DIY PCs

As  a recently converted power cable skeptic I have heard the difference a single power cable makes but I struggle spending more for a cable than I did for the system (I'm cheap and buy a lot used).
Amazon is your friend and I just purchased 2 10AWG power cables for my amp and my DAC.  I liked what I heard and they were in your budget.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=power+cable+10awg&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
I couldn't build them for this price.

It is very easy to demonstrate and prove the difference a power cord can make. Cables wind up being just about as important as any other component. Nevertheless a lot of people have a mental mind block. Until you are able to get over this the smartest thing to do is buy stuff like danager mentioned that is already made for less than you could make it.

At $50, you are not going to get anything that is a significant improvement over stock cables.  In fact, the sound may actually be worse in some areas, depending on what you get, such as gold-plated plugs or even bare copper plugs.  The bare copper plugs are not that bad, but not as good as plated.

I'm very surprised that you would only be spending $50 on a power cable against equipment worth many thousands of dollars, lol. 

If you DIY, probably the best you are going to do is to get some Wattgate "Classis" series plugs ($24 for IEC plug and $16 for Male plug).  DO NOT BUY the Wattgate EVO plugs!!!  They use hex head clamp screws which strip really easily.  Then buy some 12awg construction power cord from home depot and terminate using the Wattgate plugs.

There are so many good cable makers these days who sell direct and offer generous trial periods, why not just try one of those?  You can get a Cullen Cable Red Copper PC for $81, which isn’t much more than your DIY target?  Then again, good cable by the foot from Furutech, DH Labs, etc. along with Wattgate, etc., connectors are readily available that you might have fun cobbling together.  Either way, I’d be surprised if you don’t hear a meaningful benefit from upgrading over stock cables.  Best of luck. 

Well I should add that I am not a total cable nonbeliever.  I think a decent quality cable is a must, especially in the signal path.  I use a Kimber coax from my steamer to the Oppo dac and Cardas Quadlink balanced ICs from the Oppo to the integrated.  I recently built some Mogami 3082 coax speaker cables, specifically for the ML electrostatic panels.  They may possibly have a little better HF response than the twisted pairs I had before.  The difference if any is subtle.

At one point I was open to trying a more expensive PC, but right now I am retired and on a fixed income that will not support much in the way of "luxury" items.  Very little available cash + lots of free time = DIY.

@Danager, I will look into your suggestion though.  Seems quite reasonable.

$50 is really low but can be done, cheap Wattgates will be most of your budget.

Go to Home Depot, for amps use 6 or 8 gauge stranded or solid core. For. Source 8 to 12 gauge.  If 6 or 8 gauge solid core you will need to shrink wrap the wire. Use a smaller gauge for the ground, 

Buy some clear rubber tubing while at Home Depot. Run wire in tubing with excess wire 3 or 4 inches on each end of tubing. Hot glue one end of tubing and wire. 

Fill clear tube with metal sand blasting power from harbor freight or brass powder of eBay the finer the powder the better. I like brass. Take a palm sander and run up and down tube. Keep adding powder as it will pack in tubing. Once filled hot glue other end of tubing.

Buy a small piece or donor piece of Corion from a countertop maker. Cut 2 small rectangle pieces drill some holes use high quality screws to make a clamp and screw down very very tight. You can use wood, brass or anything to put pressure on wire as clamp. Place clamp on each end of wire and in middle of cable if you choose. Add Wattgate ends and your done. You can hide clamps with cut pieces of pvc pipe and Tex flex for looks and shrink wrap over pvc/Tex flex

The solid core will have bigger bass and more detail or brighter, stranded will be smoother with more rolled off highs. 

You can get very meaningful improvement from some low cost PC on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/WAudio-Hi-End-Audio-Power-Cable/dp/B01L2MBYWC/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&ke...=

I made my own PCs with Furutec components from Cable Co. I bought heat shrink tubing and cable covering from Amazon. I was able to make custom lengths for my five cables. Good luck.

I suggest you get one good power cord for starters, for your Pass Labs integrated. You can build it yourself, yes, nothing wrong with it, but not sure the parts alone will cost less than $50 (good parts that is), let alone labor.

One of the nice gents in these forums (forgot the name) swears by these Chinese power cords: https://www.ebay.com/itm/202808747120?var=502967448569

They are in your budget, and you don’t have to spend a minute of your time.

Or look for a used Shunyata Venom NR v10 or HC.

Kudos for having the willingness to experiment and for overcoming your biases

At $50, you are not going to get anything that is a significant improvement over stock cables.

Many less expensive aftermarket cables use OFC at least which is a lot better than standard drawn copper. Look at BLE Design on eBay. Made in USA.

Go to Home Depot, for amps use 6 or 8 gauge stranded or solid core. For. Source 8 to 12 gauge.  If 6 or 8 gauge solid core you will need to shrink wrap the wire.

Equipment plugged into a receptacle must be flexible cord and NOT cable designed for use in an installed and non-accessible location.

@jtucker Take a look at this design- 

http://image99.net/blog/files/be8de0c383c5434907610d6b55049e69-75.html

They may appear a little more complex that you would like, but once you wind the first coil it becomes much easier

Most of their performance is derived from the Helix Geometry of the cable

I made my first Helix cable using the wires from household Romex - to prove the concept - and it performed very well. I then graduated to higher performance wires and plugs

Here's a thread that has comments from others that have made them
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/duelund-conversion-to-diy-helix-geometry-cabling

Good Luck with you cables - Steve

Take a look around this site for many relatively inexpensive options.
https://douglasconnection.com/products/

The Waudio PC’s is where I started my cable journey. I found them to be a tremendous value.