Power Cord Snake Oil…Again!

The June 14th 2025 email from The Absolute Sound featured a brief promo piece for a $34,000/ 6 foot power cord! The headline reads “2025 AC Power Cord of the Year: Crystal Cable 20th Anniversary Infinity.” OK, more of the same nonsense from a publication that lost its credibility a long time but it was the opening sentence that prompts me to write once again about the BS that gets peddled as truth in high end audio. Jonathan Valin, the author of the single paragraph extolling the virtues of the “best power cord (he has) auditioned this year” begins his piece with a statement so utterly ridiculous that I actually laughed out loud. How could any self-respecting author write such a thing. And how do the editors at publications like TAS allow such obvious BS to be published on their behalf? Here’s the opening sentence, “Almost all of us have heard the sonic differences that elite power cords can make.”

I have to assume this a writer’s technique to make those of us who have never heard “sonic differences” produced as a result of changing power cords….including “elite” ones…feel stupid or lack the ability to evaluate and hear high-end sound reproduction. Well, after spending most of the past 50 years as an audiophile, recording engineer, mastering engineer, university professor of audio recording, builder of several state of the art listening rooms, and someone who has listened to systems in my own studio powered through “elite” power cords, in my humble opinion – and the opinion of virtually all professionals with my background – this claim is absolutely untrue. It is a lie.

The qualities attributed to this very special – and very expensive cable – continue the nonsense. JV writes, “markedly lower background noise; increase resolution, density of tone color, and dynamic contrast; and add a more substantial third dimension to images.”

A power cord can do all that? Just how much lower is the noise floor when using the Crystal Cable power cord? That could be measured. He says the noise floor is “markedly lower.” I would. wager that the ambient noise floor in his listening environment doesn’t afford the opportunity to listen to extremely low amplitudes. Unless you listen in a professionally sound proofed studio, you’ll rarely get the chance to experience dynamic range that equals the 16 or 24 bit levels used in commercial recordings.

Increased resolution? How would a power cord manufacturer add an extra digital bit or extend the sample rate of a source recording? And precisely what are “density of tone color” and dynamic contrast? As an experience mastering engineer, I know what dynamic range is. I know how nature dynamic range is captured and what parameters establish dynamic range (word length) but I’ve not yet found a knob or processor that allowed me to alter the “third dimension to images” within the audio realm. The whole description most likely came from the high-end audio writer’s lexicon or glossary. The book lists adjectives, strings of techno jargon, phrases of flowery prose, or collections of word salad that are meant to impress, sound intelligent, but in reality are meaningless.

Jonathan then resorts to elevating the credentials of the person behind this product as, “the most scientifically grounded engineer working in the cable market.” His cables “emply(SP)” coaxial conductors with a central core of pure, solid, single-crystal silver. These cables are “wroth every penny asked.” No, they are not.

Many years ago, a maker of high end cables offered to send me an $8000 power cord called “Venom” after I wrote that a standard IEC power cord will adequately deliver the needed 120 VAC at 60 Hz required by every piece of audio equipment with the possible exception of a very high wattage power amplifier. I accepted the offer and several days later, a very nice wooden box arrived at the studio. Inside was a velvet bag containing the 6 foot “Venom” cable. I made a carefully calibrated comparison between a standard IEC power cord costing a couple of dollars and the $8000 cable. I had two identical stereo Benchmark DAC 3 HGC digital to analog convertors patched to two inputs of my console control room monitor system. I was able to switch seamlessly between a single high-resolution digital source (AES-EBU) fed to both of the converters. They were meticulously calibrated for matching levels.

I invited a couple of audio engineers who worked in the studio in the middle of my building, people with impressive professional experience and credits AND several members of the LA and Orange County Audiophile Society to participate. We listened to a variety of music genres from classical to rock to country to jazz for at least an hour. All the while switching between the two DACs powered by different valued cables. No one knew which cable was which as I had my second engineer handle the switching. The audio was played back through my reference system in my custom designed control room consisting of a Bryston 4B power amp, speaker cables from Cardas, and B&W 801 Matrix III speakers on Anchor Stands.

Not one of us could perceive any “sonic differences” between the two power cords. And I would venture if Jonathan Valin or any other members of the high-end press community had participated in this test they wouldn’t have heard any differences either. The reason is because the incoming voltage to the power supply of any well designed audio component has no impact on the signals output to the speakers. They already have RF and magnetic interference filtering.

The question I would like to ask promoters of these “elite” power cords is what components in my system will most benefit from a $34K/6-foot cable?. Or perhaps I should purchase enough to plug into my OPPO Blu-ray player, my Benchmark DAC 3, my Denon AVR, and my Bryston 4B power amp. We’re talking about spending about 4 times more money on power cables than on all of the other equipment in the signal path. Does anybody really think the power cords warrant that kind of spend?

Jonathan Valin makes his living from writing glowing reviews for The Absolute Sound and other publications. They economics of high-end audio publishing counts on ads paid for by companies like those make crazy expensive snake oil including the $34K power cord. And the high-end audio marketplace is not the only place this occurs…I get it.

The audiophile world should get back to basics and push the producers of albums to make better sounding recordings. It’s OK to spend reasonable sums (hundreds of dollars) on nice looking power cords or interconnects or speakers feeds but recognize that they are merely window dressing in your system and not devices that should be used to alter the signals passing through them. We have lots of other signal processors to do that. And if you’ve got $34,000 for a power cord find another outlet for your spending.

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Help AIX Records Mark & Mona Waldrep Recover from Pali Fire

Many friends, family, and customers of AIX have reached out with notes of support and offers of assistance after learning our home was destroyed in the recent Palisades fire. We’ve initiated a GoFundMe campaign. If you would like to donate, please visit Help AIX Records Mark & Mona Waldrep Recover from Pali Fire

Over 3700 lots have been cleared since the fire in January. It remains to be determined whether a new house will replace the one that burned. It’s hard to invest in a community that will be undergoing tremendous change over the next 3-5 years. A lot of my friends have opted to leave the area, sell their lots, and find a new life somewhere else. It’s a hard decision.

Thanks for your kind support.