

, shielding on power cords doesn’t actually do anything when the rf is coming in on the conductor along with the current. Hel-loo!


Except the shield will stop EMI/RFI from passing through the jacket of the power cord and being induced on ICs and speaker cables that are in close proximity of the power cord.

A simple test to check how well shielding will prevent EMI/RFI from radiating from a power cord is with a signal receiver probe. Just hold the probe next to the power cable outer jacket. If unshielded you will clearly hear the 60Hz magnetic field. You can also hear harmonics that may be on the AC line, like a light dimmer.

Next conduct the same test on a shielded power cord. Depending on how well the cord is shielded there is a good chance you will not hear any sound, noise, from the probe receiver.

Example of a Tone and Probe Tracing Kit.
https://www.amazon.com/Greenlee-701K-G-Professional-Probe-Tracing/dp/B0042VII7A?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_3

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Obviously, the simplest solution is to keep power cords away from cables. Problem solved!
Of course, the real question is, is shielding on power cords per se bad for the sound, all things being equal? Apparently, shielding can affect the Sound when used for speaker cables and interconnects. Why not for power cords?
geoffkait13,659 posts01-21-2019 8:27am


Of course, the real question is, is shielding on power cords per se bad for the sound, all things being equal? Apparently, shielding can affect the Sound when used for speaker cables and interconnects. Why not for power cords?

From my limited listening experiences shielding can greatly have an impact on the SQ of an audio system. If not done correctly it can dull, for a better word, the sound. It’s like throwing a blanket over the speakers. To much sucks the air from the music.
The same effect, from my experimenting years ago, with clamp on ferrites.

And yes, that includes power cords.

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