Power Cord burn in

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by bajaed, Mar 17, 2018.

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  1. Doctor Fine

    Doctor Fine "So Hip It Would Blister Your Brain"

    I'm a pro and regularly swap out skinny power cords for thicker 14 or 12 ga. versions with OFC and nicer plugs for a tight grip. It only makes sense to have a solid electrical connection between your gear and service panel.
    Dedicated outlet for rack? Sure!
    Better grade wall outlet with nice tight non corrosive "teeth" to grab your power cord? Sure!
    But NONE of this needs to be super expensive as there are tons of commercially available cords and wall outlets without getting into silly prices.
    As for the audible differences provided by megabucks power cords EVERYTHING you do to your rack and setup is audible.
    However in my years of looking for upgrade hierarchy power cables are not nearly as audible as say interconnects.
    And moving your speaker a quarter of an inch may well have a more profound effect on playback than which power cord is being used.
    The upgrade to a better DAC will truly change your system and everything plugged into the DAC will be profoundly affected.
    So where would you rather spend your efforts?
    I would suggest that those looking to reap the benefits of an intelligent installation spend more time obsessing over in room speaker response, elimination of noise, upgrade of signal sources and other BIG sources of change.
    There is a syndrome long recognized by recording engineers where most of us have at some time spent a half hour fine tuning a parametric equalizer until it sounds "perfect" only to discover the damn thing isn't even plugged into the circuit.
    The "expectation" that things are being improved will sometimes let you hear phantom results.
    REAL results are much longer lasting and musically satisfying.
    So that's where I stand on this subject.
    Others are perfectly correct to spend THEIR time and money doing as they see fit.
     
    George P, basie-fan, wgriel and 3 others like this.
  2. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Agree - I am not a fan of the stock power cords but I am also reluctant to spend too much. I can justify (to myself) a $500 power cord on a $10,000 amp. That's about my limit.
     
  3. POE_UK

    POE_UK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Somerset
    Hang on a minute, copper cable that carries electrons needs burn in with no moving parts? oh i can feel a thread ban coming on. power cables carry AC mains current that gets rectified in the amp not audio signals, In any case the cables will have already had currents and voltages applied to them by the manufacturer.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2018
  4. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    I doubt that. They are brand new, purchased in bulk and thrown into the box.
     
  5. FLEMKE

    FLEMKE Senior Member

    Location:
    CROOK COUNTY IL
    Yes, the cable does change after passing current through it. How much is up for debate. I have purchased several new Shunyata Anaconda XLR 1 meter I/C's and was able switch them out keeping a "new" pair to see how it sounded. The way I "burned in" my cables was to use xlr connectors with one side going to an old amp and the other side a sandbar 40w resistor. I let this run for 4 days. The end result is that the system seems to open up and you get better highs, deeper bass, and better mids. I notice the highs the most.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2018
  6. FLEMKE

    FLEMKE Senior Member

    Location:
    CROOK COUNTY IL
    I recently purchased a Denali D6000/T. It's real, very real indeed.
    Tim
     
    Metralla likes this.
  7. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    When you buy a house that is newly constructed, how long does it take for the ac wiring to burn in? When do you start to hear better bass, increased soundstage etc, etc? Does anyone have a suggested way to "burn in" the wiring in the house?

    What happens if the electric utility puts up new wire that carries electricity to your house? How do you burn that in?
     
    basie-fan, timind and Mugrug12 like this.
  8. FLEMKE

    FLEMKE Senior Member

    Location:
    CROOK COUNTY IL
    I don't have an answer for that. I had my service replaced and 4 new dedicated outlets installed.

    Until I actually had purchased multiple new cables and tested myself, I did not believe there would be any difference. I was wrong.
     
  9. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    There is good thing about burn in; it only happens where people want it to happen, and the SQ will always improve. It works in misterious ways.
     
    wgriel, Socalguy, beowulf and 2 others like this.
  10. swvahokie

    swvahokie Forum Resident

    I'm pretty sure the answer to that question is 42.
     
    Budley, Blank Frank and meanoldman like this.
  11. FLEMKE

    FLEMKE Senior Member

    Location:
    CROOK COUNTY IL
    Actually it's science. Robert Crump did a lot of research before he passed away on the effects of current passing through different metals. He used to post his findings on Audio Asylum. He quoted a book(don't know the name) that is well known in the scientific community about current and metals. He was also corresponding with a university professor on the subject.
     
  12. meanoldman

    meanoldman Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Park, CO
    I'd really like to know how "burning in" a power cord changes its properties to somehow improve sound quality. Is this a joke?
     
    basie-fan, Socalguy and POE_UK like this.
  13. missan

    missan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Stockholm
    How it sounds will belong to the subjective domain.
     
  14. swvahokie

    swvahokie Forum Resident

    A power cord itself can have no sound. The performance of the power cord in delivering AC to a components power supply can affect the components sound though. The cable must be able to supply enough current to not limit peak power and the construction techniques of the cable can reduce the passage of RFI and other noise to the component. That can also affect the performance of the component. How much of this is audible will definitely be system dependent. If you cant hear it, good for you. If you can, how much $$$$ leaves your billfold is up to you.
     
    POE_UK likes this.
  15. POE_UK

    POE_UK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Somerset
    It has to be current tested for safety by law, the mains cable instantly gets rectified to DC current the second it comes out of the transformer.
     
  16. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    I believe perceived improvements in SQ comes from expectation bias. If you spend a wad of cash on power cables, you will hear a difference. Then again I am not from Krypton and don't have Superman ears.
     
    JumpinJimF and POE_UK like this.
  17. ralf11

    ralf11 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    proponents can always test to see if it's really real

    but, they never do for some reason...

    BTW, IIRC Audio research tells customers to use the power cords that they supply with the units, not some aftermarket cord
    (I'm sure their OCD engineers don't know anything tho! they only hand select resistors and caps for the fun of it I bet)
     
  18. swvahokie

    swvahokie Forum Resident

    So, resistors and caps can have affect the sound, but power cords can't?

    Maybe Audio Research hand selects power cords too. Or, maybe they research power cords until they find a design that meets their design parameters. Design the component using the cord they selected, then tell customers to use that cord so they will be sure the equipment will be operating as they intended. Could also help ensure the equipment operates safely because they know the cord being used is constructed properly and will not kill the customer or burn down the customers home. I am sure the Audioquests, Shunyata, etc. stuff is 100 percent safe and reliable, but maybe some fly by night guy might be shipping poorly constructed junk.
    In this sue everyone for everything society, I know that is what I would do if I worked at Audio Research.
     
  19. ralf11

    ralf11 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    resistors and caps can clearly affect the sound in an analog device

    but power cords can't, unless [1] the transformer is so badly designed that it allows formation of a circuit back to gnd
    or [2] everything we know about electricity is wrong

    an expensive power cord can however have a powerful effect on expectation bias - get a big phattie!!


    known mechanisms exist for effects on sound from USB cables, speaker cables, and even interconnects (esp. if unbalanced) but don't confuse woo-woo with engineering
     
    POE_UK likes this.
  20. swvahokie

    swvahokie Forum Resident


    Yes, the earth is truly flat. Everyone knows that. There is absolutely nothing left to learn about electricity and the magnetic fields that current produces. Soldier on my man. I shall bow out and play with my cables.
     
  21. bajaed

    bajaed Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    First, I agree with several on here and would never buy an expensive power cord. I've bought one for $60, one for $50 and had one that was originally supposed to be high dollar that was included with a phono amp I bought.

    The first two I tried actually made my amp sound a little worse to me, but I thought they helped my phono amp and my Oppo sound a little better. Hopefully the Zu will help on the amp but I'm not predisposed to thinking it will. I feel like I have a pretty good and objective ear so we will see.
     
    Lonson likes this.
  22. POE_UK

    POE_UK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Somerset
    People get all defensive when an electrical engineer tells them that a power cable can not and will not make any difference to sound quality unless its damaged. the mains distribution board carries copper to your plug sockets end of story, no amount of money spent on power cables can make your electricity grid any better, BUT the amplifier itself CAN improve sound, but this has nothing whatsoever to do with mains input voltage at all its not even the same ballpark, after power exits the transformer its left to your amps smoothing to sort the dc power to the circuits out, the better that is the better the sound. Power cables are to handle power consumption they have nothing to do with the audio signal output stages whatsoever. If you say the word "oranges" real slow it sounds like gullible. why do people fall for this bullsht
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2018
    Brodie McChoad likes this.
  23. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    Because it's not bullsht. You haven't heard a sound degradation when something else is turned on in the same circuit? Then you're lucky, I guess. I have, it was a (power hungry?) washing machine.
     
  24. POE_UK

    POE_UK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Somerset
    But thats got nothing to do with power cables, as long as the power cable exceeds the amplifiers power consumption theres nothing to worry about, and why would you be listening to music with a washing machine running anyway? i do not understand the logic of this forum.
     
  25. Metralla

    Metralla Joined Jan 13, 2002

    Location:
    San Jose, CA
    Believe what you like. If you never try, you will never know.
     
    George P and LeeS like this.
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