[oryan_dunn]

The way I look at it is like a math problem.  You should already have an idea what the answer should be.  So, for me, I could never get over the fact you have "unshielded" wire in your walls, connected via the cheapest wire nuts, run unshielded all the way back to the power plant, have all your neighbors stuff on the same line, and you have the power from the power company being what it is.  How in the world can upgrading the final 2 meters make any difference.  There are so many more weak links than that last 2 meters.  The only thing that I could *maybe* see making any sort of difference would be something that regenerates a perfect sine wave, but even that is suspect if it'd make any difference than your line power.
 
The only time I might want something better is if I had a huge room and my stuff wasn't shoved up against a wall and I wanted something that looked better than a crappy black cable...

 

[dmckean44]

I fully recommend hospital grade power chords and power strips for the quality, longevity and ease of use alone. I've never experienced any differences in sound quality using them though.
 
I also recommend tin coated copper cabling for speaker wire. They're the only cables I've used where the connection hasn't slowly deteriorated over a decade's time.

 

[slefty]

 
If you cannot measure a difference, it is probably [note that I said probably] just perception after paying big bucks for a power cord.

Another Tale from the Crypt here (but still a true story)…
 
Way back in the mid 1980s, when I was VP and Program Coordinator for the Inland Empire Audio Society, at the time possibly the largest audiophile society in California, the club president, our technical director, and I went to visit George Cardas to discuss an upcoming meeting. In his house (at the time they lived in Chino CA), his very highly tuned system (mostly VTL electronics, highly modified Mangeplaner MG-III speakers, Versa Dynamics turntable, and of course all Cardas cables) sounded pretty awesome, one of the best I had ever heard. He wanted to demo something for us, but wouldn’t tell us what it was.
He played some tunes, the system got quiet, came back up and sounded noticeable different, and certainly better. Several times he muted the system, and it came back up , and all three of us easily heard when there was a difference, back to the original sound,  or no difference, still not knowing what was being changed.
 
It turned out to be an early prototype of his first high end power cords, and only used between the mono power amps and the wall sockets.
 
Also turned out all three of us identified the changes between the prototype and the stock cable accurately 100% of the time.
 
I was a big cable skeptic up that at point. With my background in science and QC, I also learned to trust my professional, trained observational skills.
 
Needless to say these days I do have a few sets of high quality cables completing my system, though I still use those first generation Cardas power cords.

 

[sublime9]

Jason,
 
Please get this thread back on track. 

 

[yay101]

There is a definite point of diminishing returns, and I feel it's about the $3 per meter mark (AUD).

I have some cables of various types from eBay with 99cents and free postage that sound noticeably worse than any of my other cables splitters and joiners to the point my girlfriend could blind tell I had different RCA's on her record player and she doesn't pay attention to details (ever ).

That said, all my gear is treated to custom made cables from a local Pro audio company because they look great and have super solid construction and are on average not much more than from a retailer and I like supporting them.

 

[mattlach]

I fully recommend hospital grade power chords and power strips for the quality, longevity and ease of use alone. I've never experienced any differences in sound quality using them though.

I also recommend tin coated copper cabling for speaker wire. They're the only cables I've used where the connection hasn't slowly deteriorated over a decade's time.

I don't know about you, but I've been using devices with standard power cords for decades and I have never, not once and one fail.

I still have some of my modern gear hooked up.usong the same black power cables that came shipped with my 286 PC decades ago.

I think that extra durability for things is great, but I'm.not convinced this is something that is typically missing from power cables (unless of course we are talking phone charging cables, which are often ofquestionable quality and break... It's too bad they don't make hospital versions of those.)

 

[mattlach]

I read this review a while back from the web. I believe this author is an ex McIntosh engineer if I'm not mistaken. To me it make a ton of sense that cabling has very little to do with sound and this article has some scientific teeth behind it. So don't shoot the messenger as no I have not tested a ton of speakers with different cable setups (except 3 variations of speaker wire with my setup, no difference to my ears) but this article is enough for me to shift my speaker wire/power chord budget down to about >1% of my budget. I will be looking for good solid copper wiring but the rest in my inexperienced opinion is a way to squeeze more money out of us. Article below.

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm

I've always considered "premium cables" of any kind the biggest ripoff going in retail, power, analogue signal, USB you name it.

I always by the absolute cheapest one they have at monoprice.

You know, the ones that look like this:

I've never had a problem and never been able to tell any qualitative difference compared to more expensive cables.

 

[wink]

I want a [REDACTED]......  

 

[bigro]

I still think the weakest link is going to be the wiring in your walls. Getting all fancy on the last six feet of wiring considering how much wiring there is on the other side of the wall of undetermined quality seems silly.

I hear you,but the wires in the wall or from the power company are not anywhere near your signal cables. I am not saying go spend as much as a freya or a Vali 2 on cables. But better noise rejection has helped some audible noise issues for me in the past as it is almost inevitable for signal and power wires to cross paths.  As Far as the Noise in the power line from your neighbors fridge, and HVAC systems etc, The money is probably better spent on a half way decent power conditioner. The last place I lived the HVAC system hummed through my speakers when it kicked on. Spending 2k on power wires would never fix that, a power conditioner did. 
 
But hey it's you money do with it what you will.I am sure there are people who look at our audio obsession and think we are nuts for spending money on MB dacs and Tube amps etc.

 

[7ryder]

   
I'll chuck that one up to placebo.
 
I'm no electrical engineer, but I am an engineer and physics enthusiast and I can't think of any way that could possibly be.

There are plenty of forums on this website to discuss cables and I suggest that we discuss them there. As for skeptics, that's what the Sound Science forum is for. Thanks.

 

[Pandahead]

Part of the rational of power cords that I've read (this is not fuel for the fire its just sharing info -YMMV) is that the  interference that can get into your components travels only a few feet. So if wiring in a wall is picking something up its not going to make it to your component whether or not you have shielded cords/cables. If your component is sitting where an unshielded cord/cable is picking up interference that could enter you system then they might help. Of course how well does the component itself keep noise out? I had a phono preamp that in one particular spot would pick up a radio station if the cables laid a certain way.
 
Once you have a two channel system up and running and have found the best spot for your spreakers, have a room shielded from outside noise and household noise and when the AC kicks on you can't hear it, and that room sounds to your liking not too hard or too soft and you've rolled tubes in Freya and are happy, experiment with stuff. A Schiit Wyrd between my Bryston BDP1 USB and Yggy is noticeable.Then you decide to add a turntable? Be willing to tinker and experiment more.

 

 

[JohnBal]

  There are plenty of forums on this website to discuss cables and I suggest that we discuss them there. As for skeptics, that's what the Sound Science forum is for. Thanks.

Yes, for Pete's sake. Please!

 

[KoshNaranek]

Yes, for Pete's sake. Please!

https://youtu.be/hVIPxd5v6P8

 

[darkarn]

Hi guys, I finally managed to see that Schiit Legendary Fast Email™!
 
Long story short, I was clicking around in the Schiit website, just trying to see how much the Modi Multibit would cost in my currency (Singapore here). I saw the Paypal Checkout button and clicked on it, thinking that it would show me the actual price in my currency. So the Paypal page showed up with just letting me choose my payment method and address, but not showing the price. So, when I saw that line that indicate that it will show me the price before payment (just like how Garage 1217's Paypal page works), I clicked on the button....  And boom, order confirmed! Which is what I do not want right now.
 
Aww Schiit I thought, now's not exactly when I want my Schiit! (Yeah yeah I could have excused this by saying that this is an early Christmas present for myself but nah, not now)
 
So on a whim, I gave a quick email to the email address in charge of orders, explaining this Schittuation, giving my order number from the order Schiit and apologising for the Schittuation. And then within 10 minutes I got a reply from Schiit stating that my order has been cancelled. I checked with Paypal and my bank to confirm it. Case closed.
 
Just. 10. Minutes.
Just. Really. Fast.
Just. Awesome. Service.

 

[bigro]

  Hi guys, I finally managed to see that Schiit Legendary Fast Email™!
 
Long story short, I was clicking around in the Schiit website, just trying to see how much the Modi Multibit would cost in my currency (Singapore here). I saw the Paypal Checkout button and clicked on it, thinking that it would show me the actual price in my currency. So the Paypal page showed up with just letting me choose my payment method and address, but not showing the price. So, when I saw that line that indicate that it will show me the price before payment (just like how Garage 1217's Paypal page works), I clicked on the button....  And boom, order confirmed! Which is what I do not want right now.
 
Aww Schiit I thought, now's not exactly when I want my Schiit! (Yeah yeah I could have excused this by saying that this is an early Christmas present for myself but nah, not now)
 
So on a whim, I gave a quick email to the email address in charge of orders, explaining this Schittuation, giving my order number from the order Schiit and apologising for the Schittuation. And then within 10 minutes I got a reply from Schiit stating that my order has been cancelled. I checked with Paypal and my bank to confirm it. Case closed.
 
Just. 10. Minutes.
Just. Really. Fast.
Just. Awesome. Service.

When I Accidentally drop something in my shopping cart and mistakenly trip on the pay button, I accept my mistake, take delivery and promise myself to never do it again. Then  a New product gets released and I get Clumsy all over again.