This spring/summer I went through a herd of power cables. All price ranges and all types of technologies and wire topologies.
Surprisingly, cables like Signal Cable PC was very good for the money and did a nice job. I bought a pair of very old BMI Whale Elites and they are fantastic for their age. Well balanced. Older Elrods, about $400ish these days are good but the -3 was a little too heavy in the bass department versus the -2.
The standard Puritan is decent. Used NRG Godzilla The Five is a little heavy on the bass but for the price, especially used, pretty darned good.
I'm burning in a Wywires Platinum right now, but so far not impressed. More time is needed. The KS Elation is considerably better ($$$).
There are some nice PCs out there but the vast majority in my own experience, are all about the same. Neither fantastic nor duds. Just middle of the road.
So for cheap, used is the way to go and some of the better esoteric brands can be found at great deals here and on other sites in the price ranges mentioned above. Unfortunately, it takes buying and trying. Lots of time and (sometimes wasted) money to do so.