[Allanmarcus]

This appears to be a pretty good article on the topic of shielding and vales in general
 
http://www.empiricalaudio.com/computer-audio/technical-papers/myths-and-snake-oil
 
some interesting other technical papers there too.

 

[Mediahound]

  This appears to be a pretty good article on the topic of shielding and vales in general
 
http://www.empiricalaudio.com/computer-audio/technical-papers/myths-and-snake-oil
 
some interesting other technical papers there too.

I can't get behind the information in this link. They state that standard power cables are no good then say buy ours instead (I think they used to sell power cables but don't any more). They also talk around in circles, contradicting themselves, seemingly on purpose to confuse readers,  stating things like shielding on a power cord is probably not good but it does actually protect against interference, without concluding that shielding done right is probably good. 

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

  This appears to be a pretty good article on the topic of shielding and vales in general
 
http://www.empiricalaudio.com/computer-audio/technical-papers/myths-and-snake-oil
 
some interesting other technical papers there too.

I can't get behind the information in this link. They state that standard power cables are no good then say buy ours instead (I think they used to sell power cables but don't any more). They also talk around in circles, contradicting themselves, seemingly on purpose to confuse readers,  stating things like shielding on a power cord is probably not good but it does actually protect against interference, without concluding that shielding done right is probably good. 

Here are the take aways that I got from the article:
 

1. Shielding a power cable is unadvisable. It will add significant capacitance to the cable with minimal positive benefit.
2. Empirical (that is their company name) testing has shown that standard shielded 14 gauge stranded power cord sounds less dynamic than unshielded 14 gauge stranded cord when used with audio components that benefit from improved cords.
3. Better Power Outlets might be useful, and may not cost that much for the one or two outlets used by audio equipment. 
4. Even in high-RF urban environments, shielding of interconnects is prudent, but not usually necessary.
5. Shielding of speaker cables is a waste of money and will probably compromise their performance
6. Shielding of power cables serves no useful purpose
7. Ferrites not recommended for interconnects
8. Ferrites on speaker cables might be useful, but know what your are doing
9. power line voltage should be sufficiently filtered by the input transformer and filter capacitors in a well-designed audio component so that an AC filter will be of little benefit.
10. Active Power Conditioners might be useful.

 
All in all, I agree with the title of the article; it busts some myths.

 

[Mediahound]

  Here are the take aways that I got from the article:
 

1. Shielding a power cable is unadvisable. It will add significant capacitance to the cable with minimal positive benefit.
2. Empirical (that is their company name) testing has shown that standard shielded 14 gauge stranded power cord sounds less dynamic than unshielded 14 gauge stranded cord when used with audio components that benefit from improved cords.
3. Better Power Outlets might be useful, and may not cost that much for the one or two outlets used by audio equipment. 
4. Even in high-RF urban environments, shielding of interconnects is prudent, but not usually necessary.
5. Shielding of speaker cables is a waste of money and will probably compromise their performance
6. Shielding of power cables serves no useful purpose
7. Ferrites not recommended for interconnects
8. Ferrites on speaker cables might be useful, but know what your are doing
9. power line voltage should be sufficiently filtered by the input transformer and filter capacitors in a well-designed audio component so that an AC filter will be of little benefit.
10. Active Power Conditioners might be useful.

 
All in all, I agree with the title of the article; it busts some myths.

You're only 'taking away' these points because the link is telling you what you want to hear, not because of any actual empirical evidence. 

 

[Allanmarcus]

 

  Here are the take aways that I got from the article:
 

1. Shielding a power cable is unadvisable. It will add significant capacitance to the cable with minimal positive benefit.
2. Empirical (that is their company name) testing has shown that standard shielded 14 gauge stranded power cord sounds less dynamic than unshielded 14 gauge stranded cord when used with audio components that benefit from improved cords.
3. Better Power Outlets might be useful, and may not cost that much for the one or two outlets used by audio equipment. 
4. Even in high-RF urban environments, shielding of interconnects is prudent, but not usually necessary.
5. Shielding of speaker cables is a waste of money and will probably compromise their performance
6. Shielding of power cables serves no useful purpose
7. Ferrites not recommended for interconnects
8. Ferrites on speaker cables might be useful, but know what your are doing
9. power line voltage should be sufficiently filtered by the input transformer and filter capacitors in a well-designed audio component so that an AC filter will be of little benefit.
10. Active Power Conditioners might be useful.

 
All in all, I agree with the title of the article; it busts some myths.

You're only 'taking away' these points because the link is telling you what you want to hear, not because of any actual empirical evidence. 

ok, that's only valid because it's true.
 
Seems like evidenced based information is hard to come by for this topic. I suppose an alternative way of looking at that statement is that evidence that shows a power cable can improve sound is hard to come by.

 

[Mediahound]

 
ok, that's only valid because it's true.
 
Seems like evidenced based information is hard to come by for this topic. I suppose an alternative way of looking at that statement is that evidence that shows a power cable can improve sound is hard to come by.

I agree. Trying to get back to the topic you were originally interested in of how to test for this is the conumdrum though.  
 
A blind test is good but as I posted above somewhere, there are in fact people who can consistently tell a difference between cheap stock power cords and audio ones. 

 

[castleofargh]

 

 
ok, that's only valid because it's true.
 
Seems like evidenced based information is hard to come by for this topic. I suppose an alternative way of looking at that statement is that evidence that shows a power cable can improve sound is hard to come by.

I agree. Trying to get back to the topic you were originally interested in of how to test for this is the conumdrum though.  
 
A blind test is good but as I posted above somewhere, there are in fact people who can consistently tell a difference between cheap stock power cords and audio ones. 

are there actual tests done that way? was the "audio" power cables a simple shielded ones or did it do more?
is the evidence of a difference, evidence of which cable had the better sound?
is evidence of some differences in a given situation, evidence that there would be a difference at my house?
 
when we're talking about stuff protecting against a problem, we have to remember that if we don't have that specific problem(or at a magnitude that isn't audibly significant), the possibility of the "protection" doing worst than a random cable may be very real(like taking medication for troubles we don't have. they may be great when we have the problem, but that's it. be it shielding, galvanization, power conditioner, etc etc.
 
I've already suggested it, what's wrong with recording signals and music using both kinds of cables, and then looking at the actual differences on the sound?  you're trying to make a case for how a power cable can improve audio, but none of those videos are actually looking at the audio signal getting out of devices. don't you find this a little suspicious? I sure do.
again I'm not saying that problems do not exist and that some products can't treat those problems. but if doing X meant improving audio fidelity in an audible way, it should be trivial to measure that improvement in the actual audio signal. everything else, to me at least, is blowing wind.

 

[Mediahound]

  are there actual tests done that way? was the "audio" power cables a simple shielded ones or did it do more?
is the evidence of a difference, evidence of which cable had the better sound?
is evidence of some differences in a given situation, evidence that there would be a difference at my house?
 
when we're talking about stuff protecting against a problem, we have to remember that if we don't have that specific problem(or at a magnitude that isn't audibly significant), the possibility of the "protection" doing worst than a random cable may be very real(like taking medication for troubles we don't have. they may be great when we have the problem, but that's it. be it shielding, galvanization, power conditioner, etc etc.
 
I've already suggested it, what's wrong with recording signals and music using both kinds of cables, and then looking at the actual differences on the sound?  you're trying to make a case for how a power cable can improve audio, but none of those videos are actually looking at the audio signal getting out of devices. don't you find this a little suspicious? I sure do.
again I'm not saying that problems do not exist and that some products can't treat those problems. but if doing X meant improving audio fidelity in an audible way, it should be trivial to measure that improvement in the actual audio signal. everything else, to me at least, is blowing wind.

Why do we keep getting off topic here? The question is how to test for differences in power cables, not whether or not we think or feel there are or should be differences, or not. 

 

[Peridot]

Why do we keep getting off topic here? The question is how to test for differences in power cables, not whether or not we think or feel there are or should be differences, or not. 

 
You appear to read things differently to me. The post you quoted did exactly what you are asking, it suggested a test that could demonstrate whether or not there is a difference.
 
I can think of no other reliable test methodology, can you?

 

[Roly1650]

Why do we keep getting off topic here? The question is how to test for differences in power cables, not whether or not we think or feel there are or should be differences, or not. 

Not off topic in the least, re-read @CoA's post, he's proposing a null or difference test. Record cable A, record cable B, through the same amp, dac, cd player or whatever, invert one recording and subtract it from the other. What's left is the difference due to the cables. A purely mathematical exercise with zero bias or subjectivity. The depth of null (in dB) determines whether the differences are likely to be audible or not.