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Power cords improve audio performance!

ceptimus

puzzler
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Joined
May 20, 2003
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I just made the mistake of purchasing an audio magazine.

Inside, there is a review of different audio power cords. These just take mains electricity from the socket on the wall the three feet or so to the connector on the back of the amplifier. The prices range from $120 to $220, with the most expensive cord coming out the winner:

...delivers a toe-tapping sound. Details abound, making vocals utterly convincing, while bass is solid. Connect it to [a video display] and colours become more natural, while detail levels sharpen up.
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I wonder how the audiophiles that believe this bs think the electricity travels for the many miles between the generators and their house wall socket? How do they believe that the super expensive cable that carries the power for the last three feet can make such an enormous difference?
 
Same way they believe placing a chip on top of the CD-player improves the sound of the CD.:)

/Hans
 
ceptimus said:
I wonder how the audiophiles that believe this bs think the electricity travels for the many miles between the generators and their house wall socket? How do they believe that the super expensive cable that carries the power for the last three feet can make such an enormous difference?
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Look, it's easy. Look up at the cables travelling between the power station and your house. They are big and thick, right? This means that the electricity can travel through them very easily.

But when they get to your house, the electricity gets squeezed into tiny cables which causes turbulence in the power. Special cables can use quantum effects to funnel the electricity more smoothly, which gives you better sound. The same principle comes into play with loudspeaker cables, which is why bell wire is never going to be any good. Too thin, see?

It's all very straightforward if you just think about it.

Edited to add: Because it's a quantum effect, the more expensive the cable, the better this funneling works, obviously, because of the well known effects of quantum entanglement, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and Superposition. Computer people have known about this latter effect for years, which is why network cables (which have to carry data very accurately over long distances) are called things like Cat 5.
 
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I've spent many hours the last few months discussing the same issues with hifi-freaks on hifi4all.dk (Danish site in danish). Many of them claim that there's no question that the powercords can influence the sound, but the discussion always comes to a halt, just like the theism/atheism debate, even though, in this particular discussion, the final conclusion should be easy.

All attempts at getting the people who claim they can hear a difference to actually prove it (in a blind test f.inst.) have been futile. Go figure. They "don't wanna" do it - "can't be bothered". "Go listen for your selves, and you will easily hear the difference", they tell us, and nobody has been able to provide any arguments, whatsoever, as to why they should not have been influenced by the, very real and widely acknowledged, placebo effect (I'm an audio engineer by profession, so believe me, I know the placebo effect! :))

Nor do the argument that NOBODY in the professional audio business (not including salespeople at hifi-stores) pays any attention to quality of powercords, seem to have much impact. Heck, they/we don't even pay attention to the audio quality of signal carrying cables - speaker cables, maybe, but line/microphone-level cables - not a chance....much less powercords.

Sigh.
 
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Not just audio but they claim video improvement as well. I knew this was going to happen when I saw that most flat panels had seperate power cords.
 
I read once in a audiophile magazine that devouted audiophiles get car batteries to provide a more stable source of electricity, is that true?
 
Not sure if I've posted this before, but anyway, here's a write-up of a little experiment I did to test the claim that one of those power cords will improve the quality of the digital outputs of a CD transport:

http://www.oview.co.uk/badscience

It was prompted by one of Ben Goldacre's Bad Science columns in the Guardian - the relevant article is linked from the link above.

It occurred to me after thinking about this issue for a while that the audiophiles had misunderstood the idea of an aural placebo effect. When it is suggested to them that there isn't really any difference in sound quality, they react as if being accused of lying. It's very important for them to understand that we (sceptics) believe that they really do hear a difference - it's just that the difference is occurring within their heads, not in the real world.
 
Vitnir said:
I read once in a audiophile magazine that devouted audiophiles get car batteries to provide a more stable source of electricity, is that true?
Click to expand...

Well, if your system is run entirely on DC I think you can eliminate any trace of AC hum.
 
Audiophiles, at least the few I've been exposed to, seem to me like wine afficianados: they all seem to try to one-up one another by showing off how sensitive their ears/pallette are. I had one try to tell me the same thing about some audio cables on my stereo. When I told him I couldn't hear a difference, with a barely disguised smirk, he suggested that perhaps my ears weren't sensitive enough and that I might be "perfectly satisfied" with consumer-grade (barely disguised disgust) cables.

What really annoyed him was that I absolutely failed to be offended by the remark.
 
Dog Boots said:
I've spent many hours the last few months discussing the same issues with hifi-freaks on hifi4all.dk (Danish site in danish). Many of them claim that there's no question that the powercords can influence the sound, but the discussion always comes to a halt, just like the theism/atheism debate, even though, in this particular discussion, the final conclusion should be easy.

All attempts at getting the people who claim they can hear a difference to actually prove it (in a blind test f.inst.) have been futile. Go figure. They "don't wanna" do it - "can't be bothered". "Go listen for your selves, and you will easily hear the difference", they tell us, and nobody has been able to provide any arguments, whatsoever, as to why they should not have been influenced by the, very real and widely acknowledged, placebo effect (I'm an audio engineer by profession, so believe me, I know the placebo effect! :))
Click to expand...


Exactly the same's been happening in relevant Greek forums. Why someone wouldn't submit himself to a simple A/B/X test so that -if nothing else- he can stop spending money in rubbish, is beyond me.
 
Hey. I've got a great idea! Maybe they should start putting these new-fangled electronic components called regulators, isolators, and conditioners in audio equipment? Then power cord quality pretty much become a non-issue, unless you plan on using a pair of coathangers between the outlet and your new Tandy amp.

Man, I've got to get on this right away.

:D
 
Maybe it's just because when these things are proved to be useless, they will lose their (perceived) exalted status. Just a guess!!(cough) (cough)darnright(cough).
 
jimlintott said:
For some interesting reading check out the Great Cable Debate.

For those without patience here are the results.
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I love reading their comments when the results come in. A guy who guessed right decides this means he can hear the difference, even if the statistical evidence shows no significance in the result (he had a 33% chance of guessing the right cable due to chance), another guy gets it wrong and concludes that there must either be something wrong with the AB test or that he is deaf, etc. Of course there are level headed posts there, too.
 
I think power chords can greatly enhance and audio performance. Take, for instance, the Kinks "You Really Got Me". That G5 - F5 riff really grabs the listener at the begining of the song. :cool:
 
Mr. Skinny said:
I think power chords can greatly enhance and audio performance. Take, for instance, the Kinks "You Really Got Me". That G5 - F5 riff really grabs the listener at the begining of the song. :cool:
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I wonder if there's money to be made selling vacuum pumps to hi-fi buffs. I'm sure removing the air from the CD drive would make for a cleaner laser signal. Well, I'm sure they could be convinced of it if the pump was expensive enough.
 
I love the guys (and I can't find the link now) that were advocating liquid mercury speaker cables.

Hoo boy.
 
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