GR Research B24 AC Cable Review: Does it Make an Audible Difference?

[egellings]

@amirm Great video as always, thank you for taking your passion and sharing it with the community. As mentioned before in other threads, North America typically uses 14/2 or 12/2 wiring to go from the electrical panel to our outlets. This wiring is solid core copper or sometimes aluminum and has absolutely no shielding from the service panel to the outlet. Having a shielded AC cable for the last 6 feet makes no sense . A quality cable should be safe and certified, sized at least 14 gauge for a 15 amp circuit, flexible (multi strand wiring) and have properly sized conductors at the ends to make a solid low resistance connection and not risk damage to the outlet as you explained. As a side note, one of the biggest issues I have with extension cords and AC cables in North America is that you can take a cable that’s only 18 or 16 gauge, rated to safely pass 7.5 Amps and plug that into a 15 Amp circuit. There is no requirement for protection on the cable itself to prevent excessive current from heating the wire and causing a fire.

In light of this, I would like to suggest a more meaningful test that can better show how well these cables perform under pressure, a voltage drop test. Typically when we measure the resistance of a wire with an ohm meter, the device passes a very low current through the wire while measuring the resistance. In any conductor, the more current that passes through, the more heat is generated. The generation of this heat consumes voltage and results in less power available to the device. It’s my understanding that the GR Research B24 uses a “24 wire braid” resulting in a conductor that’s equivalent to an 8 gauge wire. Because these cables are not certified, my concern would be the internal termination of those 24 wires. Any time you pass electricity through a connector or join two conductors together, mechanically or through soldering, you will have a voltage drop of some sort. If manufacturing issues result in some of those conductors being not properly terminated, the effective current capability of the cable will be reduced, generating more heat and a potential hazard, and less power to your device.

I think it would be interesting to see a voltage drop test of the GR Research AC cable compared to the cheap no name one. Big thick power cables are usually only required for long cable runs where you want to minimize voltage drop or on devices that draw a lot of current. They will make no difference on a device drawing 15 or 20 watts because in either case, the voltage being delivered by the cable will be the same. Now, if you have a massive 7 channel power amplifier that could pull 1400-1600 watts if all channels were driven almost to clipping (unlikely with real world material but this is worse case scenario) and the AC cable could only pass say, 108 volts, you would be robbing the device of power. The DC voltage rail of the power amp, that could be designed to operate at something like 72 volts let’s say, would fall to around 62 volts. So at 72 volts DC you have a power supply that’s able to generate at best 50.904 volts RMS in AC (72 x .707) at clipping (roughly 325 watts into an 8 ohm load continuous). If that 72 volts were to drop to 62, the RMS AC voltage would be 43.834, which is only 240 watts into 8 ohms at clipping.



The more power consumed through the cable, the less becomes available to the device and the device cannot operate at its full potential. So ideally we would want to see no voltage drop on any of our wiring, but of course this is not possible. If the GR Research and no mane cable were each asked to conduct 14 Amps, I’d be curious how many volts would be lost in each cable. There are circuit testers for the home that will do this test at the outlet, but an easy item to use that almost everyone has is a hair drier. Most draw 1600 watts or more, simply measure the voltage across either end of the conductor (in parallel) and you will see how much is being lost to the cable.

Thanks again, Amir, for all you do to contribute to this great hobby.

Chris.

It's easy and cheap to select a power cord with the necessary ampacity for the application. If there is concern about voltage drop across a power cord during heavy power amp usage, then surely there needs to concern about the house wiring leading to the outlet in use. It's likely of lower gauge than that of the 'audiophile grade' power cord.

 

[egellings]

It's easy and cheap to select a power cord with the necessary ampacity for the application. If there is concern about voltage drop across a power cord during heavy power amp usage, then surely there needs to concern about the house wiring leading to the outlet in use. It's likely of lower gauge than that of the 'audiophile grade' power cord.

Using a fancy power cord like that and expecting better sound is equivalent to pouring a glass of water into the ocean and expecting to see the water level rise.

 

[iv0]

you are all mistaken and misguided. The most important part of the equipment is the audio*file* fuse. The second most important is the cable. As a general rule of thumb, the cable should be 10x the price of the component it connects. For example 1000€ amp should be connected with at least 10000 cable, but preferably more. But the fuse is something special … and keep in mind that is a consumble, but in general buy the most expensive you can afford, but atleast 1/10 of equoment price, same 1000€ amp, should get 100 aufiofile fuse.
If you want to learn something look for phono phono on the tube. the guy is THE MOST EDUCATED, ELOQUENT, SMART, NOT OBNOXIOUS SNOB in existence.

 

[amirm]

The most important part of the equipment is the audio*file* fuse. The second most important is the cable.

Wouldn't you have to burn up that fuse multiple times to make sure it is run in???

 

[iv0]

Wouldn't you have to burn up that fuse multiple times to make sure it is run in???

Obviously. This is why second hand fuses costs 100x times more. The ones that survived the burn in process are the true magical stuff.

 

[wwenze]

you are all mistaken and misguided. The most important part of the equipment is the audio*file* fuse. The second most important is the cable. As a general rule of thumb, the cable should be 10x the price of the component it connects. For example 1000€ amp should be connected with at least 10000 cable, but preferably more. But the fuse is something special … and keep in mind that is a consumble, but in general buy the most expensive you can afford, but atleast 1/10 of equoment price, same 1000€ amp, should get 100 aufiofile fuse.
If you want to learn something look for phono phono on the tube. the guy is THE MOST EDUCATED, ELOQUENT, SMART, NOT OBNOXIOUS SNOB in existence.

What's a file fuse? If I set my files to read-only they sound better?

 

[Cbdb2]

You replace the fuse with a finger nail file.

 

[iv0]

What's a file fuse? If I set my files to read-only they sound better?

obviously, then no energy is wasted in maintaining unnecessary writing capacity and the OS can concentrate on sending the file to the dac in a bit perfect way.

 

[Talisman]

I don't want to be offensive, but I think I feel sorry or embarrassed in the belief that a power cord makes audible difference.
Neglecting all the various engineering aspects such as PSRR, etc ... there are kilometers of electrical network before the electrical outlet ... and the last meter of cable should make a difference?

But let's delve even further into the paradox, just for fun.

If a single 1 meter piece of cable can filter and make the signal and sound better, how much is actually enough to have this filtering capacity? Is even half a meter okay? 20cm? 5cm?
I could produce and market 5 cm final adapters that connect to the original power cable and filter before entering the device, with a one meter cable I can make at least 18 (considering the cutting losses) wow that seems like a bargain!!!

 

[iv0]

But let's delve even further into the paradox, just for fun.

If a single 1 meter piece of cable can filter and make the signal and sound better, how much is actually enough to have this filtering capacity? Is even half a meter okay? 20cm? 5cm?
I could produce and market 5 cm final adapters that connect to the original power cable and filter before entering the device, with a one meter cable I can make at least 18 (considering the cutting losses) wow that seems like a bargain!!!

Agin you are mistaken. If the cables are properly blessed by a certified guru, the sound coming out of the speakers is not changed, your perception is being purified and you experience true audio nirvana, ut the blessing process is not free. But if you gives you better sound … what’s couple of 1000€.

 

[wwenze]

But let's delve even further into the paradox, just for fun.

If a single 1 meter piece of cable can filter and make the signal and sound better, how much is actually enough to have this filtering capacity? Is even half a meter okay? 20cm? 5cm?
I could produce and market 5 cm final adapters that connect to the original power cable and filter before entering the device, with a one meter cable I can make at least 18 (considering the cutting losses) wow that seems like a bargain!!!

It's zero-threshold, so get as long a cable as you can afford. The 1000m ones are especially filtery.