Are manufacturer AC cables good enough?

I think manufacturers cables are sufficient enough to get the job done. Maybe it is cutting costs, or they have intentional designed their equipment to work well with bulk cable. But getting the last bit of performance is for happy tweakers something to look for.

Some power supplies perform better with quality cables, or sometimes a better cable doesn't interfere as much with the rest of the cable salad behind you rack. Just test and listen.

Try out what you have, come back and tell us if you heard a difference.

I use Ayre QX-5/20 digital hub, DX-5 DSD disc player, KX-5/20 preamp, and VX-5/20 amp with KEF Reference 1s. I suppose the AC 3 cables should go to the preamp and amp, the AC 14 cables to the digital hub and disc player. I buy used, aiming for 50% MSRP, still that setup cost a fair number of bucks. Surely Ayre wouldn’t comprise on power cables when they’re so obsessed with details like fully balanced, zero feedback, and stepped volume control. Nevertheless, I’ll try the cables.

db

usually people that buy Ayre are looking for more than adequate performance...good cables can be expensive, so why add to the cost of the component, when most customers prefer to select their own cabling...a source of endless contention, many endless threads for you to read...but you're lucky, you already have some cords to compare...

This is akin to sitting at home with a cheese sandwich, and coming online to ask if we think you'll like it.