Power Leads

[JohnD]

hi, I have decided on buying some power cables for my Hi Fi.

Appreciate pretty contentious and there is a big divide between schools of thoughts but figure unless I try myself, I am never going to know.

So does anybody have any recommendations on leads under £100 ?

Cheers
John

 

[Al ears]

hi, I have decided on buying some power cables for my Hi Fi.

Appreciate pretty contentious and there is a big divide between schools of thoughts but figure unless I try myself, I am never going to know.

So does anybody have any recommendations on leads under £100 ?

Cheers
John

Perhaps you could buy some and inform us of your thoughts rather than attempt to start yet another contentious thread.

 

[Deleted member 160668]

Power leads are good. However, I find ones with a plug attached work much better 😂

 

[Deleted member 160668]

Now being serious.

Try for yourself. You will get shot down in flames for asking this question here and people will insist you are deluded or have clothears or whatever.

Do I have aftermarket power cables? Yes, throughout my system.

Will I get into this discussion on here again? Hell no.

Good luck 👍

 

[iMark]

I would recommend asking your network supplier to upgrade their cabling to audiophile standards first.

 

[Gray]

Do I have aftermarket power cables? Yes, throughout my system.

Will I get into this discussion on here again? Hell no.

No discussion from me either, because we know no good can come of it.
I will just repeat however that I stand ready to one day be absolutely astounded.
If someone, blindly, could consistently and reliably say whether an aftermarket or the original mains lead was feeding any of their components.......that would be really impressive.....and shut a few non-believers up once and for all.

 

[iMark]

If you can hear a difference with a different power cable there is something wrong with either the power cable or the component.

I've read an explanation that it's extremely difficult to do a double blind test with power cables because of the time it takes to switch the lead. Personally I wouldn't spend a cent or penny on any aftermarket cable. I don't spend any money on snake oil either.

 

[Oldfart]

I have 3. Not so much of anything added, more of less is taken away. My listening room is not a Faraday cage. Music sounds wonderful, which bit does what is of no concern if it all gels. In the airline business we strived to provide a seamless service. Only ever as good as the weakest link.

 

[JohnD]

There was no deliberate intention on my part to start any contentious threads. Really just curious what folks who bought them were actually buying. So I will buy them and despite what a1ears suggested I will most definitely not be sharing my thoughts 😀😀😀

 

[Oldfart]

Perfectly reasonable request, John. I have Audioquest NRG Z3s. No experience of any others. Dealer persuaded a very sceptical me to try one. Bought 2 more. Fit and forget like all accessories, you soon forget what came before. Good luck.

 

[bigboss]

If there is an itch, it needs to be scratched.

 

[iMark]

The problem with this sort of thing is expectation bias. If you've paid quite a lot of money for a cable you will obviously have a bias towards hearing an improved performance. That simply can't be helped, whatever people with "golden ears" say.
It's extremely rare that someone who paid around £100 for a power cable will say that he (or she) didn't hear an improvement over a bog standard kettle lead. But did they test the expensive cable with the kettle? Did the tea taste better?

There are tinkerers who listen to an equipment setup and there are people who simply like to listen to music.

 

[Samd]

Power leads are good. However, I find ones with a plug attached work much better 😂

Just the one end then?

 

[Deleted member 160668]

.

 

[Oldfart]

The problem with this sort of thing is expectation bias. If you've paid quite a lot of money for a cable you will obviously have a bias towards hearing an improved performance. That simply can't be helped, whatever people with "golden ears" say.
It's extremely rare that someone who paid around £100 for a power cable will say that he (or she) didn't hear an improvement over a bog standard kettle lead. But did they test the expensive cable with the kettle? Did the tea taste better?

There are tinkerers who listen to an equipment setup and there are people who simply like to listen to music.

I didn’t pay £100 each - they cost £179 so my expectation bias was 79% greater than you suspect. I’m over it now. Happy listening.
edit to add: I was closely acquainted with 747s for 23 years of my career and they had approx 170 miles of wiring. Shielding was considered important for a number of reasons.

 

[nopiano]

One way to try without risk is to research used prices and bag some from eBay. Then easily resold if not to your liking.
The other way is to buy from Russ Andrews or another supplier who offers returns within 30 or 60 days.

 

[ThisIsJimmy]

I'm having a sense of de ja vu here. The only difference is it's power cables rather than network cables and switches

- Electrical transformers/componenty can emit noise
- Power supplies can emit noise. Laptop PSUs especially (yes HP laptop, i'm looking at you)
- EM emittinting devices (such as subwoofers) produce noise.

That can only be transmitted from either end of a cable, unless it is inadequately shielded. All cables must comply to standards. Example British ones can be found here.

Does it affect your equipment? For that you need to measure it with an osciloscope or an Analyzer. Best place to look for information on that is Audio Science Review unless you own this to test yourself.

You can even have the same conversation on USB noise. The Topping D90 DAC for example when tested has shown it can filter EM/Harmonic noise to below -130db on it's USB input. That is well outside human hearing levels. Does that then mean i need an Ifi Defender or some other device to protect against USB noise from my Laptop/PC? I'll let you decide

 

[JohnD]

I know, I know 😀 lockdown has rekindled my interest in hi fit but amplified * 10 to the point I am annoying myself lol. So, to refer back to the Ethernet cable query, I have just kept on wireless as I seem to have a really stable signal and can stream hi res through Arcam MusicLife app. Have to say, loving the Arcam ST 60. Also waiting on delivery of a set of KLH Kendall’s. Took a punt on them, just something about the reviews was telling me they are the ones for me. Time will tell. Next will be the power cables and the final purchase will be chord shawline x interconnect for CD player. Then I need to stop or will be a very single man 😀