Seeking informed recommendations for power cables and interconnects

Yes, I am pleased with my AQ Rocket 33s, so not looking to upgrade speaker wire. I may take advantage of The Cable Co.'s lending library as that seems the most economical way to compare. Just wondering if I should focus on ICs first before the power cords.

@arturos73 Great opening post. Clearly laid out and full of information.

@whart Provides a terrific summary and approach.

Having recommendations as a guideline from those like @gdnrbob as a fellow Vandy owner and others who have similar equipment or setup to yours will be valuable. But as already pointed out, only you can drive this.

To your specific question about IC vs PC, which first:

Ideally, both simultaneously, but if you need to take a stepped approach and do one step at a time, I would choose the power cables first without hesitation.

According to the specs shown here the Parks Audio Budgie phono stage has an extremely high specified nominal output impedance of 6,000 ohms. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that value is even considerably higher at some frequencies. (Although I’m a little uncertain concerning your use of the word "hybrid" in referring to it; is your phono stage a different configuration than what is shown at the link, which is described as having an all tube signal path?).

Assuming that none of your cables or power cords are especially long, and assuming the 6,000 ohm spec is applicable to your unit, I would therefore think it likely that the connection of the phono stage to the integrated amp would exhibit greater sensitivity to cable (or power cord) differences than any other connection in the system.

Although that is not to say that you would necessarily find a given $500 pair of cables used at that location to be subjectively preferable to the Blue Jeans you are using now. And in fact low capacitance, such as Blue Jeans LC-1 provides, assumes particular importance when a cable is driven by such a high impedance. But as I say I would think that interconnection is likely to be the most cable-sensitive point in the system, and it is therefore what I would focus on first.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

Thanks for the advice thus far everyone, very helpful.

(Although I’m a little uncertain concerning your use of the word "hybrid" in referring to it; is your phono stage a different configuration than what is shown at the link, which is described as having an all tube signal path?).

The Budgie Hybrid was an upgrade to the original Budgie with JFETS for boosted gain.

Budgie Hybrid stats:

SpecificationsTubes: Two matched 6922 Electro-Harmonix tubes (included)
Gain: 46dB (suitable for HOMC, MM and MI carts with at least 1mV output)Input Impedance: 47K, adjustable
Output Impedance: 600 ohmRIAA Accuracy: +/-0.5dB from 20Hz to 20kHz
Distortion: less than 0.1% at 1kHz with 15mVrms input SNR: 84dBA with 5mV input
Overload: Minimum headroom of 100mVrms at 1kHzWarranty: Two year
Power: 7W
Input Voltage: 100 to 240VAC with external 12VDC supply (included w/ EU or OZ adapters free upon request)Weight: 2.5 lbs
Size: 7.75”L x 5.5”W x 4.5”H

Also, the lower 600 ohm output impedance is due to going with an active RIAA eq circuit, so driving long RCA interconnects or low input impedance devices won't cause high frequency roll-off.

OK, good! So the design of the hybrid version reduced the 6K output impedance of the all tube version to 600 ohms.

That being the case, your guess is as good as mine as to what to focus on first. But if any of the interconnects are particularly long that would tend to warrant increased focus, IMO.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al