Mains power leads

[MikeMusic]

Big time changes here from mains cables.

That led me into other mains improvements all of which make a nice difference.
In kit list below.

Anyone want to come to North West Surrey I can demo

[Svend N]

Here's an explanation of the principle behind it.... http://www.geocities.ws/jonrisch/ac-cords.htm

Interesting reading.

It might be good to hear from a repair tech on this subject. Someone who deals with these questions as a matter of routine when they work on modding/upgrading a component.

[sq225917]

Put the old ones back in the improvement usually stays

[sq225917]

Measure the voltage coming out of the psu caps... No difference

[hifi_dave]

Yes, I have heard differences when changing mains cables, not always better or worse, just different. Providing the cables don't cost more than 100 quid or so, I don't see any reason why not to experiment.

[Macca]

A few years ago I was intrigued so bought a power cord on here, second hand, think it was £20. It does look the business but since then I have used it on countless power amps and cd players and cross compared with the standard lead. I've never heard a difference.

Nevertheless, you can't just dismiss the subjective experiences of thousands of people. So I suspect that there is something going on, albeit situation dependant. And it probably has a technical explanation. But unless you first know what exactly is happening it is pretty hard to give a technical explanation.

One point to note though, if you really want to know if the thing is actually making a difference, make sure you level-match your comparisons and ideally, have someone else swap the cords (or pretend to). The level-matching is most important as even a 0.5 dB increase in sound level will come across as an 'improvement' in sound quality. That's only the tiniest tweak of the volume knob.A trick that dishonest comparison demonstrators have used for years. Remote control has made it even easier to do.

[hifi_dave]

The way I test mains cables is to use an amp with a good power supply. I can swap over mains leads without reducing volume, muting or switching off, just change mains leads and listen for differences.

[Svend N]

A few years ago I was intrigued so bought a power cord on here, second hand, think it was £20. It does look the business but since then I have used it on countless power amps and cd players and cross compared with the standard lead. I've never heard a difference.

Nevertheless, you can't just dismiss the subjective experiences of thousands of people. So I suspect that there is something going on, albeit situation dependant. And it probably has a technical explanation. But unless you first know what exactly is happening it is pretty hard to give a technical explanation.

One point to note though, if you really want to know if the thing is actually making a difference, make sure you level-match your comparisons and ideally, have someone else swap the cords (or pretend to). The level-matching is most important as even a 0.5 dB increase in sound level will come across as an 'improvement' in sound quality. That's only the tiniest tweak of the volume knob.A trick that dishonest comparison demonstrators have used for years. Remote control has made it even easier to do.

So true! I attended a demo event by the local rep for a large turntable manufacturer (name withheld), in which he compared various TT models to a high end CD player. In every A-B comparison he had the turntable playing louder, which of course made it sound better...more dynamic, etc.. When I called him out on it (which displeased him greatly) he denied that it was intentional but still didn't make an effort to match levels.

[Macca]

So true! I attended a demo event by the local rep for a large turntable manufacturer (name withheld), in which he compared various TT models to a high end CD player. In every A-B comparison he had the turntable playing louder, which of course made it sound better...more dynamic, etc.. When I called him out on it (which displeased him greatly) he denied that it was intentional but still didn't make an effort to match levels.

One easy mistake to make is to listen with a stock cord, then put in the new, fancy cord and turn the levels up because you figure that if there is going to be an improvement it will only be small, so you want to be able to hear it. You're not intending to deceive yourself, but you do anyway.

[narabdela]

Nevertheless, you can't just dismiss the subjective experiences of thousands of people. So I suspect that there is something going on, albeit situation dependant. And it probably has a technical explanation.

There is. It's called expectation bias.