Audio Power Cables / Cords - Do they really make a difference?

[Speedskater]

popcorn anyone?

 

[lovinthehd]

popcorn anyone?

 

[speedbump61]

Do we need butter and salt

 

[lovinthehd]

Do we need butter and salt

Only if it's magical quantum butter and salt from Thed at SR? Makes everything better!

 

[Beave]

That wall of text is impossible to read.

I'm guessing the poster thinks he heard a difference. The key word here is "thinks."

When you compare power cables that way, the thing being tested would appear to be the power cables. But it's not. The thing being tested is YOU.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Lost me at synergistic research.
That guy’s a total piece of shiit. Should spend the rest of his life inside a used rubber.

 

[lovinthehd]

Lost me at synergistic research.
That guy’s a total piece of shiit. Should spend the rest of his life inside a used rubber.

A used rubber that's been cast aside in a seedy alley....and then used by Thed with a claim of quantum alignment!

 

[killdozzer]

I honestly think this is just a poor attempt at trolling. I mean the guy joins half a year ago, he posted 3 posts so far, he said he read the thread on cables, which means he must have seen all the arguments, all the reasons why people here don't accept casual listening and fiddling with cables as proof as well as what would constitute an argument or proof...

Nope, I think he underestimated the crowd here by taking a cheap shot. Joining at page 20 to say there was a difference and "judge with your ears" after all the people here patiently (at first ) explaining everything that's wrong with such a statement, it really looks like trolling.

We've officially become the "house down the road". Remember when we were kids and talked about that one abandoned house down the road where someone died and now if you go there to spend a night you'll disturb the spirits. I think trolls today say there's this forum community down the road of ol' farts (me included) and if you go there and say the magic words "cables make a difference" you'll disturb the spirits and they won't calm down for 20 pages of written arguments.

That's us now.

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

A used rubber that's been cast aside in a seedy alley....and then used by Thed with a claim of quantum alignment!

Lmao!
I think he needs quantum penetration...

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

I honestly think this is just a poor attempt at trolling. I mean the guy joins half a year ago, he posted 3 posts so far, he said he read the thread on cables, which means he must have seen all the arguments, all the reasons why people here don't accept casual listening and fiddling with cables as proof as well as what would constitute an argument or proof...

Nope, I think he underestimated the crowd here by taking a cheap shot. Joining at page 20 to say there was a difference and "judge with your ears" after all the people here patiently (at first ) explaining everything that's wrong with such a statement, it really looks like trolling.

We've officially become the "house down the road". Remember when we were kids and talked about that one abandoned house down the road where someone died and now if you go there to spend a night you'll disturb the spirits. I think trolls today say there's this forum community down the road of ol' farts (me included) and if you go there and say the magic words "cables make a difference" you'll disturb the spirits and they won't calm down for 20 pages of written arguments.

That's us now.

This is hilarious!
I will wear my curmudgeonly cantankerous badge of honor with pride!

 

[slipperybidness]

Old thread, but felt the need to comment. I was always skeptical over the years about high cost cables. I don’t think back when, that my hears were sophisticated to hear subtle differences, as I didn’t consider myself an audiophile. Guess I thought you had to apply and have a special certification to be a part of the club, lol. I used decent, meaning not Walmart, but not expensive cables. I recently tried Synergistic Research top of the line power conditioner with their top power cord. This was listening to. McIntosh MC352 with Higher end Sonus Faber standmount speakers, and Klipsch Heresy speakers. With it in line I noticed the lack of a hiss in the quiet moments and between notes that I had not noticed up until it was no longer there. There was more impact in the bass, mids and highs, the bass being most noteable. I play the guitar and could easily tell there was more attack on the leading edge of the notes played on the guitar. Same for all instruments. The sound was more dynamic throughout. I had honestly expected not to hear any difference at all, in a way I was trying to prove to myself that it was true that it made no difference, despite many reviews etc saying different and describing what they heard. Now, all those reviews make it sound like the difference is like a car radio from the 1950s, to a burmeister system in a Mercedes today. It was no where near that drastic, no frying pan hit me on the head to make the light go on. But it was a difference, and it was noticeable. We had been listening what I consider to be low volume, and I usually listen pretty loud. The difference increased as the volume did. Now the difference was pretty significant. I Then removed their high end power cord and ran the power conditioner with a standard mac cord. Again, I could hear a difference, and it diminished the improvements that I heard with it. Then I plugged in just their power cord and took out the power conditioner. The sound was not as good as the conditioner alone, but better than with the standard cord. I did not have time to try any other cables, but I will be back to try interconnects and speaker cables later. As with all audio products, after reading and trying to learn as much as I can, I let my ears be the final judge. Measurements are great, but if it dosnt sound good to me, that’s all that matters in the end. I left with the new power conditioner and cable in hand, they proved to me that there is indeed a difference, and a worthwhile one. Everyone has their own budget and some of us spend huge money for small improvements. So why not cables if we can indeed hear a difference, and more so if the difference is greater than what we might spend for a lesser improvement in other ways. I don’t know at what level the differences become noticeable and to what level they do. I can’t speak for all cables, but in this one case, I was wrong and cables do make a difference. If I had to chose the difference between what I spent on the power cord and the difference I heard in a 5k upgrade on a DAC, for the money, I’d do the power cord first. The difference was more noticeable, in a good way.

Ted Denney Synergistic Research Slander of Audioholics

Guys; I'm really on the fence on what to do about this guy Ten Denny whom I've never met or ever talked about his products. He's having fun rubbing it in my face that I started a GoFundMe to keep the Audioholics business going while our advertisers are temporarily shut down and I'm recovering...

forums.audioholics.com

 

[Pogre]

Old thread, but felt the need to comment. I was always skeptical over the years about high cost cables. I don’t think back when, that my hears were sophisticated to hear subtle differences, as I didn’t consider myself an audiophile. Guess I thought you had to apply and have a special certification to be a part of the club, lol. I used decent, meaning not Walmart, but not expensive cables. I recently tried Synergistic Research top of the line power conditioner with their top power cord. This was listening to. McIntosh MC352 with Higher end Sonus Faber standmount speakers, and Klipsch Heresy speakers. With it in line I noticed the lack of a hiss in the quiet moments and between notes that I had not noticed up until it was no longer there. There was more impact in the bass, mids and highs, the bass being most noteable. I play the guitar and could easily tell there was more attack on the leading edge of the notes played on the guitar. Same for all instruments. The sound was more dynamic throughout. I had honestly expected not to hear any difference at all, in a way I was trying to prove to myself that it was true that it made no difference, despite many reviews etc saying different and describing what they heard. Now, all those reviews make it sound like the difference is like a car radio from the 1950s, to a burmeister system in a Mercedes today. It was no where near that drastic, no frying pan hit me on the head to make the light go on. But it was a difference, and it was noticeable. We had been listening what I consider to be low volume, and I usually listen pretty loud. The difference increased as the volume did. Now the difference was pretty significant. I Then removed their high end power cord and ran the power conditioner with a standard mac cord. Again, I could hear a difference, and it diminished the improvements that I heard with it. Then I plugged in just their power cord and took out the power conditioner. The sound was not as good as the conditioner alone, but better than with the standard cord. I did not have time to try any other cables, but I will be back to try interconnects and speaker cables later. As with all audio products, after reading and trying to learn as much as I can, I let my ears be the final judge. Measurements are great, but if it dosnt sound good to me, that’s all that matters in the end. I left with the new power conditioner and cable in hand, they proved to me that there is indeed a difference, and a worthwhile one. Everyone has their own budget and some of us spend huge money for small improvements. So why not cables if we can indeed hear a difference, and more so if the difference is greater than what we might spend for a lesser improvement in other ways. I don’t know at what level the differences become noticeable and to what level they do. I can’t speak for all cables, but in this one case, I was wrong and cables do make a difference. If I had to chose the difference between what I spent on the power cord and the difference I heard in a 5k upgrade on a DAC, for the money, I’d do the power cord first. The difference was more noticeable, in a good way.

Huh. I used to think McIntosh was a good company but from what you say they ship with crappy power cords that introduce distortion.

Shame on you McIntosh!

 

[mtrycrafts]

Lmao!
I think he needs quantum penetration...

Actually that is called "Quantum Tunneling."

 

[highfigh]

Actually that is called "Quantum Tunneling."

Quantum trolling, more like.

 

[NINaudio]

Actually that is called "Quantum Tunneling."

When you expect it to go one way/place but it goes another....

 

[mtrycrafts]

Quantum trolling, more like.

That's a new one on me.

 

[Verdinut]

Huh. I used to think McIntosh was a good company but from what you say they ship with crappy power cords that introduce distortion.

Shame on you McIntosh!

A while ago, I mentioned that in the 1960's, McIntosh were taking amplifier testing equipment to audio shops selling their stuff. They were offering to test other brand amplifiers to compare with theirs in what they called an amplifier clinic..
You would never have thought what they did, but they did that in Montreal and in other cities as well. When they put another brand's amplifier on the testing equipment, they were using a Variac and were lowering the incoming AC voltage to 95 volts. Of course, most of the other brands' amps did not perform as well as theirs. What a bunch of crooked technicians! I was told about that by my best old friend who passed away 6 weeks ago. He had managed two high end audio shops in Montreal.

 

[highfigh]

A while ago, I mentioned that in the 1960's, McIntosh were taking amplifier testing equipment to audio shops selling their stuff. They were offering to test other brand amplifiers to compare with theirs in what they called an amplifier clinic..
You would never have thought what they did, but they did that in Montreal and in other cities as well. When they put another brand's amplifier on the testing equipment, they were using a Variac and were lowering the incoming AC voltage to 95 volts. Of course, most of the other brands' amps did not perform as well as theirs. What a bunch of crooked technicians! I was told about that by my best old friend who passed away 6 weeks ago. He had managed two high end audio shops in Montreal.

I took my fairly new Pioneer SX-525 to the local Mac dealer and the printout showed that it was good for a measly 13W/channel @1% THD. WooHoo!

 

[highfigh]

That's a new one on me.

Thanks. Gotta think outside of the box.

 

[lovinthehd]

WHEW.......
A two year ban and I come back to the same SH*t.

What's the use of having a cable forum?
It's obvious most users here don't believe in a difference a cable can make.
If they do, the're ridiculed.

F^CK off and have some rules......

If you think cables make a difference, lets talk about it.
If not. Keep it to yourselves.

Simple.

Oh good grief how the f*ck did you get back in?