The Truth About Power Cords and there "Real" Price to Performance

Delkal,
Do your own test

I tried something like that although not about power cords. It was boring.

In any case, difference was, if anything, small. In those moments we felt there was a difference, it was unclear if it was for better or worse. Waste of time.

If you need to do the test, the difference is negligible.

If, in a relatively decent system, your jaw drops with some cord change, or similar minor maneuvre, you'd better enjoy it as long as you can. The magic will go away with next cord available.

If you think it was not a minor maneuvre, you just learned you are very impressionable.

@delkal

I have to say that is a tough one! A blind test 10 times to see what percentage would be that can determine one cable from the other at the above the $50.00 mark? Is your point that $50.00 plus cable will be a negligible or not even at best to not distinguishable by 50% of the listeners?

Blumartini

I have to say that is a tough one! A blind test 10 times to see what percentage would be that can determine one cable from the other at the above the $50.00 mark? Is your point that $50.00 plus cable will be a negligible or not even at best to not distinguishable by 50% of the listeners?

Am not a cable denier when it comes to ultracheap cables (of any type) and I gave an arbitrary $50 cutoff as a guide to what I think ultracheap is. If someone else’s definition is $100-200 then I won’t argue about it. But if you think your system needs $1000+ cables for it to sound good forget about it! I did my own blind tests comparing a throw away interconnect you get for free with my first DIY interconnect. Had a friend toggle between the two and I could hear a subtle difference. They could too. Then I later tried other more expensive commercial and DIY designs and I thought I could hear a difference at first, but when someone else switched them and I didn’t know which I was listening too and I was just guessing. So I do believe there is a line you cross where you get an audible difference but that line is only on the extreme low end.

But my personal experiences are just anecdotal. Someone will always say my system isn’t revealing enough or I didn’t know what to listen for (or I am just ignorant). So that is why I keep asking.........why can’t find I any reliable sources on the internet where someone can repeatedly tell a difference when listening blinded? Or why can’t the people who claim a cable "instantly transformed their system" do the same test, do it blinded with someone else switching it, and tell us about it? This should have been proven long ago.

I have been an Audiophile for  over 40 years and owned a audio store.
i will say without question cables are by far the highest profit margin ,speaking of high end cables ,that being said a 
good power cord brings much more detail and dynamics to the audio chain .
i took a $500 power cord ,and a $900
one one on my digital front end ,and one on the integrated amp, then switched them , the better power cord made the power amp noticeably better 
at the output , on the ampsection.
that being said , two top power cords payed dividends.i have found some smaller boutique companies can compete pretty well. The $1k AQ
is fantastic ,but Triode Audiolabs for example for $500 makes a excellent 
power cord. Or you can buy top Furutech connectors ,and buy bulk 
reference cable$50-$400 per ft
that give you = to 3x more value per
dollar spent. These are just an example of possibilities.