Farad supercap DC power supplies

[jamesg11]

Re power cables, John Swenson recently contributed these thoughts in CA, Uptone -

 

“I have some opinions on this but not much in the realm of measurements, primarily because nobody really knows what measurements correlate "better sound".

 

1: geometry of the cable is the most important part. Star quad is by far the best. Unfortunately there are only a couple power cords on the market that use star quad geometry.

 

2: the dielectric actually on the wires, NOT so much the outer jacket. Low dielectric absorption is good. Teflon, polypropylene, some formulations of silicone rubber etc.

 

3: socket. Most of the differences between connections occur in the socket, NOT the plug, The socket determines how much actual surface area is in contact with the plug.

 

4: surface of the socket or plug. For the surface plating of power plugs or sockets my favorite is silver. Gold is the absolute worst for power connections. Gold is usually very thin plating and when the plug goes in, small arcs occur which vaporize the thin gold plating, leaving the electrical contact with a very poor connection of the redeposited vaporized layer under the gold. Usually NOT a good contact. Leave gold for SIGNAL connections not power connections. A good thick silver plating will easily withstand the micro-arcs. Yes they oxidize, but the oxides are conductive, usually get wiped away when connecting and don't suffer the infamous "diode affect" of copper oxides. All in all I think think silver plating is by far the best compromise for power connections.

 

5: the plug actually has little to do with it other than the contact plating.

 

6: gauge of the wire.

 

Note that wire gauge is at the bottom of the list. Of course you have to get it big enough to handle the load of what you are powering. But beyond that getting the higher things on the list done well will make a much bigger improvement than just making wire bigger. What can happen is that frequently when you go to a thicker wire some of the other things also get better so may think that the thicker wire is what "did the trick" when it was really some of the other things. For example for a preamp going from 14 AWG to 12 AWG is not going to do anything for sound, UNLESS the cable with the thicker wire makes improvements in some of the other things. That same change might well make a small change in a 500 watt amp, every thing else being equal.

 

7: wire metal type. For power cords I think this is one of the least important parts. Go with a good grade annealed copper and you are about as good as you can get. There IS a side affect that metal alloy can have: Copper can interact with the dielectric around it causing oxides and "diode affect" which can cause problems. Fortunately the "good" dielectrics mentioned above generally do not have this interaction. So switching to silver wire with cheap dielectric (say PVC) WILL significantly improve sound, but sticking with copper and going with a good dielectric will sound better and cost less.

 

I know I'm dissing a lot of sacred cows with this, but this is what I actually think is the most important.

 

If you REALLY want to do power well go with Neutric Powercons, Build your own "power boxes" with them, make your own polypropylene insulated star quad cables with Powercons and put them in your equipment. That is about as good as it gets.

 

John S.”