I don’t know when a power cord doesn’t have any sonic signature and I don’t know if such a thing is possible at all.
Often the sonic signature a matter of comparison, one cord may sound ‘thin’, compared to another cord that may sound ‘thick’.
Nope. He used the correspondence principle and showed how known contradictions and puzzles (e.g., why Maxwell's equations were not invariant with Galilean transformation, but were with Lorentz transformations) could be simply resolved. This was widely accepted in the physics community quite swiftly, and indeed his landmark 1905 paper was published in the (at the time) leading physics journal.
Science history should not be learned from comic books. And there are no Einsteins in fashion audio.
*edit: I exclude the antisemitic motivations of a small number of German chauvinists like Philip Lenard and the objections of philosophers, who by and large had no real understanding of physics. This also seems to be a driving force in the contemporary antirelativity crank community.
A 'sonic signature' is the dance of low level distortion that is still audible, in spite of one's best attempts to eradicate it in any particular situation. Tweaking is the process of eliminating those artifacts to the point where any particular recording always "sounds the same", the 'sonic signature' has been lowered to subjective inaudibility.
This is always a system issue, 'perfecting' any particular link will never work. A simple test to know how close you are is to change something, there should be zero audible effect - as a severe test, plug in a nasty, interference generator into the same mains circuit as an audio component. Normally, this knocks the stuffing out of the sound, so one knows one is well short of the final goal ...
This is always a system issue, 'perfecting' any particular link will never work. A simple test to know how close you are is to change something, there should be zero audible effect - as a severe test, plug in a nasty, interference generator into the same mains circuit as an audio component. Normally, this knocks the stuffing out of the sound, so one knows one is well short of the final goal ...
Just mucked up a careful reply, blast!!
The gist of it was that any change from the original, the static construction which is the recording, is distortion. It may be very satisfying distortion, but it's not the recording - fine to have it that way if it suits, but I would always have it so that it was switchable, in or out of the replay chain ...
http://www.rane.com/par-d.html
The gist of it was that any change from the original, the static construction which is the recording, is distortion. It may be very satisfying distortion, but it's not the recording - fine to have it that way if it suits, but I would always have it so that it was switchable, in or out of the replay chain ...
http://www.rane.com/par-d.html
I'm not a huge believer in upgrade power cords and have said so on several occasions. However, I do believe that the cheap off the shelf variety you get free with equipment are barely up to the job.
I found on ebay the same iec plugs that Russ Andrews fits to his cheaper range of mains cables (Kaiser) and ordered two (at £1.50 each they were not going to be a huge let down if I noticed no difference).
I had some 3 core flex lying around, good quality stuff with 1.5mm square conductors.
HO7RN-F Cable 3 Core
I made two 75cm leads today using identical new mains plugs of decent quality (I also had them already)
Using them tonight plugged into my power amp's, I recon I have a very small improvement in SQ, nothing to shout about but it's there. Mainly a slight increase in bass weight, well that's what I noticed anyway but then I am partial to my bass.
So am I now a believer?
kind of, but not enough to go and spend serious money on a mains cable, I still think that's nuts.
Anyway, I am interested in why this effect happens when my brain tells me it should not. Is it simply because my old cables were as I originally thought very poor and barely up to the job? They still worked and were within spec for all the power I use.
Could it be simply due to the earth wire being a larger diameter and somehow doing it's job better?
I found on ebay the same iec plugs that Russ Andrews fits to his cheaper range of mains cables (Kaiser) and ordered two (at £1.50 each they were not going to be a huge let down if I noticed no difference).
I had some 3 core flex lying around, good quality stuff with 1.5mm square conductors.
HO7RN-F Cable 3 Core
I made two 75cm leads today using identical new mains plugs of decent quality (I also had them already)
Using them tonight plugged into my power amp's, I recon I have a very small improvement in SQ, nothing to shout about but it's there. Mainly a slight increase in bass weight, well that's what I noticed anyway but then I am partial to my bass.
So am I now a believer?
kind of, but not enough to go and spend serious money on a mains cable, I still think that's nuts.
Anyway, I am interested in why this effect happens when my brain tells me it should not. Is it simply because my old cables were as I originally thought very poor and barely up to the job? They still worked and were within spec for all the power I use.
Could it be simply due to the earth wire being a larger diameter and somehow doing it's job better?
Again, no conductor is 'perfect' ... it doesn't have zero resistance, capacitance, inductance; it's made of materials which all have properties which have slight electrical implications - if enough of the real world parameters combine in a certain way then it's sufficient to have an impact on audio components which are not made to be bulletproof as regards to all these subtleties.
It's all "fixable", one just has to decide which approach to take ...
Surely if changing a power cord makes such a difference, then it is easy to make measurement recordings for each condition that capture these differences. These could then be posted for people to do ABX testing with.
Power cords and interconnects are regular fodder for hand waving conjecture. Few step up to the plate with valid data.
Snake oil salesmen shy into shadows at specter of blind testing.
No need for house guests.
Just post some blindly believable data.
Phew. Thanks Frank, I thought I was going to get roasted, I might yet eh 😀
I've been trying out some better recorded vinyl since my last post, a bit of Dire Straits (Making Movies & Brothers In Arms) and I swear my set-up is sounding a little bit more open. It cant be an expectation thing because I really did not expect to hear any difference at all so I'm quite surprised.
I still don't think a three thousand pound mains cable makes any kind of sense. But a short, well made one certainly does seem to help a little bit. I stress the word 'little' here.
I've been trying out some better recorded vinyl since my last post, a bit of Dire Straits (Making Movies & Brothers In Arms) and I swear my set-up is sounding a little bit more open. It cant be an expectation thing because I really did not expect to hear any difference at all so I'm quite surprised.
I still don't think a three thousand pound mains cable makes any kind of sense. But a short, well made one certainly does seem to help a little bit. I stress the word 'little' here.
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Thank you. Perhaps one day I will be able to make the journey.
Unfortunately I am quite certain our electrical outlets are different. Additionally, my amplifiers don't use an IEC connector, but instead use twist-lock connectors, so no off-the-shelf power cords work. I do appreciate the offer, however! 🙂
Basically this was what I used to do. It is good for sales, because sometimes one might like either type of sound. But it is like putting sugar in your coffee or putting cream in it. You may never know what coffee tastes like. This is why I started to work on audio with the traditional goal. The problem is a really high fidelity system does not impress in a short time, so sales is not impressive either, appealing only to the seasoned listener.
As spending money on power cords is not the most cost effective solution. Determination of the most proper cord not only may require test equipment too expensive for most, but you also need schematics of the equipment to make the right judgment. This is the only way you can minimize sonic signature of this stage.
Rather if you have some simple measurement setups, it can assist you in selecting interconnects more cost effectively. It is possible to short list a set of selection based on the measurements and do final selection using listening. This was done during our interconnect development.
You talk a lot about "it's not possible"; Lots of people here like to figure out "what is possible if". Nothing is going to be perfect in the eyes of everyone, we just each do our best to bring things closer to ideal in our own minds. This forum is a place of inspiration for people doing hands on work. There are also many other forums that talk about experiences with different equipment and do things the way you do. Perhaps you want to figure out what you really want to gain or contribute participating in this kind of DIY forum.
That's what I do.
Sadly, a LOT of expensive "audiophile" tube gear has equally horribly power supplies. Many seem to think a diode bridge dumped into a cap bank is perfectly fine as long as the cap bank is big enough.
I use choke input supplies for everything, including heater/filament supplies. I also prefer vacuum rectifiers and Schottky diodes over other rectifiers due to their lack of reverse recovery. These are just part of the overall supply. EMI/RFI filtering on the input is very important as well. So are electrostatic shields on the transformers (or split bobbins, but I dislike the leakage inductance). There's more, but I'm sure you already know all this. 😀
This x1000 ^^^^^
You tried only one power cord, other power cords may have different impact on the sound.
What our brain tells us is based on what we “know”, which is what we were taught. Apparently engineering schools don’t have the full picture. Hence, not all common “knowledge” (which is actually common beliefs) cover all aspects of the electronics involved in sound reproduction. Possibly we know less than we think we do.
What amazes me over and over again is people who dismiss their own experience in favor of their beliefs. This is true in all aspects of life, not only audio.
The power cords I assembled don’t cost thousands pounds and they have considerable favorable impact on sound quality (to my ears, on my sound system).
A note.
I found out that the better the sound quality of a given system is, certain changes and tweaks are more noticeable.
I’m not producing and I’m not selling audio gear. I am seasoned listener. Thus, my considerations may be different than yours.
It is for me, on my sound system.
For me, when it comes to various cords, cables and plugs, using my ears, without any measurements, is good enough. I don’t need any measurements in order to note what may improve the SQ, what may degrade it and what may not change it in any significant way.
Yet again, I’m not manufacturing and not selling audio gear.
Indeed.
My question is if the best possible power supply is immune from impact on the sound of various power cords.
Possibly, the only way to get the right answer is to try and see (actually, to try and hear).
I’m well aware of the utmost importance of well designed and executed power supplies. To my view, this is a must. Yet, I doubt if the best possible power supply eliminates the impact of various power cords. Possibly, both are beneficial.
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