I connected my printer with a spare audiophile mains cable and the print quality appeared far sharper.

I bought a power cable from a high street electrical retailer. It made an enormous amount of difference to the sound of my system - I didn’t have one before and couldn’t switch it on,

A mains cable delivers AC mains power from your wall mains outlet to your hifi components. The 1st thing your component does is converts that AC power to regulated and filtered DC power. Yes, mains cables can be susceptible to RF and EMF interference, more so on longer cable runs, but, by the time your component has converted it to DC, put it through a step down transformer, galvanically isolated it, regulated and filtered it, it’s highly unlikely there will be any detriment to the component’s audio reproduction. Yes, mains cables can and do make a difference. You would not use the cable from your bedside lamp to deliver power to your 3kw heater, would you? Vut, if you took the stock cable from your 3kw heater and employed it to deliver mains power to your bedside lamp, would it improve the performance of that lamp? I think you have the answer to this question!! There are better quality mains cables. Cables with a more snug fit. Cables with quality ends. Fray resistant skins, Etc. I think ‘price appropriate’ should be applied here. If you have paid £150 for your component, there is little point in spending £99 on a mains cable. If you’ve spent £5999 on a component then a £99 mains cable may be more appropriate, though I would never contemplate spending £99 om any mains cable. If you are looking to spend £500 plus on a mains cable? In my humble opinion your money would be more wisely invested in a higher end component. Many will claim that their expensive mains cables make a notable improvement. They doubtless genuinely believe they hear that difference. But how much of that is down to psycho acoustics and could they repeatedly pass multiple blind A-B tests? I’ve never witnessed anyone do that! All that having been said, if your ultra expensive cables give you more confidence in your equipment and greater overall pleasure, then in your case, it’s money well spent. Remember, you don’t listen to mains power, you listen to music.

I plugged my kettle in using my Russ Andrews Classic PowerKord and my tea tasted better. As a someone who clearly enjoys a cuppa yourself, I suggest you do the same.

As someone who has spent a lifetime in electronics I can appreciate the content of this video. I've fiddled with DIY mains cables in the past with mediocre results. However I was recently recommended some bulk mains cable at $82 AUD per meter and some "copper" mains connectors and made up two 1.5mtr cables for my monoblock valve amps. The difference was not subtle and really bought a wow factor to my system. Yes, mains cables can make a difference.

Be honest with yourself. I remember getting a amp i had wanted for a long while. Within the hour, i was ready to sell it on.

That quote is amazing.

Having been a HI FI enthusiast, for about 40 years, one thing will always hold true, my experiences are unique to me, for those who throw stones and want to ridicule do not understand anything, and their ignorance really comes to the fore, sometimes logic does not play a part and you have to leave it on the doorstep, your experience is, you heard a difference, and that's all that matters. cables have and always will be a subject where its contentious, but a good quality USB cable makes a difference I hear it, now the ignorant will want to attack that, and tear it down, makes not a jot of difference to me and my enjoyment.

It is also all about SYNERGY. Thank you for posting this video. Keep em' coming. Cheers from Canada.

I can see you've had a haircut but refuse to believe it.

I have two Merlin power cables and 3 Merlin 6 socket power blocks,I bought them in 2010 .got one power cable plugged into my MVL A2+ amplifier and the other into my Roksan Caspian M2 cd player

Good for you for touching on this subject.

I’ve gone down the route of making cables from good quality stock materials, including a shielded mains cable. I take great pains to separate mains from interconnects and speakers. I’m very happy with the system, but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep looking for improvements. For the next few upgrades I’m concentrating on the major components in my systems. One day, I’ll revisit the cables, however, not before I’ve upgraded the arm, sub-chassis and power supply on my turntable and also my speakers. At that point it will be not only easier to hear differences between the cables but also easier to justify the cost.

The biggest improvement you can make to a mains cable is to shield it.I shielded my cables with some spare adhesive backed aluminium foil;then wrapped black electrical tape to insulate and grounded the foil with a short length of drain wire at the male plug end.On first listening to a well recorded 96k/24bit percussion album it was immediately obvious there was a reduction in glare and grain in the sound and a tighter bass.Not huge but not subtle either;the sound stage also appeared slightly larger.I should state the system is fed via a large isolation transformer and earth filter.The unshielded cables were obviously mitigating to certain extent the filtering effects of the transformer and earth filter.

Electrons do NOT flow from one end of a conductor to the other, through the conductor. The vibrating crystal lattice of the conductor is a barrier to such behavior and Electrons bounce off of and even move in the opposite direction. What occurs is the formation of Electric and Magnetic Fields outside of the conductor which is where the transfer of Energy occurs. Read the brilliant James Clerk Maxwell's work from the perspective of Partial Differential Eqs. Human perception, via the Auditory system is extremely fallible. The reason the manufacturers will not participate in Double Blind studies, will result in the aforementioned being extremely obvious. But if you desire to spend large sums of cash, on a phenomenon you really don't grasp and makes zero difference, have at it.

You're spot on with your observations regarding cables.

I can’t seem to find Experience Filtration on your website, have I got the brand right? The look and flexibility of the cable appeal to me.

The shielding if for the cables next to the power cable. Like speaker cable running near the power cables

My ISOL-8 Substation Integra and Isolink Ultra cables make a huge difference. Much more so than speaker cables. My girlfriend and fiends hear the difference too, and they don’t care about the equipment playing.

You haircut improved the brightness and resolution of your video. Proof.

I often wish audio hobbyists would learn how human hearing works, along with Ohms law. this basic knowledge would scientifically eliminate ignorant positions about what they hear and the money they spend .

Audio equipment rectifies AC into pure filtered DC.. AC power filters and cords do not improve anything. Placebo effect is real. You think you hear it, therefor you do.

the proof is in the pudding. put a mask on plug in lots of diffrent cables and see if the person can pick the dearer ones. Its really that simple. Maybe im too rational.

40 years ago Naim Audio described how to improve sound using a beefy dedicated mains installation including unswitched sockets. DNM had exta to say. EV cars need similar at 32 amps. 4mm^2 rather than 2.5mm^2 if possible. More dynamic for very little money. Like bottles of wine it's all what you think. I suspect wine is 99% identical as chemical proportions, espeacilly if matched for grape and strength. I measured the mains recently. 85 ohms RF impedence. As it's neutral earth bonded it varies due to cable length. That is compared to 0.3 ohms or better at 50 Hz. That's how RF gets in. Naim speaker cable is about 230 ohms if I remember correctly. I was surprised the mains was so low. 85 ohms tends to minic 75 ohms which is an excellent energy transporter which isn't ideal for us.

Psycho Acoustic placebo effect explains all of this mains cable nonsense (and much else) 😂🤣😅 If I spend £2000 on a mains cable ... my system WILL sound better. (Yes, don't let logic get in the way!)

I don't mean to be off topic, but as North American I'm just a but jealous of the heavy duty looking British power plugs.

I bought a power cable from a Swedish company called supra lorad for around £100 online amazing cable for the money made a big difference to my system

For me it makes sense that everything makes a difference. Your outlets make a difference! Your room- whatever the materials used on floors and walls, make a difference! I think the question is what sort of difference and how you balance your differences to give you the balance you are seeking with your system, and does that require a huge outlay to achieve. And, of course, you can spend the money.

If you like, I'll bring along an ultra cheapo kettle cable from my box of same in the garage, and we could try some abx testing. I'm confident you'll not be able to hear any difference between that and your £300 Nordost - or any other at any price.... if you don't know which you are listening to in a properly controlled test. Same for my 4mm squared generic £1.50 / m copper multi-strand against any of your expensive speaker cables. 🙃

You dismissed the RFI issue but isn’t the point of shielding the cable related to reducing effects of the field, created by ac in the cable, on nearby equipment or cables which could be carrying signal level ? Although, If so a cheaper solution might be to arrange cables carefully ?

Everybody bleats on about how high quality mains cable makes a difference, but fail to mention the piddling 1mm bit of wire in the plug fuse.

What frequency is RFI and EMI ? Its strange when I turn my amplifier up to maximum and put my ear next to the tweeter I hear nothing.

Phil - Thanks for having the guts to do this: Truth. Frustratingly, power cables make a difference in my system. It would be so much easier and cheaper if they didn't! The worst part of it that cables have different sound signatures, sometimes very noticeable! Most of us don't have the money to try a lot of different cables. And, it isn't always based on how much you've spent. Sometimes $100-$200 cables are enough. For my Conrad Johnson pre-amp the difference between the stock and even a $100 power cable was shocking. I ended up paying the bucks for a Cardas power cable for it. I really want to try Shunyatas.

Nordest Odin 1.25m £18,500.00 5m £36,500.00 I believe in cables and I build my own ones. In some gear you can ear the difference, in some you cannot. I will not comment on the price of the Odin or will be banned from KZfaq for life.

I’ve got a feeling that because the power is AC into hifi components, the power cable works dynamically with the power supply. Plus, remember that the cables into a component run close and are connected to the internal circuit boards. Don’t think of power leads as like water hoses.

So here's one to set the cat amongst the pigeons. System is all-olive old-school Naim CDS2/XPS, NAC52/Supercap, 2 x NAP 135 driving PMC OB1's - a lovely system built up over many years of scrimping, saving and gradual upgrades. But anyway ........... Circa 2006, a mate of mine (a nutjob audiophile tweakaholic incidentally) was the sales rep for Chloride - one of the world's leading battery manufacturers for forklifts etc. One of their biggest-selling products was a 3 x 2v cell 6-volt 240Ah lead/acid monobloc designed for use on smaller equipment like small pallet trucks - these things would get sold either 4 or 6 at a time for 24 or 36-volt machines. They were about three times the size of a regular car battery. He turned up one day out of the blue with 40 of these things on his van, fully charged and ready to go. My system was the best he knew of, so I was 'the chosen one' and there was something he wanted to try 'just for shits and giggles'. Long story short - we wired them in parallel using the pile of jumper cables he'd also brought along, and built a vast 240-volt battery, hooked up to a bog-standard mains distribution board using car jump leads from the final set of battery terminals in the parallel queue. The difference was absolutely astounding. Just staggering. Unbelievable. Even removing one or two batteries in the chain to achieve 234 or 228 volts was clearly audible - and remember that this system was already pretty hi-res to start with. Folks don't realise how important clean power is to the overall system sound - and although I've never tried out Powerlines, Nordosts or other expensive power cables (skeptical obviously until I just watched this) - maybe it's time for me to try. The outcome of the battery experiment BTW? I didn't go for it. Apart from the huge cost of the batteries themselves, the concept of having 10 x 30-Amp 24-volt chargers at £750 each (the 2006 price), charging batteries pumping out a coupla cubic metres of explosive hydrogen gas per minute whilst the batteries charged ..... well, let's say it was all a bit of a deal-breaker. Although in retrospect I could have charged them 6 at a time over 10 days with one charger - but without any music going on for a week and a half. Plus - the space needed to acommodate 40 x triple-sized car batteries was problematical. Great experiment though. Love the videos. Really down-to-earth-no-BS stuff. Just the way it should be.

I think you said in a previous post that cables can often just work as 'tone controls' rather than always making a substantial difference. I really took this on board when demoing some expensive cables recently and it is so true! Also, your comment on how some components aren't affected by cables - I borrowed (and finally purchased) an expensive power cable and it was only when I plugged it into the streamer that it made a huge difference - the amps were indifferent and the DAC only so-so. Great post - I liked your story about the Odin cables - I am also listening to some fancy XLR cables at present - and daren't listen to ones that cost over £10k!

Hundreds of feet of power cable leading up to the house. 50 feet or so inside the house of Romex and the last two feet of cable going into the equipment will make a difference? I'd need to see hard proof on that one.

I am going to use my senses, my common sense. Spend what you like it is a nice hobby and if you get enjoyment from that then fine.

In my direct experience, next to digital cables, power cables have the most significant impact on a stereo system's audio quality of any type of cable. There are some very specific reasons for this which you did not touch upon, so I'll list some video references here that you and your viewers will find informative, including some videos I've made a couple years back. Here are the links for your reference: 1) Caelin Gabriel of Shunyata Research and MIke Bovaird discussing power cables: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/b599iN1mttead3U.htmlsi=Z9sYSjLHxbbggaeH 2) Robert Harley and Caelin Gabriel discuss power cables (as well as other types): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fJ1_gZaI1Jape6M.htmlsi=ZXd3lpUjahDWxEQk 3) Importance of noise reduction in Hospital as well as Hi-Fi Systems: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mMWpqcV9z8yagoE.htmlsi=5Tk80ZFpSbAsJ8Uv *How about some...data?* A couple videos I made a couple years back, demonstrating with DATA the benefits of using a noise-reducing power cord: Part 1: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nZiDdM1oxrG8d6M.htmlsi=xIhhQltJPChhxhm8 Part 2: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y75pmryh0trQqHk.htmlsi=KwfX9LJxllE_GQ2p Something that most folks don't realize is that one of the biggest contributors to noise in a stereo system are the power supplies of the COMPONENTS THEMSELVES, specifically, full-wave bridge rectifiers (FWBRs). With respect to some reading material that discusses why power cables make a difference, including to dealing with noise from FWBRs, here is a link to additional information: shorturl.at/yRSZ9 Cheers, -Stephen

Power cords are not going to do Jack for your components sound. Before you rare up, power cord has one purpose and that is to bring power into your gear. Those crap power cords you get with your gear aren’t inspiring you when you see hyped up power cords by many manufacturers and I get that. The problem is that these hyped cords are made with unlisted materials by the NFPA, specifically NFPA 70 which is the electrical code. I question any power device which is untested by the testing authorities as safety of your gear is questionable by using it not to mention not safe. The alternative is making them from listed parts and wire. I have built power cords from listed parts and wire from 1985. SJO cord I use as wire. I use 12 gauge for all components except the power amp and for that I use 10 gauge SJO cord. The IEC ends and plugs are also listed and I prefer hospital grade as it offers the retention that is unsurpassed. These may not be the pretty kind you can buy in the store, but they are safe and listed. It’s up to you, but having safe and listed parts and wire gives you peace of mind and your components will be powered safely at a greatly reduced cost. Win, win!

the audio signal never flows through the power cable. seems sort of like changing the power cable on a paint sprayer and saying the paint looks better when sprayed out of the machine with the higher quality power cable.

What mains cables would you recommend for valve power amps?

I used to have a cable demo set up so I could AB back and forth between 2 pairs of cables. I was tired of dealing with clueless electrical engineers, and even more clueless recording engineers. I sat them down in front a system and played both pairs of cables. By the look on their faces, you could see they hear a difference. Every single time I got the exact same answer. They sound exactly the same. After a short discussion, I asked them if they would be interested that same test with 2 different amps instead of cables. They usually agreed, so I went back behind the equipment and moved some wires around to make it look like I was making changes. I did absolutely nothing to the system and ran through the same exact cable demo they just heard. Now they hear a difference. Not only that, when I asked them to describe the differences, they all pretty much said the same thing. I didn't get comments like cable number one was bright, and have someone else say cable number one was warm and dull. All the comments were very similar. When I told them they were tricked into telling the truth, they were not happy. This isn't about cables. Its about people not wanting cables to make a difference. And that's why the debate never ends. They don't want the truth, they want to win an argument.

I still dont get this RF field around power cables. Rel acoustics say you shouldn't have 2 power cables running side by side because of the RF field. That doesn't quite cut it for me because. If you've got a pair of wall sockets running 2 power cables out of them there indeed side by side upto a point. If you get my drift.

I found in my system source units make the most difference,

If you drop a load of money on a cable you listen harder. Hence the difference.

Very interesting. I like that you mentioned Dostoevsky, an INFJ like me. What makes this hobby fascinating is the number of points of dispute. It really can be a can of worms. I discovered a few years ago the difference vibrations can make on even solid state components. I am now developing a hifi accessory product to mitigate vibration issues. On mains cables, I would imagine the virtue is more about shielding the power cable from nearby interconnects rather than the other way round. Also, I have had the idea that what may be happening with mains cables, is something most have not considered. If the cable is quite stiff, as many are, when it is connected to the component it could have a stabilising effect and/or a mechanical/vibrational absorption effect. This would certainly offer performance benefits. Some mains cables offer vibrational dissipative properties, like Puritan Audio ones do. They seem to do this by being floppy, ie. Not stiff. Maybe the optimal cable is a stiff core with a soft floppy outer?

Just my musings on power cables. Different manufacturers do seem to have a certain sound. You said Naim products didn't like certain cables. Could it be power cables deliver the electricity in a way that 'rreacts' / 'catalyses' the electronics to accentuate the sound. All smoke, mirrors, snake oil and humans. They

The best thing I ever did to improve the sound of my system was to have a house mains optimiser installed. Yes they are quite big and difficult to place if you have a new house with your mains in one of those external wall white plastic boxes they fit as standard these days. I'm lucky enough to live in a old house with a internal supply box and with plenty of room next to it to be easily installed. For about £300 plus installation, a fantastic upgrade. As a bonus, it also extends the life of your other household electrical appliances as you no longer get those life shortening peaks and troughs.

The only important thing about the kettle lead you stick in the back, is the fuse. Throw away any 13amp one you find in there, stick in a 3amp then you're golden.

Another great video delving into a very subjective and facinating subject. My local dealer winced and moaned when he found out I used a power conditioner and mains RF filter between the socket and my equipment. He reckoned they were not effective and a waste of money. However, he was happy to sell £70 - £850+ mains cables without batting an eyelid. Nearly all of my friends can hear a profound difference to the better when the conditioner and filter are plugged in. Yes they're not cheap but when you spend thousands on a system you need to get the best out of it.

I use Russ Andrews kimber power cables, I'm at the stage I will never be without them either. The reason they work is the crossing of the individual copper cores helps reduce interference that's already present in the mains. Think of the cable as an extra filter for the power supply. Interference eventually finds its way into the analogue side of DACs, it's also a problem for class a/b amplifiers. Using these cables is like having a DAC uograde. I buy them second hand from ebay where there much cheaper. I demo these cables to people where I switch out to cheap £5 power cables and people who are not even into audio can tell the improvement.

Guys,should I put a weight on my new Rega planar 2 or just forget about it & just put the money towards a new cart.

The problem is Your system + expensive power cable will always be worse than Your system upgraded with the cost of epc at source or amplification :) Thus only relevant when you have the best of everything else, which none does..

HiFi bs mongers should start selling air purifiers because they definitely make the wifi work betterer for the streaming.

What mains sound filtration/surge suppressor make & model do you recomend?

The only people who think logically cables can't make a difference are those who don't actually understand how electricity works. Electricity is not electrons flowing like water in a pipe, electricty is propagation of an electromagnetic field through a conductor that completes a circuit. The electromagnetic field is generated by the surface of the conductor and very much affected by the dielectric material around the conductor. Your power cable is not the last meter of some delivery system, it's an extension of the primary winding of your component's power supply

Power cable is still an antenna.

Never having heard expensive hifi that might resolve the difference that power cable might make, all I can say is this whole idea makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me.

If the cable has a groud/drain wire that is connected to mains plugs earth only, not connected at other end ,it will effect lowering the floor noise level if cable is made of decent diameter & good quality OCC OFC...Cardas produce some of the cleanest copper cable buyable & sell to many big cable companies who make their own cables using Cardas's OCC OFC very pure copper cable...not cheap though..shame

With regard to your literary quote, it is equally valid to reverse the logic of the original.

Interesting but what about the mains cable in my wall and the wall socket? Surely you would need to have your house re wired with such cables to make a difference.

Does the length of the fancy power cable matter? Does it have to go to the wall outlet to get a benefit? It would be interesting to use a short cable from an extension cord to the device to see what it does. It doesn't seem to make logical sense that there is something special about going from the wall outlet to the device, given (as you say) he rest of the electrical grid is connected. I suspect there is an minimum length that somehow provides a benefit.

MASTER CLASS for ALL...not just for the naysayers or misled will help the whole audio community even the current adopters

Are there audiophiles out there who use these cables all the way back to the fuse box…?

A person's ability to hear the difference in an audio system is directly proportional to his bank balance.

Oh dear…

Why is it that power cables and other like tweaks can’t be heard under double blind conditions?

If people are happy to pay hundreds or thousands of pounds for power cables then good luck to them, personally I don’t believe it.

Even HDMI cables are different..

'If the Doors of Perception were cleansed....'

This subject, more than any, seems to have the most polarising opinions. My experience is that mains cables do make a difference, although this can be equipment dependent. Before purchasing equipment, peripherals in particular, I always ask a member of the household if they can hear a difference and if so, what the difference is. I never give my opinion in order to avoid potential bias. On the majority of occasions, they hear the same differences. They may use different terminology because they are not into hi-fi but they hear the same thing. I understand some of the scepticism around this subject and can only give my opinion based on what I hear.

toning down anxiety by spending large amounts on a cable allows the listeners to hear the music and absorb it better,i went the other way ,i was going to spend 300 on a tonearm cable until i discovered canere microphone cable 4 pound a meter its a fantastic musical cable,ive replaced all of my intetconnects with it to ,my system sounds great now,also i replaced my speaker cable back to basic ofc copper instead of silver plated copper its sounds more coherent ....

Im trying out better power cables and I like what I hear so far. But they don't really lend themselves to review. With speakers we at least presume there's a good room being used to audition them. Components are mostly designed for cheap cables, synergy between an amp and a specific high quality cable cable doesn't really seem to be a goal that interests these engineers for the most part.

I've been watching a guy "Jays Audio" who is running a 3000watt class a system off his household wiring. He says "it works". Of course it "works" you are trying to pump 8000 watts worth of power through 16 awg cable. Connecting a larger plug is going to reduce the stress on the connections and in that 6ft bandaiding against voltage drop. For context, a class A 1000watt amp needs 4000watts because they are 25% efficient. The average home plug can provide 2400watts (120V @ 20amps). Ummm... PROBLEM HERE!!!!!!!! They really need separate 10AWG wires in the walls, to two separate phases, to power two monoblocks. First fix the main problem. The other issue is you have these companies selling these things that are CLUELESS as to how their customers are powering them. lol ULTRA HIGH END HIFI. You would probably see a better gain upgrading to 10awg in the house, and running separate feeds to each amp. You think a power cable is going to make any perceivable difference in a class D chinese amp like an SMSL drawing 50 watts? HIGHLY doubtful. But if you are running 8K watts from two monoblocks, you might want to fix the main problem first. Nobody running the average AVR is going to see any benefit, and is a waste of money. Snake oil. Have to take everything in context.

Why not just have one good power cable on the power strip

The placebo effect has much that explains this in my opinion.

Years ago, before CDs, my local high end HI-FI store was selling fancy speaker cables and I laughed at that. So they said here take a couple sets home and try them. I was amazed. Up till then I was using heavy copper lamp cord. They had this flat braided cable and it sounded terrible on my speakers. Then I tried some large monster cables and they sounded much better than the lamp cord. I realize this is very believable because it is in the signal path, but as engineer, logic was telling me wire is wire. Since then I've replaced all of the cables in the signal path with mogami or some better quality cables and noticeable improvement. I've just ordered a Rega P2 (I'm in the US). Do you think rewiring the tone arm and replacing the phono cables with upgraded wires will yield an improvement or are they pretty good to begin with? I plan on putting an upgraded cartridge on it that I have.

If power cables made a difference, manufacturers would at the very least offer upgrades to the equipment they sell. I'm not aware of any that do. Your ears are not more sensitive than the measuring equipment.

I was very skeptical about power cables for a long time, even though I'd heard differences with other cables. But as time passed I kept on seeing people talk about them, and inevitably my curiosity won. I managed to find a local deal for a selection of supra lorad cables, in which I got two identical cables, with one being a 1.5mm conductor and one being 2.5mm. I tried the smaller one first, with music and tv/films, and whilst some things seemed like they were a little better, there were some things that were worse. Treble was rolled off, soundstage was wider, there was more bass emphasis, and a slight vocal distortion. When I switched to the thicker one, the same things that had changed, were greatly exaggerated. Overall it sounded very, very wrong, and I couldn't listen to it for more than a minute or two. Switching back to the bog standard power cable was an actual physical relief. Well, I didn't just decide to leave it there, because I had to understand what it was that was causing that wrongness; why was just a thicker conductor making everything so strange? Eventually I came across some in depth explanations of the proximity effect, which explained why and how litz cables work, and it started to make some sense. I set about trying to find a power cable that had something in the design to mitigate the proximity effect, but unfortunately I realised that they were very rare, and I was also struggling to find a means of building myself one without having to resort to solid core wire. After a lot of searching I found one cable which I could buy off the shelf, in the form of the qed xt-5. I plugged it into my amp, unsure of what to expect. What I got, was a much more linear frequency response, and a drastic reduction in distortion, with much greater clarity and separation. The bass, which had previously been somewhat diffuse, became a precise point in the centre, losing some presence, but reaching further down. Up until that point, all throughout my life, recorded sound of any kind, be it digital, analogue, music, film, radio, had all sounded fundamentally wrong, and I could only have described it as "the top of the sound has been chopped off", but now the treble was where it ought to be, and extending higher too. This cable actually made things like drums and cymbols sound like I would expect to hear from being at a band practise, and choral arrangements now sounded like I would have expected from being in a choir. It was the second wow moment I have had in this hobby, after my first time hearing a 3-dimensional soundstage. So, I learned that normal stranded cable is literally evil, and unfortunately, because it is cheaper, that is what gets used in every single appliance, because "its good enough". After this I got a second one to plug into my dac, and this time different things about the sound changed, which surprised me. Such as being more detailed; new vocal layers suddenly appearing in familiar albums you've been listening to for 20 years is an excellent surprise. In the case of one track, I was able to hear that the bass line now matched that of the tablature book I had, which I had always assumed had just been written down wrong. Clarity and separation were improved again, along with better imaging. The soundstage was larger in all dimensions, and bass now had more punch. It also seemed like the scale of the effect overall was greater than when I had just plugged the first one into my amp, as though the more of this distortion you remove from the chain, the greater the sum of its parts become. The next step in my journey will be litz interconnects, and I am expecting good things. If you want your system to have a big, highly present bass, with rolled off treble, and that is the sound that you're personally looking for, then go ahead and go for big, chunky stranded cables, because everyone has their preferences and that's all fine and good. But if you happen to have sensitive hearing in the higher frequencies, and you feel bugged because things dont sound or feel quite natural or true to life, like there's something missing, and you just want to hear the music as it is, with nothing added for "tuning" then getting cables that addresse the proximity effect might be the right choice for you

Take that money for the cable and use it for an other and sensible upgrade. If it then still comes out favorable, comparing the two upgrades, we can talk again.

I've been into hi end equipment all my life and a lot of this is snake oil and how do I know , because now I've got numerous qualifications in electronics.With all due respect to Cheshire audio , he wouldn't exist if it weren't for gullible buyers willing to believe his comments on the gear he sells. How can mains coming in from a consumer unit in 2.5 mm cable be suddenly transformed into good sound be adding a different mains cable ......Now don't get me wrong you can have a good mains cleaner with fancy filters , they will have some bearing on getting clean mains , which you can actually see on an oscilloscope. I used to get cable from hi fi shops and they would say things like , give it a week or two and let the speaker cable bed in ...........wtf are they talking about , nothing can bed in on a cable .....What happens is that you acclimatize to the sound ......Its like this , if you buy two suits and one cost you £50 and the other cost you £1000 you immediately feel good in the £1000 suit than you do about the £50 suit ......it's snake oil and psychology........

You do know universities have taught marketing students about the psychology of the price/ quality relationship since the middle of last century? The only question is why these scam products are still legal. A fool and his money…

I am sure it makes a difference but just like many things, it's the law of diminishing returns that one has to be cognizant of...

Power cable... If something can be asserted without evidence, it can also be dismissed without evidence . Cars... people will buy a car ,usually on finance, go home and talk about how good it is. They are only justifying to themselves why they have blown the money.

You cant fix crap with a cable. You can upgrade your hi ress rig with a cable.

All I have to say to deniers, enjoy your stock cables.

Russ Andrews wrote a book decades ago called, "The Power and the Glory," in which he explains the scientific theory behind his products.

Does anybody have any thoughts/opinions about the Audioquest Niagara 300 surge suppressor line conditioner? It does NOT COME with a power cord. Of course, Audioquest recommends using one of their mid to high end cables (The Hurricane pr The Blizzard) with the unit. I have one line conditioner already but need another bank of plugs. I own the Furman Elite 15 Power Factor i. (PFi) To get this same model new will cost approximately half what the Audioquest costs used. The power cord is hard wired on this model Furman. You can't switch out power cords. Audiophiles who prefer Audioquest love the Niagara 3000 with the Hurricane or Blizzard Audioquest Power Cords. I appreciate any information you can provide. If you think the Audioquest Niagara 3000 is a good upgrade over my Furman, which power cable do you recommend? Thanks!

I really think it's about time we dismissed these endless "electronic engineers" and their measurements - or rather their narrow-minded opinions. Hifi is about LISTENING to music. No worthwhile Hifi product has ever been successful solely based on its measurements. Without extensive tuning and tweeking, a lot of Hifi would just sound monotonous, dry, unexciting etc etc. The other thing we have to consider is that all of us are different. I haven't got a scientific background, I'm from an arts background. If only the cable deniers could grasp how much more mysterious our lives really are! That much of what we experience in life CAN'T BE MEASURED. Why is a Vermeer painting more beautiful than Frans Hals - same period, same materials, same culture - one is sublime, one is merely amusing. Why is your cat beautiful? Why is the music Mozart so inspiring but the music of Emerson Lake and Palmer just tedious noise? This can't be measured. Some listeners actually really do have more refined, more developed sensory abilities. We're not all neurotypical - nor were many of the great musicians that delight us. Cable deniers are a perfect example of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".

They do make a difference, I’ve used Kimber 4TC and 8TC as power cables for years. I also remove the fuse, and solder straight onto the positive connection.

LOL.

Obviously a power cable can't change the performance of anything, and therefore any differences claimed can only be a product of the imagination. Use the one that came with it and stop being so silly!

lol

In the next video, we will discuss what a power supply does and in the one after that, we revisit power supply cables...

Nice one,it seems to me that people cannot make up there minds,different or improvement ? Mind you if you just spent the price of a car would you put your hands up to getting it wrong,don,t think so, It,s a chap thing, mines bigger than yours, No disrespect to the ladys, a bit of sense,thanks.

You keep saying it makes a difference but don’t really qualify this in any way….how/what etc. better worse, good bad? Need much more substance to back up what you are saying for this to be in any way useful to me. I admit to being highly sceptical but still willing to listen so need tangible details I can relate to if this is to make any real sense to me.

If your audio equipment sounds different when you change your mains cable, your equipment is poorly designed.

I tried watching till the end, but it's too much nonsense. All power is converted to DC!!! after the power supply. If your equipment is affected by AC, change your equipment