Audiophile Cable TRUTHS: Power Cords

Man you would think those silly engineers designing audio components for decades would eventually figure out by adding 20 dollars worth of copper to a power cable they could make magic happen. But no!

This guy moved speakers to DIFFERENT ROOMS and blames the power cables for changing the sound!? Fuck me, this is Audiophilic idiocy at it's finest! 🤣

I get that these things make a difference while a/b ing. I would love to see someone walk blindly into a listening room and tell me which, if any of these things are in use. Sure, if you have money to spend 5 figures on wires, and audio is your favorite thing in the world, buy them and basque in the warmth of your silver wires. If you have 500$ to spend on an entire system, just know wires are not even on your radar.

Before I dive into this.controversial discussion, let me clearly state that I do not have a horse in this race. Just 40 years of attentively listening to music and caring passionately about the way that music is reproduced. There appear to be 2 camps in this debate, those who claim they can unequivocally hear a difference and those who claim they can conclusively prove there is no difference. I can only draw from my own experience.

13 years ago I upgraded my amp. I invested £3500 in my new amp. It remained the beating heart of my hifi system for 10 solid years. 3 years ago I took that amp to my local ‘bricks & mortar’ hifi retailer and asked them to return it to the manufacturer to be refurbished. Recapped, Etc. That amp is still in production, mine is a mark 1, the latest iteration is a mark 3 and sports a remote control, which mine doesn’t!

Bear with me, this is relevant and is going somewhere.

The store phoned me when my amp came back from the manufacturer. They persuaded me to audition the 2 latest amps from the same manufacturer. The mark 3 version of mine still retailed at £3500. The next amp up in the range retails at 7500 and the top of the range amp, their flagship, statement piece retails at £12000! I told them I would love to audition the 2 upgraded amps, but I wanted to audition them blind, I did not want to know which amp I was listening to.

So I arrived at the store the following morning, armed with a bag of CDs and vinyl records. Immediately the first track started playing, I said to myself, this is unquestionably, beyond any shadow of a doubt, my amp. 6 tracks later I asked the assistant to switch to the next amp. Now, I started to question my original conclusion. This amp sounded remarkably like mine. As I listened more intently, I started to hear subtle differences. This amp produced tighter more controlled bass. 6 tracks later the assistant switched to the last amp. This amp was very different. More analytical, less musical. 6 tracks later the assistant and I sat down with a cup of tea to discuss my conclusions. I was right. Amp 1 was my trusty 10 year old mark 1. Amp 2 was the £7500 model. Leaving amp 3 as the range topping £12000 model. The assistant said “you’ve just talked yourself out of an upgrade. We here in the store listened to all 3 amps yesterday and came to the same conclusion”.

Now the only familiar piece of kit in that listening room was my amp. Nothing else resembled my home set up. Different cd player. Different record player. Different speakers. Different mains cables. Different interconnects and vastly different room acoustics. Yet, amongst all that alien electronics and room acoustics, in the blink of an eye, I could identify my amp. Surely, if cables and acoustics make such a difference, I wouldn’t have been able to do that?

One further observation. Those 2 camps I mentioned earlier, the one supporting the hypothesis that cables do make a difference, seems to orientate toward retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. Those most likely to profit from that concept. The other camp leans toward engineers, technicians and logical thinking audiophiles. Those not influenced monetary gain. I think that speaks volumes!

Ok, so, I can hear you ‘die hard’ audiophiles screaming, “your system is evidently not resolving enough to allow you to hear a difference”. Well, my system is highly resolving, and anyway that comparison was done using the dealers system.

I changed the powercables, it looks stunning👌🏼

What happens to the metals' atomic structure during "burn in"

and wouldn't it be cheaper to retire and jet around the world seeing all your favourite bands.

You seem like a very honest person and I like how you explained everything I appreciate listening to you

Somewhat dissapointed to read some negative comments. Danny is not broken, he is a straight shooting clear headed person who cares about sound quality and thus has my endorsement (for what its worth). I have purchased many different mains cables over the years and each one can be clearly identified with critical listening, these include the OCC types as well as the Chinese knickoffs. I suppose if your music replay system is under $1000, the gains will not be as noticeable. Danny also mentioned about over processing the filtration which is very real in my experiance. Most components will have some attempt at filtration within which usually consists of a small common mode choke and a capacitor. This is often to meet the emmisions codes. Keep up the good work danny I always find your enthuisam rewarding, long may you continue.

Nice explanation

I would like to hear how the physics of braiding cable improves the filtering or is it the shielding that does it?

You are absolutely removing the RF noise.

I make my own 👍

:/ I watched the whole video waiting for the promised explanation and only got anecdotes.

But after i switched the power cable my system sound more transparent/analytical/cold/sharp compare to the stock cable

As an Engineer I make a statement her: There is no difference between a normal functioning powercable and a “high-end” powercable … other than the amount of money that goes into the suppliers pocket.

Hi, thanks for all your informative videos. A couple of Questions:
1: If braided speaker wire works to filter out RF, which it does.( Owned Kimber Kable for nearly 12 years). Could Braided Power cables do the same thing?
2: Have you ever tested the older Polk Audio RTi As series of speakers for us poor Audiophiles? i have Polk Audio Rti A7. Thanks

The only thing I agree with is "the whole hobby is about listening". Fortunately this hobby can be really cheap: a good pair of headphones is basically all that's needed.

I am oriented to science and facts. I thought there is no way a short power cable can make a difference. I also read many articles expounding the virtues of power conditioners.
I experimented with DIY power conditioners and found exactly what Danny describes. A little can help, and too much can kill the system. Isolation transformers slightly reduced sound quality. Inductors, even a small amount could kill the sound stage and make the sound dull and lifeless.
Power cables are where I was shocked. I found a substantial difference in sound. I make my own, and they are a solid improvement in bass, sound stage etc. I used some DIY recipes from VH Audio cables with 10gauge wire. Sounds terrific. I put minor amounts of filtering in the distribution box using caps and also built a DC block circuit to avoid transformers from buzzing and saturating. This was all I need. There is only a couple feet between the conditioner/distribution box and the electronics. I also built an 8 foot cord to go from the wall to the distribution box. I also put a ferret clamp on the safety ground at each consumer. An inductor or a ferret clamp is not good on the power wires. I cannot explain any of this other than the notion of an appropriate amount of filtering. It could also be that the caps act as a volt/var circuit. I live in a large city and there is a ton of noise in local distribution including RF over power. My house is full of LED lights, dimmers and switch mode power supplies. There are several computers plugged in and powered at any time. Every house on the street has the same. We all have a plethora of radio antennas for wifi, cellular, garage doors and home automation. Somehow these power tweaks that cost me nothing helps my system work well.

You ought to tie off with with Audioholics.

Excellent video thank you

With all due respect to your belief, why does a company whose amplifier costs, say, 5000 euro/dollar, provide a 10-15 euro/dollar power cable with the amplifier? That the amplifier works worse?

How gullible audiophiles are, the video on YT shows, thousands of euro/usd were spent on cables, lifters, isolation platforms etc etc etc...and he put a trumpet (a metal instrument!!!!!!!!) on the speaker.


Come on, please

It's almost funny that people deny cable/IC differences like it's some brief of faith based change. Either your system reveals the differences or it doesn't. Just because YOUR system is able to reveal doesn't mean other systems can't. And if you think science can measure EVERYTHING in this world, you're sadly mistaken. Where I'm currently living upgrading any cables would be a waste as my room is too heavily damped. But I will move again!

If high end power cables would make a real difference, manufacturers of active speakers would deliver them along with the speaker instead of the standard cord or they would deliver none and leave it to you...I mean one decent studio monitor costs easily 2000 EUR, providing a 90EUR OFC or OCC power cable along wouldn't make much price difference ...yet they deliver the speaker with a standard power cord...so, obviously they don't think it influences the experience with the speaker

Just say it clear - you need our money :D

Had to laugh at this, since you have a link to a store i'd have to think you're a man with a vested interest, and anyone trying to rip people off by selling "special power cables" and you "have an ear for it" where obviously the rest of us just plain don't, i'd have to question your credibility.

Been a licensed electrician for more than 2 decades, and the last few inches of copper wire is not going to make ONE SINGLE BIT OF DIFFERENCE compared to the hundred yards running through the walls.

Burn that cable in.... are you going to cryo treat them first or no??

And further, the amp has an isolation transformer in it, and PFC, and whatever else... It doesn't make any difference.

You're not helping anyone, you're just talkin shit and ripping people off. But hey, happy to be proven wrong!! Tell ya what, make me a couple with an Australian 3 pin plug, send it over and if i can tell a difference, we will know i was wrong... But don't hold your breath, you might die.

Americans are going to have their minds blown when the discover separate power supplies and dedicated electricity supply spurs!!!

Power cables and mains conditioning is just trivial by comparison.

PS Don't forget proper earthing!!! A nice big copper spike sunk in the yard attached to your earthing rail/star

Flat earth guys 😆

I bought a really nice power cable for $5,000. It has beautiful plugs on both ends. Looks like carbon fiber. Male, and female. When I get some more money saved up I’m going to buy an amp, and some speakers.

I posted on stereophile on the article "AudioQuest Compares AC Cables"


Real of placebo...?

Submitted by AudioTK on March 20, 2019 - 12:30pm

This was some interesting reading on this thread from a year ago. I've read many similar articles and discussions in the past.

I'm not going to argue one way or the other. Both sides have been covered in a never ending discussion. Not going to talk bad or comment on everything else that has been said. As an electrical engineer and audio enthusiast, I find these conversations amusing and entertaining.

I'm happy with how my system sounds. I've also heard much higher end systems, and they sure did sound better. I just couldn't justify spending more on my system. I've been into car audio for 26 years and home audio for about 20 years.

So, I have an interesting story.

I have the following equipment, not super high end, but pretty good stuff:

Marantz Receiver SR-5400

Panasonic Blu-Ray player (not sure the model, but only $90)

Rotel RMB-1075 (120Wrms per channel) that was on my fronts, center, and surrounds

Rotel RB-1090 that was on my subwoofer (400Wrms per channel on each voice coil)

Paradigm Reference Studio 100V.3 towers

Paradigm Reference Studio CC 470 v3 Center Channel

Energy V-S Surround Speakers

Subwoofer is my Cerwin Vega Stroker 18 DVC (used to be in my car) that I made a 7.8cuft box for my home theater, tuned to 20Hz.

The subwoofer hits nice and low and tight, and it blends really well with the front towers. I had called Cerwin Vega and they gave me box and port dimensions.

So, here's my story. No judgment or opinion, just stating facts.

I have a friend that has much higher end equipment than I do, and his system is in the $50,000 range and sounds amazing. A few years ago (2014), he was telling me that I should try a higher quality quality power cord. So, he brought over a spare one that he had (can't remember the brand) that was in the $200-$300 range. He said it would help clean up the power and improve and open up the sound etc. We tried it on the Rotel RB-1090 that was powering the Cerwin Vega Stroker 18 dual voice coil subwoofer.

It wasn't a true A/B test procedure, but we did listen to stereo CD music for a while with the stock cord and the sound was really good. Nice sound stage, good bass. He even asked me multiple times if the center channel was on. I went right up to listen to the center (no sound being emitted) and confirmed that the receiver was set to Stero mode, so just the towers, no center channel. So my sound stage was set up just right.

Then we swapped the stock cord on the RB-1090 powering my subwoofer for the higher quality cord he had. We didn't touch the RMB-1075 that was powering the towers. When we listened again (at the same volume and settings), he said he could hear more deeper bass and even more stage depth, more full sound. I didn't hear any change at all.

At the end of the listening session, we swapped back to my stock power cord, and he had gone home. Something did't make sense to me. Why hadn't I heard anything different, but he did? So I played some other music, then went up to actually touch the subwoofer, and it wasn't playing! I went into my receiver's settings and discovered the Bass Mix was set to "MIX" (which means only L&R will play the low frequencies). Then I changed the setting to "BOTH" (which means L&R and Sub will play low frequencies) and viola! I heard (and felt) the subwoofer playing. And now the bass was more full and deeper than what the towers could provide.

This was not a true double-blind test because both of us knew the cord had been swapped, but it is blind in the fact that neither of us had confirmed the sub playing in the first place, nor confirmed the receiver's settings. We just assumed everything was playing correctly, especially since the bass sounded good even just from the Studio 100's.

I never mentioned this to him (if he's happy, just let him be happy). I don't have measurements (and it wouldn't matter, since the subwoofer was not even playing). I cannot explain what he heard.

Now (2019) the Rotel RB-1090 powers my Studio 100 towers and I have two 300W Bash Amps one for each 4ohm coil on my subwoofer. I have not spent any money on higher end cables. The sound is really good, and I'm happy.

From my Marantz SR-5400 manual. for reference:

BASS MIX

• The bass mix setting is only valid when “LARGE”

is set for the front speakers and “YES” is set for

the subwoofer during stereo playback.

• When “BOTH” is selected, the low frequencies

will be played through the main L&R, as well as

the subwoofer.

In this playback mode, the low frequency range

expand more uniformly through the room, but

depending on the size and shape of the room,

interference may result in a decrease of the

actual volume of the low frequency range.

• By selecting “MIX”, the low frequencies will play

through the main L&R ONLY.

Thanks for listening... HA! get it?! listening...

AudioTK

Considering the work and material, I think these are well priced for what they are. And with the money back guarantee it is worth a try.
I myself use cheap cables, and I do like how my system sounds now. But the gear itch is always there and when/if I buy a dac that is 1k plus, then spending half of the dac price on power and interconnect is a worthwhile thing to try. If it works I will be convinced, if there is no difference my current ideas will be confirmed.
But in the end there is nothing wrong with trying, specially if you don't have a (big) financial risk
And for the people who say it is just a placebo effect... If a placebo works it can be worth it. Everything is about personal perception anyway, right?

We might as well rebuild everything we buy. I started doing it as a kid re-tooling my bicycles. It inevitably ends with changing everything in the audio components we buy. You buy a cheap box speaker with flimsy panel board, but good drivers for a nickel, and then spend $300 upgrading everything else. Might as well just build the speakers from scratch-which I've done. Wire is another gas. You end up with great connections, but the whole plan fails as soon as you go inside and outside the box. Now you're de-soldering and soldering. lol I just want to be rich, and buy the best money can buy, have someone hook it up, and design/implement my room. Then I just turn it on.

It is amazing to me that people engaged in this debate continue to argue that "I could hear the difference and it was not subtle, it was huge". etc etc . Statements like this, no matter how sincere,. are evidence of absolutely nothing. The only real, reliable evidence that power cables, interconnects, speakers cables, cable rising etc truly make an audible difference would blind studies in which people -including all the audiophile who assure us that they can hear a difference - are able to tell the alleged difference in a statistically significant number of tries. Absent that, statements by well meaning audiophiles that they can tell the difference are worthless with respect to the question of whether there really is an audible difference. (That is not to say that ALL cables sound the same infall systems. There are well understood reasons relating electrical properties (relating to resistance, impedance, inductance, etc) of cables/amps/speakers why different cables might sound different in a given system.). Why do you think these blind studies are NEVER done?? The answer seems obvious, people pushing these high-priced cables have nothing to gain and everything to lose if the results don't support them!

I have no clue what all of this talk about RF and EMF noise and the need to filter it is about. I have never experienced it in over 40 years of HiFi and if I ever do, I'll deal with it when it becomes a problem but I kind of doubt that it will ever happen. Where are the graphs and charts showing the data between the two like for your speaker upgrades? There isn't any for a reason, because there isn't any difference and if there was, how would I be able to tell a difference when I've never had that problem to begin with?

How many hits have been made one cheap or normal cables versus otherwise 🤨

The last 4ft of cable is NOT the last thing your system sees, you really are a joke now, it goes right to the consumer unit and then down to the end of your road, so that could be like 30ft, are you really an electrical engineer?
You call science flat earth, so tell us why conditioning a AC signal when it is changed to DC in ALL components except some turntables (with AC motors) will improve the sound when it already goes through smoothing caps and CD players, tuners etc use regulators as well?

Hey Buddy, got broken links in the description. May I suggest you setup a way to automate the redirections on your website? I see you use wordpress, might want to try "Redirection" plugin. Its free, and won't slow your site down anymore then the redirection takes.

What is the best platform for music?

Strange that renowned manufactures supply amplifiers that are so bad they need a special powercord

I replaced the power cable on a inexpensive $150.00 chinese Sabaj class D amp with a $50 power cable and the difference in sound was easily noticed

Some people are surprised when the cable on a conditioner is changed.

Make biggest difference power cable low floor got power cable my own system wow make biggest difference

Hearing may be believing but is there any math and physics showing why this or any "audiophile" power cable would sound better than my Pass Labs amp's stock cable?

That cables matter is not a difficult concept to accept, but it might help to explain or demonstrate scientifically the concept of over-filtering. What is happening, physically, and perhaps measurably, in the case of over-filtering?

Hallo,

can I find your Power Cable in Germany? I'm interested in testing it before I buy something else.

Thanks!

“Wire is wire” guys are hopeless. No matter what you say or show, cables don’t matter, period. For the rest of us, that have an open mind or just have experienced the difference, this video explains a lot about this subject, thank you very much!

If people would take the time to measure the sinus curve from their outlet with a scope, they would see a distorted sinus curve, which means harmonic
distortion. The provider normally accepts up to 5% distortion. This curve changes during the day, and will not change character if you put a 120v:120v transformer
between, if you change the load, if you put on different filters on, or if you put on some ´water hose´ Voodoo cables. On top of that there can be a DC component that
makes transformers buzz, and random noise from different devices that turns on and off. This noise can be filtered with common noise filters, and the DC can be
removed by other types of filters. The best thing you can do is to use quality double screened power cables - but the downside is that they look cheap, they are cheap
and they have no VooDoo factor at all 🙂 The sinus curve can be fixed with a power re-generator, but that is a really expensive device.

Snake oil .A well shielded diy power cable is quite adequate.

i changed my audioquest power cables a lot of noise for isotek now no noise