If Power Cords Don't Matter...

Chayro’s , miller carbon’s and willy t’s comments are on point.  Expensive power conditioners and boutique power cords will make no difference in the characteristics of the DC current delivered to the amplification devices (tubes or transistors) which is produced by the amplifiers power supply, which incorporates, usually, “filter,” capacitors.  I suspect that some of the anecdotes in posts, above, claiming improvement in SQ from such tweaks are really just descriptions of placebo effects.

There certainly are a great many firm opinions expressed ton the topic of power cords/conditioners. I suggest that experience beats opinion every time. For power cord doubters, there are 5 foot, 10 gauge, shielded power cords available on Amazon for $50 ish each. $50 is cheap for fancy power cords. So I tried some. They improved the transparency or clarity or "revealed micro details" on both an Elekit 8600R (300B tubes, 9 wpc) system and a system using PuriFi's glorious 200 wpc output modules (used in NAD's new power amp and integrated). Three more cords will arrive today, says Amazon. Don't you think it's worth a try? I think it's the sheilding removing ultra sonic garbage from the power lines. Whatever it is, it works in my systems. I don't need to know exactly WHY if it improves the system. $50, how can you lose?

Give me placebos, or give me death! I have repeatedly called on our valuable electrician freaks to publish the tests proving lamp cord equal to Synergistic Galileo. Why are they hiding these definitive tests that would save all of us so much money? Maybe there’s a placebo effect that makes cheap stuff sound great? Sign me up!

I have heard current is the most important aspect.  So if that is the case, why do manufacturers only list watts.  I honk they are trying to hide something.

When I got back into this hobby I addressed the power cord and cable issue myself with a trial of Shunyata Venom to stock power cables. The Venom series is Shunyata’s entry level, but contains their core technology. The difference was not subtle. The clarify and black background were very apparent. I don’t think it was placebo. Now, having said that does one need to spend a fortune optimizing their power cables and conditioners. No. There are in my opinion diminishing returns that depend on your gears, room and your hearing. So do you need to go up to Shunyata’s Sigma or Omega levels. For me, no. For someone else, their hearing, their gear and their room, possibly. However for most folks I think benefits will become unnoticeable in the mid range somewhere and that will require an in home trial. Additionally, having tried a bunch of cables from different companies, I think that one can follow some basic guidelines and get good performing power cables for less money. Try and get good oxygen free conductors. Get the largest gauge you can. Good connectors and shielding around the conductors. I recently tried the top line power cable from Pangea and I think it faired no worse than the AQ Tornados and Shunyata Deltas I normally use. The Pangeas are a fraction of the cost. So I think one can get improvements over stock cables without breaking the bank. But I do think in my experience that good power cables perform better than stock.