Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat The Old Snake Oil topic

I use it based on 10+ years of it, to my ears, improving various pieces of equipment. After a while, you just get used to the type of difference something like that makes, and since I've personally found the signature to be fairly similar over a lot of gear, it's not something I'm inclined to test again as I did originally, to be honest - life's too short!

I purchased the e powercords from Audience about a year ago and am very pleased with the outcome. Hope to purchase one of there power conditoners soon for hopefully even more improvement. It really lowered the noise floor so more detail is revealed in the recordings very natural sounding. Also think it might be a benefit to use the same brand cables and power conditioner to get the most from your system. Seems logical since they were designed to be used togather.

I just tried making up some temporary power cords for my DSPs (until I can afford some RA ones) with Belden 19634 and some nice Wattgate connectors I had. Now the Wattgates I can vouch for as I've had great results before, but the Belden's reputation is not justified - here is an example, sadly, of a cable making a difference alright, but not in a good way. I'm actually quite shocked how much worse the system sounds after a couple of days burn-in - tinny and strangled, where it was lovely and rich and smooth with the stock cables. My girlfriend, unaware of what I'd changed, described it as 'difficult to listen to'. Beware, not all aftermarket cables are created equal, or are an upgrade! Well, either that or some other highly coincidental fault developed in those two days. I'm going back to the standard cables, so should know soon...

That's really interesting, is that you done or would you try other cable? You must be intrigued?

No, no, I've been using Russ Andrews (woven Kimber) power cords for years and they're brilliant, it's just with spending out on all the M gear in the last year I hadn't caught up with the cabling yet, hence the belden experiment. In this case though, I much prefer the bog standard cable which came in the box - fascinating though!

'Tinny and strangled' - care to elaborate?
I'm trying to think of how you could safely improve that lead, possibly connecting the screen drain to earth only at the wall end, it would make no difference from a wiring regulation POV but ought to dump any RF into the earth.

It's as though there is some high frequency edginess, and it sounds more compressed on dynamic peaks. Particularly noticeable on large scale classical, can be almost attractive on rock cuts.

The wires are already connected as you suggest, though...

In that case it might be worth connecting it to earth at both ends. I'm trying to think if you can wire it to Neutral instead without compromising safety.

I could not resist posting this link to an interesting article from an experienced recording professional. Ethan Winer: why we believe

His site gave me a lot of reading fun.
Also click on the link to his sound trap company.
WAF factor, well a lot of celebs use them...

There's some truth in that, in terms of small differences in placement having a large perceived effect. It's one reason I don't believe in blind testing over a short period.

However, the logic falls down in what's happened in my case above, and with power cords in general for me. Firstly, I've noticed a negative difference with more expensive cords - how does that fit in with placebo effect/expectations? It's happened a lot in audio with me that a more expensive item doesn't sound better.

Secondly, I'm not just testing the item in question over a short period, but over many weeks, months or years, and I'm not just judging from the 'listening position' (which hasn't changed, by the way), but just the general SQ around the room/house over a long period, which eventually irons out the types of difference he's arguing in the article.

I used the stock power cables for ages, and these new ones for a few weeks before passing judgement, my conclusion in this case is the stock cables sound generally smoother and less 'edgy' for whatever reason, so I'm going back to them until I can afford RA ones which again have proven themselves for over 10 years through various system moves, upgrades, etc.

The other flawed part of the argument is the claim that we're talking about things which 'can't be measured'. I think it's more likely no one with sufficiently accurate equipment has bothered to measure them (usually because they *believe* it's a waste of time, because they're convinced there can't be a difference). This was the case with jitter, until people took it seriously as a cause of better/worse SQ and then developed ways of measuring it more precisely. When they did (as in the case of the RA powercords), there was a difference, whether you can hear that difference or not is up to the listener.

I find it curious, when the fundamental basis of science has always been to explain observation, that it is often used in cases like this to deny observation. If all the efforts made to dismiss phenomena observed (by the ears) of more audiophiles than not were applied to open-minded research and explanation than closed-minded dismissal then maybe we would all have better systems based on true understanding of subtle phenomena currently dismissed as silly fantasy.

Just as a follow-up to my other posts -

I was quite shocked at how much difference there was between the Belden cords and stock. So I did some further listening tests and experimentation over the following weeks.

Just for anyone else who might be interested, the Belden has a clearer, better defined (although perhaps less natural) bass and sense of instrument separation. Soundstage also seems better, although maybe a less musical whole, but perhaps good for those who prefer more 'analytical' listening. On the downside, despite aspects I liked, it had a nasty etched quality in the treble which made it tinny to my ears, and also seemed to struggle in more dynamic passages with rising distortion.

Going back to the stock cords, they seemed more 'musical' and less analytical. There is a bit of mid-bass hump which adds some warmth, and the sound staging is not as good. You might say they sound more muddled, or potentially more of a musical whole rather than instruments playing separately, depending on your taste! I much preferred these overall, despite having got them for free with the speakers and having paid for the Belden cables.

However, I found some old Russ Andrews Yello power cables around the house which were just long enough to use as an experiment, so changed the plugs over on them and had a listen, they're of a woven design, but not made of esoteric materials or copper like the more expensive powerkords. Sound-wise this was intriguing after the other two, managing to combine the best of both the other cables and add some qualities lacking in the others. There was good sound staging and clear instrument separation without stripping things bare, but full, defined natural bass and plenty of detail in the high frequencies without the stridency of the Belden cords.

I'll leave you to guess which cables stayed in the system!

I believe it's worthwhile listening to a few different cables depending on your preferences. If anyone wants to experiment with the Belden ones, I'll not be using them so you could have them for the price of postage and packing

Expectation bias works both ways:-

I've spent the money and it sounds better, what a relief.

vs.

I don't want to spend the money and it sounds worse, what a relief.