@12:20 'in the fine wires you get a LOT more high frequencies come thru as opposed to thick heavy solid core' what frequencies, coming from where? does the AC outlet need to send other frequencies to the transformer other than the 50-60Hz we use for 220/110V? do frequency generators use special power cables? do oscilloscopes? how about medical ultrasound machines? these would benefit greatly from this cable technology since the difference in fq realm is so major one can actually hear it on a very low efficiency transducer (your regular speaker-driver is below 1% efficiency, a very-very-very inappropriate probe or sensor so to call it )
Inductance and capacitance of the cable are important to some extent, due to interactions with the transformer affecting how it responds to demand for load, but remember that a coiled up cable will have much higher inductance than a straight wire, and that's probably a big part of why you've found better performance from solid-cored cable, (coiled cable will also generate a lot more EMI). Before anyone starts spending money on power cables, everyone should start out with a pack of cable ties. Sort out your cable management, get all the power cables into neat straight runs, making sure that AC is as far from DC and signal cables as possible. If you're confident cut the power cables down to just the length you need so that there's no excess to coil up.
As long as the power cable meets proper certifications and is being used for its intended purpose, it will not make a difference. A linear power supply is built with provisions to manage minor fluctuations from the input AC -- which are far more detrimental than any inductance and capacitance related issues. I think Paul here needs to read a little on how linear power supplies actually work and then do some proper blind testing with these cables of his. This video is pure horse-puckey as Paul so eloquently puts it.
Paul, I think you have a great opportunity to help put his debate to rest: With your new, larger facility, why not set up a lab to demonstrate how different power cables (and even interconnects) can affect sound? I'm skeptical but keeping an open mind. If I could try it out before shelling out big bucks on a power cable, that would be great. :-)
Ampacity is effected by power supply cables being radiated by solar energy during the day -As the temperature of a cable increases , its current handling capacity is diminished -It should be audible at the user end if a day/night comparison is made. But it might be all bollocks !
I don't know about power cords affecting sound, but I did have one dedicated power output on one breaker when my house was built for my primary audio and surround system.
I have watched a few of Paul's videos...they are OUTSTANDING! He gives you the info, NO BULLSHIT, and lets the viewer make up their own mind about his products and his take on audio, which I greatly appreciate! One day, I hope to be able to afford some of his gear! (I would LOVE the power regenerator in my system!)
Have you ever tried running the romex straight out of the wall cavity (no wall socket or junction box) and terminated it straight into the power transformer in an amplifier (no back panel IEC socket either) to see how that sounds? Yes there are all sorts of regulatory/code issues, however as a one off test, it would be interesting. as in how far back from the amplifiers back panel does this flash cable have to run? To me, an ideal power lead should have a good twist in the three conductors & a good shield so that no AC mains born noise can couple into my intereconnects & speaker leads. Where I used to work, they used flat wide plated copper strap as earthing/shielding connection, as that gave the best results when they sent their gear of for EMI etc testing/certification, so then would having a dedicated wide flat earthing strap from the back of your audio gear to a dedicated earth point help in getting the noise floor down etc.
The only way I can think of a cable affecting sound quality would be if the cable picks up or emits electromagnetic interference. If it emits interference and you can hear it, there is probably some part of your system that is defective, or unproperly shielded. Moving your power cable away from this equipment may help. It it picks up interference and you can hear it, the thing that is powered must have the worst power supply in the universe. Other things that can affect the sound is the presence/lack of an earth wire (ground loop) and a really bad contact (ex: heavy oxydation). Changing the throwaway cable with a $200 cable may incidentally fix these problems. But changing the throwaway with another throwaway may have fixed the problem the same way.
Most power in the US and elsewhere is very dirty and full of noise. Note that hospitals go to incredible lengths to "clean up" the power to their radiological imaging systems (as is the case with their dedicated backup generators).
@@Telemed911 Mains certainly is noisy, but a well designed power supply will convert it into nice, clean DC, that's its job! Radio imaging is a different thing, radio signals are harder to deal with than audio signal (much higher frequency). And if we are talking about sound, medical ultrasound is way more sensitive than what bats can hear, let alone humans.
There is a company that makes high end speaker cable and high end power chords that use solid core copper wire similar to romex. Its called Anticables.
OK just please answer me one question... Why recording studios don't use these very expensive speaker cable's,interconect's,power cable's etc.? They do use quality product's but not exagerated things. So if it works fine in studio where the quality of sound is everything it means that it is perfect to use in home to reproduce good quality sound like it's intended. All big "high end"audio companies are altering the sound in a certain way to fool the consumer that that's the "good sound" the "real sound" but in reality there is no need for all that mambo-jumbo,snake oil,cryogenically frozen crap! Sorry but that's the truth and all big high end companies know that!
Paul talks about firmer bass through the solid cable and better highs through the stranded cable? Wouldn't these differences be measurable with something? a change in shape of the bass wave or a dB increment... an oscilloscope?, so far in my life as an enthusiast, if the is a difference in the sound, it can always be measured with something.....other than just golden ears. I understand the theory of the two cable constructions on speaker cables........but how does this transfer to the power cable which is only coming in at mains frequency.......there is no high frequency component by which will travel better down the stranded cable. As others have pointed out, and what about the other 200 miles of wire that may be between your amp and the power station- shouldn't it get the same treatment. no, I haven't tried to see what a difference it would make, but even if there was a difference, its unlikely that the cables could be swapped out quickly enough for my acoustic memory to register, but if it could be set up somewhere I'm willing to give it a go.
Power cables do change the sound but amplifiers are designed to be used with the provided cable so why color the sound. Its usually not a good change in my experience.
In that case, stick a test signal through one of your amps, show the output on a high resolution oscilloscope, then put one of your "high-end" power cables on and show the difference.
Maybe not an oscilloscope, but an audio analyzer would. Paul claims that bass is lost on stranded and the highs are thin with solid core. Clearly the cable is affecting frequency response or maybe distortion at certain frequencies. I find it odd as an engineer for another engineer to discover a combination of materials which apparently makes a difference to sound, yet is totally unaware what change is happening and has no curiosity to investigate. It's especially strange considering he's selling them and has a vested interest in demonstrating to his customers that his cables do make a difference.
@@sswpp8908 All you need to do to tell whether there is a difference is to LISTEN. The problem with measurement tools is they only measure what they are designed to, and our auditory systems pick up on things that aren't shown on an oscilloscope.
OK I know this an old video but I can't help but comment. If changing the last 6 feet of the power source wiring (which is miles long back to the power plant) changes the "sound" of your equipment, then your equipment must, by definition have the worst power supply ever.
Yeah, as simple as that logic goes, I don't understand why people still are arguing about this. Let's be honest, ps audio is not being a good company by doing this and even spread false info.
Hey Paul..love the videos... great to hear that you are coming over to the UK to visit the seven sisters..I live in the area and it is a really lovely part of England make sure you visit the Belle Toute lighthouse..enjoy your sightseeing tour
Fully agree on your approach to development - recognizing differences may be the starting point for new developments, technology, and better understanding. It’s not always the other way round. - For example, when Penicillin was discovered/developed it was because somebody kept his bio-lab in a messy state and had fungus spores in all petridishes. While a disciplined EE eng would have just cleaned up the lab, this messy scientist put the petridish under the microscope first, and noticed there are no bacteria where there is fungus and vice versa, and gave it a long thought, which eventually led to penicillin, ie a fungus based medication that kills bacteria, ie the first antibiotic in history. - So, detailed observation (rather than text book “science” that’s already known for decades) CAN be the starting point for new things - but that is a controversial way, no doubt.
Before I spend $300-1200 for a PSAudio power cable, I would recommend getting an electrician to bring in a direct power line with its dedicated fuse / breaker and use one of PSAudio’s Power Port classic duplex receptacles. Now buy that dreamy power cord...
If there’s a difference you can HEAR you can measure it, that’s an engineer talking. Do a double blind test to prove it is real, that’s a scientist talking. There’s a difference you can FEEL, that’s a rich guy that have more money than common sense sooner to be milked for cash. That’s not objectivism, science is the process that gave us semiconductors to play music and it was not by feeling that amplifier designs and recording supports changed a lot, it was by measurable evidence. Get your nostalgia and your ego at check, your hearing degrades with age, as long as your paycheck increases you hearing shrinks, no money will compensate for that
FYI: Wiltshire is near Bath. I live in Wiltshire and work in Bath which is only 20 mins away. You'll probably pass through it on your way to Bath. Ooooh-arrrr!
I purchased some good semi expensive power cords from a known brand. Got 2 different models. My system is highly resolving but there was no difference. 😢 I did like the cables being stiffer. It was easier to organize my cables. Keeps them away from the interconnects and speaker cables. 😂 I really want to hear the difference on a system some day. 😬
If they made no difference, don't purchase them. Virtually every retailer offers a free return period and your money back if you don't find it makes a difference in your system.
Who seriously thinks power cables have a different "sound" to them? There isn't any audio passed through a power cable. Seriously. It makes absolutely no difference. Its fully isolated from the audio circuit. I know audiophiles buy based on a placebo effect. If they're told its better they'll buy it. Which is great. Its how I also stay in business. But I know whats bullshit. I know if I need super accurate piece of test equipment to see the difference to the hundreds of thousands of a percentage difference I know its not a real effect.
3 conductor 12 gauge Romex --TO-- 10 gauge stranded, shielded, 99.9% oxygen free copper, gold plated --TO-- 14 gauge MTW lead soldered to cladded components. Forgive me if I think you should have more scientific information to back up the justification for a $500 dollar power cable. If it works, great. Inductance is magical no one really gets how it works either. But it should be easy enough to see if noise is being omitted, prevented or the cable is somehow changing the power values with pretty basic instrumentation. But yet you tell your viewers to just try it and laugh, as if to imply that it's not worth your time to investigate the reason for its value just take my word for it. Stop comparing cooking to audio it makes you appear frustrated.
I changed my RCA from a £1 cable to a £25 and the difference was so obvious. (The annoying background hum disappeared) more body and depth tot he sound. I will certainly try a better power cable.
Visiting the UK and only visiting London, is a lot like visiting the USA and only visiting New York City. If your driving your not official unless you drive the M1. Enjoy.
I work for ps audio and the answer to your question is no! we use that hammer on audiophiles who come to our business and do not believe cables make a difference.
Sorry but your argument that a nicer power cable sounds better is really hollow unless it's backed by a double blind study. Otherwise you're playing into the same effect as an expensive bottle of wine tasting better solely due to the price tag.
Even fitting better cable to your headphones improves it . Most Hi Fi components have a sealed stranded mains cable fitted were the strands can snap in the cable . . I think its the prise that puts people off buying better cables , in fact , they are not helping there own business for that , so , the argument will always be there becouse of the prise !
Again, a completely useless debate without any hard data to back it up. "see for yourself" is not an answer. I once tried switching cables and heard nothing.
It's amazing how divisive this topic is. It's clear that there are two distinct camps: People who trust their hearing and those that do not or don't even care to try. To flatly dismiss the idea that power cords could possibly make a difference in sound simply based on what's currently understood and able to be measured (as if we have mastered and fully understand all the influences that impact sound), is like needing some sort of verifiable objective measurements to give the precise amount of beauty something possesses before it is allowed to be recognized as beautiful. Labeling people who DO hear the differences in AC cables as clearly delusional or purveyors of "snake oil", is the height of chauvinistic arrogance. If YOU can't hear a difference, fine. But that doesn't mean that some real character of the signal that has reached your ears hasn't changed in some meaningful way just because it can't currently be measured. Did the Higgs Boson exist before it was finally discovered and confirmed? Yes, of course. Was Prof. Higgs peddling "snake oil" prior to it's detection and discovery? Following the "if it hasn't been measured, it doesn't exist group", then yes. For me the proof is always in the listening. Sometimes different power cables don't make a damn bit of difference and sometimes they do. The ones that have made a difference for the better remain in my system. Thanks Paul for defending and standing by subjective evaluation as the final arbiter. You have reinforced and underscored the idea that "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder". (or in this case, Ear of the Beholder)
So what you both are saying is that in 2018, the acquired knowledge of electrical engineering is wrong. Audiophiles with no electronics backgrounds know more than educated engineers and technicians? You claim people who have gone through formal electronics educations as well as those with many years of practical experience are ignorant? Why don't you go to your local bar filled with HDTV satellite sports channels on the flat screens and patrons communicating on their smartphones and proclaim electrical engineers are ignorant. We know you hear the difference. What you won't accept is why your hear it.
No...what Paul and many experienced engineers, system designers (like me) and professional reviewers are saying is that the types of scientific, technical testing we do on various components...even simple components like wire...do not tell the whole story when listening to the effects of passing currents and signals through various chokes of various materials. Simple...if you don't hear a difference...it doesn't mean you are a less than others..it simple means you don't hear difference...for any variety of reasons.
@Scott Hudson.... We are talking about power cords here, not signal cables. To date nobody has any evidence of power cord effects beyond the well understood current starving and in some cases noise reduction by cords with filtering of some technology. Beyond that there is nothing that can affect the audio signal via the power cord.
Andy Delle No, I’m not saying that the acquired knowledge of electrical engineering is wrong. Only that it doesn’t know everything, which means that in certain areas of studying and understanding the phenomenon, it is indeed ignorant. And just like all other areas of science, some things are well known and understood, but others remain a mystery, like dark matter. The problem arises when an engineer or scientist declares that if it can’t be objectively measured with current technologies, it must be imaginary, when it could come down to not fully understanding the phenomenon (combined with not trusting in one’s hearing) and not having the tools designed or sensitive enough to measure that particular aspect of the phenomenon that is subjectively heard or seen. Could what certain people hear as being better in one power cord over another be a placebo effect? Certainly. And I would imagine that accounts for a reasonable percentage of listeners. But there are effects that can be heard to the astute listener that transcends placing it all on the placebo effect. And one could argue that even if it is a placebo effect (not that it is) so what? If it subjectively sounds better to the listener, it IS better. Then it all comes down to it’s perceived value to the listener and if he/she finds value in it, then that product has a legitimate place in the market.
There are many things that we take as self evident that have absolutely no substantial evidence to support it. Take your thoughts as an example. There is not one shred of "real" evidence that a "thought" actually exists. It is simply your word and my willingness to believe it because I also have experienced what I believe is the same phenomena which gives the idea some validity. But beyond that, there is no tangible evidence. Nothing. Anything "real" that you can point to is the "result" or product of thought, but not the thought itself. My point is to try not to get too hung up on requiring some sort of external absolute measurable proof that something is "real" before recognizing it's genuine experienced effects. Not knowing exactly what's going on shouldn't prevent the experience. If you don't hear any difference, you simply don't (or in some cases choose not to) hear any difference and you've saved money!
Power cables make a difference to the sound, the moon landings were a hoax, the earth is flat, pyramids sharpen razor blades, Father Christmas & the tooth fairy are real :)
It's a marketing scam.... There is NO WAY a power cable could EVER affect the performance of audio equipment... If it does, your equipment is either doing some mystical magic or badly designed and doesn't deserve the title "High-end" . What you are claiming defies science. I can even bet that speaker cables shouldn't affect performance provided they are of low DC resistance like 10 or 12 gauge. And also if your amplifier is sensitive to the tiny capacitance in an ordinary cable, your amplifier is rubbish and doesn't deserve the title "high end"....
Hhhmmm.... The truth is, its a state of mind... If you totally believe your car will go faster if you paint it black , your mind will be convinced until you can notice it going faster... The same way the same meal tastes different depending on a person's emotional state or state of mind.
Collins Mwaura Total snakeoil indeed... I don't know what's worse though... the moneymaking scam or the dishonest technical "explanation". If this is really how they engineer their products, I think they should be looking for another carreer, far far outside of electrical engineering. He obviously has no clue
I watch your video all the time find them very good and informative. Have a few questions on power cord burn-in. Recently i purchased a PC, it took 300 hours of burn-in time. Why don't the manufacturer or dealer offer this service, even for a small fee i can accept? Does burn-in machine that does it by some stereo shops damage the PC or cable in general?
No, it won't damage the cable. There's a huge difference in the way you burn-in an interconnect and a power cord. Interconnects are burned-in by putting them on a slightly higher Voltage than they're normally used in a system (to speed up the process), while feeding wide band noise trough the cables. That same process can't be done with power cords on such a machine. Because of the low Voltage and current, it makes no sense. It will even take longer to burn them in because they are much thicker (more mass) than interconnects. The only way to burn them in, is to let current flow trough the cable.
Romex is COPPER! Not aluminum and the thickness have zero difference #14 or #12 the electricity coming through the wire is 120volt at 60hz no matter what size... only reason that determines the difference is what size circuit breaker (fuse) is feeding it. 15amp breaker =#14 wire (the size wire in almost every room in any fairly modern home other than kitchen & bathroom) 20amp = #12 wire
Sorry Paul, I'm not buying the "solid wire is better for bass frequencies" bit. My two 15" subs connected with standard stranded IEC cords give me full, deep, satisfying bass. And the MV control does not need to be cranked up. And they're not located in corners or anywhere along walls. But instead, towards the middle of the room, co-located with my hybrid 3-ways. Creating true full range towers. What I think/believe makes the most difference as far as cables go, is using properly constructed speaker cables. Four conductor, double twisted cables to each speaker. They will be non effected from any magnetic fields created from AC cords.
Passive speaker cables are not affected by EMI and RFI to begin with. The source impedance of a modern amplifier is way too low for EMI to have any influence on a passive speaker. Furthermore a passive speaker has no electrical gain to amplify the EMI/RFI. Now tube amps may have their feerdback loops upset be excessive RFI but that too is rare unless you live next to an AM radio tower.
How come that transformer does have it own Faraday shield inside the phono convertor chassis ???? < And most good electrical house wiring is Copper , not Aluminum , even though some use Aluminum , Copper is the norm !!!
I have Belkin speaker cables that do just that: solid core, and stranded outer, with a dielectric in between. And with a ridiculously thick insulator surrounding it all. All it does it make it harder than it has to be to use the speaker terminals: it's quite a job to fit all that mess through a narrow hole. I wouldn't have had to use banana plugs, otherwise. I had added more to the signal path with the banana plugs, and a connection that can come loose..
So you probably have 50' worth of 12/2 Romex Solid Copper wire traveling from your main panel to the outlet for your equipment. Then you install 6' Sigma Power Cord for $2500 and you have better sound? Somebody needs to do a Double Blind Study
A retired IBM Main Frame eng, all cables are the same, unless made with broken strands of Copper, period. When was the last time the editor got a comprehensive “Hearing Check”? The Hydro-Sound sensors on the USA Submarines are overseen by 20 year olds, who have never inserted a ear-bud, blasting into their ear. Why? They have to used their hearing to tell the difference between a Whale swimming at depths and the “Propeller, minimal cavitation of another sub.” Much less a 60 something, standing at “0” inches to a Loudspeaker, at full “Gain” for most of their lives. Marketing to the “Must Have” is easy, but to the real “Educated, science base” it is a “Pie in the sky”. Don’t every Home Owner knows that behind the AC outlet is a single wire conductor, attached together by wire nuts? Not soldered together, and long runs. So buyer beware. There is a real hi-fi geek in Japan, he payed his City electrical provider to run a dedicate line from the main Transformer, to his input of his Amplifier.
I still say snake oil! Yes, if the power cable you are using is very small gauge and/or aluminum wire, a heavier gauge cable will make a difference. BUT if your power cable is already a fairly heavy gauge, copper, good connectors that really grab the pins in the receptical they are connected to, NO it is ridiculous! Just think..... what is the wiring INSIDE the amp like? How about the gauge used for the power switch? The gauge used to wind the power transformer? The weakest link WOULD be a cheap power cable, but if it is good quality and heavy gauge, at least the same gauge or heavier than the wiring used INSIDE the device you are powering, a high priced power cable WILL NOT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE!!!! What is the wiring from your breaker panel to the receptical? Romex? Stranded? How about the power drop from the pole to your house? Aluminum? Copper? How about the distribution transformer on the pole? Usually they are wound with flat copper strips. How good are the connections from the transformer, to the power lines to the drop to your weatherhead to your breaker panel bus bars to the cips on your breakers to the wiring conneting the run to your receptical? How good is the receptical? Is is spec grade or cheap $0.39 bargain basement receptical that barley grab the plug pins? There are TONS of things that are between you and the distribution transformer and a measly high dollar 6 foot power cord ain't gonna make much difference!!!!!!!!!! There is no real mention of what is being compared to... is it a cheap light cable that you are using to power your computer monitor? I STILL say SNAKE OIL!!!!
As an electrical contractor who knows what's inside of your panel, each and every J-box, as well as your walls and ceiling, this makes me giggle. To each their own, and you can hit me up for a whole house electron alignment service that I provide, which will align the electrons correctly and will provide substantially better audio that anyone can actually hear...... Your friends will be jealous.
I am using electrically insulated pipe copper tubing , surrounded with Litz wire ...the tube carries HIGH END snake oil ( extracted from snakes from Amazon forest) ..to get cooled in a heat exchanger.that runs on solar power.... all available easily on Amazon with free shipping & installation.... Now I CAN HEAR that 1/16 dB change of 80 kHz signal that's processed through my 256 .... no 512 bit ultrafast DAC....
What I find interesting about subjectivists is that the quality they assign to things that are not scientifically measurable always match intuition. For example, silver, with its shiny surface sounds sharp while copper, with its reddish color, sounds warm. For power cables, the strong and heavy Romex sounds more bassy than the thin and flexible zip cord. That looks a lot like a psychological effect. But if people think it sounds better, even if it only sounds better in their own minds, why try stopping them.
@@legrandmaitre7112 Still boils down to taste and your own ears... Would you be able to say that because what YOU hear sounds better than what I think sounds better, your brain has better neurons by a superior manufacturer or that your ears were designed by a "high end" engineer and mine weren't? Give me a break... There is nothing superior in trying to make others feel "inferior". Go buy your overpriced audio gear for your overpriced listening pleasure... Comparing two outstanding composers who had never had the "pleasure of high end audio equipment" is typical of someone who understand very little about music and more about irrelevant technology...
True story. I bought a second hand Valve (tube) headphone amp a while back that came with an expensive power chord. From the moment I started using it I was aware of a very slight hum in the background, couldn't hear it when the music was playing though. Anyway I though otherwise it sounded great. Last week I switched the expensive cable for a cheap nasty one (no earth). No hum! Sounds 10x better!
Considering the audio circuits are *after* rectification and *FILTER* capacitor circuits, (as close to pure DC as possible), how could the AC power cable influence the audio unless it is too thin of a gauge, and there is a voltage drop to the audio equipment power supply?
You said it right. , while conducting, the curcuit is passing all components and the color they each give off gets imprinted in the audio signal to a minute degree. So if a thin wire can strangle the flow a thicker wire will do this less. They each have characteristics beyond resistance only. Capacitance, fieldlines behave differently etc. Try lifting your wires off the ground... let someone else do it. blind test. Your equipment must have the quality to show it of course.
@@comiplaynow4624 I have made my own Lapp power cables. They look lovely but I am not going to say they sound stunning. If you understand electronics and how your kit power supply operates saying the difference is stunning is questionable. Glad it works for you.
If an amplifier is getting, let's say 24 volts DC from a power supply that is made to deal enough current for that amplifier, and is providing a steady DC supply, then how can the amplifier "see" what kind of wire is supplying the power supply with power? It's a simple question, but no one seems to have the direct answer. It seems very possible to use an oscilloscope to measure voltages at every stage, compere waveforms, and track exactly where the differences are and why, but that logic is missing for some reason. Certainly, if I spend hundreds of dollars on a set of cables, I will NOT trust my ears or brain to give me the absolute truth about which is better. It seems to me that if there IS a audible difference between normal and expensive power cables, then it's also fine to conclude that I should be able to bend a spoon just by thinking hard enough about it.
8:54 ... I think you meant to say copper. I thought that in commercial buildings the standard was conduit with 12 GA. solid copper wire. You mentioned aluminium which was used for a short time for residential wiring. I rented a place that had aluminium wiring and it was dangerous. The contact at the breaker box became unreliable and the voltage was fluctuating between the two 120 volt line. The lights were getting brighter and dimmer as I used different appliances. I fixed it by re securing all the wires in the breaker box. I only lived there two years.
In this context, I'm sure he meant to say copper. But, aluminum, while less popular, is still used for electrical power wiring. Because it expands and contracts at a different rate than copper, there are lots of specifications on making connections and tightening screws. Also, most of the what you see in the big high tension towers is aluminum. It has low resistance and is much lighter than copper.
Also, electrical code forbids Romex type cable in commercial and industrial indoor applications. There, 12AWG THHN in metal conduit is required for 15 amp circuits, and armoured (BX) cable is the only exception.
Aluminum wire was often used in residential between 1969 and 1976 when the price of copper went to the moon. The aluminum wire would be 12/2 to handle 15 amps, whereas copper would be 14/2 for the same current capacity. Aluminum wires themselves are safe, the connections are the main concern for overheating and fire risk. Aluminum over time oxidizes, and the coating of aluminum oxide on the outer surface of the conductor is an insulator, and causes connections to heat, arc and expand / contract compounding the problem until the connection burns up. You can live safely in a home with aluminum wires, but the connections need to be checked for tightness, coated with anti-oxidant gel, and overall be done with care. Aluminum wire has zero tolerance for sloppy termination.
While aluminum wiring is now illegal in residential installations (due to all the electrical fires it's caused throughout history), it is still permitted in commercial and industrial installations. I have no idea why. The physics and the dangers of aluminum wire are still the same.
I was lucky. I was @ a local hifi purveyor around 30 years ago when I got in on a demo by John Dunlavy. It was "testing " the sound of speaker cables. What John did was behind a screen that hid the playback components (but of course not his speakers which sounded excellent). He had an assistant hold up various cables. The same test track was played.Then the audience of around a dozen would comment on the sonic differences. I said I couldn't hear any which was my innocent & honest assessment which was regarded with loathing & smug contempt by the "audiophiles". When no one was looking John winked @ me. I thought to myself what is he up to? Turns out to the horror & disgust of the "audiophiles" who had waxed lyrical over certain high end looking cables when John revealed he never changed or swapped out a single cable. I think John made a strong point that day about the power of suggestion & some enemies with their pride wounded. Even though I never saw the man again he made one lifelong friend that day.
Wow, great story. Placebo is under-acknowledged in every field, but when it comes to audio it is ignored to a criminal extent. I don't care how expert you think your ears are, your unconscious mind is more sophisticated.
@@Spaniard47 Cheers. Here in Australia. Solar panels & huge storage batteries are becoming more popular. Mains power chords/ cables that was under discussion. I don't think make that much of a difference. What does is running the audio system through a digital power filter ( like PS audio make) Or direct off batteries. I Have a 1.5 wrms pure class A power amp run off 4 12 v 350 Amp hour mobile phone relay station backups. At least thats what my ears tell me. The sweetest, cleanest watt you will ever hear. I use it for testing speaker efficiency & amp output connected head phones like AKG K 1000's if Battry backup solar takes off the clean power source (real issue) is solved.
@@gorillafunk725 that is fascinating. You've inspired me to look into this topic more. I built a small solar powered generator for my family for reasons completely unrelated to audio (power outages; sustainability), and now I've just realized that the concept of 100% off-grid power may have real merits in the field of high end audio. When I built the system I was sure to buy deep cycle AGM cells and a decent quality pure sine wave inverter. I'm curious, if I can get it hooked up to a good audio system, do you think there will truly be an audible difference? I live in the country and our mains power is relatively clean. Also my audio system is great but certainly not worth thousands. But I'm always looking for quirky projects like this to experiment with.
@@Spaniard47 Hi Evan. Thats what my ears suggested to me when I first hooked up "Big Red" my 23 KG transformer coupled on speaker out in class A 1.5 watter on battery power. That was with 6 12v parallel connected. Now it only runs 4 but I can't hear any loss of fidelity. ( Quicker recharge) And it is definitely cleaner than when it ran off mains power. That was clearly (pun intended) audible. Win ,Win Get off the grid nipple paying power utilities lots of money for variable & often dirty power & clean green power for all your audio toys. No more surges/ black/brown outs. The major production cost in both high end d/a conversion & pre/power or integrated amps is a huge transformer & bank of heavy duty caps to filter the mains power grunge into something stable. Besides any of that in these crazy times the less reliant you are on any public utility, the safer & more secure you are long term. Cheers
Paul, you add huge transformer which (who would guessed) transforms alternate current and reduces 99% of noise and say that power cables make difference in sound? Why power cables do not make difference in lamp colors in a home lighting?
I would suggest that since there is not a scientific theory to explain any audible differences when such cables are used, a double-blind test would be in order. It would be quite easy to do with employees and visitors. This kind of test would rule out confirmation bias as the source of perceived improvement in sound -- and any statistically significant difference shown in the test results would be a good substitute for the scientific explanation or theory that is lacking.
In theory the only signal that should be in a power cable is 50 or 60hz, if it affects the sound then it stands to reason that the sound signal somehow resonates with the power cable, in that case it should extend from the AC/DC transformer as far as possible, preferably all the way to the wall. It would be interesting to conduct an experiement to see if the sound signal can be detected in the power cable itself, and possibly in other plugs on the same circuit.
Excellent explanation. No one can take exception, but of course they do. I make my own power cords. Only about 1.5' and shocked to find they make a substantial difference. I have 400 amp service to my home, so 3/4" thick copper cable from the transformer to the house. But here is the rub. Only one 14 gauge copper wire to the system. 30 feet of 14 gauge and somehow the last 1.5 feet makes a difference. Who cares. I just enjoy the improved sound.
today i made up a new Furutech DPS-4.1 Limited Edition High End Audio Grade Power Cable.i fitted the cable with a high end furutech socket and plug. the cable cost £ 400 per meter.i made up a 1 meter cable. when i fitted the power cord into my ps audio bkh 250 amp it defiantly changed the sound.i run monitor audio pl 300's which are on the bright side in the highs.the cable knocked off the harshness from the highs and they now sounds much better. i have DIY'd lots of power cords for myself but usually they are no way the price of this cable .i usually use lorad 2.5 silver plated cable to which ive had no issues.however after listening to this new cable it looks like im going to have to upgrade them all again. the copper in the new cable was more harder and it cut more brittle than normal copper.that must be the single grain crystal design making the difference. plus this new cable had many layers of different materials to keep the noise out.i know it sounds unbelievable and im all for been very weary when it comes to this snake oil subject and in the beginning i didnt believe any of this including speaker cable and interconnects.but after a few years of asking the same old questions , i am starting to believe cables do make a difference.
I have an amazing cable I think you'd really like, amazing change in sound quality, more musical and the soundstage is transformed. It's also a bargain at only £50k per meter. Magic beans also available on request.
Great thankyou Paul, but surely that means we need to change the cables from our supply transformers out in the field to our power outlets aswell by using both solid drawn and flexible conductors. Mine are approx 400m across the field so this could be quite expensive. I'm in no way dissing what you have said but find it hard to believe that a 300mm cable change could alter the sound that much when my supply cables are 400m to the transfomer and then 64373m from the power station. Thats an impressive 215,910 times longer than the my amp supply cable. Sorry.
It would be nice if you could do an audio test with your gear next to that supply transformer, Yes that would probably dictate a headphone based test, and you'd need a friendly electrician to rig it up. The only conclusion I can make of all this high-end power lead thing, is that there are quite a few issues with having a power lead anywhere near the back of your audio gear, as in speaker leads & interconnects. otherwise, as you said, we are only talking 0.0001% or the wire between your gear and the power generators. Maybe high end needs to run on batteries, and keep the AC well away. - as in high end leads couple less into the surrounding rats nest behind your HiFi.
I instantly noticed a huge difference when I added silver XLR cables (reasonably priced) from my DAC to the preamp. As always I never expected anything to change, but it was undeniable. I had to check where the volume was at because it sounded considerably louder (like 2 dB on the preamp), yet it was at the typical volume I always listen to. The sound was more detailed and had more air, and it was was even smoother and sweeter. Interconnect cables do make a difference on low level signals (like DACs, phono, preamp....) which will go through several amplification stages. However, you don't need to break the bank to buy decent cables. Anything over a couple hundred dollars is a pure ripoff and many insanely overpriced cables actually measure worse than generic Amazon cables. There is nothing magical to put inside a simple (quality wire, proper shielding and low impedance terminations) cable to warrant ridiculous prices. Power cables need to be of adequate gauge to carry the necessary current for the devise, thus an 18 gauge cable will not cut it to run 500 watt mono blocks. You do not need a 12 gauge cable to run a 10 watt DAC and doing so will only be a waste of money. Running 8 gauge power cables will do jack shit for sound quality, because a 6' cord is only an extension of the 50+ feet of plain run of the mill 14 gauge lumex in your walls. The smallest gauge will always be a bottleneck in the chain of wires. AC current flows back and forth 60 times per second and electron only see one wire. It really matters if noise gets on your low level DAC cable, because the noise will be amplified 100s of times when it reaches your speakers. Any noise getting on speakers cables is past all amplification, thus you will hear the same very low level noise as much as you can hear it with your amp turned off (absolutely nothing).Speakers do not amplify the signal, thus if you can not hear the ambient noise in your environment, then how in the hell can you hear it unamplified in your speakers? OFC speaker wire is not very expensive, so why pay so much money for snake oil cable that at best only cause a placebo effect where you fool yourself into hearing a difference that just isn't there. I suppose it helps people to justify the $5000 they spent on snake oil cables. These companies prey on people's susceptibility to the placebo effect.
Short answer: it's a mix of solid and stranded BS mixed togerher that makes Paul cough while trying to explain it and blaming it on fires. As usual with power cables, there's actually zero science in the mix. But I atill love Paul. 👍
Saw a measurement between expensive audioquest and a rusted cable. Negligible difference. I recon as long as the cables are not damaged, it should be just fine. The only thing i can come up with is that with heavy amps, you need a sturdy cable.
This whole power cable thing is asinine. I saw one somewhere yesterday (online) for $40,000. Ha ha ha!!!! This whole thing reminds me of a guy I used to play guitar with when I was much younger. Somehow he sold himself on the fact that changing the fuse in the back of his guitar amp made his amp sound better. He'd do it like once a month. Everytime he changed it, he was like, wow, that's sounds so much better!!!!
Absolutely ridiculous that people think the last few feet of copper/aluminum that the electricity travels through makes any difference. This should be common sense to anybody with the most basic of technical backgrounds.
If a high end power cable sounds any different than a well made IEC power cable in the $10 range, then the power supply on the device being connected is poorly designed. Any power supply in a device should make the assumption that the incoming AC power may be noisy, and it should be capable of filtering that noise out. If it cannot, a snake oil power cable isn't going to solve the problem.
This is a golden comment. Cause you're running at least a 8 meter cable from your power divide box thingy to your outlet....... and those cables are not properly insulated.....
Exactly right. That power cord delivers a given amount of current at a given voltage. That's really about it. The only other concern would be if the geometry of the cord conductors is off, then one of the conductors could induce a small voltage into the grounding conductor. That could cause some noise problems (hum, buzz) in unbalanced systems.. But, that really should not be an issue. The talk here is nonsense..
so Paul, explain to me this if you would, you say thin strand gets you better highs, but from breaker box to outlet is 12 awg roamex, how then, even if we use your power cable, does the kind of power to produce better highs get to the outlet for your cable to then carry over to the equipment??? (if the thin strand is not everpresent from the outlet to the breakerbox and then also to the power plant?) Not being combative, just want this avenue to be made sense to me....
I have heard these things from a friend of mine, who bought an expensive power cable for himself. He say it's better. I don't hear it, despite i do have good hearing, really. So i'm a bit sceptical about this. The power travels into your wall socket from the street, and you don't know what kind of cables are in your wall, especially if you living in an older building. They can be some crap quality cables from 50 years ago, or more. What's the point of using a crazy expensive 1 meter long cable, if those Ampers travelling 40-50 m in a shit quality cord? You want to tell me, that 1 m long "super cable" is going to do the miracle? I don't thik so...
in another video he talks about proximity to a power station affecting audio as well, hence buying a regenerator for your system. Presumably he would say, first replace the wiring in your house, then get the nice power cable. Some people would do it, too.
@@ar_xivrecommend ... An underground house that's about 100 metres below the lowest level of that power station.. enclosed in a " HIGH END " Faraday Shield..
I think that a normal power cable that is correctly sized for the load you're going to be applying on it is whaaaaat more than enough. If you're using a switching PSU inside of your appliances, well, no difference will be heard from a cheap 2 dollar cable and a 2k dollars cable.
Question: Why cant the equipment internal power supplies not be improved to the point where full performance is realised as long as the supply voltage is in tolerance and of reasonable quality taking into account typical fluctuations and noise? For instance designing with larger regulation headroom, more storage capacitance? Is there a property in the cable that does not exist in an electronic component or practical circuit that cannot be fitted inside the equipment?
Sort of in response Andy Delle's comment, when i first heard that power cable make a difference i said the same thing, "that seems like the dumbest thing i've ever heard of." But then i recall from technical school that i had an instructor tell me in no uncertain terms that me wanting to put a bigger capacitor in the audio path of my radio project we built that semester was not going to work. No Way! No How!!! Thank God i didn't listen. Later when i wanted help to get an audio op amp from Radio Shack to work, the power supply was oscillating so bad that it did seem hopeless, he said you'll never get that to work either. I not only got both items to work, i'm still using the audio amp 28 years later. The radio I destroyed by continuing to make it better. if I had listened to my instructor, he was actually my favorite teacher at that school, I would have missed out on hearing the best music played back on systems that play music the way I want to hear it. I've played guitar for 50 years and grew up pounding on a upright piano for 14 years. Almost all of the stereo systems that I've listened to do not sound like real music. They can sound really good but not like live music. My experiments have gotten me close. Power cables make a huge difference even on cheap stuff, which is what i mostly have (raising two daughters takes most of married income so audio is usually a low priority). I've replaced all the power cables with 12 gauge romax, it's cheap and it works. The only thing it doesn't seem to help that much is televisions. Tried it didn't notice any difference. But for audio it makes a huge difference. i was converted ten years ago. (I could give a ton of examples of how it improves the audio, but this is already too long. i'm an audiophile not because i have great hearing, just the opposite i have one eardrum covered with scar tissue from endless earaches when i was young. I need my systems to speak clearly to help me enjoy them). My favorite quote from Mark Twain is; "If you grab a cat by the tail you'll learn things that you can't learn any other way". Enjoy the music any way you can!!!
I find it odd as an engineer for another engineer to discover a combination of materials which apparently makes a difference to sound, yet is totally unaware what change is happening and has no curiosity to investigate. It's especially strange considering he's selling them and has a vested interest in demonstrating to his customers that his cables make a difference.
8:23 seconds into vid we get to the power cable discussion- you’re welcome.
Great thanks, saved me failing asleep to get to the point lol
You should do a podcast. You have a wealth of information to share and deliver what you are talking about in a great way.
@12:20 'in the fine wires you get a LOT more high frequencies come thru as opposed to thick heavy solid core'
what frequencies, coming from where? does the AC outlet need to send other frequencies to the transformer other than the 50-60Hz we use for 220/110V?
do frequency generators use special power cables? do oscilloscopes? how about medical ultrasound machines?
these would benefit greatly from this cable technology since the difference in fq realm is so major one can actually hear it on a very low efficiency transducer (your regular speaker-driver is below 1% efficiency, a very-very-very inappropriate probe or sensor so to call it )
Yes you can buy medical grade power cables.
USA is 120/240 VAC. Why does everyone say 110? 🤦🏻♂️
@AJD OLD CHANNEL ARCHIVE, High end audio equipment like medical equipment is suppose to be plugged into an IGR.
@@kalijasin It's supposed to be within 110 to 120 VAC and maybe 110 is easier to say. We also say 220
Nice listening thanks
Inductance and capacitance of the cable are important to some extent, due to interactions with the transformer affecting how it responds to demand for load, but remember that a coiled up cable will have much higher inductance than a straight wire, and that's probably a big part of why you've found better performance from solid-cored cable, (coiled cable will also generate a lot more EMI).
Before anyone starts spending money on power cables, everyone should start out with a pack of cable ties. Sort out your cable management, get all the power cables into neat straight runs, making sure that AC is as far from DC and signal cables as possible. If you're confident cut the power cables down to just the length you need so that there's no excess to coil up.
As long as the power cable meets proper certifications and is being used for its intended purpose, it will not make a difference. A linear power supply is built with provisions to manage minor fluctuations from the input AC -- which are far more detrimental than any inductance and capacitance related issues. I think Paul here needs to read a little on how linear power supplies actually work and then do some proper blind testing with these cables of his. This video is pure horse-puckey as Paul so eloquently puts it.
Love Paul's use of the words: "... God be with you..." as it clearly shows how deep he has sunk into faith based audio.
Paul, I think you have a great opportunity to help put his debate to rest: With your new, larger facility, why not set up a lab to demonstrate how different power cables (and even interconnects) can affect sound? I'm skeptical but keeping an open mind. If I could try it out before shelling out big bucks on a power cable, that would be great. :-)
Power supplies are a million times more important as well as influential in sound quality than the power cable.
any in particular you would recommend?
The power cables are the controllable subject, but not the power supply beyond the main switchboard in the house.
Listen in the early hours. Power supplies are usually better then.
@@Coneman3 Apparently the current understanding -no pun intended , is that there is no solar radiation at night .
Ampacity is effected by power supply cables being radiated by solar energy during the day -As the temperature of a cable increases , its current handling capacity is diminished -It should be audible at the user end if a day/night comparison is made.
But it might be all bollocks !
I don't know about power cords affecting sound, but I did have one dedicated power output on one breaker when my house was built for my primary audio and surround system.
Same here. Also added a power regenerator to it.
I have watched a few of Paul's videos...they are OUTSTANDING! He gives you the info, NO BULLSHIT, and lets the viewer make up their own mind about his products and his take on audio, which I greatly appreciate! One day, I hope to be able to afford some of his gear! (I would LOVE the power regenerator in my system!)
What's the use for the rubber Hammer in the corner?
The rubber hammer is because it won't leave marks when he adjusts the listeners who can't hear the difference in power cables?
Have you ever tried running the romex straight out of the wall cavity (no wall socket or junction box) and terminated it straight into the power transformer in an amplifier (no back panel IEC socket either) to see how that sounds?
Yes there are all sorts of regulatory/code issues, however as a one off test, it would be interesting.
as in how far back from the amplifiers back panel does this flash cable have to run?
To me, an ideal power lead should have a good twist in the three conductors & a good shield so that no AC mains born noise can couple into my intereconnects & speaker leads.
Where I used to work, they used flat wide plated copper strap as earthing/shielding connection, as that gave the best results when they sent their gear of for EMI etc testing/certification, so then would having a dedicated wide flat earthing strap from the back of your audio gear to a dedicated earth point help in getting the noise floor down etc.
The only way I can think of a cable affecting sound quality would be if the cable picks up or emits electromagnetic interference. If it emits interference and you can hear it, there is probably some part of your system that is defective, or unproperly shielded. Moving your power cable away from this equipment may help. It it picks up interference and you can hear it, the thing that is powered must have the worst power supply in the universe. Other things that can affect the sound is the presence/lack of an earth wire (ground loop) and a really bad contact (ex: heavy oxydation).
Changing the throwaway cable with a $200 cable may incidentally fix these problems. But changing the throwaway with another throwaway may have fixed the problem the same way.
Most power in the US and elsewhere is very dirty and full of noise. Note that hospitals go to incredible lengths to "clean up" the power to their radiological imaging systems (as is the case with their dedicated backup generators).
@@Telemed911 Mains certainly is noisy, but a well designed power supply will convert it into nice, clean DC, that's its job! Radio imaging is a different thing, radio signals are harder to deal with than audio signal (much higher frequency). And if we are talking about sound, medical ultrasound is way more sensitive than what bats can hear, let alone humans.
There is a company that makes high end speaker cable and high end power chords that use solid core copper wire similar to romex. Its called Anticables.
Of all the cables it's most easy to hear differences between power-cables.
OK just please answer me one question... Why recording studios don't use these very expensive speaker cable's,interconect's,power cable's etc.? They do use quality product's but not exagerated things. So if it works fine in studio where the quality of sound is everything it means that it is perfect to use in home to reproduce good quality sound like it's intended. All big "high end"audio companies are altering the sound in a certain way to fool the consumer that that's the "good sound" the "real sound" but in reality there is no need for all that mambo-jumbo,snake oil,cryogenically frozen crap! Sorry but that's the truth and all big high end companies know that!
Paul talks about firmer bass through the solid cable and better highs through the stranded cable? Wouldn't these differences be measurable with something? a change in shape of the bass wave or a dB increment... an oscilloscope?, so far in my life as an enthusiast, if the is a difference in the sound, it can always be measured with something.....other than just golden ears.
I understand the theory of the two cable constructions on speaker cables........but how does this transfer to the power cable which is only coming in at mains frequency.......there is no high frequency component by which will travel better down the stranded cable. As others have pointed out, and what about the other 200 miles of wire that may be between your amp and the power station- shouldn't it get the same treatment.
no, I haven't tried to see what a difference it would make, but even if there was a difference, its unlikely that the cables could be swapped out quickly enough for my acoustic memory to register, but if it could be set up somewhere I'm willing to give it a go.
Power cables do change the sound but amplifiers are designed to be used with the provided cable so why color the sound. Its usually not a good change in my experience.
In the era of B & W television
THERE WAS NO " COLOURED SOUND "
In that case, stick a test signal through one of your amps, show the output on a high resolution oscilloscope, then put one of your "high-end" power cables on and show the difference.
Which would be the case if an oscilloscope can measure everything that makes a difference in what we hear… and it doesn't.
@@VideoArchiveGuy lol
Maybe not an oscilloscope, but an audio analyzer would. Paul claims that bass is lost on stranded and the highs are thin with solid core. Clearly the cable is affecting frequency response or maybe distortion at certain frequencies.
I find it odd as an engineer for another engineer to discover a combination of materials which apparently makes a difference to sound, yet is totally unaware what change is happening and has no curiosity to investigate. It's especially strange considering he's selling them and has a vested interest in demonstrating to his customers that his cables do make a difference.
@@sswpp8908 All you need to do to tell whether there is a difference is to LISTEN.
The problem with measurement tools is they only measure what they are designed to, and our auditory systems pick up on things that aren't shown on an oscilloscope.
OK I know this an old video but I can't help but comment. If changing the last 6 feet of the power source wiring (which is miles long back to the power plant) changes the "sound" of your equipment, then your equipment must, by definition have the worst power supply ever.
Yeah, as simple as that logic goes, I don't understand why people still are arguing about this. Let's be honest, ps audio is not being a good company by doing this and even spread false info.
Hey Paul..love the videos... great to hear that you are coming over to the UK to visit the seven sisters..I live in the area and it is a really lovely part of England make sure you visit the Belle Toute lighthouse..enjoy your sightseeing tour
Have you tried a double blind test?
Recently installed your ac5 power cable on my amp. Love it - even if it does weigh a tonne! The only down side is it scares the hell out of the cat 🐱
@@sgals3395 You're just a big meanie! 🤣🤣🤣
Fully agree on your approach to development - recognizing differences may be the starting point for new developments, technology, and better understanding. It’s not always the other way round. - For example, when Penicillin was discovered/developed it was because somebody kept his bio-lab in a messy state and had fungus spores in all petridishes. While a disciplined EE eng would have just cleaned up the lab, this messy scientist put the petridish under the microscope first, and noticed there are no bacteria where there is fungus and vice versa, and gave it a long thought, which eventually led to penicillin, ie a fungus based medication that kills bacteria, ie the first antibiotic in history. - So, detailed observation (rather than text book “science” that’s already known for decades) CAN be the starting point for new things - but that is a controversial way, no doubt.
Does a 240v power source (like we have here in Australia) sound better than a 110v power source?
Yes Please. I'll like some more.
Before I spend $300-1200 for a PSAudio power cable, I would recommend getting an electrician to bring in a direct power line with its dedicated fuse / breaker and use one of PSAudio’s Power Port classic duplex receptacles. Now buy that dreamy power cord...
If there’s a difference you can HEAR you can measure it, that’s an engineer talking. Do a double blind test to prove it is real, that’s a scientist talking. There’s a difference you can FEEL, that’s a rich guy that have more money than common sense sooner to be milked for cash. That’s not objectivism, science is the process that gave us semiconductors to play music and it was not by feeling that amplifier designs and recording supports changed a lot, it was by measurable evidence. Get your nostalgia and your ego at check, your hearing degrades with age, as long as your paycheck increases you hearing shrinks, no money will compensate for that
omg I live in Bath lol. I hope you enjoy your visit :)
FYI: Wiltshire is near Bath. I live in Wiltshire and work in Bath which is only 20 mins away. You'll probably pass through it on your way to Bath. Ooooh-arrrr!
The best power cable is the one that can provide 120VAC to your amp.
Is it April 1st?
I purchased some good semi expensive power cords from a known brand. Got 2 different models. My system is highly resolving but there was no difference. 😢
I did like the cables being stiffer. It was easier to organize my cables. Keeps them away from the interconnects and speaker cables. 😂
I really want to hear the difference on a system some day. 😬
that's a pipe dream
If they made no difference, don't purchase them.
Virtually every retailer offers a free return period and your money back if you don't find it makes a difference in your system.
VideoArchiveGuy ... I’m not in the EU, US or UK, so a lot of times there’s no home trial 😢
Who seriously thinks power cables have a different "sound" to them?
There isn't any audio passed through a power cable. Seriously. It makes absolutely no difference. Its fully isolated from the audio circuit.
I know audiophiles buy based on a placebo effect. If they're told its better they'll buy it. Which is great. Its how I also stay in business. But I know whats bullshit. I know if I need super accurate piece of test equipment to see the difference to the hundreds of thousands of a percentage difference I know its not a real effect.
My audio sounds better if I sacrifice a cat before every playback. Guess I should just keep sacrificing cats.
did you do blind tests?
3 conductor 12 gauge Romex --TO-- 10 gauge stranded, shielded, 99.9% oxygen free copper, gold plated --TO-- 14 gauge MTW lead soldered to cladded components. Forgive me if I think you should have more scientific information to back up the justification for a $500 dollar power cable. If it works, great. Inductance is magical no one really gets how it works either. But it should be easy enough to see if noise is being omitted, prevented or the cable is somehow changing the power values with pretty basic instrumentation. But yet you tell your viewers to just try it and laugh, as if to imply that it's not worth your time to investigate the reason for its value just take my word for it. Stop comparing cooking to audio it makes you appear frustrated.
I wonder if Paul added the rubber hammer into the view on purpose. Just to spice up the comment section on this video 😂😂
I changed my RCA from a £1 cable to a £25 and the difference was so obvious. (The annoying background hum disappeared) more body and depth tot he sound. I will certainly try a better power cable.
Visiting the UK and only visiting London, is a lot like visiting the USA and only visiting New York City. If your driving your not official unless you drive the M1. Enjoy.
Do you use that rubber hammer to assemble your products?
I work for ps audio and the answer to your question is no! we use that hammer on audiophiles who come to our business and do not believe cables make a difference.
show some respect....... only he is deemed worthy to lift that rubber hammer.....
Sorry but your argument that a nicer power cable sounds better is really hollow unless it's backed by a double blind study. Otherwise you're playing into the same effect as an expensive bottle of wine tasting better solely due to the price tag.
Paul, how do you terminate the wire. Do you put something on the bare wire so that it doesn’t oxidize?
Even fitting better cable to your headphones improves it .
Most Hi Fi components have a sealed stranded mains cable fitted were the strands can snap in the cable . .
I think its the prise that puts people off buying better cables , in fact , they are not helping there own business for that , so , the argument will always be there becouse of the prise !
Again, a completely useless debate without any hard data to back it up. "see for yourself" is not an answer. I once tried switching cables and heard nothing.
Visit Oxfordshire Paul.
It's amazing how divisive this topic is. It's clear that there are two distinct camps: People who trust their hearing and those that do not or don't even care to try. To flatly dismiss the idea that power cords could possibly make a difference in sound simply based on what's currently understood and able to be measured (as if we have mastered and fully understand all the influences that impact sound), is like needing some sort of verifiable objective measurements to give the precise amount of beauty something possesses before it is allowed to be recognized as beautiful. Labeling people who DO hear the differences in AC cables as clearly delusional or purveyors of "snake oil", is the height of chauvinistic arrogance. If YOU can't hear a difference, fine. But that doesn't mean that some real character of the signal that has reached your ears hasn't changed in some meaningful way just because it can't currently be measured. Did the Higgs Boson exist before it was finally discovered and confirmed? Yes, of course. Was Prof. Higgs peddling "snake oil" prior to it's detection and discovery? Following the "if it hasn't been measured, it doesn't exist group", then yes.
For me the proof is always in the listening. Sometimes different power cables don't make a damn bit of difference and sometimes they do. The ones that have made a difference for the better remain in my system.
Thanks Paul for defending and standing by subjective evaluation as the final arbiter. You have reinforced and underscored the idea that "Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder". (or in this case, Ear of the Beholder)
So what you both are saying is that in 2018, the acquired knowledge of electrical engineering is wrong. Audiophiles with no electronics backgrounds know more than educated engineers and technicians? You claim people who have gone through formal electronics educations as well as those with many years of practical experience are ignorant? Why don't you go to your local bar filled with HDTV satellite sports channels on the flat screens and patrons communicating on their smartphones and proclaim electrical engineers are ignorant. We know you hear the difference. What you won't accept is why your hear it.
No...what Paul and many experienced engineers, system designers (like me) and professional reviewers are saying is that the types of scientific, technical testing we do on various components...even simple components like wire...do not tell the whole story when listening to the effects of passing currents and signals through various chokes of various materials.
Simple...if you don't hear a difference...it doesn't mean you are a less than others..it simple means you don't hear difference...for any variety of reasons.
@Scott Hudson.... We are talking about power cords here, not signal cables. To date nobody has any evidence of power cord effects beyond the well understood current starving and in some cases noise reduction by cords with filtering of some technology. Beyond that there is nothing that can affect the audio signal via the power cord.
Andy Delle No, I’m not saying that the acquired knowledge of electrical engineering is wrong. Only that it doesn’t know everything, which means that in certain areas of studying and understanding the phenomenon, it is indeed ignorant. And just like all other areas of science, some things are well known and understood, but others remain a mystery, like dark matter. The problem arises when an engineer or scientist declares that if it can’t be objectively measured with current technologies, it must be imaginary, when it could come down to not fully understanding the phenomenon (combined with not trusting in one’s hearing) and not having the tools designed or sensitive enough to measure that particular aspect of the phenomenon that is subjectively heard or seen.
Could what certain people hear as being better in one power cord over another be a placebo effect? Certainly. And I would imagine that accounts for a reasonable percentage of listeners. But there are effects that can be heard to the astute listener that transcends placing it all on the placebo effect. And one could argue that even if it is a placebo effect (not that it is) so what? If it subjectively sounds better to the listener, it IS better. Then it all comes down to it’s perceived value to the listener and if he/she finds value in it, then that product has a legitimate place in the market.
There are many things that we take as self evident that have absolutely no substantial evidence to support it. Take your thoughts as an example. There is not one shred of "real" evidence that a "thought" actually exists. It is simply your word and my willingness to believe it because I also have experienced what I believe is the same phenomena which gives the idea some validity. But beyond that, there is no tangible evidence. Nothing. Anything "real" that you can point to is the "result" or product of thought, but not the thought itself.
My point is to try not to get too hung up on requiring some sort of external absolute measurable proof that something is "real" before recognizing it's genuine experienced effects. Not knowing exactly what's going on shouldn't prevent the experience. If you don't hear any difference, you simply don't (or in some cases choose not to) hear any difference and you've saved money!
Power cables make a difference to the sound, the moon landings were a hoax, the earth is flat, pyramids sharpen razor blades, Father Christmas & the tooth fairy are real :)
Snake oil...NOTHING BUT!
I replaced all my AGC fuses with their flimsy .001" elements with 1/4 copper tubing. Now my stereo sounds even more awesomer!
Howard Moon
Is your equipment at higher risk without the fuses?
Dr. Anthony Forgione Yes
It's a marketing scam.... There is NO WAY a power cable could EVER affect the performance of audio equipment... If it does, your equipment is either doing some mystical magic or badly designed and doesn't deserve the title "High-end" .
What you are claiming defies science.
I can even bet that speaker cables shouldn't affect performance provided they are of low DC resistance like 10 or 12 gauge. And also if your amplifier is sensitive to the tiny capacitance in an ordinary cable, your amplifier is rubbish and doesn't deserve the title "high end"....
Stop writing a wikipage and start listening with your ears.
Hhhmmm.... The truth is, its a state of mind... If you totally believe your car will go faster if you paint it black , your mind will be convinced until you can notice it going faster... The same way the same meal tastes different depending on a person's emotional state or state of mind.
Enjoy your unsuscribe ^^
AB-SO-LU-TE-LY....!!!!!
Collins Mwaura Total snakeoil indeed... I don't know what's worse though... the moneymaking scam or the dishonest technical "explanation".
If this is really how they engineer their products, I think they should be looking for another carreer, far far outside of electrical engineering. He obviously has no clue
I watch your video all the time find them very good and informative. Have a few questions on power cord burn-in. Recently i purchased a PC, it took 300 hours of burn-in time. Why don't the manufacturer or dealer offer this service, even for a small fee i can accept? Does burn-in machine that does it by some stereo shops damage the PC or cable in general?
No, it won't damage the cable. There's a huge difference in the way you burn-in an interconnect and a power cord. Interconnects are burned-in by putting them on a slightly higher Voltage than they're normally used in a system (to speed up the process), while feeding wide band noise trough the cables. That same process can't be done with power cords on such a machine. Because of the low Voltage and current, it makes no sense. It will even take longer to burn them in because they are much thicker (more mass) than interconnects. The only way to burn them in, is to let current flow trough the cable.
What the heck is that big rubber hammer doing in a testing area?!?
What's the hard rubber hammer for.....therapeutically destroying failures lol ?.
Romex is COPPER! Not aluminum and the thickness have zero difference #14 or #12 the electricity coming through the wire is 120volt at 60hz no matter what size... only reason that determines the difference is what size circuit breaker (fuse) is feeding it. 15amp breaker =#14 wire (the size wire in almost every room in any fairly modern home other than kitchen & bathroom) 20amp = #12 wire
Good one! I like it!
Sorry Paul, I'm not buying the "solid wire is better for bass frequencies" bit. My two 15" subs connected with standard stranded IEC cords give me full, deep, satisfying bass. And the MV control does not need to be cranked up. And they're not located in corners or anywhere along walls. But instead, towards the middle of the room, co-located with my hybrid 3-ways. Creating true full range towers.
What I think/believe makes the most difference as far as cables go, is using properly constructed speaker cables. Four conductor, double twisted cables to each speaker. They will be non effected from any magnetic fields created from AC cords.
Passive speaker cables are not affected by EMI and RFI to begin with. The source impedance of a modern amplifier is way too low for EMI to have any influence on a passive speaker. Furthermore a passive speaker has no electrical gain to amplify the EMI/RFI. Now tube amps may have their feerdback loops upset be excessive RFI but that too is rare unless you live next to an AM radio tower.
Can 'o' worms, copper worms! 😃
Copper?
How come that transformer does have it own Faraday shield inside the phono convertor chassis ???? < And most good electrical house wiring is Copper , not Aluminum , even though some use Aluminum , Copper is the norm !!!
Would this work for speaker cable. Strained and solid core parallel to each other but going into same amp.
I have Belkin speaker cables that do just that: solid core, and stranded outer, with a dielectric in between. And with a ridiculously thick insulator surrounding it all. All it does it make it harder than it has to be to use the speaker terminals: it's quite a job to fit all that mess through a narrow hole. I wouldn't have had to use banana plugs, otherwise. I had added more to the signal path with the banana plugs, and a connection that can come loose..
Answer: music
The best snakes are silver.
So you probably have 50' worth of 12/2 Romex Solid Copper wire traveling from your main panel to the outlet for your equipment. Then you install 6' Sigma Power Cord for $2500 and you have better sound? Somebody needs to do a Double Blind Study
A retired IBM Main Frame eng, all cables are the same, unless made with broken strands of Copper, period.
When was the last time the editor got a comprehensive “Hearing Check”?
The Hydro-Sound sensors on the USA Submarines are overseen by 20 year olds, who have never inserted a ear-bud, blasting into their ear. Why?
They have to used their hearing to tell the difference between a Whale swimming at depths and the “Propeller, minimal cavitation of another sub.”
Much less a 60 something, standing at “0” inches to a Loudspeaker, at full “Gain” for most of their lives.
Marketing to the “Must Have” is easy, but to the real “Educated, science base” it is a “Pie in the sky”.
Don’t every Home Owner knows that behind the AC outlet is a single wire conductor, attached together by wire nuts? Not soldered together, and long runs.
So buyer beware.
There is a real hi-fi geek in Japan, he payed his City electrical provider to run a dedicate line from the main Transformer, to his input of his Amplifier.
Ye, same opinion, as long as its not damaged its fine
I still say snake oil! Yes, if the power cable you are using is very small gauge and/or aluminum wire, a heavier gauge cable will make a difference.
BUT if your power cable is already a fairly heavy gauge, copper, good connectors that really grab the pins in the receptical they are connected to, NO it is ridiculous!
Just think..... what is the wiring INSIDE the amp like? How about the gauge used for the power switch? The gauge used to wind the power transformer?
The weakest link WOULD be a cheap power cable, but if it is good quality and heavy gauge, at least the same gauge or heavier than the wiring used INSIDE the device you are powering, a high priced power cable WILL NOT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE!!!!
What is the wiring from your breaker panel to the receptical? Romex? Stranded?
How about the power drop from the pole to your house? Aluminum? Copper?
How about the distribution transformer on the pole? Usually they are wound with flat copper strips.
How good are the connections from the transformer, to the power lines to the drop to your weatherhead to your breaker panel bus bars to the cips on your breakers to the wiring conneting the run to your receptical?
How good is the receptical? Is is spec grade or cheap $0.39 bargain basement receptical that barley grab the plug pins?
There are TONS of things that are between you and the distribution transformer and a measly high dollar 6 foot power cord ain't gonna make much difference!!!!!!!!!!
There is no real mention of what is being compared to... is it a cheap light cable that you are using to power your computer monitor?
I STILL say SNAKE OIL!!!!
As an electrical contractor who knows what's inside of your panel, each and every J-box, as well as your walls and ceiling, this makes me giggle. To each their own, and you can hit me up for a whole house electron alignment service that I provide, which will align the electrons correctly and will provide substantially better audio that anyone can actually hear...... Your friends will be jealous.
Side stripes make cars go faster too.
So do chrome air cleaners !!!!!
No! They have to be flames.
no it has to be snakes.Freaking snakes...with oil!
I am using electrically insulated pipe copper tubing , surrounded with Litz wire ...the tube carries HIGH END snake oil ( extracted from snakes from Amazon forest) ..to get cooled in a heat exchanger.that runs on solar power....
all available easily on Amazon with free shipping & installation....
Now I CAN HEAR that 1/16 dB change of 80 kHz signal that's processed through my 256 ....
no 512 bit ultrafast DAC....
You should cryotreat them. It’s way cooler!
it's magic inside them. Made by leprechauns....
It's important to dress the plug ends with high quality anti venom for the best results.
can't stop laughing. Release the snakes. releasee thee snakes...
What I find interesting about subjectivists is that the quality they assign to things that are not scientifically measurable always match intuition. For example, silver, with its shiny surface sounds sharp while copper, with its reddish color, sounds warm. For power cables, the strong and heavy Romex sounds more bassy than the thin and flexible zip cord. That looks a lot like a psychological effect. But if people think it sounds better, even if it only sounds better in their own minds, why try stopping them.
When you can measure the music itself, or measure why Mozart sounds better than Salieri, then you come back and bang on about measuring Hifi - ok?
@@legrandmaitre7112 Still boils down to taste and your own ears... Would you be able to say that because what YOU hear sounds better than what I think sounds better, your brain has better neurons by a superior manufacturer or that your ears were designed by a "high end" engineer and mine weren't? Give me a break... There is nothing superior in trying to make others feel "inferior". Go buy your overpriced audio gear for your overpriced listening pleasure... Comparing two outstanding composers who had never had the "pleasure of high end audio equipment" is typical of someone who understand very little about music and more about irrelevant technology...
True story. I bought a second hand Valve (tube) headphone amp a while back that came with an expensive power chord. From the moment I started using it I was aware of a very slight hum in the background, couldn't hear it when the music was playing though. Anyway I though otherwise it sounded great. Last week I switched the expensive cable for a cheap nasty one (no earth). No hum! Sounds 10x better!
Snake oil the lot of it
Considering the audio circuits are *after* rectification and *FILTER* capacitor circuits, (as close to pure DC as possible), how could the AC power cable influence the audio unless it is too thin of a gauge, and there is a voltage drop to the audio equipment power supply?
You said it right. , while conducting, the curcuit is passing all components and the color they each give off gets imprinted in the audio signal to a minute degree. So if a thin wire can strangle the flow a thicker wire will do this less. They each have characteristics beyond resistance only. Capacitance, fieldlines behave differently etc. Try lifting your wires off the ground... let someone else do it. blind test. Your equipment must have the quality to show it of course.
@@comiplaynow4624 LOL
@@comiplaynow4624🤣
@@a0r0a7 i made a few power cables since then and the results are stunning. They can improve the dynamics and tune the sound.
@@comiplaynow4624 I have made my own Lapp power cables. They look lovely but I am not going to say they sound stunning. If you understand electronics and how your kit power supply operates saying the difference is stunning is questionable. Glad it works for you.
If an amplifier is getting, let's say 24 volts DC from a power supply that is made to deal enough current for that amplifier, and is providing a steady DC supply, then how can the amplifier "see" what kind of wire is supplying the power supply with power? It's a simple question, but no one seems to have the direct answer. It seems very possible to use an oscilloscope to measure voltages at every stage, compere waveforms, and track exactly where the differences are and why, but that logic is missing for some reason. Certainly, if I spend hundreds of dollars on a set of cables, I will NOT trust my ears or brain to give me the absolute truth about which is better. It seems to me that if there IS a audible difference between normal and expensive power cables, then it's also fine to conclude that I should be able to bend a spoon just by thinking hard enough about it.
The AMD (anger management device) is present on the right side of the video frame for when all goes wrong after assembly and testing at PS audio.
I don't think all engineers hear a difference. I know many who don't. What do recording studios use I wonder?
I love your open minded view of audio design. I think it’s essential to optimise hifi.
8:54 ... I think you meant to say copper. I thought that in commercial buildings the standard was conduit with 12 GA. solid copper wire.
You mentioned aluminium which was used for a short time for residential wiring. I rented a place that had aluminium wiring and it was dangerous. The contact at the breaker box became unreliable and the voltage was fluctuating between the two 120 volt line. The lights were getting brighter and dimmer as I used different appliances. I fixed it by re securing all the wires in the breaker box. I only lived there two years.
In this context, I'm sure he meant to say copper. But, aluminum, while less popular, is still used for electrical power wiring. Because it expands and contracts at a different rate than copper, there are lots of specifications on making connections and tightening screws. Also, most of the what you see in the big high tension towers is aluminum. It has low resistance and is much lighter than copper.
Also, electrical code forbids Romex type cable in commercial and industrial indoor applications. There, 12AWG THHN in metal conduit is required for 15 amp circuits, and armoured (BX) cable is the only exception.
Aluminum wire was often used in residential between 1969 and 1976 when the price of copper went to the moon.
The aluminum wire would be 12/2 to handle 15 amps, whereas copper would be 14/2 for the same current capacity.
Aluminum wires themselves are safe, the connections are the main concern for overheating and fire risk. Aluminum over time oxidizes, and the coating of aluminum oxide on the outer surface of the conductor is an insulator, and causes connections to heat, arc and expand / contract compounding the problem until the connection burns up.
You can live safely in a home with aluminum wires, but the connections need to be checked for tightness, coated with anti-oxidant gel, and overall be done with care. Aluminum wire has zero tolerance for sloppy termination.
While aluminum wiring is now illegal in residential installations (due to all the electrical fires it's caused throughout history), it is still permitted in commercial and industrial installations. I have no idea why. The physics and the dangers of aluminum wire are still the same.
@@Orcinus24x5 the service cable coming into your house is aluminium
What’s the big hammer for 🤔
It's for the phono amp assembly.
To kill the snake if it doesn't give enough oil.
I'd be more interested in a "What's inside our amplifiers" video.
I was lucky. I was @ a local hifi purveyor around 30 years ago when I got in on a demo by John Dunlavy.
It was "testing " the sound of speaker cables. What John did was behind a screen that hid the playback components (but of course not his speakers which sounded excellent). He had an assistant hold up various cables. The same test track was played.Then the audience of around a dozen would comment on the sonic differences. I said I couldn't hear any which was my innocent & honest assessment which was regarded with loathing & smug contempt by the "audiophiles". When no one was looking John winked @ me.
I thought to myself what is he up to?
Turns out to the horror & disgust of the "audiophiles" who had waxed lyrical over certain high end looking cables when John revealed he never changed or swapped out a single cable.
I think John made a strong point that day about the power of suggestion & some enemies with their pride wounded.
Even though I never saw the man again he made one lifelong friend that day.
Wow, great story. Placebo is under-acknowledged in every field, but when it comes to audio it is ignored to a criminal extent. I don't care how expert you think your ears are, your unconscious mind is more sophisticated.
@@Spaniard47 Cheers. Here in Australia. Solar panels & huge storage batteries are becoming more popular.
Mains power chords/ cables that was under discussion. I don't think make that much of a difference. What does is running the audio system through a digital power filter ( like PS audio make)
Or direct off batteries. I Have a 1.5 wrms pure class A power amp run off 4 12 v 350 Amp hour mobile phone relay station backups. At least thats what my ears tell me. The sweetest, cleanest watt you will ever hear. I use it for testing speaker efficiency & amp output connected head phones like AKG K 1000's if Battry backup solar takes off the clean power source (real issue) is solved.
@@gorillafunk725 that is fascinating. You've inspired me to look into this topic more. I built a small solar powered generator for my family for reasons completely unrelated to audio (power outages; sustainability), and now I've just realized that the concept of 100% off-grid power may have real merits in the field of high end audio. When I built the system I was sure to buy deep cycle AGM cells and a decent quality pure sine wave inverter. I'm curious, if I can get it hooked up to a good audio system, do you think there will truly be an audible difference? I live in the country and our mains power is relatively clean. Also my audio system is great but certainly not worth thousands. But I'm always looking for quirky projects like this to experiment with.
@@Spaniard47 Hi Evan. Thats what my ears suggested to me when I first hooked up "Big Red" my 23 KG transformer coupled on speaker out in class A 1.5 watter on battery power. That was with 6 12v parallel connected. Now it only runs 4 but I can't hear any loss of fidelity. ( Quicker recharge) And it is definitely cleaner than when it ran off mains power. That was clearly (pun intended) audible.
Win ,Win Get off the grid nipple paying power utilities lots of money for variable & often dirty power & clean green power for all your audio toys. No more surges/ black/brown outs. The major production cost in both high end d/a conversion & pre/power or integrated amps is a huge transformer & bank of heavy duty caps to filter the mains power grunge into something stable. Besides any of that in these crazy times the less reliant you are on any public utility, the safer & more secure you are long term.
Cheers
Paul, you add huge transformer which (who would guessed) transforms alternate current and reduces 99% of noise and say that power cables make difference in sound? Why power cables do not make difference in lamp colors in a home lighting?
I would suggest that since there is not a scientific theory to explain any audible differences when such cables are used, a double-blind test would be in order. It would be quite easy to do with employees and visitors. This kind of test would rule out confirmation bias as the source of perceived improvement in sound -- and any statistically significant difference shown in the test results would be a good substitute for the scientific explanation or theory that is lacking.
Where should the special power cable start? At your power regenerator I suppose.
In theory the only signal that should be in a power cable is 50 or 60hz, if it affects the sound then it stands to reason that the sound signal somehow resonates with the power cable, in that case it should extend from the AC/DC transformer as far as possible, preferably all the way to the wall. It would be interesting to conduct an experiement to see if the sound signal can be detected in the power cable itself, and possibly in other plugs on the same circuit.
Excellent explanation. No one can take exception, but of course they do. I make my own power cords. Only about 1.5' and shocked to find they make a substantial difference. I have 400 amp service to my home, so 3/4" thick copper cable from the transformer to the house. But here is the rub. Only one 14 gauge copper wire to the system. 30 feet of 14 gauge and somehow the last 1.5 feet makes a difference. Who cares. I just enjoy the improved sound.
today i made up a new Furutech DPS-4.1 Limited Edition High End Audio Grade Power Cable.i fitted the cable with a high end furutech socket and plug. the cable cost £ 400 per meter.i made up a 1 meter cable.
when i fitted the power cord into my ps audio bkh 250 amp it defiantly changed the sound.i run monitor audio pl 300's which are on the bright side in the highs.the cable knocked off the harshness from the highs and they now sounds much better. i have DIY'd lots of power cords for myself but usually they are no way the price of this cable .i usually use lorad 2.5 silver plated cable to which ive had no issues.however after listening to this new cable it looks like im going to have to upgrade them all again. the copper in the new cable was more harder and it cut more brittle than normal copper.that must be the single grain crystal design making the difference. plus this new cable had many layers of different materials to keep the noise out.i know it sounds unbelievable and im all for been very weary when it comes to this snake oil subject and in the beginning i didnt believe any of this including speaker cable and interconnects.but after a few years of asking the same old questions , i am starting to believe cables do make a difference.
I run in the new single thick coil power cables by boiling water with a kettle.
I have an amazing cable I think you'd really like, amazing change in sound quality, more musical and the soundstage is transformed. It's also a bargain at only £50k per meter. Magic beans also available on request.
Great thankyou Paul, but surely that means we need to change the cables from our supply transformers out in the field to our power outlets aswell by using both solid drawn and flexible conductors. Mine are approx 400m across the field so this could be quite expensive. I'm in no way dissing what you have said but find it hard to believe that a 300mm cable change could alter the sound that much when my supply cables are 400m to the transfomer and then 64373m from the power station. Thats an impressive 215,910 times longer than the my amp supply cable. Sorry.
It would be nice if you could do an audio test with your gear next to that supply transformer, Yes that would probably dictate a headphone based test, and you'd need a friendly electrician to rig it up.
The only conclusion I can make of all this high-end power lead thing, is that there are quite a few issues with having a power lead anywhere near the back of your audio gear, as in speaker leads & interconnects. otherwise, as you said, we are only talking 0.0001% or the wire between your gear and the power generators. Maybe high end needs to run on batteries, and keep the AC well away.
- as in high end leads couple less into the surrounding rats nest behind your HiFi.
I instantly noticed a huge difference when I added silver XLR cables (reasonably priced) from my DAC to the preamp. As always I never expected anything to change, but it was undeniable. I had to check where the volume was at because it sounded considerably louder (like 2 dB on the preamp), yet it was at the typical volume I always listen to. The sound was more detailed and had more air, and it was was even smoother and sweeter. Interconnect cables do make a difference on low level signals (like DACs, phono, preamp....) which will go through several amplification stages. However, you don't need to break the bank to buy decent cables. Anything over a couple hundred dollars is a pure ripoff and many insanely overpriced cables actually measure worse than generic Amazon cables.
There is nothing magical to put inside a simple (quality wire, proper shielding and low impedance terminations) cable to warrant ridiculous prices. Power cables need to be of adequate gauge to carry the necessary current for the devise, thus an 18 gauge cable will not cut it to run 500 watt mono blocks. You do not need a 12 gauge cable to run a 10 watt DAC and doing so will only be a waste of money. Running 8 gauge power cables will do jack shit for sound quality, because a 6' cord is only an extension of the 50+ feet of plain run of the mill 14 gauge lumex in your walls. The smallest gauge will always be a bottleneck in the chain of wires. AC current flows back and forth 60 times per second and electron only see one wire.
It really matters if noise gets on your low level DAC cable, because the noise will be amplified 100s of times when it reaches your speakers. Any noise getting on speakers cables is past all amplification, thus you will hear the same very low level noise as much as you can hear it with your amp turned off (absolutely nothing).Speakers do not amplify the signal, thus if you can not hear the ambient noise in your environment, then how in the hell can you hear it unamplified in your speakers?
OFC speaker wire is not very expensive, so why pay so much money for snake oil cable that at best only cause a placebo effect where you fool yourself into hearing a difference that just isn't there. I suppose it helps people to justify the $5000 they spent on snake oil cables. These companies prey on people's susceptibility to the placebo effect.
Short answer: it's a mix of solid and stranded BS mixed togerher that makes Paul cough while trying to explain it and blaming it on fires.
As usual with power cables, there's actually zero science in the mix.
But I atill love Paul. 👍
Saw a measurement between expensive audioquest and a rusted cable. Negligible difference.
I recon as long as the cables are not damaged, it should be just fine. The only thing i can come up with is that with heavy amps, you need a sturdy cable.
This whole power cable thing is asinine. I saw one somewhere yesterday (online) for $40,000. Ha ha ha!!!!
This whole thing reminds me of a guy I used to play guitar with when I was much younger.
Somehow he sold himself on the fact that changing the fuse in the back of his guitar amp made his amp sound better.
He'd do it like once a month.
Everytime he changed it, he was like, wow, that's sounds so much better!!!!
Based on the responses here I think another video is in order. But please spend the time talking about the physics, not going off on tangents... 😁
Absolutely ridiculous that people think the last few feet of copper/aluminum that the electricity travels through makes any difference. This should be common sense to anybody with the most basic of technical backgrounds.
If a high end power cable sounds any different than a well made IEC power cable in the $10 range, then the power supply on the device being connected is poorly designed. Any power supply in a device should make the assumption that the incoming AC power may be noisy, and it should be capable of filtering that noise out. If it cannot, a snake oil power cable isn't going to solve the problem.
This is a golden comment. Cause you're running at least a 8 meter cable from your power divide box thingy to your outlet....... and those cables are not properly insulated.....
Go back to your MP3s and crappy stereo. When youre ready to join the big boys club, let us know
Sounds like someone bought snake oil power cables xD
"This seems dubious for reasons x, y and z"
"LMAO U HAVE A CRAPPY STEREO AND A SMALL PEEPEE EXDEE LMAO XD"
Huge win in the battle of ideas
Exactly right. That power cord delivers a given amount of current at a given voltage. That's really about it. The only other concern would be if the geometry of the cord conductors is off, then one of the conductors could induce a small voltage into the grounding conductor. That could cause some noise problems (hum, buzz) in unbalanced systems.. But, that really should not be an issue. The talk here is nonsense..
so Paul, explain to me this if you would, you say thin strand gets you better highs, but from breaker box to outlet is 12 awg roamex, how then, even if we use your power cable, does the kind of power to produce better highs get to the outlet for your cable to then carry over to the equipment??? (if the thin strand is not everpresent from the outlet to the breakerbox and then also to the power plant?) Not being combative, just want this avenue to be made sense to me....
Very interesting, Paul, thank you!
I have heard these things from a friend of mine, who bought an expensive power cable for himself. He say it's better. I don't hear it, despite i do have good hearing, really. So i'm a bit sceptical about this. The power travels into your wall socket from the street, and you don't know what kind of cables are in your wall, especially if you living in an older building. They can be some crap quality cables from 50 years ago, or more. What's the point of using a crazy expensive 1 meter long cable, if those Ampers travelling 40-50 m in a shit quality cord? You want to tell me, that 1 m long "super cable" is going to do the miracle? I don't thik so...
in another video he talks about proximity to a power station affecting audio as well, hence buying a regenerator for your system. Presumably he would say, first replace the wiring in your house, then get the nice power cable. Some people would do it, too.
@@ar_xivrecommend ... An underground house that's about 100 metres below the lowest level of that power station.. enclosed in a
" HIGH END " Faraday Shield..
I think that a normal power cable that is correctly sized for the load you're going to be applying on it is whaaaaat more than enough. If you're using a switching PSU inside of your appliances, well, no difference will be heard from a cheap 2 dollar cable and a 2k dollars cable.
Is there a microphone and software test that can be done to show how different power cables sound?
yes but never in this channel
Question: Why cant the equipment internal power supplies not be improved to the point where full performance is realised as long as the supply voltage is in tolerance and of reasonable quality taking into account typical fluctuations and noise? For instance designing with larger regulation headroom, more storage capacitance? Is there a property in the cable that does not exist in an electronic component or practical circuit that cannot be fitted inside the equipment?
Sort of in response Andy Delle's comment, when i first heard that power cable make a difference i said the same thing,
"that seems like the dumbest thing i've ever heard of."
But then i recall from technical school that i had an instructor tell me in no uncertain terms that me wanting to put a
bigger capacitor in the audio path of my radio project we built that semester was not going to work. No Way! No How!!!
Thank God i didn't listen. Later when i wanted help to get an audio op amp from Radio Shack to work, the power supply
was oscillating so bad that it did seem hopeless, he said you'll never get that to work either.
I not only got both items to work, i'm still using the audio amp 28 years later. The radio I destroyed by continuing to
make it better.
if I had listened to my instructor, he was actually my favorite teacher at that school, I would have missed out on hearing the best music played back on systems that play music the way I want to hear it. I've played guitar for 50 years and grew up pounding on a upright piano for 14 years. Almost all of the stereo systems that I've listened to do not sound like real music. They can sound really good but not like live music. My experiments have gotten me close.
Power cables make a huge difference even on cheap stuff, which is what i mostly have (raising two daughters takes most of married income so audio is usually a low priority).
I've replaced all the power cables with 12 gauge romax, it's cheap and it works. The only thing it doesn't seem to help that much is televisions. Tried it didn't notice any difference. But for audio it makes a huge difference.
i was converted ten years ago. (I could give a ton of examples of how it improves the audio, but this is already too long. i'm an audiophile not because i have great hearing, just the opposite i have one eardrum covered with scar tissue from endless earaches when i was young. I need my systems to speak clearly to help me enjoy them).
My favorite quote from Mark Twain is; "If you grab a cat by the tail you'll learn things that you can't learn any other way".
Enjoy the music any way you can!!!
I find it odd as an engineer for another engineer to discover a combination of materials which apparently makes a difference to sound, yet is totally unaware what change is happening and has no curiosity to investigate. It's especially strange considering he's selling them and has a vested interest in demonstrating to his customers that his cables make a difference.
Is that hammer to your left for fixing the units?
Employee Motivation...