power cords for Pass Labs Amps


Hi, I was wondering if anyone has successfully used aftermarket powercords for their Pass Labs amps. I have the XA160 and was curious if pcs made any difference. I also asked this question directly to Pass technical support and here is what I got back:

"If the power cord is running near interconnect cables then an after market shielded power cord might help. Other wise I haven't seen them do much."

Your response is greatly appreciated.
tboooe

Showing 2 responses by audphile1

Tboooe, I haven't tried all the power cords out there, but I've tried several. None of them provided any dramatic improvement over the $6 Volex 17604 cord I am now using. Because of almost no positive sonic change, the price difference between the Volex and the cords I tried doesn't justify the change at all. I keep alternating the Volex and Shunyata Taipan Helix Alpha once in a while.

I was thinking of giving a DCCA Extreme reference power cord a try next, since Don from DCCA said several of his customers are using this cord with positive results on Pass amps.
If you happen to try any power cords on your amps and find that they made a dramatic difference, please let me know which cords are these. I am not excluding a possibility that something like Purist Dominus may make a difference, but the price of this power cord is insane even used(at least to me, at this point) so I'd rather upgrade speaker cables and most likely achieve more or buy more music instead.
The design and build quality of the component's power supply is much more important in most cases.

Audiofeil, right on, man! Totally applicable to Pass X.5 series.

there are some companies that will tell you there is no difference between power cords you use with their amps, preamps or whatever else they make. For the most part they give you this answer because they don't want to deal with you or be blamed for the crappy sound you will get in your system with the cable they recommended.
From my experience with Pass' customer and tech support, I don't beleive such to be the case though.
I am pretty sure Pass guys have auditioned reasonably priced power cords and found them to make no or very little difference. And that is why you received the above answer from them. Now, did they audition a $2k power cord with their amps? I don't know.

Tboooe, I'd be very curious to know the results of your audition of power cables through cable company. I'd appreciate if you can keep me posted on this.

I wish there is a reasonably priced cord that will make a substantial difference with these amplifiers. Honestly. But so far, I haven't had any luck. Heck, if it requires something in a ball park of Shunyata Anaconda or Purist Dominus, I doubt I'll be buying it. But if they do make a difference worth the money, I wanna know.