What is an excellent power cable?


Looking for a high quality power cable. Anyone recommend anything? Also, is a quality power distributor important as well? 
xenon
My whole system is Shunyata... Sigma Digital for my cd player, Sigma HC for my amp , King Cobra CX for my preamp. All with outstanding results. Would never change them. 
xenon, don’t know what you will end up with, but to this day I have probably 10 power cords laying around that I occasionally put back in my system as I change it, to hear the difference they make. A few, I am glad I still have, others I’m not. There is no definitive answer to your question for an excellent cord. Audition -Audition-- I researched my ass off years back and tried many kinds of cables at $500 and under, both new and used (from Synergistic Research to VH Audio, to Shunyata to WireWorld etc. What may be excellent with my stereo on any given piece of gear may be only average or worse on a given piece within your stereo system. To play in this arena, you shoot craps and gamble and try and listen and sell and return and listen some more.
I've got quite a few brands of power cords from all budget ranges including many mentioned previously in this thread (i.e. Shunyata, Verastarr, Signal, Maze, Pangea, Supra, MIT and others).

Other than avoiding anything by Synergistic Research like the plague, I can't give definitive advice like others have given. 

Personally, I would recommend waiting on power cords until the very last thing to upgrade.  Ironically, the worse the power supply in your equipment..the more improvement a power supply can help.  Thus, it's better to just save up and address the problem at its source...get better equipment with better power supplies.

If you notice, external/third party power supplies are all the rage now in digital.  That's because people realized it's the power supply more the power cord that impacts performance.  Power cords were just a primitive band-aid.

Certain power cords can also hurt your overall performance.  Some of my highest cost cords sounded the worst on other people's systems and gear.  Sometimes shielding a power cord is better...sometimes it's worse...etc.

Theoretically, a low inductance power cord cord can make a difference on any gear.   However, the delta in improvement - both measurable and audible - isn't always very big or guaranteed positive.  Many of these high dollar cords are just show, not substance.

If you do get a cord, always get a trial period and experiment on different gear. 


Next month Audioquest will come with new cables with the same kind of technique as the Hurricane and Tornado. One about 500 dollar and the other one under 400 dollar.