The difference between the Ayre and Pass on vinyl might simply be a matter of the loading that is being presented to the cartridge via the phono stage. Unless you have identical settings on both preamps for the phono loading, one will sound "different" than the other. Even with identical settings, they can sound different due to parts tolerances and the variances in circuit design.
As to the power cords making such a noticeable difference, there's a lot to be said there. The purer that the power is being fed into the system, the less of an effect the power cords will have. If one is running some type of power line filter / conditioner and power cords are still highly influential in what one hears, that PLC or filter simply isn't doing much of a job.
On top of that, the better the filtration of the power supply within the component, the less of an effect the power cords will have. That's because the component itself is filtering out the hash and trash prior to applying any type of manipulation to the audio signal itself. While hi-fi components are quite costly, the power supply is quite often the first part of the component that is built to a price point. As such, this is why external changes to the AC supply side of each component can make such a drastic change in the audio side of what we hear.
Rather than spending hundreds and potentially thousands of dollars chasing various component / power cord combo's, why not take steps towards cleaning up the AC for all of the components simultaneously, and do so in a manner that is both measurable and highly effective? This is not that hard to achieve and the benefits will remain with your system regardless of the components used.
Once one does this in an appropriate manner, the use of inexpensive but well designed power cords will almost always deliver as good of results as far more costly cords that rely on marketing and snake oil to sound as good as they do. After all, their is nothing "magic" about 60 Hz power delivery, especially when one considers the design confines within a typical power cord / component configuration.
Spending hundreds / thousands of dollars on over-built & under-designed cabling and componentry that doesn't measure up, either audibly or electrically, is one of the greatest banes of audiophilia. All this on top of being a point of great frustration for the end user. Sean
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