What makes a high end power cord better?

[atomicAdam]

So over Easter Sunday I talked to my uncle who is a physicist/mathematician who working on sound imaging and DSP programming.

We talked about power cords, about why one would cause the sound to be like this and another to cause the sound to be like that.

His explanation was that the power cord is an RF/EMI wave emitting antenna and those RF/EMI waves interfere with the diodes in the amplifier which causes sound wave distortions. (or something to this effect) I asked, why not just shield the amp better. He said it is very hard to shield against those waves and it might just be easier to shield the emitting device rather than the amp.

So, basically, it boiled down to the shielding of the power cord which protected the amp from it's own power source. He said it is still very hard to shield these waves and what is most likely the difference between a $2 power cord and a $2,000 is the technology in shielding.

What do you all think?

Edit: From reading this (http://www.psaudio.com/ps/knowledge/why-do-aftermarket-power-cables-make-a-difference/), I suppose better and larger copper cables help the flow of power. So it must be a combination of the two things?

Better flow from the tap, and better shielding of the RF/EMI waves from the electricity flowing from that tap.

And it might be added then, that one would hear the largest improvements when these cables are used w/ equipment that might be particularly poorly shielded themselves.

[eisforelectronic]

I think better flowing electricity is the goal.

[E-Stat]

His explanation was...
Exactly for the two reasons noted. As one typically finds with discussions about cables, most folks completely misunderstand the nature of the problems to be solved and attack their own straw men. Here's another engineer's perspective: Ole Lund Christensen of GamuT (http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=cables&n=83524&).

rw

[audio101]

So over Easter Sunday I talked to my uncle who is a physicist/mathematician who working on sound imaging and DSP programming.

We talked about power cords, about why one would cause the sound to be like this and another to cause the sound to be like that.

His explanation was that the power cord is an RF/EMI wave emitting antenna and those RF/EMI waves interfere with the diodes in the amplifier which causes sound wave distortions. (or something to this effect) I asked, why not just shield the amp better. He said it is very hard to shield against those waves and it might just be easier to shield the emitting device rather than the amp.

So, basically, it boiled down to the shielding of the power cord which protected the amp from it's own power source. He said it is still very hard to shield these waves and what is most likely the difference between a $2 power cord and a $2,000 is the technology in shielding.

What do you all think?

Edit: From reading this (http://www.psaudio.com/ps/knowledge/why-do-aftermarket-power-cables-make-a-difference/), I suppose better and larger copper cables help the flow of power. So it must be a combination of the two things?

Better flow from the tap, and better shielding of the RF/EMI waves from the electricity flowing from that tap.

And it might be added then, that one would hear the largest improvements when these cables are used w/ equipment that might be particularly poorly shielded themselves.
The price(LOL)

[Smokey]

His explanation was that the power cord is an RF/EMI wave emitting antenna and those RF/EMI waves interfere with the diodes in the amplifier which causes sound wave distortions. (or something to this effect) I asked, why not just shield the amp better. He said it is very hard to shield against those waves and it might just be easier to shield the emitting device rather than the amp.

So, basically, it boiled down to the shielding of the power cord which protected the amp from it's own power source.

That is exactly the same argument I made about power cord that they are one of the biggest source of noise in an A/V system (post #8):

http://forums.audioreview.com/showthread.php?t=32310


He said it is still very hard to shield these waves and what is most likely the difference between a $2 power cord and a $2,000 is the technology in shielding.

I wouldn't say hard as much as being impractical. The shielding have to be extremely thick to be effective against those [low frequecy] waves, somewhere around 2 inches (4 inch in diameter). So basically, you are looking at a python and most of the cost have to go for material for the shielding.