Power Cord Shoot-Out: 14 Power Cords Reviewed

Thanks much!...

I missed the Agon part. I'll blame it on info overload. BTW, thanks so much for the effort you put into this. Great stuff!

 

Here's a good writeup on DIY power cords and some observations on AC Power Cord Effects by Jon M. Risch, for those of you interested...

 

Good article, I book marked it.

 

Tony sold me on this a couple of months ago. After installing a PS Audio Power Plant in my system I don't know how I ever lived without it. Wow!

 

I think one has to question Jon Risch's hearing if he can't hear the difference between specialty power cords and heavy guage cord. My experience has been entirely the opposite. You do get benefits from better design and manufacture. It's just like using Grover interconnect compared to the cheap stuff.

 

Post away!

 

Ok, I have a nasty headcold today. So perhaps tomorrow when I can think more clearly. What I can say upfront that my designs are very simple. Not a lot of insulation, no shielding. The connectors make or break the sound of my cables. I strive to achieve neutrality in my system.

I'll put a nice post together for you guys/gals.

 

Bummer, looks like forum software won't let me revise my original post at this late date to add the Straight Wire Blue Thunder review I promised earlier. Well, here it is below, along with an adjusted final ranking which includes the Blue Thunder.

14. Straight Wire Blue Thunder
Website: www.straightwire.com (Blue Thunder is not yet up on the site.)

Pricing (2 meter cord): $250.00

Review
Straight Wire has been around for some time, they have lots of distributors and can be found in many of your local hi-fi shops. For such a (relatively) large company in the cable business, their website is surprisingly incomplete. The Blue Thunder power cord is still not listed (though they tell me it will be soon), despite being on the market for almost two years.

Straight Wire sent me the skinny on the cable separately, so I can share it with you. It's a solid-core design with several ultra-high-purity 18-gauge solid-core copper wires wound together to form each 12-gauge pole. The use of these relatively thick solid-core wires is said to help combat strand interraction that plagues many multi-strand designs. It has Teflon insulation for the best EMI/RFI rejection, and the conductors are encased in a professionally molded cord for reduction of vibration, topped off with Hubbell terminations. These conductors are not just loose inside a techflex outer sleeve like many brands of more home-brewed-style recipes. One would assume that this construction method would increase Straight Wire's costs for producing the wire that makes up the Blue Thunder, as obviously, the wire would have to be professionally built and molded. The cord can also be used for both high-current multi-watt amplifiers *and* front-end equipment.

I would describe the sound as remarkably neutral tonally (as I have discovered and detailed here, most power cords are not). This makes it harder to describe its "sound". It's extremely clean, with lots of body and firm, if controlled bass. The Blue Thunder puts a lot of "flesh" on the musical bones, somewhat like the Virtual Dynamics cables (which are also based on even thicker solid-core wires). But the Straight Wire lacks the VD cable's tonal coloration that depending on the listener is either very pleasant, or an annoying deviation from neutrality.

It is not a slow or a fast cable, it's just about right. It has a very unfatiguing, mellow sound due to its relaxed but firm and authoritative nature. Image stability is excellent, as is soundstage height and width. Reasonably detailed, but it does not force those details in an "in-your-face" sort of way, its laid back nature leaves them there for you to discover on your own.

Overall, The Blue Thunder is a strong performer, offers above-average value at a reasonable list price ($250). It is tonally neutral, if a bit "thick"-sounding, which may be advantageous for folks trying to alleviate a slightly "thin" system. I think this cable would appeal to many who value a relaxed and engrossing sound, rather than a head-banging hyped-up "exciting" or forward sound. Definitely worth a look for the right listener.

Flexibility: 5
Build quality: 8
Tonality: 8
Soundstaging/imaging: 7
PRAT/dynamics/speed: 7
Resolution/detail/transparency: 7
Value: 7
Overall Performance: 7.5

Conclusion
1. Split decision between the TG 688 (for my source), and the Wolff Source cord (for my headamp)
2. Virtual Dynamics Reference (since replaced/superseded by the David)
3. KAS Audio Primus (on my headamp)
4. VH Audio Flavor 1 and Flavor 2
5. Custom Power Cord Company Model 14 Series 2
6. Tek Line Eclipse
7. Straight Wire Blue Thunder
8. Audio Metallurgy Gold Alloy 9
9. Iron Lung Jellyfish
10. Analysis Plus Oval 10
11. Absolute Power Cord
12. Zu Cable BoK
13. PS Audio XStream Plus

 

Tek Line Eclipse vs Tek Line...

mystery cord.
Scott from Tec line sent me three cords, one of them the Eclipse and two others. He purposely did not tell me which cord was which so I would not be influenced by price. I switched out the generic cable that came with my Wadia with the eclipse. Everything that Markl liked about the eclipse was present in my audition also. I did not experience any rolled off bass like Markl did, but I also have dedicated circuits which actually seemed to bring the bass more in focus. Maybe there is a correlation there, I don't know. The sibilants that Markl heard, I heard also. For my ears it was in higher pitched voices. Playing Radio Head's Okay Computer brought this out when York was reaching for it. Still very nice though and much better than stock.

Now, the mystery cord. I'm not sure which cord this is. It has a wattgate male plug, but Scott could have thrown that on any cord. The only thing I can say about the mystery cord is that it had slightly more finesse that I noticed mostly on acoustic guitar, and totally elimated the sibilants that I had heard earlier with the eclipse. This is the cord that I want to buy, if I can actually find out which one it is.

 

here are two more cords

Hi all:

here are two more great power cords to sample:

The Essence Reference $649 from essential sound products

Best one Ive heard yet, but haven't heard SH's

DH Labs $249

Really darn good for not ridiculous cash.

Check em out see what you think.

While you are at it, check out the Running Springs Jaco Power conditioner.
BEST ONE I HAVE EVER HEARD!!!! Have heard Shunyata, etc. nothing compares!
A lot of guys at CES that were running Shunyata last year were using Running Springs
this year!

 

I would glady purchase Michael Wolff's cord (or maybe even several in the future) IF only Michael would start doing them with euro connectors. Too bad he narrows his potentialy huge market to America only.

 

In their december issue, the german AUDIO magazine has compared 18 power cords in blind fold tests and found that in 99% of the situations there was no audible difference at all.

http://www.audio.de/d/71098 (in german, only the introduction to the review)

That is rather surprising, as german magazines too have the tendency to bloat even the smallest differences in order to declare winners.

I might get an Eupen GNLM cable to try (only $30, but JPS used the same cable in their $300 "Digital AC").

http://www.audusa.com/eupen.htm

 

A tweak to share:

I have been using Caig Deoxit on my power cords and it really helps open up the sound.

 

Another tweak, this one promoted by the maker of the very fine Connoisseur Definition 4.0 pre-amp (his name escapes me at the moment) is to get a tube of the excellent Flitz metal polish and clean the voltage pins and the earth blade until they really shine. Then a bit of pure alcohol to clean off any residue, and a dab of Caig ProGold.

 

A question for Mark as well as everybody else: what do you think of Fisch cords? And how do they compare to Wolffs?

 

Obviously I can't read the article, but I always have to question the logic of the blind A/B tests and their methodology. If I was to walk into an unknown room, with unknown CD player, pre-amp, amplifier, and speakers, most likely playing music I'm not even familiar with, I would be hard-pressed to spot cable differences of any kind. I have no idea what that system sounded like *before* the swap was made, no baseline, no symbiosis achieved after months of listening. If I don't know how it's *supposed* to sound, how can I judge when a change has been made? I don't see how tweaks on the order of cable swaps can be judged that way at all. I even question how audible pre-amp and amp swaps would be under those conditions, I bet we could prove all amplification is the same!

Now if you gave a handfull of different cables to be blindly swapped in and out in a 100 audiophile's homes, in their set-ups that they know like the back of their hands, I bet the results would be quite different.

Sorry, antonkk, haven't heard that one.

 

I think this would bring a level of performance no cord (silver, copper, or the like) could ever hope to achieve...

Then again, I've only tried power cords (everything sounds exactly the same to me), so I'm not qualified to make such a statement. It just sounds very logical to me.

 

I use my Dremel and polish on old, rusty terminals. They do end up looking terrific, but I still can't hear any improvement at all

Maybe I should wash my ears more often than I do.

 

I doubt it very much.

I'm a reformed "audiophile". Stimulated by Pete Aczel's "The Audio Critic" magazine, I enlisted the help of some university colleagues in designing a series of simple but methodologically sound double-blind tests of ICs for myself in the early nineties. And discovered that sonic differences I was certain I heard disappeared in both extended listening and rapid switching comparisons. Convinced me of the very real - and powerful - impact of the so-called placebo effect. So I have little reason to trust anyone's perception of sonic differences not explained by science unless they've at least demonstrated the willingness to evaluate the placebo effect for themselves.

Anyway, I occasionally read threads like this for their entertainment value when I'm in the mood. However, as an audio consumer, I find myself frustrated and angry by the refusal of the audio press and most audio hobbyists to even acknowledge the existance of the placebo effect much less attempt to accomodate it in controlled blind evaluation.

P.

 

PGT,

That's the other side of the story and it's well-known. What is also well-known is that such tests have their own problems, but I don't want to go further as the topic is under tight control. You only have 7 posts and can't know this, but the DBT argument to counter positive audiophile observations is banned.

 

You should read Robert Harley's paper on listening tests for the audiophile viewpoint. One should keep in mind that there are scientists who have issues with the ABX thing as well well.

Michael Gerzon wrote a paper titled "Limitations of Double-Blind A/B Listening Tests" for the 91st AES convention.

I can only say that I started out in pro audio as a scientifically-bent objectivist but changed my mind over time as I experienced several phenomena in the studio like jitter, tonality, etc. that could not be measured at the time or to this day. We finally discovered jitter metrics with accuracy in the 90s but one wonders what else we are missing?...

 

I am not going to wade into the DBT or ABX battle. However, I have been concerned about the placebo effect on my own listening comparisons for decades, both in terms of a proclivity on my part to (a) hear a difference where none exists due to a bias or anticipation about one or more components being compared or (b) overlook or mentally compensate for poor performance on the part of a component where I anticipated superior performance from that component. I'm human, and we can make mistakes of this sort.

About a year ago I described my unscientific but extremely effective approach to dealing with this concern, and I've spoken with other audiophiles who use the same solution -- involve a non-audiophile (i.e. someone who has no biases or expectations about the relevant components) in the testing. The requirements are that they (i)have no prior opinion regarding the components to be tested, (ii) are not deaf (claiming not to be able to tell the difference between a table radio and a hi fi is OK, they will be surprised at the differences they can hear), (iii) be willing to help you (this will often require the purchase of lunch or a small gift -- it is worth it) and (iv) be willing to speak their minds (women are ideal for this). Of course, do not communicate your biases before the testing. I have successfully used my wife, two daughters and sister on different occasions. Each was terrific; their perceptions were spot on (though they may have some unkind things to say about the speakers you think you like). I appreciated their help, and they appreciated my involving them and valuing their opinions.

They were particularly valuable to me in listening tests on speakers, amps and CD players. Yes, they were easily able to distinguish between different state of the art amps and CD players. (They are also able to tell differences between speaker cables, but don't seem to care much about the differences. I haven't tried this with power cords.) Perhaps, my favorite experience in this respect was a CD player test about 10 years ago. I was trying to choose between two CD players that had received top ratings. I thought I might have a bias against one of the players (it had cost, appearance and unfamiliarity issues). The dealer played the CD player I thought I liked. Then he played the one I thought I might be biased against. Almost the moment it started playing, my sister said "ugh!" This from a person who said she didn't think she would be able to hear any differences in anything.

BTW, if you're in the market for hi def video, make sure you bring along a sharp-eyed person in his or her teens or twenties. Actual comment on a $25G DLP projector I had been considering from a daughter used to watching a CRT projector: "I can't believe how grainy this thing is!" Sometimes, someone needs to tell you when the emperor is parading around naked.

 

Placebo effect works both ways. Hey, I'm a grounded, scientific engineering pocket-protector type (or would-be such-like), and I certainly don't believe in silly stuff like cable differences, it's absurd and ridiculous to "enlightened" people like me. Therefore, given my self-image, I am pre-disposed to believe all cable differences are bunk, and since people like me don't believe in these kinds of things at the outset, therefore, I am less likely to hear a difference *even if there actually is one*. So, what does that prove? It proves that you are *not* any more un-biased an observer than anyone else, so get over it already.

Lah de dah. Sorry, PGT, FWIW, I'm not impressed with your "enlightenment". It costs a lot less to be a cable agnostic, and to me, that's the easy path-- the path of least resistance. But because it's easiest (and cheapest) doesn't make it right or true.

I say that to counter the other argument so often made that, hey, since I spent so much on it, it must make a difference. I think that argument is bunk. If I don't hear a difference, I am in luck, I can save myself A LOT of money. I don't think anyone is pre-disposed to *want* to waste money on things that don't actually make a difference. I think if anything, people are pre-disposed *not* to hear a difference, yet, most often, they do!

I wish I didn't hear cable differences-- it would save me lots of money!

 

I wrote about this very tweak in an older thread. It really works well.

What?! All cables sound the same! What are you smoking? Just kidding.

 

But there is acknowledgement that the phenomenon exists. What is frustrating for some is the lack of total surrender.

I'd like to know how could cables of different materials and designs sound the same.

Also, why threads about cables act as magnets for those not interested in such things.