Two types of IsoTek power chords - quite an impact on dynamics with A-S3200 amp

[medon]

... at moderate listening levels.

Nothing new under the sun probably, but still I try to understand...
... my A-S3200 drives ATC SCM40's over half-decent speaker cables. Normally, I rarely exceed the "10 Watts" reading on the amp's VU meters (set to peak mode).

So... not exactly whisper-levels, but medium neighbour-friendly listening levels. The amp and its power supply at these levels should idle along, my assumption would be.

Still, I (and a friend) can clearly hear a difference in dynamics/snappiness (drums, percussion, bass plucks) when changing from a lower tier IsoTek Premier to the still lowly-tier IsoTek Sequel, which in one step up from the "Premier" in IsoTek's cable hierarchy.
Funny thing is, that the Premier sounds significantly more dynamic compared to the Sequel with my amp.

The design of the cables is quite similar it seems. I plugged both cables into the very same wall socket.

The obvious difference between the two types seems to be the shielding in the Sequel, other than that...?

In your experience, can power chord shielding make such an impact to an amp's liveliness at such low power level? I mean, the amp draws around 60-70 Watts of power (according to a non-professional Wattmeter) at these listening levels.

Cheers!

Sequel:

Premier:

 

[559938]

... at moderate listening levels.


Nothing new under the sun probably, but still I try to understand...
... my A-S3200 drives ATC SCM40's over half-decent speaker cables. Normally, I rarely exceed the "10 Watts" reading on the amp's VU meters (set to peak mode).

So... not exactly whisper-levels, but medium neighbour-friendly listening levels. The amp and its power supply at these levels should idle along, my assumption would be.

Still, I (and a friend) can clearly hear a difference in dynamics/snappiness (drums, percussion, bass plucks) when changing from a lower tier IsoTek Premier to the still lowly-tier IsoTek Sequel, which in one step up from the "Premier" in IsoTek's cable hierarchy.
Funny thing is, that the Premier sounds significantly more dynamic compared to the Sequel with my amp.

The design of the cables is quite similar it seems. I plugged both cables into the very same wall socket.

The obvious difference between the two types seems to be the shielding in the Sequel, other than that...?

In your experience, can power chord shielding make such an impact to an amp's liveliness at such low power level? I mean, the amp draws around 60-70 Watts of power (according to a non-professional Wattmeter) at these listening levels.

Cheers!

Sequel:


Premier:

I’ve thought for a while now that more lively sounding cables are sometimes just noisier. So when a dynamic transient happens not only are you getting the recorded sound but also some electrical noise that can make the sound a bit edgy. Better shielding and mechanical damping can prevent this, leading to a cable sounding quieter, which at first impression can certainly seem “dull” by comparison.

Experience tells me that entry level upgrade power cables tend to do one or two things really well, but not necessarily all things. In the Isotek range I thought the Elite had a lot more detail, life and dynamism AND sounded cleaner - sort of the best of both Premier and Sequel. For what it’s worth, my experience of Premier and Sequel is identical to what you describe.
Enjoy the fun!
Mick

 

[medon]

I’ve thought for a while now that more lively sounding cables are sometimes just noisier. ..... For what it’s worth, my experience of Premier and Sequel is identical to what you describe.
Enjoy the fun!
Mick

Phew, maybe not all in my head. Thanks!

I certainly noticed that my digital front end (streamer, DDC, DAC) benefits from better (shielded) cables.
Funny thing is that on that side of the chain a less noisy cable improves slam, definition, bass articulation.
At the amp (which has a kinda big-ish 600VA transformer) it seems to work the other way around - "noisy" / unshielded / maybe less damped cable gives more definition, bass, ooomph.