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Power Cords Snake Oil ??

Having been a long time audiophile living with countless high end compnents I have to wonder about the theory and practicality of high end power cords.

I have yet to hear the difference a power cord makes. Ive owned, synergistic, Shunyata, BMI and cardas. I in no way can detect any sonic signature or change. Give me a pair of interconnects and I imeadiately notice a difference somewhere in the sonic spectrum. Not the PC though. I have accomplished 4 blind tests with my friends. 3 out of the 4 they did not know their cord was replaced. All 4 were using a stock factory supplied cord. Each of the 4 tests were done on different components. Amp, CDP, Preamp & dac.

My electrical backround tells me that provided you supply the component with its required voltage bet 110vac or 220/240vac its happy. Now, change the incoming frequency from 60hz to say 53hz and watch how quickly your soundstage collapses.! This is often the case during the summer months when home air conditioners are in use and the utility company power output is taxed to the max. A really good power conditioner should however take care of the frequency fluctuations. But 110vac is still 110vac regardless of the conductor it passes through as long as its remains 110vac when it reaches the intended circuit. Does your 8k amp or preamp know the difference of the path the voltage took to reach it ? Many an audiophile will use a dedicated 20amp circut for their equipment.That is a good idea as voltage & frequency fluctuations will occur in the home circuit to to other loads on the main breaker panel but again, A power cord simply is the means of transporting the voltage from the wall to the component. IF there is a clean 110vac @ 60hz at the wall socket, no matter what the medium is to go from the socket to the component, it will still be 110vac @60hz.

Could somebody expand on this a bit more. I just dont understand it. ??
jetmek
corona
132 posts
 
Flex:
In my 45 years of audio I have seen an endless stream of proofs or “White Papers” that had nothing to do with the performance of the product; almost all were based on educated hype. There is an old saying in audio: “If it tests good and sounds bad it’s bad; if it tests bad and sounds good it’s good.” The truth is if we won the Nobel Prize for Physics you would then be saying: “Physics theory has nothing to do with great sound”.
S 23 Chang:
It took a long time to develop this technology. As you have stated, explaining it without giving away the farm is a challenge. Another problem, the explanation keeps moving. As we learn more about how it works the new understanding it invalidates part of the old explanation, I am sure you are familiar with this part of the learning curve.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Corona: I think people basically *are* saying theoretical physics has nothing to do with great sound.

Give me a jingle the next time a Nobel Prize winner decides to go into the audiophile cable business...
danlib1
819 posts
 
Uh, I think Zaikesman just wrapped this thread up.
corona
132 posts
 
Zaikesman:
I think you missed the point.
flex
292 posts
 
>Corona says:
“If it tests good and sounds bad it’s bad"

In other words, you didn't know how to test what you were hearing

>Corona says:
"if it tests bad and sounds good it’s good.”

In other words, you didn't know how to test what you were hearing

>Corona says:
"The truth is if we won the Nobel Prize for Physics you would then be saying: “Physics theory has nothing to do with great sound”. "

If you won the Nobel Prize, you would have gone through exactly the process I outlined. You would have published your work and proved to the satisfaction of others the correlations between sound and physical phenomena.

Obviously there are engineering, physics, and psychoacoustic phenomena behind what we hear. However demonstrating that something sounds one way or another is no proof of underlying physics. Like the majority of pc makers, you can sell your products based on sound, but if you are going to claim physical reasons that stand on any merit, you are going to have to provide evidence. Handwaving at theoretical physics is specious logic.

On white papers, there are about 80 years of work in audio that is firmly grounded in published measurement and engineering theory.
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