Upgraded power cables - the truth

[johanjongstra]

I had this classic situation in my appartement: after 10 in the evening the sound was so much clearer and relaxing than in daytime. I bought the Lampizator Silk, which is a AC filter. My daytime problems were over by then. I need three decent power cables, two of them were build by hand from a decent German cable. For my Rega amp I use an audioquest 500 euro cable which I bought second hand for 100 euro. To me this all sound ok and I am to lazy actually to do more AB testing. I read somewhere that it might put your mind at ease to buy a more expensive cable for an expensive component and not rely on the 2 euro cable that is default delivered with it. I agree with doc that when a cable is fixed you have to trust the designer to choose the right quality.

This weekend I replaced my wire world USB for a locally hand build one. Data and power are on separate cables in this cable. I noticed a subtle but important upgrade in sound. So yes, I can confirm Fretless' opinion that an USB cables do make a difference.

[kimangelis]

Two things....

1. I too have noticed listening to music after about 10.00 improves the sound. I listen a lot through headphones as I can't stand my partners TV appetite before 10pm, and after 10pm I'm just being considerate. There is a noticeable improvement. Can anyone explain this at all?

2. Surely when having IEC sockets on the item of hardware negates any benefits a 'good' mains cable has over a 'standard' mains cable. My Rega DAC and transport both have IEC sockets.

[Daniel Quinn]

I to have noticed that listening at nite is better , but I am sure for me it the alcohol that is causing it

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It is real, always has been so but not as much as in the last few years. I blame all the computers with crap power supplies, in fact PWM power supplies in general are fecking up our mains. And when most are switched off after 10pm the problem eases, after midnight the music is glorious.

I suppose the answer is we all have to generate our own with roof panels or small wind generator or whatever.

[Macca]

I reckon the 'better sound late at night' phenomona is entirely down to the much lower background noise. My neighbourhood is pretty quiet, after 1900 hrs in the winter it is dead, no traffic pedestrian or vehicular.

But later on, after about 2100 I do notice that the sound has 'improved'. Except it has not, it is just easier to pick out subtelties in the sound. i.e the 'pin drop' effect. If you say the average background noise in the early evening is 40dB, but it has dropped to 30dB later, that is a big difference in the noise level you are having to 'hear over'.

So nothing to do with pollution on the mains.

[johanjongstra]

You have a point with less background noise at night. However what I heard at daytime was harshness which was completely gone after I installed the filter also in daytime.
I am living in a city area. My apartment block has 50 apartments. There is pollution in the mains. You have those little machines you can stick into your wall outlet which makes the pollution audible.
Maybe you are just lucky living in a very quiet area?

[johanjongstra]

Maybe this link might explain some of this pollution

[_D_S_J_R_]

Many many years ago when I used to stay over at a mate's flat in London's Kingsbury, I could hear an immediate change in sound (Linn/Naim tri-amped Isobariks) after the news finished on TV and people started going to bed. Not a gradual thing at all Macca and definitely audible. later, when I had my little house in Luton, there'd be whole evenings (one per week regularly) when it wasn't worth turning the stereo on at all. A local friend on the other side of the estate had exactly the same issues (I had active ATC's and he had a Linn Keltik active system). I can well imagine a short length of shielded or carbon-loaded mains cables (Supra used to make the latter and I think I still have it somewhere) helping filter a little of it away.

We're very lucky here on the Suffolk coast. The mains seems very clean as the docks have their own generators I understand and these old differences just don't occur.

[kimangelis]

I live in the Scottish Borders. There is no background nose save the hooting of owls and barking of foxes after about 8.00pm. Before that it's pretty low anyway. So for me it's definitely not a reduction in background noise as it would be (say) in Edinburgh.

Any opinions on the IEC socket negating (any) advantages of an upmarket mains lead? I'm now at the stage where upgrades are gradual (next is a stepped attenuator for my P50) and I really like my set-up. So any advice/opinion on this will be appreciated.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

Yes of course it is. The birds are so noisy here during the day when they go to sleep you can here a pin drop. I have zero noise pollution apart from the building site next door, when they can be bothered to work. The work is a year behind schedule. And the effect is as clear as a bell, after 10pm better after midnight magic.

Regarding IEC plugs and sockets look at earlier post, they are crap - full stop!