Can We Hear Differences Between AC Power Cords?

[vintage_dog]

only a fool believes that power cord affects the sound quality of amplifiers. focus on the quality of your components.

this is a sweeping statement and uncalled for in the forums.

please refrain from making such statements. if you do not believe in certain things/procedures/claims made by others, just state so without labeling folks as fools or anything else.

respect for others' opinions is expected from all posters in the WS forums.

[jonas]

fool is not a vulgar word it is even used in the bible.
even gago is not vulgar. it means a person who can not make his own decision.

just because a word is used in the bible doesnt mean it is proper to use in everyday language and in a moderated forum such as wired state. i know doctors who cannot make their own decisions but i would never call them gago in a public forum. i think that's were breeding comes in.

[JackD201]

arnoldc, I know it's a poll but I was thinking that the views being presented in both threads are of the general nature anyway. Na OT na from the XLO. Aside from all the "fool"-ishness, sorry, I couldn't resist the pun, combined threads would be really more interesting and insightful with the XLO as the case study for the general question "Can you hear the difference...?". Just my suggestion, ofcourse it's up to you guys to decide and implement.

Thank you arnoldc, mozilla, and vintage dog.

and guys, i like the position on flamers. Pagsabihan pero huwag nang patulan pa.

[arnoldc]

jack, got you. unfortunately, i don't have jurisdiction on these sections.

moz, you can split the posts into another. so split mo yung dito to a new topic, tapos split mo yung nasa XLO to that newly created topic. so we keep the XLO review "clean."

[JackD201]

Sounds perfect arnoldc! Hassle ba yon Moz?

[mozilla]

No hassle. Except that only VD as admin can do that...

[arnoldc]

moz, pwede ka mag split into a new or existing thread. lower left yung icon.

[mozilla]

Sorry what I meant was I don't have rights in the section where the XLO thread is..

[stereophile]

validate first your procedures before you claim that your power cord improves the quality of sound. remember this is a forum not all members are simple minded.

Since the mods cannot merge the threads, let me 'cross-over' to this side of the fence:

gabrieldoremi- Do state the following, so other WS members can replicate/verify your stand:
1- Review equipment you use/used, wherein you claim changing power cords has no effect on the amplifiers, and what powercords you have tried in that set-up. Do state the gauge of the silver wire you used, the brand/source of the silverwire, other components(termination, filters, sheath material, insulation, length, etc) used for the DIY cable you recommend. You can find the specs of the XLO PC I reviewed in the XLO website. I posted in the other forum the associated equipment used when I reviewed the XLO Signature power cords.
2- the 'validating procedures' you use/used to evaluate the power cords and to claim it has no effect on the amps
3- What is the minimum level of 'quality' of equipment/components that a WS member should concentrate on which will provide the sonic difference powercords cannot achieve.
4- verification of your claim by other observers/listeners using the same equipment/set-up at the same time you auditioned the power cords.

I do believe that my request is not 'foolish', but rather sensible and scientific. This will allow the other members of WS to have a better grip on the matter. Replication & validation of the results/test procedures by peers is the cornerstone of any scientific research. I'm sure a lot of us are intrigued and eager to learn the 'mathematical formulas' you refer to as the parameter by which to measure musical excellence. Do enlighten me and other members. I hope you can spare the time to post it either in this thread or the other forum.

[pinoy_usa8]

only a fool believes that power cord affects the sound quality of amplifiers. focus on the quality of your components.

This is the REALITY, if WE only can afford, for this "UPGRADE FEVER", from gears to cables and POWER CORDS, specifically then WE are all believer. Come to think, some audiophile-peps spending mega bucks for this power cords. from NBS Omega, PS Audio, Acoustic Zen, Tara, Nordost, Concierto, Audience & Synergistic,..to mention the few??
Power Cords to us is nothing but an additional cost,..but hey,..we forgot something here,.. These are the first flow of current running to our expensive gears.
Is it worth to protect it? yes? no? do you want a clean current running to your system?
Well, all the answers are yours.
I am a true believer on cables & power cords.
botyok

[Donlovejoy]

pinoy_usa8

"This is the REALITY, if WE only can afford, for this "UPGRADE FEVER", from gears to cables and POWER CORDS, specifically then WE are all believer. Come to think, some audiophile-peps spending mega bucks for this power cords. from NBS Omega, PS Audio, Acoustic Zen, Tara, Nordost, Concierto, Audience & Synergistic,..to mention the few??
Power Cords to us is nothing but an additional cost,..but hey,..we forgot something here,.. These are the first flow of current running to our expensive gears.
Is it worth to protect it? yes? no? do you want a clean current running to your system?
Well, all the answers are yours.
I am a true believer on cables & power cords.
botyok"

Amen to that and as a matter of fact listed below are the power cords i used in my system:
Electraglide
Transparent
Van den Hul

[SoFtCliPpEr]

SNAKE OIL merchants will have you believe you will.

However if it did make a BIG diff for the better..what's stopping anybody from buying the cheapest bad sounding gear in the expectation that the AC Power cords will carry the day for them?

It's all baloney really but that doesn't mean I won't use them for my own personal reasons hehe pm me if you wanna know why I use em.

[jadis]

In most components I have tested, power cords DO make a difference.
The thing is, is does not alway sound to my liking in each component I
put it on. Patience is needed to try each power cord brand or model
to each component, be it DAC, pre amp, amp or phono stage. In my
experiments, MIT z cord 1 is better fitted to my amp and it won't work well
in other parts of my system while their z2 works vice-versa. I try not
to find a technical explanation to this and simply play music on them.

Last week a friend lent me the expensive MIT AC1 power cord, and
upon replacing it with the z cord in my amp, the overall sound became
smoother and the grain was lessened. The next question becomes, is the
cable worth its value vis a vis the sound improvement? I use isolation
transformers, power wedge, tripplite in my system bec they all give me
improvements, although small, but likable to my ears. Long time ago,
there was a white paper written by the people of TICE Audio, makers of
such noise filtering device...I guess it shows that even the power outlets
of the USA is not that clean either....

[JackD201]

Mods please move to Tech Archive. Tnx guys!

[audiophyte]

i didn't not hear any difference but rather solved a recurring annoying trouble in my tube amp...

two weeks ago, been listening to about 2 hours when suddenly i noticed that the sound is losing the bass and mids... so i increased the volume but then again the sound remained thin. i turned off the amp, let it cool down and checked the tubes... i had all the tubes tested and they were all very strong...im not surprised because the amp is only about 4 months and bought it brand new. went home then and listened again for 3 hours when the same thing happened again. it was already bugging me off that i almost sold the amp that day!

to my disappointment, i went out...passed by HMR and accidentally saw a very dirty power cord of gauge 14....bought it at P99.00 only! ... went to ayala center to windows shop. as soon as i went home, i cleaned first the cord i bought with Ajax and Scothbrite (nice plugging there!) and the power cord was back to its bnew look...replaced the stock Gauge 22 (i guess) power cord of the amp with this P99.00 power cord, clamped on both ends with TDK ferrite magnet.

didn't hear a jaw-dropping difference (which i expected) in sound BUT... the big BUT was that till then up to now, the recurring losing of bass and mid immediately ceased.

no difference in sound per my exprience but a better power cord will definitely avoid hassles in the future.

[rascal101]

On a clean AC source there should be no difference. If you have switching power supplies all around you and you have a 20KHz or lower noise (generated by switching power supply) happens to ride on your signal you're f**ked. You need to verify this though as a great majority of switching power supplies switch at 40KHz up. Also Meralco doesn't supply a clean AC signal. Worst case maybe 5% distortion? Shouldn't be a problem with a good or moderately good linear power supply.

What to do? EMI filter at the AC inlet - 1uF X2 cap line to neutral and about 3.3nF Y2 cap at the line to earth and neutral to earth. Cost on materials, about Php 100. Labor cost or hassle to solder???

Bottom line, on a clean or modestly clean AC source NO DIFFERENCE. I would like to hear your objective assesment on this statement. Test results, simulation results, calculation and objective argumentation are welcome.

[rascal101]

validate first your procedures before you claim that your power cord improves the quality of sound. remember this is a forum not all members are simple minded.

Since the mods cannot merge the threads, let me 'cross-over' to this side of the fence:

gabrieldoremi- Do state the following, so other WS members can replicate/verify your stand:
1- Review equipment you use/used, wherein you claim changing power cords has no effect on the amplifiers, and what powercords you have tried in that set-up. Do state the gauge of the silver wire you used, the brand/source of the silverwire, other components(termination, filters, sheath material, insulation, length, etc) used for the DIY cable you recommend. You can find the specs of the XLO PC I reviewed in the XLO website. I posted in the other forum the associated equipment used when I reviewed the XLO Signature power cords.
2- the 'validating procedures' you use/used to evaluate the power cords and to claim it has no effect on the amps
3- What is the minimum level of 'quality' of equipment/components that a WS member should concentrate on which will provide the sonic difference powercords cannot achieve.
4- verification of your claim by other observers/listeners using the same equipment/set-up at the same time you auditioned the power cords.

I do believe that my request is not 'foolish', but rather sensible and scientific. This will allow the other members of WS to have a better grip on the matter. Replication & validation of the results/test procedures by peers is the cornerstone of any scientific research. I'm sure a lot of us are intrigued and eager to learn the 'mathematical formulas' you refer to as the parameter by which to measure musical excellence. Do enlighten me and other members. I hope you can spare the time to post it either in this thread or the other forum.

Would like to hear how can a subjective stand improve musicality too. Also would like to understand why none of the safety agencies UL, FCC, CISPR, Nemko etc advocate use of this power cords. Conducted and radiated EMI are tested up to 1000MHz. They do advocate an EMI filter though but NOT on the cable. Maybe you could shed some light. Only see justification in "audiophile" companies. Girls have better hearing than boys maybe we should ask them?

[tony]

hmmm...what's in a power cord? two or three copper wires with pvc insulation!

the big question is why should they make any audible difference at all?

ano kasalanan nung pobreng cable to merit such attention and hype?