It’s not that I don’t find power cords to make a difference, it’s that I find price is rarely a marker for quality here. The one "bandwagon" that truly annoys me with power cords (and other categories), and that is just as simple-minded and potentially problematic as that which is typically labeled as "trolling activity," is the blind adherence and snobbish approach to "you get what you pay for" irrespective of care through trial-and-error and open-minded experimentation with specific system implementation. Taste is also a major factor and only contributes to the complexity of finding the right cable component for one’s setup, not least recommending them to others.
From my chair quite a few expensive power cords I’ve tried have struck me as having different and rather overt signatures or flavors rather than sounding "better" as such, to the extend where a particular sonic character appears to have been sought after as opposed to making them sound less "intrusive;" the rationale apparently being that "if these power cords are going to cost thousands of dollars we better make them sound like ’something’ (and look like a million)."
Tonality, coherency, transient snap and dynamic prowess are some of the sonic traits I’m very keen on achieving, and to me this is reflected with cables that are relatively uninhibited in this regard and maintains diversity to the material that is played (honesty of reproduction?). For this purpose I’ve found twisted Home Depot style solid-core installation copper wires, with no further outer-sleeve insulation and pure copper connectors, to do the job admirably, and at a very reasonable price. Some may scoff at Home Depot style installation wires for critical audio use, the predominant (true) reason likely being low price and lack of visual appeal.
So, in search for higher quality power cords? Keep an open mind, disregard price, try out DIY and experiment.
