Amplifier. Likely to make a very big difference. Typically twice the difference that would come from other components.
I highly recommend trying Audioqurst Hurricane if you want transparent sound (that is, exactly what your components sound like) and Cardas Clear Beyond is you think your system might sound a tad better if it had a slightly warmer more bloomed midrange. For Cardas the lower the tier, the warmer the sound. |
Echoing what @mclinnguy said, If you have a power conditioner, I would get a power cable for that. My thinking is that results in cleaner power to all downstream components resulting in less effect of placing a power cable on those other components. If there is no power conditioner in the picture, I think mainstream advice might be to put the power cable on the amplifier. But, I might suggest a power cable for a DAC. I have found a surprisingly large beneficial effect in clarity and resolution with the right power cable on my Denafrips Pontus II DAC. However, I will say that especially on my DAC, finding the right power cable was very important. I tested a whole bunch of power cables on my DAC. 6 sounded worse than a basic $15 Tripp-Lite Heavy Duty power cable from Home Depot, 1 sounded about the same in overall sound quality (though it still sounded different), and 3 sounded better than the Tripp-Lite cable. Too much noise filtering technology (or the wrong filtering technology) in a cable seemed to result in a dull and muted sound. A generic $15 power cable actually sounded better than a whole number of cables costing between $500-700. A $95 power cable ended up sounding best. |
FWIW, a Shunyata Venom V14 power cable (not the V14 Digital) at about $100 used and $200 might be a good power cable for experimenting as it didn't seem to have any dramatically bad effects in any part of my system as did some more expensive power cables. Get one of those and a generic power cable from Home Depot and you have everything you need to hear what effect a power cable might have in different parts of your system. |
