I always was skeptical about influence of power cables on sound from well designed audio equipment. My EE education background also made me to believe that all things can be measured. Recently I attended a listening session where we - five members of local audiophile club, compared sound of several "high end audio" power cables. System where we tested them was what I would call mid-range audiophile class setup. All cables (with one exception) were from major brands which are usually advertised in audio related publications. We listened five tracks - each was selected by attending person. What surprised me was that I did hear the difference in sound in all of them. The fact that 4 out of 5 people explained what they heard exactly with the same words surprised me even more. This was not a dealer presentation, so there was no push to choose a specific cable. Actually Chinese knock off version of one of major brands purchased from Ali Express came second and most expensive cable came the dead last.
After that experience, I decided to do my own testing. I use active speakers - ATC SCM100A, where amplifier is located inside each speaker. ATC is a well respected brand and I honestly thought that I would not experience anything similar to what I heard at session described above where audiophile kind amplifiers were in play. Also unlike host of the session, I have a dedicated 30A power line from distribution box to my music room, which should reduce any power related differences even more.
I did not want to spend a lot of money: I needed two cables - one for each speaker. I also wanted to make sure that cable does not have something that may intentionally degrade its performance. Thus I decided to make cables myself from parts I could buy individually. From quick search I found wire and connectors made by Supra Cables - company in Sweden, which specializes on all kind of cable products. They advertise their power cables as the only "audio grade" ones which are UL listed to confirm their safety. I ordered 20 feet of Lorad mains wire plus 5-15P and C13 connectors made by the same company. I did assembly myself, which was rather easy and saved me $30 per cable in cost.
When I finished that assembly work late evening, I replaced my standard 15A rated cables used for ATC speakers before with this newly made ones. I did a quick listen and I felt that there was some difference, but I was not sure if this is a real thing or imagination. I did listen few tracks and went to sleep.
Next day I decided to test if what I hear is a real thing or not. I invited my wife, who does not really into audio hobby but did have some formal music education, to join me for a test session. I selected 5 tracks which I know relatively well, and which represent different kind of sound for this testing. I played track for 3 minutes, then swapped cables, played track again. Then played another track, swap cables again and repeat that tracks. This protocol reduced number of cable swaps and randomized experience a bit since same cable was used for two tracks without swapping.
Both me an my wife agreed that there was a difference between two cables. That difference was consistent throughout all tracks we played and we had the same words to explain what we heard: New cable made sound a bit more transparent, like the scene you see when you clear your glasses. Spacial details like reverb tails were better heard with new cables. This is not what I expected from ATC speakers, but that was real and confirmed by someone who has no stakes in that game.
Tell me: how to quantify that? This is a serious question.
After that experience, I decided to do my own testing. I use active speakers - ATC SCM100A, where amplifier is located inside each speaker. ATC is a well respected brand and I honestly thought that I would not experience anything similar to what I heard at session described above where audiophile kind amplifiers were in play. Also unlike host of the session, I have a dedicated 30A power line from distribution box to my music room, which should reduce any power related differences even more.
I did not want to spend a lot of money: I needed two cables - one for each speaker. I also wanted to make sure that cable does not have something that may intentionally degrade its performance. Thus I decided to make cables myself from parts I could buy individually. From quick search I found wire and connectors made by Supra Cables - company in Sweden, which specializes on all kind of cable products. They advertise their power cables as the only "audio grade" ones which are UL listed to confirm their safety. I ordered 20 feet of Lorad mains wire plus 5-15P and C13 connectors made by the same company. I did assembly myself, which was rather easy and saved me $30 per cable in cost.
When I finished that assembly work late evening, I replaced my standard 15A rated cables used for ATC speakers before with this newly made ones. I did a quick listen and I felt that there was some difference, but I was not sure if this is a real thing or imagination. I did listen few tracks and went to sleep.
Next day I decided to test if what I hear is a real thing or not. I invited my wife, who does not really into audio hobby but did have some formal music education, to join me for a test session. I selected 5 tracks which I know relatively well, and which represent different kind of sound for this testing. I played track for 3 minutes, then swapped cables, played track again. Then played another track, swap cables again and repeat that tracks. This protocol reduced number of cable swaps and randomized experience a bit since same cable was used for two tracks without swapping.
Both me an my wife agreed that there was a difference between two cables. That difference was consistent throughout all tracks we played and we had the same words to explain what we heard: New cable made sound a bit more transparent, like the scene you see when you clear your glasses. Spacial details like reverb tails were better heard with new cables. This is not what I expected from ATC speakers, but that was real and confirmed by someone who has no stakes in that game.
Tell me: how to quantify that? This is a serious question.
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