Audiophile AC outlets Yay or Nay?

Are they worth it, or just hype? thinking about spending $50 or so.

 

Yes made a difference for me

 

I spent far more than I will admit on a Furutech GTX NCF outlet with matching aluminum box and special cover plate. I then spent a number of weeks to get it broken in since it supposedly takes 500 hours to reach its full potential. And now it just sits there with nothing plugged into it. I prefer the sound of my builder standard outlet.

 

Same here.

 

Ditto. But on a dedicated line. No idea if it makes a difference if it shares a line with your fridge, etc.

 

Here enjoy and it was well worth it for me.
Why did changing a wall outlet make that big of a difference?

 

The "great connection" needs to run all the way back to the power provider to make a difference. ....and even then your system would have to be pushing the limits for it to have an effect.

 

Not my experience the difference is noticed at any volume level.

 

Fair enough....i have some very expensive Cardas power cables that are quite beautiful myself.It is possible that they will reduce RFI if you have that problem.I should probably add that in my line of work i frequently measure voltage/amperage drop ect,I have owned some monstrous amps over the years....none of them would cause a problem at even insane volume levels.

 

To be fair, you thought they might make a difference, or you would not have spent ~$50 on it. Then the mind has a way of contorting our perceptions and beliefs, to confirm our decisions, our equipment, our selections, are the best.

Send an expensive cable to someone who believes they make a difference, and they will hear the difference. Send it to a skeptic, and they won't.

An anecdote is the worker who keeps calling the technician to have their machine worked on and adjusted. Finally, the tech puts a knob in so the worker can adjust it themselves. Of course the knob is a placebo, but it stops the service calls.

It might be argued it is better that reviewers get free stuff they aren't invested in, rather than subconsciously advocating and reviewing the wisdom of their own purchase decisions.

 

I've heard differences with both review outlets and ones I have bought.

 

Full disclosure: I didn't buy a $50 "audiophile" outlet (sorry if I misled the OP), I got $25 Hubbell 5262W outlet off of Amazon after following this thread: Why did changing a wall outlet make that big of a difference? .
I wasn't really expecting to hear any difference - it was more of a "I have to pull my rack away from from the wall to do some work, so while I'm back there might as well replace the cheap contractor outlet just to cover all bases". Maybe it was confirmation bias, maybe not, but my wife could hear a difference too and she had no dog in the race. She would just as happily tell me my system sounds like crap as tell me it sounds angelic (she doesn't sugar coat things and is dispassionate about my hobby)

 

Sure, if they float your boat and you install them correctly, then no harm done. However, I believe a $20 hospital-grade outlet is much cheaper and likely just as high of quality.

 

Not in my experience. The Furutech and SR outlets handily beat the Hubbell I had in. I could A/B them by moving the plug to the line conditioner.

 

This makes sense to me, but is a $30 difference really that big a deal in this game? I know it’s all relative to the individual’s system, budget, etc. I just think if I was going to bother installing a $20 hospital outlet hoping for the same results as a $50 “audiopile” outlet, I’d rather just start with the $50 outlet (assuming I trusted either of them would make a difference, which I am not decided on at all). If that $30 difference is going to bust someone, they probably woudln’t be installing a $20 outlet, either.

 

Have you ever encountered anything in audiophile land you concluded didn’t make a difference?

 

Cable lifts.

 

I constantly read the word “difference” being used in these comments. What I rarely see is someone using the word “improvement.”

 

It's implied on these types of discussion.

 

Did you allow the cable lifts 1000 hours to burn in?

(On a serious note, I'm glad there's at least one thing on your no list).

 

The more I explore better quality audio and as my system improves, the more I hear improvements from most everything.

 

$50.00? What brand are you looking at that costs $50, or so?

A word of caution. A lot of so called Audio Grade outlets are nothing more than supposedly treated name brand $5 - $8 receptacle outlets you can buy at Home Depot or Lowe's.

Shy away from outlets that have a steel and or galvanized steel supporting back strap. Ferrous steel can cause the sound of your audio system to sound grainy.

 

I'm yea-nay.

I installed hospital grade Leviton outlets in my hi-fi locations and walked away happy. Rated at 20A instead of the normal 15A, and with, in general, better construction than the cheapo outlet normally used, I felt that would be good enough. They were around $12 if I remember right.

 

I don't think they're worth it. I'm not going to argue about it though.

 

Just a word of note for those installing 20amp outlets. Since most of your wiring is likely 14 guage in the home, installing a 20 amp outlet is against code and would be pointed out during an inspection during a home sale. Not dangerous since theres a 15 amp breaker ahead of it but still against code. Now if changing the breaker too, 12 ga or better needs to be run from the outlet back to the breaker.