Power Cords

Power Cords: An opinion

Much ink has been spilt and bandwidth expended over the issue of powercords and heres a few kilobytes more :)

I don't propose to go into the theory behind this, but I think one reason for this controversy are the extravagant claims that are sometimes made. Some proponents of powercords are still making claims to the effect that you need huge garden hose powercords to handle all that extra current. Some hi-fi shop assistants will still tell you this. Frankly, I doubt thats correct and prefer to adopt that 'whether you can hear the difference' (difference, not 'improvement' :) ) test.

I have the following power cords:

I have tried the powercords on the various components of my system as well as on my dad's system and have found that powercords do make a difference. The biggest difference is between the 'free power cord' and all the others.

My first experience with powercords is when Stereo Electronics when it was still in Bukit Timah offered me this $100 AFA powercord for trial with money back warranty. I brought it back, plugged it into the amp found that there was an increased fullness to the sound and perhaps a bit more clarity. Suitably impressed (just beginning, low standards lah I guess), I bought it.

After that, I discovered Belden and LHS and tried out a DIY Belden 19364 with cheap IEC and plug. It sounded as good as or better than my AFA powercord. The Belden had a fuller more 'organic' sound.

After that, I happened upon a Transparent Powerlink Plus on sale at a shop moving/closing sale and bought it out of curiousity. Unfortunately, the Transparent performed poorly in my system and even my dad's system. It had a characteristically thin sound with additional detail, but the detail was 'disorganised' and 'hashy' at time. This signature could be heard when plugged into my McCormack amp, SF Line-1 pre-amp or my Dad's Nad S100 pre-amp or Sony SCD777. Oh well, the cable was consigned to powering Home Theatre, i.e my Sony projector ;)

Next, I was loaned some Harmonic Tech Pro-Silways and a AC-11 powercord. I like the AC-11 a lot. It improved on the AFA and Belden by giving a darker background and more bass. Furthermore, the additional bass seemed tight and controlled. So I got the powercord for my poweramp. I admit that one of the reasons I got it was because the dealer was such a nice guy (Soul of Music), lending me all these cables without obligation :)

After that, I tried to improve on the Beldens by getting the economy/standard Wattgate IEC/Plugs to terminate the Beldens. May be tempted to try other DIY Beldens like 83802/8303 which is 'double-shielded' as opposed to the 19364 which is 'single-shielded'.

There have always been posts on the internet claiming that so and so brand of $1,000 powercord is actually Belden (insert name of major OEM) which costs $3 a foot and so one. There is definitely some truth to this. Obviously, most of cable brands don't manufacture their own powercords. Which is why its important to audition the powercords at home against your own DIY cords of the OEM brands. Currently we only have Belden thanks to LHS at Sim Lim Tower, but maybe we can convince LHS to bring it reels from other OEMs as well like Eupen.

More expensive does not necessarily mean better than even the stock cord. Heres a story: the Sony XA7ES was a very popular CD player in its time (hey I'm still using it) with a captive power cord. Enthusiastic owners went to Kingsley to change that to an IEC outlet and started experimenting with different power cords. It was found that quite a few 'branded' power cords were worse than the skinny little captive power cord. Eventually, a good 'match' was found.