I'm having a really hard time with: "Power cable reduced my soundstage"...

roberttcan
What is most likely is that your friend expected to hear a difference which affected his/her brain chemistry (altered mood) which led to a real perception (not necessarily reality) of difference. That’s about as close as a component can get to creating "magic." Remember that all magic is an illusion.

The same phenomenon occurs when one listens to their system while fatigued, or following a stressful day.

>>>>I’m sure. 🙄 Your posts are giving me a stressful day. 😬

I will go out on a limb here and predict if anyone calls someone in charge at McIntosh and asks him some pertinent questions about their power cords he will have absolutely no idea what in blazes you’re talking about.

If - by pure chance - the first power cord’s conductor was in the “correct direction” and the second power cord’s conductor was in the “wrong direction” that alone would explain the soundstage issue. Why do you think AudioQuest goes out its way to honor the directionality of the conductors in its high end power cords like Hurricane? 🤔 Hel-loo!

If you don’t hear power cords it’s OK. A lot of people don’t. It’s a signal to noise thing as well as attention to detail thing.

Very few lobsters get out of the lobster pot. - Old audiophile axiom

That sounds right. They took one look 👀 at all the flakes and did an about face.

As long as you’re happy that’s really what counts. 🙄 If a lot of the early wagon train pioneers didn’t give up half way during their trip West there wouldn’t be anybody living in the Midwest. 😀

As fate would have it Amplifier designers are almost always the last to know. No one seems to know why but they don’t ever get the memos everyone else does. You know, power cords, fuses, directionality, things of that nature. I guess with a few exceptions they’re not what we call forward thinkers.

Everyone loves a good mystery.

Sleepwalker, you can’t prove a negative. 🤗

Michael, I’m certainly not trying hide my system or the fact it’s a Sony Walkman. In fact I mention it quite frequently. 🤗 Your “low mass system” approach helped inspire me. Kudos to you! Maybe you’re just sore I took your approach to the extreme. As I’ve tried to point out to you many times, there are a great many advantages to a very simple battery powered system, none of them actually have much to do with mass. No offense intended. I can always tell when you’re upset and trying to put me in my place. That’s not really an effective way to participate in this forum, at least not with your humble scribe, if you don’t mind me saying so too much.

HEA crashing and burning? Is it a victim of climate change?

”Makes me ask do you guys even use power cables”

Now that you ask, no I don’t use power cables. I’m not a fan of the noise and distortion they bring to the table. I like Signal, not Noise or Distortion. 

Of course vibration is a big issue, too, and it can be rather difficult to separate the two in terms of cause and effect.

I’m pretty sure shielding can’t deal with the rf coming in on the AC line. Or with the rf generated by microchips, among other things.