Let's look at the term "snake oil".
Its an old term brought back to life, now related to audio and not medicine.
We all know stories about the travelling medicine man.
Then the gullible folks who were duped out of their money, by miraculous but false claims.
Where are the scietists when you need them?
But the difference between then an now is that the folks who bought the stuff from the medicine man, never had a chance to try the oil before they bought it.
When it comes to power cords, you have the choice.
If you don't hear any difference in your system and with your ears,you won't buy the product.For you that's proof of snake oil.
If someone does hear an improvement and buys the product,he wasn't conned, and to him the product is not snake oil.
He hears it, you don't.
That's the simple fact, to have to prove it to the denier, is moot.
The denier is not required to buy the expensive power cords.
He can decide to spend his money elsewhere in this hobby as he sees fit.
Maybe a better power amp.
Maybe several others when that power amp doesn't seem to do it for him.
The power cord in all these transactions is most always the stock cord that came with the amp.
The amps come and go, each with the promise of sonic nirvana, but afterawhile it's the amps that are precieved as snake oil, and then the whole hobby is rife with snake oil con artists and their shills.
The audiophile's pursuit of the absolute sound has ended in another burn out.
Another one bites the dust, goes off the merry go round and makes do with whatever he can cobble from the pawn shops of broken audio dreams, and tells us this is his sonic bliss.
Who are we to tell him otherwise?
We bought snake oil afterall.
