best preamp ever - cost is no object

carlos, i'll be happy to address the acrolink mexcel AC cord, as i was the one who found it (in my own system, with the X0-1D2 in context). the sound was dramatically improved, with better frequency extension and tonal accuracy in the midrange.

it is wholly inaccurate to state that power cords are 'pseudoscience.' geometry & shielding affect EMI / RFI, conductor purity / gauge / stranding vs solid core affect tonal expression, connector quality affect frequency extension (particularly the bass), and connector plating also influences tonal expression. ---i am speaking from my own skeptical but impossible to ignore experiences. (in my day job, i'm forced to revise my opinion hour by hour, sometimes 180degree changes, so i've no set agenda on what is the right answer, which is how i approach audio)

you have to have an open mind and a good system to hear these things. which are you lacking?

and, fwiw, using a "tone-control" graphic equalizer is not the right answer if pursuing SOTA performance. as one designer noted "there is no perfect part", and you advocate adding an entire electronic box full of integrated circuits (and associated nasties & loss of signal accuracy) in to achieve your ends. yes, you may improve the tone (and that is the bigger element to long term satisfaction), but i can virtually guarantee that you're losing microdetail (not important to some, but greatly enhances the musical virtual reality effect)

when you find an IC that passes a signal without any attendant exaggeration or loss in a 20-20khz band, please let us all know. i think there's some several hundred high-end audio electronic manufacturers who would be interested in your finding.

carlos, again thanks for the invite. but first off, i am unavail this weekend, and 2ndly, i need to know exactly what you changed in the past 3yrs or so since last i visited. while i am happy you were / are so enamored of your rig, it was a sound i was none too fond of at the time, and i hate to waste another few hours of my time to listen to systems that suit me not.

further, do you realize that your statements are akin to state that you & you alone know the truth? that all collective wisdom is simply passing fancy and fraud? certainly it has been proven false in the past by geniuses such as galileo, einstein, et al---but these were denizens who dedicated their lives to advancing the sciences they work in every moment of the day.

in contrast, you are an audiophile, and a physics & engineering degree from texas A&M is not something by which makes you an exclusive authority on circuit layout, power supply design, parts voicing et al (i know experts in all these capacities, and none are experts in all 3---see principles on division of labor and accepting one's limitations as one can not know all there is to know. period.). now, had you a litany of audio products you manufactured (i.e. the better mousetrap, see vlad lamm) by which your opinions were formed and hence found acceptance in the market, then your opinion would be validated. until then, your opinion is just that.

and whether i like the sound in your system, or i didn't, wouldn't change that one bit.

we are all in pursuit of our own mona lisa. and you don't know how anyone else likes their ladies.