# Do AC connectors really make this big differences?



## Patrick82

My system was way too warm and I couldn't listen longer than half a track before I needed to unplug my system. I was on the floor on my knees ready to start tweaking but didn't want to, so I plugged it back in, but it sounded too warm again so I unplugged it again. So then I found a small tweak I could try, I had bought an Oyaide connector 2 weeks ago but didn't think it was important so I left it on my shelf. I was a huge skeptic and was using adapter connectors. Previously I was using a gold plated Wattgate (and a cryo treated Schuko adapter so I could plug my P300 Power Plant into Premier Power Plant).

 So then I replaced the adapter and gold plated Wattgate with a silver plated Oyaide Schuko (Cryo treated by VH Audio) and now my system went from too warm into too bright. What is going on?

 Now when I listen to my system, the Oyaide silver signature is what I'm hearing. Previously I was hearing the gold plated signature but I didn't realize it, wow, all those years the warmth problem in my system was the Wattgate connector??!!

 Valhalla power cord + Oyaide silver is a great match for detail!






 I didn't take any better picture because I didn't think it was worthy. Oyaide is inside that metal can on the right, you can see little pins sticking out.
 The adapters in the plastic bags are cryo treated adapters, also from VH Audio, they didn't seem to add any coloration into my system. The signature of my system was the same when I daisy chained Valhalla cables with adapters.

 Does gold plated Wattgate vs silver plated Oyaide really make a night and day difference? It's like listening to a completely new system!


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## Dept_of_Alchemy

Yes. Again. I think it would be an overstatement to say that I love Patrick's posts, but I love Patrick's posts.


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## tbonner1

I think termination and the connectors makes a big difference. 

 Usually, I prefer bare wire but it is not always practical as in this case.


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## Patrick82

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *tbonner1* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_I think termination and the connectors makes a big difference. 

 Usually, I prefer bare wire but it is not always practical as in this case._

 

When I was hardwiring my cables I only heard very small difference, when I added one of those white mainboard connectors I didn't hear a difference. 

 But when I changed from gold plating into silver plating I heard a huge difference, it's because gold and silver are at the opposite sides of coloration. Both add something to the sound. Copper should be more neutral.


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## PhilS

Did you take off or put on your pants in the midst of all this? Wearing pants or taking off pants can affect the sound, especially when changing types of AC connectors. It doesn't seem to make a difference regarding changes of cables, just connectors.


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## Patrick82

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *PhilS* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Did you take off or put on your pants in the midst of all this? Wearing pants or taking off pants can affect the sound, especially when changing types of AC connectors. It doesn't seem to make a difference regarding changes of cables, just connectors._

 

No, I'm not wearing any pants. I want consistency to make my impressions accurate.


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## Jon L

Patrick, I see you have Oyaide P037, which is actually phosphor bronze plated with silver, then plated finally with Rhodium. 

 This thread is one of the less insane threads started by Patrick, and yes the gold-plated Wattgates are much warmer sounding than most Oyaides, except maybe for the Oyaide P079, which is phosphor bronze/gold/gold.

 What's insane is the price charged for these connectors and AC outlets. Having tried them, I'm perfectly happy with much less costlier options, such as Hubbell 5362iG for AC outlets and plain Marinco plugs.


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## Patrick82

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Jon L* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Patrick, I see you have Oyaide P037, which is actually phosphor bronze plated with silver, then plated finally with Rhodium. 

 This thread is one of the less insane threads started by Patrick, and yes the gold-plated Wattgates are much warmer sounding than most Oyaides, except maybe for the Oyaide P079, which is phosphor bronze/gold/gold.

 What's insane is the price charged for these connectors and AC outlets. Having tried them, I'm perfectly happy with much less costlier options, such as Hubbell 5362iG for AC outlets and plain Marinco plugs._

 

Does the Marinco sound more lean and thin than the gold plated Wattgate?


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## sabes

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *PhilS* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Did you take off or put on your pants in the midst of all this? Wearing pants or taking off pants can affect the sound, especially when changing types of AC connectors. It doesn't seem to make a difference regarding changes of cables, just connectors._

 

love it!


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## yo2tup2

patrick82 = boy who cried wolf. this thread actually has merit but people are still taking shots at him


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## Dept_of_Alchemy

Interesting thread.


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## Sherwood

Oh, Patrick, you light up my life.


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## Patrick82

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *yo2tup2* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_patrick82 = boy who cried wolf. this thread actually has merit but people are still taking shots at him 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


_

 

Crying wolf...people shoot? 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 All my threads have merit, people just can't see it yet. In the future audiophiles will have their entire listening room covered in ERS Paper or other shielding materials, because it doesn't color the sound, it just removes EMI from infecting the system.
 I also like Magix levitation feet because it keeps the frequency response flat.
 ERS Paper and Magix are amazing, I still haven't heard any weaknesses at all!

 I like to color the sound using AC power instead, it gives the best overall performance but it's more expensive.


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## Nebby

ERS paper covered walls in a room = room full of people without signal for their cell phones?


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## Patrick82

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Nebby* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_ERS paper covered walls in a room = room full of people without signal for their cell phones?_

 

Yes. I never owned a cell phone because it won't work with ERS Paper.


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## PhilS

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Patrick82* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_
 All my threads have merit, people just can't see it yet. In the future audiophiles will have their entire listening room covered in ERS Paper or other shielding materials, because it doesn't color the sound, it just removes EMI from infecting the system._

 

Wanna bet? I'll give you good odds.


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## Patrick82

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *PhilS* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Wanna bet? I'll give you good odds. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	


_

 

You will try ERS Paper in your system? If you hear a difference, buy a 50 yard roll and send me half of it, then I will cover myself in it and all the furniture.


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## Patrick82

I took some better pictures this time.

 I replaced a couple Wattgate gold + adapter with Oyaide silver. The difference in sound was small since only my amp benefited from it. At first it sounded bright but after an hour burn-in it sounded warmer.

 I will change the IEC connector of Premier Power Plant next, it should give bigger improvements since all the gear are using it.


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## Patrick82

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Patrick82* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_I will change the IEC connector of Premier Power Plant next, it should give bigger improvements since all the gear are using it._

 

I replaced one Wattgate gold IEC into Oyaide silver IEC, plugged into Premier Power Plant. 

 Everything sounds cleaner and more transparent. I hear more low-level detail. The improvement was about 5-6 times bigger than replacing the connectors for the amps. It doesn't make sense why the improvement is this big. Maybe my old connector was worn out from A/B-ing too much.


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## ]|[ GorE

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Patrick82* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_My system was way too warm and I couldn't listen longer than half a track before I needed to unplug my system. I was on the floor on my knees ready to start tweaking but didn't want to, so I plugged it back in, but it sounded too warm again so I unplugged it again. So then I found a small tweak I could try, I had bought an Oyaide connector 2 weeks ago but didn't think it was important so I left it on my shelf. I was a huge skeptic and was using adapter connectors. Previously I was using a gold plated Wattgate (and a cryo treated Schuko adapter so I could plug my P300 Power Plant into Premier Power Plant).

 So then I replaced the adapter and gold plated Wattgate with a silver plated Oyaide Schuko (Cryo treated by VH Audio) and now my system went from too warm into too bright. What is going on?

 Now when I listen to my system, the Oyaide silver signature is what I'm hearing. Previously I was hearing the gold plated signature but I didn't realize it, wow, all those years the warmth problem in my system was the Wattgate connector??!!

 Valhalla power cord + Oyaide silver is a great match for detail!






 I didn't take any better picture because I didn't think it was worthy. Oyaide is inside that metal can on the right, you can see little pins sticking out.
 The adapters in the plastic bags are cryo treated adapters, also from VH Audio, they didn't seem to add any coloration into my system. The signature of my system was the same when I daisy chained Valhalla cables with adapters.

 Does gold plated Wattgate vs silver plated Oyaide really make a night and day difference? It's like listening to a completely new system!_

 


 O RLY ? Oh well,it's your cash anyway.


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## tourmaline

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Patrick82* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_I replaced one Wattgate gold IEC into Oyaide silver IEC, plugged into Premier Power Plant. 

 Everything sounds cleaner and more transparent. I hear more low-level detail. The improvement was about 5-6 times bigger than replacing the connectors for the amps. It doesn't make sense why the improvement is this big. Maybe my old connector was worn out from A/B-ing too much._

 


 oyade and furutech are really good plugs. I myself use the high end silver and copper plugs and i think they make a difference. Also i heard a difference between the silver and the copper plugs, copper/gold is more warm and the silver is cleaner sounding with more low level detail. Same difference as you noticed, patrick.

 If you use the silver plugs on copper cables and the copper/gold plated plugs on a silver wire, they actually might sound very close to eachother.

 Most people don't regard wattgate as high as oyade and furutech.


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## LawnGnome

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Patrick82* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_. In the future audiophiles will have their entire listening room covered in ERS Paper or other shielding materials,_

 

Your going to have kids?


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## Patrick82

Quote from another thread:
  Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Patrick82* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_My system has warmed up 1 month now. I thought 2 weeks was enough but not even 1 month is enough! After 4 weeks I started hearing more space in the recording, the low-level details are easier to hear because the ambient space is cleaner. I'm hearing openness but there is a certain sound signature I keep hearing in every album. I think it is the gold plating of my AC connectors._

 

OMG, I'm hearing almost the exact same sound signature as above, and this is with 192 kbps mp3 instead of WAV! It hasn't happened before that I get a similar sound signature from different gear.
 Gold plated AC connectors give similar smearing as 192 kbps mp3!

 It seems that AC connectors make a bigger difference than the transport + tweaks.

*Wattgate gold connectors for amp and power conditioner*

 Cary 303/300 transport with 192kHz upsampling
 Premier Power Plant
 Magix levitation feet and Feet of Silence
 ERS Paper
 Valhalla AES/EBU
 Redbook CD
 1 month warm-up

 =

*Oyaide silver connectors for amp and power conditioner*

 Computer with 10+ meters extension strips and stock cable
 Fat Valhalla (5 conductors per signal) added after stock wiring
 No tweaks!
 44.1kHz Toslink
 192kbps mp3
 10 days warm-up


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## tourmaline

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Patrick82* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Quote from another thread:


 OMG, I'm hearing almost the exact same sound signature as above, and this is with 192 kbps mp3 instead of WAV! It hasn't happened before that I get a similar sound signature from different gear.
 Gold plated AC connectors give similar smearing as 192 kbps mp3!

 It seems that AC connectors make a bigger difference than the transport + tweaks.

*Wattgate gold connectors for amp and power conditioner*

 Cary 303/300 transport with 192kHz upsampling
 Premier Power Plant
 Magix levitation feet and Feet of Silence
 ERS Paper
 Valhalla AES/EBU
 Redbook CD
 1 month warm-up

 =

*Oyaide silver connectors for amp and power conditioner*

 Computer with 10+ meters extension strips and stock cable
 Fat Valhalla (5 conductors per signal) added after stock wiring
 No tweaks!
 44.1kHz Toslink
 192kbps mp3
 10 days warm-up_

 

My bet; oyade sounds better!


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## skyline889

I have both Oyaide and Wattgate connectors and while I don't have the premium line connectors to compare, I vastly prefer Oyaide to the Wattgate connectors. The Wattgate connectors are inferior in my opinion in terms of build and fit quality as well as a small part sonically. I haven't really noticed a huge audible difference between connectors but the fit on the Oyaides is really great. I'd also love to try the Furutech connectors as well as their receptacles in the near future though.


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## HumanMedia

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *tourmaline* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_My bet; oyade sounds better!_

 

Id go for the Wattgates specifically over the Oyaide 037 (silver) which are too bright. The other Oyaide products are a different story though.

 BTW Patrick, at last you are on to AC connectors. These make lots of difference. Ive tried lots of ERS tweaks in the past and to me they only made about 5% difference, the biggest being lining my circuit breaker box with the stuff.

 But power tweaks and optimization yields a far bigger difference. Ive tried all of the Furutech and Oyaide combinations. To me the silver and rhodium parts exagerated the high end artificially. The Furutech copper and gold are quite neutral but a bit laid back. The Oyaide Gold/Gold/Bronze sockets are clean and neutral, but the G/G/B plugs are too soft and bassy.

 Where I think Patrick should start experimenting is with the SWO-XXX sockets. These give a clean tight bass and push the highs, in the way Patrick seems to like, but are not as exagerated as the Rhodium he already has. To me these seemed to push it a little more than I personally like, recessing the mids. And I have recently converted all primary plugs and sockets to the Beryllium copper/Palladium/Platinum P-004/R1 combos. This to me is the most neutral best sounding plug socket combo I have heard to date, with a warm tight bass, full midrange and clean highs. They grip like the devil, so much so that some plugs require lots of effort to get them in.

 As someone who used to guffaw at fancy power cords 6 years ago, I have eaten much humble pie since and now believe that treating the power correctly all the way from the breaker panel contributes 35% to the sound of the system. Power components can also be used to fine tune and even out the frequency response without adding active components to the replay chain.

 Also remember that the sockets and plugs require the usual 200+ hours break in and change too and fro quite a bit over this period - even when being put on existing burned-in cables.

 BTW all of these power products have been explored and reported on over at Audio Asylum. So to cut to the chase you can read others findings to get a better perspective before spending cash to experiment. The forum member over there are far more knowledgable, open minded and are not there to thread-crap, pick fights and generally be nasty like many forum members here.


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## Patrick82

Quote:


  Originally Posted by *Patrick82* /img/forum/go_quote.gif 
_Does the Marinco sound more lean and thin than the gold plated Wattgate?_

 

Yes it does. I changed Marinco IEC connector into Oyaide 037 and it sounded less lean and more clear. The improvement in bass size was very small, but it sounds faster. So it appears that the grip of the connection was improved which increased the bass, and then the silver plating added some coloration into the sound which made it edgier. I love the coloration of Oyaide 037, it's a great match with Valhalla power cord because Valhalla veils the sound and makes it smoother than neutral, and Oyaide 037 makes it brighter than neutral.

 I also changed Wattgate Gold into Oyaide 037 and there was less bass and it sounded colder but more revealing. Gold plated connectors add warmth into the sound but it covers up some details.

 It appears that Marinco was the most neutral connector, but the grip between the connections wasn't good which made it sound lean with lack of detail. The difference between Marinco and Oyaide 037 was very small, but the difference between Wattgate Gold and Oyaide 037 was huge, it's because they have the opposite colorations.

 I don't think it's worth the price to upgrade from Marinco to Oyaide unless you want the special coloration it adds. To me, the Oyaide 037 sounds better than hardwired, just because of the edgy coloration. It kind of makes it sound fresh because it adds whiteness on top of the cleanliness. But the added whiteness doesn't make it sound black and white which is boring and fatiguing, the Oyaide 037 makes it sound blue and fresh, that's why the manufacturer gave the outer casing a blue color.


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