audiphile power cords

"what cable(s) have your products sounded their best with?"

Also what if anything do they have in common from a design perspective?

I hear a difference with Pangea AC14SE cords on my DACs that I would attribute to lower noise and distortion. This Pangea model is designed specifically for that with line level components, ie source gear and pre-amps.

Power amps are different. More about current delivery capabilities than noise. Pangea AC9 model is for that. I have not tried these to date.

Main thing is always have a clear reason to use a particular product in each case based on problem to be addressed and how designed to address it. All power cords are different. It's a potshot otherwise.

Never buy anything just because it has been labeled "audiophile". That is a useless adjective for describing gear. It may be a good product or not. It may be the right solution, or not. There may be other solutions out there not so labeled to be marketed to "audiophiles" that might work better, or not.

All the "audiophile" label means for sure is that you will likely pay a premium for whatever you actually get.

"I've swapped some high end and less so cords in and out for fun and it pretty much always sounds great regardless."

Power cords and similar fringe tweaks have the advantage of not having much down side. They all work pretty well, but performance of gear can certainly vary to an audible extent that might still be better or worse in any case depending on what on starts with and then changes to.

But the differences are subtle on the large scale of things I would say, so its hard to go away unhappy because a power cord ruined the sound.

Same true with other tweaks targeting "audiophile" kooks like us ranging from fringe-to-placebo IMHO like isolation devices, fuses, clocks, flying saucers, even ICs though to a lesser extent perhaps.

At least with wires, fuses and other actual electrical devices, its not as much of a stretch to envision how some difference might result, though proving cause/effect conclusively when it comes to effect on sound quality is elusive at best.

The right price as a % of retail will vary, especially with wires.

Best to set a budget and go with that.

Wires are excellent candidates to buy used in order to get the right price.

I bought a very high quality $300 retail Pangea power cord new for $90 from Audio Adviser via Amazon recently. So you can see that manufacturer retail prices are often not a good indicator of actual value, especially with hard to nail down products like expensive wires.

Ralph's explanation makes sense in teh case of power cords for amplifiers in general where efficient current delivery and bandwidth are very important.

Some vendors focus more on noise reduction and positive effect of that on distortion for power cords designed for line level gear, especially those that are digital.

I tend to agree that the problem to address is different for noise sensitive line level gear versus current hungry power amps, so best to tackle each problem uniquely when designing a suitable power cord.

I have the Pangea AC14SE cords as well, and would tend to agree with Pga on most points except I would qualify that the difference with these versus any other cord might vary widely case by case.

In my case, I like the sound with them on my DAC especially and pre-amp in that noise and distortion seems lower, but it is quite subtle and hard to quantify. A nice product though for the cost. I'm sure there are many others as well. Power cords are definitely something to consider when dealing with system power considerations, though its hard to say what is best or worth it. The good new is there are many options at many price points.

I think I hear it, but have not done enough A/B comparisons to be sure. As long as it sounds as good or better to me than before, I am happy, placebo or not. I think not, but these more subtle things are hard to say with absolute certainty without extensive testing that I do not have time nor desire to do

Two different tweaks, each with potential to change the sound in different ways. Which is better or does more is likely to vary case to case. In general, performance of tubes CAN vary more widely, from high performance to dead and everything in between. Power cords are more durable and less problematic in practice.

The # 1 rule for more marginal audio tweaks is always ask "why?". It works in life in general the same way.

There should be some good reason to try anything, especially an expensive piece of technology. Any technical gadget worth its salt is designed a particular way for a specific purpose. If it is not, or if it might be but nobody can tell you why, just move on to clearer waters.

One or two people saying "this is what I heard" is NOT a good reason, even if somehow it could be determined that they did in fact hear what they relate. Its a data point that means something, but relatively little alone in teh big picture. The question is always why does something do what it claims to do. Even an unsubstantiated theory on why is better than nothing, which is what one might end up often getting with this stuff.

If even the maker cannot provide a good answer, then best to just move on until someone can. You'll probably end up in a happier place sooner and for less money.