[JRG1990]

Quote:

I don't see how anyone can tell you that a different power cord will or will not make a difference. I don't know which component you have, and neither does Patrick.
 
What I can tell you is most CD players have a 1 amp fuse, designated by "1A". This will be marked both on the component and the fuse itself. What this means is the component operates at less than 1 amp of current flow. If something ever goes wrong inside the component, which causes it to draw more than 1 amp, the fuse element ( a very small wire in the fuse), will melt and disconnect.
 
Now this has nothing to do with the sound of power cords on a component. Why they sound different is unknown so far.
 
On one of my CD players, an 8 gauge cord sounds the best. Second best is a 14 gauge cord. Both of these are made by JPS Labs. The third best is another 8 gauge cord by another manufacturer. Interestingly, one of the worst sounding cords is a solid core 8 gauge.
 
What I am getting at is, the gauge of the cord is only one factor in the design. And even if all the other factors are known, there is still no way of knowing how the cord will sound... until you plug it in and listen to it.
 
Most of all, don't listen to "know it alls", that really know nothing pertinent, and who tell you its all imagination.
 
The best sounding cord will be rewarding for your investment, but you will just have to try a few, maybe many.

 
Mine was for my edifer s730, the speakers would hiss alot and at lower volumes the hiss was louder than the music, i found out the hiss was coming from the power and i didn't want to risk changing the sound for the worst with a cheap conditioner so i got a heaily sheilded power cord, it did the job and the hiss almost completly dissappeared it is no longer audioble unless you put your ear to the speakers, the sub gained a little bit more bass power, and more defintion and fullness to the bass notes, it also sped up it was quite a slow responing sub before but isn't any more, the bookshelfs speakers gained a bit more midrange and midrange thump, and the highs were clearler now the hiss was almost gone, together as a system with the custom power cord, the sound is strangley much more immersive and it's not like that with the standard cord, i will stick with the cord i got i can't be bothered to try anymore, because i have to plug my audio gear into a extension block i did buy a silver plated audio grade mains block which has 2m of Belden 19364 cord and a silver plated mk tough plug, it provided small improvements to sound in the same way as my custom power cord, for my soundcard m-audio audiophile usb i got a 9v psu from a numark mixer it has much thicker gauge wire and is of much better quality i re-terminated it with a mk silver plated tough plug and added ferrite clamps, now the m-audio has alot fuller sound and more detail in the lower frequences it takes it up a few more levels in terms of soun dquality , custom power cords how worked really well for me so far, and i can't normally hear a difference between cables, usb cables all sound pretty much the same to me, so does speaker cable and other analog  interconnects.

 

[JerryLove]

Perhaps we should put real numbers on these? What percentage of lands are read as pits (or vice-versa) on an individual power cord?
 
If we ever start putting CD / DVD / BD in computers, even a single misread bit has a good chance of causing a complete failure. For there to be something audiable: the power-cord must be introducing at least several a second. I actually do have software that monitors for soft read errors. It's odd, on clean disks the rate is 0. (and consumer audio CD players have been using computer CD-ROM hardware for years... it prevents skipping on most disks).
 
Perhaps the problem wasn't in the read laser? Perhaps the problem is in the digital media converter. We see that in my world too. In fact, I use an ethernet-fiber converter to run a trunk to the other side of the house... similar to the optical cable on your CD (though mine does error-check). How many errors do you think I'll see per second with a random power cord?
 
What? Not there? Well, many CDs are connecting HDMI these days. Turns out my computer has one of those too (they are, it seems, just DVI with extra signals added). Shall I search my monitor for off-color pixels?
 
Odd. So many places that even the smallest of errors would call attention to itself and there's no evidence at all. It's almost as though (reasonably built) power cables don't affect the systems at all... and by almost I mean "clearly and exactly"

 

[kboe]

 
 
Isn't this kinda like a food critic saying he doesn't trust his own taste buds, but you should believe him when he says all burgers taste the same?  

 

[JerryLove]

Quote:

 
 
Isn't this kinda like a food critic saying he doesn't trust his own taste buds, but you should believe him when he says all burgers taste the same?  

 
Umm. No?
 
How is pointing out that the number of read errors caused by power cables is "zero" like a food critic discussing hamburgers?
 
How is pointing out that the change in the bitstream caused by power cables is "zero" like a food critic discussing hamburgers?
 
No. I think this is more like someone saying that McDonald's hamburger is bigger than Chili's hamburger when we can easily measure that it's not.

 

[JRG1990]

I think the custom power cords work by, giving a smoother flow of eletricity and being sheilded from interference, i found a graph somewhere showing that these custom cords offer a smoother flow of eletricity il see if i can find it.

 

[kboe]

Opps, sorry. I was not referencing your post specifically JerryLove, but the argument that one can not trust ones own ears.  Should've made that more clear, my bad.  That I posted it after yours didn't help either.

 

[JerryLove]

Oh. My mistake. Carry on

 

[Mdraluck23]

I have no experience with custom power cables, but IMHO, it seems like the differences they would make would be soooo very minimal that a "Review" would be near impossible. If you are hearing such large, discernable differences markl, then thats great for you!

 

[minimus]

Quote:

I have no experience with custom power cables, but IMHO, it seems like the differences they would make would be soooo very minimal that a "Review" would be near impossible. If you are hearing such large, discernable differences markl, then thats great for you!

 

It depends on your definition of minimal.  I have found that power cord and interconnect changes can have as big an impact on the sound signature of equipment as rolling  tubes. For example, I found that a Black Sand Violet power cord that cost me $125 did more to improve the sound of my Singlepower Extreme than the replacement of Sylvania 6SN7s ($80 a pair) with Mullard ECC32 (around $575 a pair).

 

[Mdraluck23]

Well, I understand that when you get down to it, going for a 1% increase on a 99/100 rig that already costs $5,000 could cost you ~200 in power cords. It just seems, to my limited experiences, that the difference would be almost subliminal at that point.

 

[minimus]

Not quite subliminal.  I will give you an example...since Kaplan power cords are highly regarded on Audiogon, I called a dealer (TweekGeek.com) who offers a 30-day trial on everything he sells, including Kaplan power cords.  I found that the Kaplan power cord -- at $600 or so -- sounded thin and somewhat fatiguing compared to the Black Sand power cord.  Maybe my subconscious was urging me to return the more expensive power cord, I don't know, but I definitely thought the Black Sand power cord sounded a lot better than the Kaplan power cord, rather than improving sound quality by only 1%. 
 
But I do agree with you that playing around with power cords only makes sense if you have pretty good component equipment.  Spending more than a few percent of your total budget on such things is generally a bad idea.

 

[Mdraluck23]

O.K.
 
But a power cord doesn't carry any music signal. How could It change a "sound"? It could supply a cleaner signal to your amp. Doesn't an amp do exactly that though, clean the signal/supply power? A power cord helps supply SUPER CLEANED electricity? Why not extend the review to determine what else is hooked up to your outlet and what lights are on etc. 
 
I am willing to accept that it could make a difference. I guess I'd just love to hear it at some point in my life! I doubt a new power cable would improve my laptop's SQ....   

 

[PhaedraCorruption]

I recently aquired a 2m Cardas Golden Power Cable and I'm wondering if I should be hooking it up to my Parasound DAC or my Matrix-M Stage? I understand that the cable probobly is a no brainer to be hooking up to gear like this, but I have no other use for it and don't intend to sell it. From what I read in the review, it would be best to hook it up to the DAC which is connected to my PC, but in other posts, like Mdraluck23's, the argument is that the power cord should be hooked up to your amp. Any ideas?
 
 
 
 

 

[Mdraluck23]

Quote:

I recently aquired a 2m Cardas Golden Power Cable and I'm wondering if I should be hooking it up to my Parasound DAC or my Matrix-M Stage? I understand that the cable probobly is a no brainer to be hooking up to gear like this, but I have no other use for it and don't intend to sell it. From what I read in the review, it would be best to hook it up to the DAC which is connected to my PC, but in other posts, like Mdraluck23's, the argument is that the power cord should be hooked up to your amp. Any ideas?
 
 
 
 

I thought it was amp.... If it isn't then I have no idea what I'm saying.

 

[Snips]

Since we're on the topic of power cords, anyone here have heard of or used Telos Audio power cables?