• Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Good-looking power cable

I just need a cable built from pure copper, with some shielding (?), possibly not thin as a hair.
The Topping P50 has a maximum output of 25 watts, if the barrel plug and both USB ports are at 100% load simultaneously. That is so little power, your wiring doesn't need to be pure copper, and the thickness is almost irrelevant. As a rule of thumb, I round up to the nearest full amp when selecting wire gauge. By that logic, anything around 22AWG should suffice.


For reference, 22AWG is 0.327mm cross section.

Shielding makes no sense on AC mains power. The power itself is already "dirty", 50% of the job performed by any power supply is filtering out that noise, and requires no special cables or high-end gear to accomplish. If we are being objectively honest here, you could power the Topping P50 with 3 rusty coat hangers and not make the slightest difference to the sound quality.
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

If I had an expensive rig that needed a new power cable, I would go to an industrial supply house for something brutally over-engineered.

This charmer is from Grainger. $54 for 10 feet. No BS about audio fairies sprinkling pixie dust in your ears. Just getting the job done.


Capture.PNG
 
I like this tester for outlet testing:

at that price - it should come with a DAC...
 
So summary of the discussion:
1) be careful when dating an audiophile ;)
2) basically all cables are sort-of identical (except for pricing): stock cable, oehlbach, waudio, audioquest...
3) all these cables are "generally ok" in build quality (as they have a brand who has a reputation and/or has some certifications)
4) if a cable has a build problem, I may not notice immediately

did I forget anything?
Make sure the cord is UL listed if you are in US or whatever standard is used in your country
 
Back
Top Bottom