Upgraded Power Cord

  • once again, I don't PERSONALLY necessarily huy that power cabling is worthwhile area to fret about.


    but all I AM saying is that reputable, smart, experienced, talented people tell me it's worth paying attention to and I am unwilling to just dismiss what they say out of hand because "the internets"


    at the risk of rabbit holing:

    it's bit like the '96k doesn't make a difference' arguments.

    thats great on gearslutz.

    in the actual record making world, all the high end guys I know (and I know them all) work at 96k of not 192.


    but if you'd rather take advice from a bass trap shill, feel free.

    won't bother me.

  • it's undoubtedly "measurable" IF you know what you're measuring.


    as I said in the examples, it doesn't always mean that people measuring either know what to look for or are convinced what they are measuring is "audible"


    there's a lot of internets "myth busting" that works great for hobbyists

    I can't help thinking that Vovox made it for a reason.

    If they made it for a reason, it occurs to me that they had a measurable reason to make it.

    If they had a measurable reason to make it, then logic would indicate that they could show the measurements.

    Instead they say nothing, but look to ask you for your faith instead.

    Sound familiar?

    Your mic analogy has legs, big time.

    I would be happy to do a test with that cable, against the cable that came with my Kemper.

    I could do it in two locations, my home, and our practice studio.

  • Chuck Zwicky:

    The Pro Tools HD system interfaces use switchmode power supplies, I believe, and there is really no way to eliminate the RF hash that these supplies introduce into the AC supply. AC cables can become powerful transmitters of this RF energy. These "special" cables that you sent have a tremendous braided stainless shield which should prove very effective in blocking a lot of this energy. Some RF energy can be so powerful that it can introduce common mode signals beyond the capabilities of active input circuits. I have discovered that here in manhattan, on the seventh floor, there is a tremendous lot of RF from cell "towers" , WiFi, and the usual radio signals. I have modified much of my gear to include really high end input transformers, and the improvement in sound quality is remarkable. I believe that this is due to the near invulnerability to RF my system gained with this simple mod.

    Bob Olhsson:

    I've long been convinced that differences in wire sound are caused by the wire's effect on the gear's sensitivity to RFI as opposed to any effect on the signal passing through the wire.

  • I think the point of the high-quality power cable is not to enhance / make better the power stream in any way; it's to minimise further degradation of the already-compromised waveform that exits one's power outlets.


    What theoretically starts out as a perfect A/C-waveform at-source is typically a distorted version by the time it reaches one's household outlets. This is why waveform-reconstructing conditioners work - their effects are audible and measurable. Apparently folks report such observations as their studio setups' "sounding sweeter" and exhibiting lower noise floors. This makes sense to me 'cause unwanted RF frequencies and whatnot across multiple devices are bound to accumulate and add unwanted gunk to one's summed signals, thereby increasing the noise floor.


    So, even 'though it's a short cable run, a fancy-pants power lead could prevent further degradation of the current passing through it, especially in a typical-home-studio scenario where and inordinate amount of EM and RF activity is concentrated in a small area when compared to what it's exposed to whilst travelling through the power grid.

  • Once the capacitance of a respective cable reaches a certain point, resistance no longer becomes an issue. If the required operating voltage and frequency is provided to the device in question the audio would be unaffected unless the power supply is of such a low quality as to introduce the deviation in voltage or frequency into the signal path which is virtually impossible with switch mode power supplies. Not to mention the isolation to prevent such issues designed into the circuit. Spend all you want. It all ends up at 12V or so anyway as soon as it passes the input transformer. So then what? Upgrade the transformer? AD/DA converters? Jacks? Internal wiring?


    If it makes you feel better, great. I’ll save the cash for a guitar.

  • Chuck Zwicky:

    The Pro Tools HD system interfaces use switchmode power supplies, I believe, and there is really no way to eliminate the RF hash that these supplies introduce into the AC supply. AC cables can become powerful transmitters of this RF energy. These "special" cables that you sent have a tremendous braided stainless shield which should prove very effective in blocking a lot of this energy. Some RF energy can be so powerful that it can introduce common mode signals beyond the capabilities of active input circuits. I have discovered that here in manhattan, on the seventh floor, there is a tremendous lot of RF from cell "towers" , WiFi, and the usual radio signals. I have modified much of my gear to include really high end input transformers, and the improvement in sound quality is remarkable. I believe that this is due to the near invulnerability to RF my system gained with this simple mod.

    Bob Olhsson:

    I've long been convinced that differences in wire sound are caused by the wire's effect on the gear's sensitivity to RFI as opposed to any effect on the signal passing through the wire.

    When I was writing air traffic control software, the PCs that were required for our software were double the price, if not more, than COTS (commercial, off the shelf) boxes I could buy anywhere. When I asked my boss about it, he said they were intentionally overbuilt and spec'd, among other things, to have much greater RF shielding than typical COTS boxes.


    The cynical part of me assumed that was just the typical government contract pork barrel price gouging. An honest assessment, however, is that I really haven't studied the matter and don't know what, if any, impact RFI could have on the performance or stability of a PC, whether ambient signals as in the NYC example, or intentional as in an attack from a malevolent actor.


    If I was going to buy special cables, it certainly wouldn't be from the company in question as their marketing is pure snake oil and that's enough to damage their credibility in my eyes. That said, I'm unwilling to discount the possibility that power cabling can be a factor for no other reason than the fact that, simply put, I haven't done my own reading and research on the matter.

    Instead they say nothing, but look to ask you for your faith instead.

    I heartily agree with your sentiment regarding this company.


    That said, I doubt most people realize how much "faith" is a factor in their acceptance of science. Faith, whether the context is religion or science, is a matter of believing what another human tells you because that person is, in your eyes, credible, so you take what they say as fact even though you haven't experienced the physical proof firsthand. Instead, you simply take their word for it because it seems reasonable to do so. In reality, unless you do the experiment yourself, your acceptance of the results are in fact an act of faith based on credibility. And credibility is highly subjective, or there wouldn't be so many different religions in the world.


    Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-science. I make a living as a computer programmer (although there are certainly days when it feels more like voodoo than science), so it's not like I'm some shamanistic hermit in a cave.


    I only mention this because people so often cite Science these days with the same religious fervor applied to every other belief system in the past, i.e. we should all just sit down, be quiet and accept that it's The Truth. In reality, there's good science, bad science, complete bs passing itself off as science, not to mention the fact that science is really just in the business of explaining what's been there all along.


    My point is that the absence of proof is not proof of absence. Sure, this company seems hokey, but I have difficulty accepting the perspective that anything we can't prove at this very moment is bs (or "magic," an insult that means the same thing).


    People tend to forget that science cannot advance without an open mind toward things not yet proven.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • In reality, there's good science, bad science, complete bs passing itself off as science

    Amen, brother.

    the absence of proof is not the proof of absence

    Testify!

    People tend to forget that science cannot advance without an open mind toward things not yet proven.

    People and... big companies, corporations and industries that rely on the pecuniary benefits of the status quo.


    Amen to that. ;):saint:

  • This is what I call magic :

    Quote

    Wooden Knobs For Your Stereo :$485.00!

    The point here is the micro vibrations created by the volume pots and knobs find their way into the delicate signal path and cause degradation (Bad vibrations equal bad sound). With the signature knobs micro vibrations from the C37 concept of wood, bronze and the lacquer itself compensate for the volume pots and provide (Good Vibrations) our ear/brain combination like to hear... way better sound!!

    This is an insult to people who design audio hardware and software using hard maths (not myth).

    Designers do not put random things into the rack unit ant then tell you : "look , we do not know how it's working but it's working . We do not know what i does to sound bot it does."

  • This is what I call magic :

    It's what I call BS. :)


    There's a difference between calling out someone who's using manipulation and deception to sell a product that has no value (an area in which I have significant professional expertise) and saying, "If you can't prove it right this minute, it simply doesn't exist and anyone who says otherwise is asking you to believe in magic."


    Sure, there are lots of times the two coincide, but my point is that if all that is gold does not glitter, then perhaps not all that's unproven is wrong.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Well people tend to belive they are hearing something. This is called placebo and it is measurable in tests.

    One (real)story from me:

    Singer in the studio want to a little more volume to his headphones.

    The sound man marks the move with his hand as if he were increasing the volume with the knob and asking if now it is ok?

    Singer: Super! Thanks!


    If you hear your PSU cables in your audio you should win 1 million dollar (speaker cables in the example):

    James Randi Offers $1 Million If Audiophiles Can Prove $7250 Speaker Cables Are Better

    https://gizmodo.com/james-rand…iophiles-can-prove-305549


    Audiophile Ethernet cables:

    https://arstechnica.com/gadget…ables-make-no-difference/

  • Yeah, the placebo effect is alive and well in many aspects of our lives. Learning to recognize it when it happens requires more than a little introspection, which is quite the rabbit hole in and of itself.

    Kemper remote -> Powered toaster -> Yamaha DXR-10

  • Well people tend to belive they are hearing something. This is called placebo and it is measurable in tests.

    Agreed. I had a friend that swore he could tell the difference between having his audiophile stereos speaker cables elevated above the ground in little tracks vs laying on it. Lol


    If people are dumb enough to buy it, someone will make it.


    FYI, there’s more RF emitted by your phone than any household current could possibly introduce.

  • the best, and most useful, audio gear is designed by people who know the "hard maths" and who also are responsive to the artists who actually use the stuff.


    the worst is designed by people who think they can tell the guy who recorded Sgt Pepper that the "can't hear" something when he does.

  • the best, and most useful, audio gear is designed by people who know the "hard maths" and who also are responsive to the artists who actually use the stuff.


    the worst is designed by people who think they can tell the guy who recorded Sgt Pepper that the "can't hear" something when he does.

    Never said this. I would search some explanation first. Like intermodulation distortion of the high frequency resulted

    differential frequency in the audio band.

    I only refer to magical devices which the producers themselves do not know how they work.

  • From my perspective I totatagree with Chris that science is always evolving and we definitely don’t know everything yet.


    I also firmly believe their is a massive amount of negative psychology invoking convincing people they can hear things which they can’t. All of us to some extent listen with our eyes and our prejudices.


    As Will says, just because we can’t measure it (yet) doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. However, there is a recognised scientific approach to testing stuff which is called an experiment. If well designed it can prove or disprove a theory. The only way to test the claims that someone can hear something others can’t is to perform a controlled double blind test. If someone can consistently hear something under those conditions then it exits even if we don’t understand why and can’t measure it.


    However, I am not aware of any controlled experiment where the results have been better than expected by pure luck. If there is one then that would definitely be something I would be interested in knowing about.

  • Just what exactly is a HiFi grade power cord? Can you post a link to it?

    I've never heard of such a thing, honestly. Freakin' April fools...:D

    You can buy power cables with 'special' shielding to reduce AC interference and there are claims about the resistance of the cable. But I'm not buying that nonsense at all until I upgrade the wiring in my wall.....